Name: _____________________________
YHS MFA Field Trip Overview Guide
These two sculptures come from about the same time
period during the Old Kingdom of Egypt.
Compare and Contrast these two statues:
Which provides a more realistic portrayal of human
features?
Describe two specific characteristics to support your
choice:
Speculate on the possible purpose of each statue:
Bust of Prince Ankhhaf
Egyptian, Old Kingdom, Dynasty 4, reign of Khafre
(Chephren), 2520–2494 B.C.
Findspot: Giza, Egypt
Height: 50.48 cm (19 7/8 in.)
Painted limestone
King Menkaure (Mycerinus) and queen
Egyptian
Old Kingdom
Dynasty 4, reign of Menkaure, 2490 - 2472 B.C.
Greywacke
Height x width x depth: 142.2 x 57.1 x 55.2 cm (56 x 22 1/2
x 21 3/4 in.)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Harvard University “Boston
Museum of Fine Arts Expedition 11.1738
Greece and Rome have provided the basis for many of
our modern conceptions of beauty and human frailty.
These two sculptures represent these attributes.
Describe three attributes of Aphrodite that are meant
to highlight her beauty:
Aphrodite ("The Bartlett Head" )
Greek, Late Classical or Early Hellenistic Period, about
330–300 B.C.
Place of Manufacture: Athens, Attica, Greece
Height: 28.8 cm (11 5/16 in.)
Parian marble
By the time the “Bust of a Man” was created both
Greece and Rome had lost some of their idealism.
What three adjectives might you use to describe the
man:
Describe specific features to justify your choices.
Bust of a man
Roman, Late Republican Period, about 50 B.C.
Height: 35.7 (14 1/16) in.); depth: 18 cm (7 1/16 in.)
Terracotta
Classification: Sculpture
This life-size portrait of a man was made around a mask,
which accounts for the individualized features of a mature
man. It was skillfully retouched by the artist, who added
clay and used modeling instruments-most obviously in the
hair and the pupils of the eyes. It may have been a study for
a marble or bronze bust.
Buddhism in China did not develop a strong foothold
until about 100 CE, nearly 600 years after the death of
Buddha. Buddhism merged with local ancestor
worship and Confucian practices.
These two statues are of Bodhisattvas, Buddhists who
have reached enlightenment and chosen to help others
also reach enlightenment.
In China, people often prayer and make offerings to
Bodhisattvas in the hope of receiving blessings in this
world.
How do these reflect Buddhist qualities?
Guanyin, Bodhisattva of Compassion
北周或隋石雕觀音立像
Chinese, Northern Zhou or Sui dynasty, about 580 A.D.
249 x 71 x 71 cm (98 1/16 x 27 15/16 x 27 15/16 in.)
Carved limestone with traces of polychrome and gilding
Classification: Sculpture
Type, sub-type: Figure
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912, 1915
Accession number: 15.254
Alterpiece of the Western Paradise
Chinese, Sui dynasty, dated A. D. 593 (13th year of the
Kaihuang era)
76.5 cm (30 1/8 in.)
Bronze, Classification: Metalwork
Type, sub-type: Altarpiece
Accession number: 47.1407
Provenance/Ownership History: Bought for the MFA by
Edward Jackson Holmes in 1947. Previously loaned to the
MFA by Mrs. Christopher Powell and Mrs. Charles
Rutherston, January 1, 1945. Left China shortly before the
Revolution. Owned in China by Viceroy Duan Fang until
his death in 1911. Excavated in the vicinity of the Zhaozhou
Bridge, circa 1900.
Is there anything you find surprising or interesting
about them considering what you know about
Buddhism?
Renoir is one of the great Impressionist painters.
Why do you think this style is called Impressionists?
What are the subjects of this painting (keep this in
mind as you explore other galleries and works of art)?
Chose one more painting in this room that you like
and write down the Title, Artist and why you like it.
Dance at Bougival
1883
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French, 1841–1919
181.9 x 98.1 cm (71 5/8 x 38 5/8 in.)
