Moonlit Landscape with Bridge

by:  Aert van der Neer

https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.71369.html

Format: 3 double-spaced, and numbered pages (no more than 750 words) in 12-point New York Times font. 

Include the following items in your paper.

1. Your paper must have an original title that expresses your  main point or thesis.
2. Information about the work:   artist, title, date, medium, etc. 
3. Provide a good illustration of your work.  Put the illustration at the end of the paper, not embedded in your text.

Formal analysis does not mean simply describing what you see in a work of art, although description is a part of it. Analysis means looking at the work of art to try to understand what the painting expresses in terms of an idea or emotion. This will be your thesis statement. 

Take notes on the subject and the formal elements and integrate your observations of three elements into the paper: 

: notice how each work is painted and in what medium. Oil painting allows for glazes and invisible brushwork. You will see brushstrokes in tempera and in some of the later mannerist works. What is the effect of the brushwork? 

: what hues do you see? Is the color flat, warm, cool, harmonious, natural or unnatural, bright, etc. what is the effect of these colors?

: is the painting flat and shallow or does it have the illusion of depth, with linear perspective and/ or chiaroscuro? How does space create a specific visual effect?

: how are the figures and other elements arranged? What is the effect of this arrangement? How are they posed? 

: high contrast, subtle, natural, artificial, soft, harsh, etc. What effect or mood does the light create?

: consider the scale of the work and its significance. Is the work small and intimate or large and monumental? How does scale contribute to the work’s meaning?