Journal ENTRIES

Journal Entry #3

Memento Mori: Death Comes to the Table - Giovanni Martinelli.

This painting is just shy of 5 foot in length and shy of 4 foot in height. It contains 6 individuals 4 of which are sitting in chairs around a table and 2 standing. The table has a white cloth on it and the chairs are brown with a sort of red fabric on it. on the table with the cloth there are 8 visable plates, 2 round dishes respenbleing pedestals. there is one fork and knife visable along with 2 cups containing liquids one red one clear. One of the cups is on one of the pedestal things and the other is on the table. On the other pedestal is a pie with about 1/4 of it missing, a slice of the pie in infront one of the individuals. A dead animal of sorts is on another plate. The standing individual all the way right appears to be made of only bone he holds an hourglass in his right hand and looks in the direction of the other individuals. The rest of the individuals are dressed in colorful clothes containing long sleeves and multiple layers. They all are looking towards the boned individual with various facial expressions. One Individual has some sort of brown item in his lap.

Upon first glance at this painting, I fought not to let my bias of my knowledge in art works and history show through. Using my bias I could tell that the boned individual is the potrayal of Death and he is likely collecting at least a soul. I could tell that based on the outfits the time frame is around the 16th or 17th century in Italy and that one of the men is holding a lute an instrument I have taken my own part in playing. The individuals facial expressions represent a mixture of fear and grief.

After reading the label of the piece I thought about how much people miss out on when they spend their money on luxurious things instead of what they enjoy. I reanalyzed the painting and thought about the expressions on the individual's faces in their reaction to the boned individual with the hourglass and tried to determine if it was just one of the individual's time or all of theirs.

Journal Entry #2

The Unequal Marriage - Vladimirovich Pukirev.

Upon a brief glance at the painting, it appears to be a young, sad bride being forced to marry an elderly man who looks at her with lust, by a priest. There is what appears to be a ghostly bride to the right of the groom that looks at the groom with hatred. The men surrounding the bride and groom either look at the bride as if she were a prize or looks at the groom in disdain. One particular male looks at the audience like he is annoyed by the sight. In the background, it is clear to be a church of sorts.

Upon a close inspection, this painting contains at least ten people: eight males and two females. There is a balding priest facing a bride in his left hand is a book with words in it, and his left is held in the direction of the bride he is slightly leaning in her direction. The bride is appearing to be between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four her hair is curled and she wears a flower crown with a veil. She is in a white poofy dress and wears one white glove on her left hand and a bracelet on her left arm. She is wearing earings and a neckalace. Her left hand is a lit candle stick and her right reaches towards the priest. Her head is slightly angled towards the ground her eyes are downcasted with her eyelids being slightly red and puffy. Her lips are straight. There is an elderly man to to her left he is balding and is wearing a suit with a pin in his left hand he holds a lit candlestick. His eyebrows are raised and his head is slightly angled towards the bride his eyes are mostly closed and point towards the bride. His mouth is slightly angled upwards on one side. To the left of the elderly man is a women wearing a white dress and a flower crown. She faces the elderly man her eyes face towards him. Behind this women are two middle aged men both are looking at the bride and the elderly man. Behind the bride and the elderly man are four more men all wearing suits. the man directly behind the bride has his arms crossed and head slightly downcasted he stares straight at the elderly man. The man to the right is making eye contact with the audience his eyes wide and his lips are sligghtly curved up. The man to the right faces the women and the two men behind her his head is angled upwards but his eyes are looking downwards his lips are curved downwards. The final man is behind the previous man he faces in the same direction as the previous man however his eyes are not shown. On the wall behind the elderly man and the bride contains a structure containing three paintings of three different catholic religious figures. The only light sources comes from somewhere behind the priest.

Journal Entry #1

The Headstrong Historian - Adichie.

This story reminded me of the importance of perspective when sharing a historical story. When learning about something in history, it is typically told from the perspective of the white European man. When told from the perspective of an African woman, it becomes clear to the reader how strange things like Catholicism may seem to others. This reading shows how the story of the slave trade and catholic conversion told by the white European man is vastly different in comparison to how an African woman told it.

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