Oil on canvas
Classification: Paintings
Type, sub-type: Genre - Exterior
The open-air cafés of suburban Bougival, on the Seine
outside Paris, were popular recreation spots for city
dwellers, including the Impressionist painters. Renoir, who
was primarily a figure painter, uses intense color and lush
brushwork to heighten the sense of pleasure conveyed by
the whirling couple who dominate the composition. The
woman's face, framed by her red bonnet, is the focus of
attention, both ours and her companion's.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Picture Fund, 1937
Accession number: 37.375
Provenance/Ownership History: Please note: The history of
ownership is not definitive or comprehensive, as it is under
constant review and revision by MFA curators and
researchers.
April 16, 1883, deposited by the artist with Durand-Ruel,
Paris; 1886, sold by the artist to Durand-Ruel, Paris [see
note 1]; February, 1886, transferred to Durand-Ruel, New
York; September, 1891, transferred back to Paris; January
2, 1894, sold by Durand-Ruel, Paris to Félix-François
Depeaux (b. 1853 - d. 1920), Rouen; May 31 - June 1, 1906,
Depeaux sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, lot 38 to
Depeaux's brother-in-law, Edmond Décap, Paris; by descent
to Maurice Barret-Décap, Biarritz, France; 1937, sold by
Barret-Décap, possibly through Anthony H. Manley, Paris
[see note 2] to the dealers Paul Brame (b. 1898 - d. 1971)
and César de Hauke (b. 1900), Paris, for Jacques Seligmann
et Fils, Paris [see note 3]; March 19, 1937, transferred from
Seligmann, Paris, to Jacques Seligmann and Co., New
York; April, 1937, sold by Seligmann, New York, to the
MFA for $150,000. (Accession Date: May 5, 1937)
Chose one more painting in this room that you like
and write down the Title, Artist and why you like it.
Ganesha is a very popular Hindu God often placed to
welcome guests at an entrance to a house.
Every Hindu God has an animal for transportation.
Ganesha’s is a rat.
The female statue adorned a Shiva temple entrance.
What are some of the characteristics these two statues
share?
Ganesha with His Consorts
Indian, early 11th century
Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan, Northern India
105.09 cm (41 3/8 in.)
The elephant-headed god, Ganesha sits in a posture of ease
with a consort on each knee. He is rotund, with swollen feet
and hands. His rat appears below.
Accession number: 1989.312
Torso of a fertility goddess (yakshi), from the Great Stupa
at Sanchi
Indian, Sunga period, 25 B.C.–A.D. 25
Madhya Pradesh, Central India
72.07 cm (28 3/8 in.)
Torso of a female figure bending to one side. The figure
wears a necklace and elaborate beaded belt. Both arms are
now void, but it is clear that one arm was raised above the
figure's head while the other was pendant. One leg crosses
in front of the other, though both are now void at mid-thigh.
On the reverse, the figure's braided hair and elaborate
jewelry are carved in low relief. The figure appeared toward
the top of one of four stone gateways (toranas) leading to
the Great Stupa at Sanchi. It formed a bracket between two
horizontal elements and one of the torana posts. There were
two large and at least two smaller female figures per
gateway, but few survive, with only one or two still in situ.
Arts, Boston
Accession number: 29.999
How do they differ from other religious artwork that
you are familiar with?
These two images represent the deeply religious
nature of art from the middle ages.
Notice how the more realistic portrayal in “Saint
Luke’s Drawing the Virgin” compared to “Christ in
Majesty with Symbols of the Four Evangelists.”
Describe one particularly realistic component of the
painting:
Describe one component that is still not realistically
painted:
Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin, about 1435–40
Rogier van der Weyden, Flemish, about 1400–1464
137.5 x 110.8 cm (54 1/8 x 43 5/8 in.)
Oil and tempera on panel
This is among the most important northern European
paintings in the United States. In it Rogier exquisitely
combined the Gothic legacy of stylized patterning with a
new sense of naturalism. He did not, however, merely
replicate the world around him, but manipulated details to
create an intricate program of symbols. For example, the
enclosed garden in this painting refers to the Virgin's purity
while the carved figures of Adam and Eve on the arms of
the throne symbolize Christ's and Mary's roles in redeeming
humankind from original sin. Rogier may have modeled
Saint Luke's features
Christ in Majesty with Symbols of the Four Evangelists
1150–1200
Unidentified artist, Spanish (Catalan), 12th century
645 x 382 x 282 cm (253 15/16 x 150 3/8 x 111 in.); 645
cm (254 in.) at greatest height; 282 cm (111 in.) at greatest
depth; 382 cm (150 3/8 in.) at greatest breadth.
