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The Castle of Batavia and Dutch colonialism

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The Castle of Batavia and Dutch colonialism

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Andries Beeckman

c. 1662

Oil on Canvas

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Unit: Europe 1400-1800; Baroque Art

Painted by Andries Beeckman this painting represents the fortified center of the Dutch East India Company, which at the time was located in Batavia, Indonesia but has since become present day Jakarta. The Dutch East India Company is a powerful trading company established in 1602, specializing in global trading, but specifically spice trades. I chose this piece to go with my theme, because although the piece isn't about nature itself, the painting takes place outdoors and includes numerous aspects of nature. One of my main focuses when I first saw the piece was the palm trees. The artist did a really great job with the small details and making it very realistic with all of the textures. I also like that a lot of the bigger aspects of the painting are forms of nature, which is why I felt this went really well with my theme of "Nature portrayed through art". This shows that nature can play a very essential role in historical storytelling through art.

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Kano Motonobu

16th Century

Japan

Pair of folding screens

Ink, color & gold on paper

162.4 x 360.2cm

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Unit: Asia 1400-1800; Art in Japan

Created by Kano Motonobu, this panel is a combination of both Japanese and Chinese art. The seasonal progression of the flowers is paired with an auspicious motif of cranes, which is promoting longevity. This piece of work does a great job at showing the different stages of nature during all four seasons, from lifeless snow covered trees, to bright, living plants and trees. Each season is represented by a different plant and/or animal. For example, the spring panel is represented by plum blossoms and pheasants. Summer is represented by lotus flowers and cranes. Autumn is represented by chrysanthemums and herons. And finally winter is represented by pine, bamboos and quails. Each plant/animal symbolizes something different. For example, the lotuses symbolize purity and enlightenment and the herons represent domesticity and warmth. So although this piece is quite simple, it holds such deep meanings throughout each panel and each season. This piece goes perfectly with my theme of "nature portrayed through art" because the whole piece is all about nature and the four seasons we see here on Earth.

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Thomas Cole

1836

Oil on Canvas

130.8 x 193 cm

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts

Unit: Americas 1400-1800; North America II

Painted by Thomas Cole, this piece explores the themes of the Manifest destiny as well as the transformation of the American landscape. When you first look at the painting, your eyes might go straight to the separation of the clouds in the back. The full name is this piece is called, 'View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm' and I think that its a perfect name for this piece but it's exactly what it is. It's a beautiful view after a thunderstorm. The reason the technical name is called 'The Oxbow' is because an oxbow is a a U-shaped bend in a river, or the land embraced by such a bend, often resulting in a horseshoe-shaped lake called an oxbow lake. It looks like the oxbow in the painting is being caused by the way the land has grown around it. I also really like that if you looked up an actual image of Mount Holyoke, you can see that they are both very similar, which is very impressive on the artists part because realism is such a hard thing to do when it comes to painting. I chose this piece for my theme because all of it focuses on nature. I also think that it being after a thunderstorm has a deeper meaning then we think. On the left side you can still see the the dark clouds and the rain still falling. That side is also significantly darker then the right side. The right side is the after math of the storm, and it shows the sun shining on the river as the clouds clear up and the skies become blue again. I think this matches my theme because it shows that even in nature, not all bad things will last, like the thunderstorm, and the good will eventually come back, like the sun.

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View from Mount Holyoke after a Thunderstorm

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Franz Marc

1913

Oil on Canvas

6'4 3/4'' x 8'91/2''

Kunstmusesum, Basel, Basel

Unit: 20th Century Art

When you first look at this piece, you don't really know what's happening. But after knowing the meaning behind the piece, it all starts to make sense. Created by Franz Marc in 1913, this piece in a sense, represents war. The scene is a very post apocalyptic and dark as it is a painting of animals burning in a forest. The more you look, the more you can see the animals and the forest. I believe the blue figure in the middle represents a deer, the brown figures on the right represent the forest and the orange streaks represent the fire. This symbolizes "a premonition of the horrors of World War I and a looming cataclysm" A premonition is a strong feeling that something, usually bad, is about to happen, and I think this piece does a great job at representing that. When it comes to "nature portrayed by art" I think the painting really fits well with the theme. I also really like that the meaning of the painting of portrayed by aspects of nature with the fire in the forest. Nature is really good at representing real life things, like the deer in the burning forest could be seen as that sign, or the premonition that WWI brought to America. I also love the use of nature in pieces like this because it 1. gives credit to the things that weren't created by man and 2. I truly believe that this way, a piece can mean more then you think.