On a Sunday afternoon, I can think of no better activity...

On a Sunday afternoon, I can think of no better activity than to stroll around Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) for the afternoon. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of people who are there for the express purpose of viewing, and hopefully, appreciating art. I have been to LACMA countless times, starting from the time that I was a very young girl, but never before had I gone with a specific assignment to complete - to view LACMA’s collection of Renaissance art in order to compare and contrast pieces in their exhibit to the works of art that we have studied in Humanities class. I will be focusing on Madonna and Child in a Landscape by Cima da Conegliano as well as Portrait of a Man by Petrus Christus and comparing and†¦show more content†¦Portrait of a Man is a detailed representation of an unnamed individual painted with oil on oak panel. Like van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Wedding, Portrait of a Man is rich in vibrant hues, and highly detailed. The af orementioned painting by van Eyck, which is a full length portrait that shows a couple in their home around the time of their marriage, has a more complex composition than Portrait of a Man, and is rich in symbolism. Christus’ piece portrays the individual up close, from the shoulders up, with a black background. While it may have less accompanying detail in the background, the individual is portrayed in a realistic, vibrant detail that is reminiscent of van Eyck’s style. The unnamed man has a serious expression on his face, with what seems to be some facial stubble and bags under his eyes that makes one wonder what it is that is going on with him. Dressed in what appears to be a plush red velvet tunic, it’s almost as if one could reach out and stroke the fabric. I did not get to view the specific Renaissance artists that we covered in class as LACMA does not have in their permanent collection Renaissance artists such as Raphael, van Eyck, Botticelli or Da Vinci. I did however, greatly enjoy viewing their contemporaries and felt that I had done so with a different eye than I had ever done at any previous visits to that museum. Frankly, I would have probably breezed