Fresco secco transferred to plaster and wood
12th century, apse of Santa Maria de Mur, Lérida, Spain
(original commission); 1919, frescoes sold by the rector of
the church to Ignasi Pollak, removed from the church, and
sold by Pollak to Luís Plandiura (b. 1882 - d. 1956),
Barcelona [see note 1]; 1921, sold by Plandiura, through
Rafael J. Bosch, New York, to the MFA for $92,100.
In “Christ in Majesty with Symbols of the Four
Evangelists” the animals that surround Christ are
symbols. Guess what they symbolize:
Winslow Homer is a famous American painter who
often painted scenes from the Maine coast.
What does this image suggest about man’s
relationship with nature?
The Fog Warning, 1885
Artist: Winslow Homer, American, 1836–1910
7.83 x 123.19 cm (30 1/4 x 48 1/2 in.)
Oil on canvas
Winslow Homer made his reputation in the 1860s with
images of the Union troops during the Civil War and of the
returning veterans afterward. In the late 1860s and 1870s he
turned to lighter subject matter and found an equally
enthusiastic audience for his paintings of healthy, handsome
children playing in the country or at the seashore, and of
adults enjoying leisure time pursuits. However, perhaps
feeling the need for greater seriousness in his art, Homer
spent 1881-82 in Cullercoats, England. Both a fishing
village and an artists' colony, Cullercoats provided Homer
with new, more profound themes: the arduous lives of
fishermen and their families. Shortly after returning to the
United States late in 1882, he settled in Prout's Neck,
Maine, similarly both a fishing community and in summer a
pleasant resort, where he painted the local population and
their work. Fog Warning is one of three paintings he
produced at Prout's Neck in 1885 describing the lives of the
North Atlantic fishermen.
Like many of his 1870s images featuring farm children, Fog
Warning is a story-telling picture. However, its story is
disturbing rather than charming. As is indicated by the
halibut in his dory, the fisherman in this picture has been
successful. But the hardest task of the day, the return to the
main ship, is still ahead of him. He turns to look at the
horizon, measuring the distance to the mother ship, and to
safety. The seas are choppy, and the dory rocks high on the
waves, making it clear that the journey home will require
considerable physical effort. But more threatening is the
approaching fog bank, whose streamers echo-even mockthe fisherman's profile. Contemporary descriptions of the
fishing industry in New England make clear that the
protagonist's plight-the danger of losing sight of his vesselwas an all-too-familiar one.
The dramatic tension of Fog Warning is all the greater
because Homer does not specify the fisherman's fate.
However, Homer's Lost on the Grand Banks, another
painting in the series, shows that the fishermen's peril was a
deadly one. An account from the 1876 history The Fisheries
of Gloucester of the insidious horrors to which the
fishermen were prey could well have served as a description
of Fog Warning: "His frail boat rides like a shell upon the
surface of the sea…a moment of carelessness or inattention,
or a slight miscalculation, may cost him his life. And a
greater foe than carelessness lies in wait for its prey. The
stealthy fog enwraps him in its folds, blinds his vision, cuts
off all marks to guide his course, and leaves him afloat in a
measureless void."
How does Homer create sympathy for the fisherman?
In this early American painting Copley is attempting
to demonstrate both the strength and equality of
America’s early leaders.
What in this image suggests strength?
What in this image suggests equality.
Paul Revere
1768
John Singleton Copley, American, 1738–1815
89.22 x 72.39 cm (35 1/8 x 28 1/2 in.)
Oil on canvas
Classification: Paintings
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Gift of Joseph W. Revere, William B. Revere and Edward
H. R. Revere, 1930
Accession number: 30.781
Provenance/Ownership History: The artist; descended in
family to John Revere, the sitter's grandson, Boston, by
1873; to Mrs. John Revere, Canton, Mass., by 1915; to
Joseph W. Revere, William B. Revere and Edward H. R.
Revere; to MFA, 1930, gift of Joseph W. Revere, William
B. Revere and Edward H. R. Revere.