To better engage with what the rest of this project might entail, I was looking at pieces first that appealed to me, then asking myself why. Unfortunately when it comes to a lot of pieces, it was merely aesthetic fancy. Not that I indeed to disregard any pieces for that reason, I suppose it may just be telling of the value to which I hold appearances (self esteem be damned).
The first piece worthy of mention was a rather fetching sword guard taken from a katana. Appearing pure gold save the black fish swimming in the depicted waves, it was not lost among the rest of ornate sword guards.
I believe it stood out to me because in both colour and design it was one of the simplest.
The second piece that particularly caught my eye was the side of a Korean vase. The design is fairly standard you could say, not that that detracts from its charm.
In fact, walking around the Musem I certainly noticed that my love of the colour blue was undiminished in the two years since I obsessively declard it beautiful.
After wandering for an indeterminate amount of time around the cased artefacts, I found myself back in the original stretch of hall I had entered - containing the complex figurative statues out of marble. An area I feel most comfortable with after having spent due time learning about Greek and Roman legends, many of which providing inspiration for the statues.
After a quick giggle at the (I would say comical) composition of the figures of Thetis and Achilles at the scene of the river Styx, I moved on to one sculpture in particular.
Titled 'Valour and Cowardice', it is part of a set completed by Alfred Stevens. I stood and spent about 45 minutes sketching it in pencil.
You can see clearly that it's not finished - however it was the female figure of Valour which attracted me to the piece and so her that was the priority. Indeed, I find bravery to be an aspect of myself that I highly value; I have had many say 'I could never do that' when talking about many aspects of my life that I've simply had to face. (Then again, for all that I consider myself brave, if there is a spider in the room I hate to be the one to deal with it when a parent is handy.)
It is almost impossible for one to view the piece without the thought of the genders of the figures - in the other piece by Stevens 'Truth and Falsehood' it is also notable that the nobler faculty is represented by a woman, the dishonourable counter part shown to be male.
I honestly like the gender granted to the traits, especially given the historical importance and emphasis given to 'brave men', when historically the women have had to brave just as many (perhaps more in number, some different in nature) hardships.
This line of critical thinking definitely called my sister to mind - and as I had been in contact with her throughout the day it is almost impossible to ignore the fact that I drew the statue to more closely resemble her.
The final drawing of the day was completed shortly before I had to remind my body that yes, my left arm is indeed useful for more things than holding a sketchbook.
The piece, 'Virtumnus and Pomona' by Laurent Delvaux depicts the scene in the story in which Virtumnus, who up until then had been disguised as an old woman, reveals himself to be the young spirit of seasons. It also includes Cupid, seen sitting at Pomona's feet, to better express the situation - that Pomona has decided to finally welcome the advances of her suitor.
I felt that this piece was particularly relevant to my project, as it is about examining the 'true self', the implication being that there might be a false one. This the theme of disguising oneself seemed perfectly fitting. In all variants of the myth, Virtumnus disguises himself to get what he wants (the love of Pomona), and it's impossible to say that you have never changed anything about yourself on order to achieve something. From pretending to like people in order to socialise with their more likeable friends, to smiling at workers despite a foul mood - I alter their perceptions of myself to suit my needs.
Though I don't think I would lie or conceal anything to a degree beyond this, it's certainly true that the person you see is not always a true reflection of the self.
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