Joann Vermeer's A Woman Holding A Balance

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Joann Vermeer painting “A Woman Holding a Balance was also known as “Woman Weighing Gold”, but later on it was proven that the balance in her hands was empty. A Woman Holding a Balance painting was part of the largest collections of Vermeer’s work. Vermeer has depicted a young woman holding an empty balance before a table on which stands an open jewelry box, the pearls and gold within spilling over. A blue cloth rests in the left foreground, beneath a mirror, and a window to the left — unseen save its golden curtain — provides light. Behind the woman is a painting of the Last Judgment featuring Christ with raised, outstretched hands (Huerta, 2005).
Frederick Childe Hassam painting Boston Common at Twilight was in the mid-1880s and was perceive …show more content…

Hassam was a young painter when he completed Boston Common at Twilight during the 19th century (Impressionism) while Vermeer painting A Woman Holding a Balance was from the 17th century (Baroque Art); which was around the time of The Dutch Golden Age painting. Vermeer’s work is symbolic and how we live carrying out of temptations and self-control. The painting gives an “important clue in that Christ's Last Judgment is echoed by the woman's own actions” (Google, 2017). In other words “the Last Judgment was seen as a warning that the woman should not be distracted by weighing earthly goods, but focus on eternal values” (Janson, 2017). The painting is secularized image of the Virgin Mary, who standing before the Last Judgement. In a Catholic viewer, it is an anticipation of Christ’s life, his sacrifice, and the eventual foundation of the Church (Janson, …show more content…

This gave the painting a sense of light and color. His work showed his knowledge of both French and English art theory. He adopted the work of modern rural landscapes. The colors consist of mainly dark plain colors such as various shades of browns, blacks, and greys. On one side you see the fast pace while on the other is the clam snowy park. Hassam uses these two scenes to show his interest contemporary subjects and in different kinds of light allies the painting with Impressionism; while showing Hassam gentle vison of the city, nature humanizes the modern world (Davis, 2003).
Reference
1. Davis, Elliot B et al., American Painting [http://www.mfashop.com/9020398034.html], MFA Highlights (Boston: MFA Publications, 2003)
2. Google. Woman Holding a Balance https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/asset/-wHFDKu7-mhjtQ?hl=en
3. Hiesinger, Ulrich W. (1994), Childe Hassam: American Impressionist, New York: Prestel-Verlag Publishing, p. 13, ISBN 3-7913-1364-9
4. Huerta, Robert D. (2005). Vermeer and Plato: Painting the Ideal. Bucknell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8387-5606-5. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
5. Janson, Jonathan. 2017. Woman Holding a Balance. http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/woman_holding_a_balance.html#.WPpeKdIrLIU
6. National Art Gallery (NAG). 2017 http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.1236.html
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