by Leila Petty
As a NYC transplant, obviously, one of the first things I did when I arrived was visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as many do when first encountering everything that the city has to offer. In an aura of nostalgia, I began to recall the first time I visited the MET–, I was a junior in high school, caught up in the excitement of touring colleges and figuring out where to go. As I browsed through exhibits, I remember lingering on one specific area that captivated me. The Robert Lehman collection, located adjacent to the circular garden/sitting area, was a seemingly ordinary collection of paintings. As I circled the exhibition, I casually perused the works for something more. I then happened to come upon a painting by the renowned Rembrandt, which was an oddly detailed oil portrait of a man. Though he was posing like many portrait subjects from European paintings of the 1600s, I couldn’t help but notice the abnormalities of his facial structure. After reading the peculiar description of the painting, stating that “Rembrandt directed his unsparing scrutiny to the sitter’s features, disfigured by what was likely congenital syphilis,” I was quite compelled to look into the surrounding paintings’ descriptions. After my more recent visit to the MET and, in turn, to the “In Praise of Painting: Dutch Masterpieces at The Met” exhibit, I have come to the conclusion that many pieces of art that we may tend to skim over actually have very complicated backgrounds, and they are essential to the true understanding of the piece, as well as the history around it.
The exhibit acted as a window into one of my first introductions to “real” history through art–, rather than focus on the broader governmental events or the famous and important public figures, it provided me with insight into the real and dysfunctional lives of the people. Little did I know, Dutch collectors oftentime valued lewd, comical, and casual paintings that depicted the daily life of peasants and common people. For example, the painting “The Dissolute Household” by Jan Steen portrays a family full of gluttony, vanity, lust, and poor parenting as it reproduces a scene from the family’s dinner table. It is clear that the artist has comical intentions behind the piece, and has created it to contribute to a more lighthearted style that we often don’t see in modern times. Another painting from the series, “Kitchen Scene” by Peter Wtewael, paints out the scene of a maid girl and servant boy giggling over meat on a skewer. Erotic and lewd in nature, it provides humorous insight into what daily life might have been like back then amongst the poorer classes.
In general, I found the exhibit to be quite enjoyable, as I had not seen such a classical art style with humorous and casual tones. Though it is less common in other European art, this type of painting is historically a staple in Dutch art. It is very valuable to examine, as it is a clear and visual explanation of much historical content that we don’t often encounter. Before writing this article, I would have suggested that everyone with the ability to visit the MET should check this exhibition out, however, as of September 2023, it is unfortunately no longer on display. Though it is not readily available to view at the MET anymore, exploring artistic styles and trends like these is quite beneficial to our modern day understanding of the ways of society back then.
the paper 