Visual analysis of The Merode Altarpiece Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Visual analysis of The Merode Altarpiece - Essay Example The Merode Altarpiece is a painting by Renaissance artist Robert Campin whose creation time is around 1427 to 1432. The painting was created in Tournai in the Netherlands, which is the artist’s place of origin but it is currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum in the United States (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). The painting is divided into three panels; the main panel shows the moment just before the annunciation of Mary. She is sitting on the floor reading a bible and is looking down. To her left is an angel she is not aware of, with an oval table separating them. A small figure of Jesus is flying towards Mary holding a crucifix. The right panel has Saint Joseph in a carpentry workshop where he is making mousetraps with a townscape appearing behind him in an open window. The right panel has two figures, assumingly the commissioners of the painting, called the donors waiting to go inside an open door (Barnet, Peter, & Nancy 125). This painting also goes by the name à ¢â‚¬Å"The Annunciation†, which is an event in the Christian Holy Bible in which a virgin by the name of Mary receives the news of her appointment to be the earthly mother of God’s son, Jesus.An angel from heaven visits her while she is at home and gives her the good news. The name itself also hints one on the purpose of the painting: Christian believers or cathedrals for devotional and aesthetic purposes commissioned altarpieces. It is therefore a religious artwork. The artist captures the human figures and specifically their faces with their expressions on, making the artwork more of a combination of portraits to make a composition. However, there are outdoor scenes appearing from the openings and windows in the backgrounds depicting cityscapes. The work therefore combines both landscape and portraiture although the portraiture aspect seems to dominate more. According to the Metropolitan Museum, The Merode Altarpiece measures 64.5 cm in length by 117.8 cm as an overall painting with a main panel of dimensions 64.1cm by 63.2 cm, and two identical side panels measuring 64.5cm by 27.3cm each. The width of the painting is slightly below two times the height therefore creating a rectangular (landscape) orientation of the work. The artist employs much use of rectangles, squares, and straight lines in vertical or horizontal movements that harmoniously blend in with the shape of the frame. For instance, in the middle panel where the figures are in a room and the wall and ceiling lines originate from the background and come to meet the frame, creating a view as if one is peering through a window or the wall is missing (Nici 243). The frames merge with most of the shapes rather than disagree with or break them. The Merode Altarpiece is oil on Oakwood. The style of creating workspace and framing is popular as panel art. Panel art is a technique of creating frames in the renaissance period where artists had carpenters make them wooden panels covered with clo th and plastered with gesso paste to create a smooth painting surface (D’Elia 19). The work is done in oil paints, which is another preference of most renaissance artists. During the renaissance period, the use of tempera colors was becoming unpopular as artists discovered that oil

Simple Recipe Of Making Macaroni And Cheese Essay

Simple Recipe Of Making Macaroni And Cheese - Essay Example The only thing you should be aware of is that before making any dish you should always wash your hands and clean yourself so as not to contaminate the dish and make a healthy and fresh one. After this process of approximately 15 minutes, you will have a yummy, fresh and ready to eat a meal of macaroni and cheese. The first and foremost step is to boil the macaroni and for that, you will need to take a medium-sized pan and fill it with six cups of water. Make sure that the water does not flow out when the noodles are poured in the water. Place this pan over the stove and turn it to the highest temperature then wait for the water to boil. While waiting, use your time constructively and efficiently by gathering all the ingredients and utensils needed for this dish. This is done to make sure that they are on the counter, at hand ready to be used when needed. The ingredients include a 1/4th cup of milk, 1/4th cup of margarine, macaroni noodles from the box and cheese sauce mix which is also provided in the box. The utensils needed are a strainer for draining the macaroni after it is boiled. By this time, the water must have started boiling if large bubbles are constantly rising on the surface of the pan. The process of boiling the water will probably take around seven to ten minutes. Now put the d ry noodles from the box into this pan of boiling water and keep stirring the noodles so they do not stick to the bottom of the pan. Make sure to use a plastic spoon and not a metal one to avoid the risk of burning your hand. Don’t leave the stove unattended or else the macaroni might stick together or even become softened. You can even check the macaroni by tasting it and once it reaches the perfect texture and density, you can then drain it.