Art+as+Inspiration

//**First Painting:**// [|__http://www.googleartproject.com/collection/the-metropolitan-museum-of-art/artwork/the-harvesters-pieter-bruegel-the-elder-netherlandish-breda-ca-15251569-brussels/653014/__] Its was a warm, sunny and fragrant summer day. In the distance, young apple pickers and children are playing in the woods, others swimming gayly in the pond. There was a distant meeting of nuns and priests converging in front of the church, and the castle nearby with the old jokester, running from the scene. And there were fields. Great, golden fields of wheat and hay, and men working them. They had hats protecting them from the sun, and great big sickles to slice the wheat and grains before they lay them in heaps on the ground. But they are not the only ones nearby. There were also picnickers, eating a hearty meal of bread, butter and fruits. They looked so happy and relaxed, enjoying the feast and the warm summer day near the great chapel. With the rolling hills, sparkling ocean and the boats sailing easily, it is truly a pleasant day. And for only a moment, only a moment, I almost forgot about the prison walls and cold heavy chains that bound me there, because the dream was so sweet.

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 * //Second Painting:// **



I can't take it anymore. The curiosity in these men is so great that I find myself leaning around the pillar, inching towards the sound of their hushed conversation. A golden lock of hair falls across my flushed cheek, and I tuck it back behind my ear. To listen is a sin. I can feel my devil pulling me towards temptation and my angel pull me back. It wants me to choose right, but I cannot stop wondering what it is like in the world of governing countries and controlling lives of so many others. I lean closer still, and I see my sister Ann warning me with her eyes as she hides behind the opposite pillar. We are so like each other, yet so different. She loves safety and comfort, yet I yearn to learn and explore. As I move, the auburn skirts shift and glint in the light, and I am spotted by one of the arabic men. Suddenly I feel incredibly exposed. The naked skin of my back feels scandalous, wrong. The sleeves drop around my arms, and all I want to do is hide. The arabic whispers something to the man in golden garments, and I know I am caught. The angel was right. I should have escaped, heeded my sister’s warning. And I come to the realization that I will never be accepted into the secret world of men and politics and power. I am only a foolish woman with foolish dreams, so I run far away and do not return.

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 * //Third Painting:// **



The world was on fire. Everywhere, red streaked the sky in great, violent strokes. Flames licked the ground and rivers of fire poured like rivers down the steep hills. The men’s eyes blink away soot and dust, but it does no good. It rains ash, fire and destruction and all that the men can do is run blindly towards the faraway ocean. Sweat trickles down their backs from the heat which lashes out in fury from the erupting mountain. But there is another fury, and it is the one building inside of the man in the back, as he trudges behind the pair. The two brothers carry their friend upon their backs, oblivious that this will ultimately be their end. Weighing them down, the body will only serve as an anchor and they shall drown in the spewing fires. The man walks behind them anxiously, keeping one eye on his companions and the trail, but always one on the faraway ocean. If only he could run, leave them behind! He would be safe aboard the ships where the air is cool and free of dust. But guilt and the need to stay with them forces him back as they trudge blindingly through the oncoming Armageddon.


 * //Investigative Report://**

FIRST PAINTING:
 * Going on google and looking up a museum architecturally designed by Calvert Vaux
 * Went on the google museum website for the MET, finding the painting “The Harvesters”, which depicts both leisure and labour in it’s image.

SECOND PAINTING: THIRD PAINTING:
 * checked the google museum website for any signs of the roman demi god room, but found no titles.
 * Looked up the “palace of versailles art gallery website” and found the Hercule’s Salon.
 * Going to the virtual tour of the palace, I was able to find the salon, trace it’s appearance to the room in the google art museum and find the only interactive painting.
 * In the top of the painting, there were two angels holding a banner saying acente, and that was how I found the word.
 * ======Searched Art gallery once known as Millbank Penitentiary, get: “Tate Britain” ======
 * ====== searched for a painting in Tate Britain that represented the insignificance of man before the sublime grandeur of nature, and finally found “ Vesuvius in Eruption, with a View over the Islands in the Bay of Naples” ======

The Harvesters 8/10 The Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee 8/10 Vesuvius in Eruption 8/10 Links and Clues 10/10

Total 34/40