Laura Gougeon

Power and Imagination

Prof. Trimble
May 10, 2016
Art Museum Observational Journal: Part A
A Peasant Family, ca. 1650-1660 by Jean Michelin (French, mid- 17th century)
Describe: This portrait is showing a family of four including two young teen boys, the father and
the mother. All four are wearing very scraggly, ripped and dirty clothing. The woman has a head
piece covering her full head. The man has fairly long hair with a gray beard. The two boys and
the man have the same hat. One of the boys is not wearing shoes and is carrying a wooden basket
on his back. The father figure is leaning against a wooden basket with a dead bird on top of it.
The buildings in the background are run down. The family in the building behind them is
handing up their clothes on a clothesline outside of the building.
Analyze: The coloring tones of this painting is dark and gloomy. The family of four is the main
focus because they are up close in the portrait. The background buildings are also fairly blurry
which makes the family pop out more.Even though the background is blurry and not prominent it
does speak to a lot of what the portrait is trying to portray. The only colors used in this portrait
were different shades of black, white and brown.
Interpret: After looking over the picture a few times, it became very clear that is is a very poor
family. The way that the colors, tones and shading is done, the gloominess shows the sadness of
this poor family. It is evident that this family does not have much money at all due to the very
ripped clothing. Also they look dirty and with the man having a long hair and gray beard you are
able to conclude that they do not have the means to have proper hygiene to keep this family of
four healthy. Also, the background with the cloths line and the run down buildings show that the
the entire community was not wealthy. They were unable to have people do their own laundry
and had to do it themselves and rely on the weather to dry their cloths. With how the kids
appeared as in ripped clothes, no shoes, and sad faces you could tell that they did not go to
school and just worked. This point was also apparent in the way they had the wooden baskets
and the dead bird with them. Not only was this family but the entire community that they lived in
had no power because they were unable to afford new things or even decent cloths or even the
essentials such as shoes or food. This shows how society views poverty, with material objects
such as ripped clothing which is very sad for the fact that not everyone gets equal opportunity to
work especially back in this time period where there very distinct class separation and
discrimination towards everyone who was not wealthy. The portrait shows not only a close bond
between the family but also the community. Berger makes a clear point in the video that we view
and interpret things from our background, knowledge and experiences. This is critical when i
was looking at this picture because I was raised in a very white privileged community that only
cared about material objects and when i interpreted this portrait the first thing i noticed was all of
the material objects that this family was missing which lead me to conclude that they were not

wealthy so they had no power nor did the community. From the assumptions Berger presented in
this statement, Status is one of the most prevalent in this painting. This is because he insured to
make out very clear points that this family was poor from the ripped clothing, to the no shoes, to
the run down buildings in the background. This relates to power because people of little to no
status on the economic scale had no power in society. Another one of Berger's assumptions is
civilization which is clearly portrayed in this oil canvas painting because it it showing a delayed
civilization in this community due to the houses in the background looking run down, the
laundry being dried outside and the wooden work baskets. This closely correlates with power
because no community is able to obtain power if they are not up to date with the rest of society
around them.

Portrait of Pricilla Brown Greenleaf, 1757 by Joseph Blackburn (British, active 1752-1778)
Describe: This is a portrait of a fairly thick woman wearing a silk blue/ green dress. She is also
wearing a dark blue shawl over her dress. The lining of the cleeves and the color of the dress
appear to be white lace. There are pearls that come across the chest of her dress. She has a head
band made of pearls with her hair held up high very tightly. She is very pale with very pink
cheeks, she is leaning against a wooden table. The background is fairly dark with pink traces
throughout.
Analyze:The background is very dark and all meshes together and she herself is very light, clear
and bright that allows her to stand out over everything. She has very soft facial features with very
little facial expressions. Her hands are petite and laid out very elegantly by barely touching her
shawl. There are dark shadings of different objects in the background which allows you to
believe that there is different objects in the background.
Interpret: After looking at the portrait a few times, I was able to conclude that this woman is
very wealthy. Her silk dress with lace and pearls is trying to show of her wealth because in this
time period material objects was what was what made you have power. She Also has very little
facial expression showing she has no worries which proves that she is very wealthy because she
didn't need to think about ways of survival. I also compared Pricilla Brown Greenleaf with Mary
Brown Greenleaf, a relative presumably her sister, and they had very similar complexions in the
face. They were also wearing nearly identical dresses just different colors with the same
hairstyle. After observing Mary you could pick out that the background objects in her portrait
were trees and a sunset as she leans against, what it appears to be, the same as in Pricilla's
portrait. This portrait shows the class and power of the people in wealth. You were not able to
pay for such a superficial object such as a self portrait. The material objects such as her clothing
and accessories show her power by flaunting it to everyone that she is wealthy and can buy
whatever she wants, which in that time era was what was prevalent to show power over the
others. Berger points out in his video that when you buy an oil canvas you are buying more than
just the painting you are also buying what the objects in the painting represents. This is very
clear with the portrait of Pricilla Brown greenleaf because she represents wealth and power in the
society and people want to feel that way all the time. By owning this portrait, an individual is

empowered to try and represent and replicate (accordingly to today's society) the woman in the
painting. Bergers assumptio of Status was portrayed clearly in this portrait by showing the wealth
and power of the woman by her material objects she obtained from her dress to the pearl
accessories to her light and delicate complexion. Also the Assumption of beauty Berger points
out is also clear i this portrait. Blackburn painted this woman with a very soft and light
complexion with very rosy cheeks showing the true and pure beauty of a woma. Also with her
elegant dress and accessories it shows the superficial beauty she obtains of wealth and power by
being able to buy objects to make her stand out and look beautiful.