homeschool perks

I took Tessa to visit the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (highlighted above). This is a Museum that has over 700 paintings of the old masters. Going to a gallery like this is a great way to learn about History, Criticism and themes in Western civilisation, Biblical studies and Christian History. Everytime I am able to do something like this, I wish I could do more of it.

Tessa and I definitely seem to like the gruesome and tragic. My favorite is this one by Holbein - "The Martydom of St. Sebastian". The artist doesn't matter to me as much as the subject of the painting. It's a scene that many artists have tried to capture, and I think in all of them the focus is on the expression of Sebastian. It raises in me the question of how well does he endure his suffering? He suffers but he does not despair.

Tessa's favorite was "The Last Judgment" by Paul Rubens. It's over 18 feet tall. When they built the museum around 1830, they designed this room specifically for this painting. Tessa's comment about the painting. "It's big and real." Of course at that time the judgement was for all those outside of the catholic church, and we still feel the results of that today.