Why, oh why !?

Why did I ever decide to take three art history classes this semester!? I had vowed never to take more than one per semester since I would rather have more time to study a subject in depth than to take on too much information only to know the subject superficially. I guess I was a bit greedy in choosing to do two majors, but I felt that it was a shame to have so much time invested in school and art history classes not to come out of it with a degree in art history. Everything just seemed to have fallen apart around midterms. With all the extra work in Gothic class, there seemed to be little time for everything else. This semester I felt that I was constantly putting out the fire in one class or another as projects, exams and papers were due and by doing so, dropping the ball on the other classes. It was a real balancing act. No, strike that, it was a real juggling act and I'm the clown. In addition, this year I signed up for the Certificate in Historic Preservation so I have a few more required classes I need to take before I graduate, hopefully, with a degree in Medieval Studies, Art History and a Certificate in Historic Preservation.

On the bright side, today I received an e-mail from the librarian at my school asking for book requests. I reviewed my BookMooch wish list to see if the library had any of the books related to medieval studies that I would be interested in looking into once I have time. To my surprise, they seem to be a really well stocked library. I was able to find two books which they did not have, one of which goes for about $300 on Amazon. I figured it was a good library resource for a student with little pocket money and requested that book as well as another one. The nice librarian e-mailed back saying that they have been ordered. Score! ^_^

Love of learning is the guide of life

I just thought that I should take a needed break from writing my paper for my Early Greek Art class to talk about another Greek related topic, ΦBK. I was inducted into this academic honor society on Sunday (which I almost missed on account of my trip to The Princeton Museum in order to work on my Early Greek Art paper!) and feel fortunate and honored to be a part of this organization. Their motto, "Love of learning is the guide of life", is one which reflects my own love of learning and one which I will happily adopt as my own personal motto.

Back to Greek Art! For my paper, I have chosen an Attic red-figure psykter dating from about 500 B.C. from The Princeton Museum. "What," you might ask, "in the world is a psykter?" And I shall answer you by telling you that a psykter is a wine cooler used at drinking parties, also known as symposiums, attended by men during the ancient Greek period. Wine and water were mixed in a larger krater and the resulting mixture was poured into a psykter. The psykter was then placed into a krater filled with cool water or snow to keep the diluted wine cool. There you have it, ancient refrigeration!

Now there's a Greek who likes his wine!

Class Field Trip: Cloisters

Our Gothic Art professor arranged a field trip to the Cloisters yesterday. Part of the purpose of the trip was to see some of the art works we have been discussing in class (Unicorn Tapestries, Tapestries of the Nine Worthies, the Book of Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux, and the Merode Altarpiece [which we will discuss later in class]); the other reason for the trip was so that each student could choose an object on which to write a paper. I chose the "Psalter and Hours of Bonne of Luxembourg" who was the Duchess of Normandy. The manuscript is small, measuring about 3" x 5" (76 mm x 127 mm) and the painting is exquisite; I love the delicately painted birds scattered among the colorful and leafy vines of the marginalia (I counted about fourteen of them, each one different than the other); the bunny in the lower right of the frame is also très adorable!). It is really incredible how the details in the minuscule faces were painted; the precision and control of the artist(s) is beyond belief--the book must have been painted with a magnifying glass and an eyelash!

I wish I could have gotten a better image, but it is really difficult to take a picture of a book behind glass. The scene on the top seems to be King David (who is typically depicted with a lyre; a very appropriate subject since this is a psalter and many of the psalms are attributed to him) with two other figures who are also holding instruments. The bottom depicts the same David, but captures a scene from his youth just at the moment when the stone has left his hand and is about to hit the Philistine giant Goliath (note the sway and elongation of Goliath's body which are characteristics of the International Gothic Style)