Western Art and History - Essay Example

The lower ground floor houses the Greek sculptures, Egyptian mummies, Etruscan art as well as some artifacts dated from Ancient Rome. The upper ground floor holds a collection of ecclesiastical art from the Middle age, carved wooden ceilings, and some tapestries. Upon visiting the first floor, one would see a vast collection of paintings. Special exhibitions are usually displayed on the mezzanine. B. The artwork contained some elements that art critics have found interesting such as the very specific landscape and the water effects ( Kleiner, 2003) .

Indeed, the water effects really showed the expertise of Witz in portraying images in plastic form using contrasting colors and strong shadows. The water seemed so real that accurately reflects the mirror images of the people on the boat as well as the piece of rock on the right side of the painting. The very stark colors in the background complement some of the subjects in the painting: Jesus Christ on the shore and Peter on the water. The vivid red robe of Christ stands out showing his magnificence as compared to the drab wardrobe of Peter struggling in the water.

Another interesting feature of this painting is the fact that Witz used Lake Geneva as the setting of the incident instead of Lake Galilee. This resulted to Witz capturing the real background of Geneva during that time it was painted, as described by Hagen ( 2003 )” mountains can still be clearly identified: on the right, the Petit Saleve, in the middle the Mole Pointu, on the left the tops of the Voirons”. It can also be observed how Witz shows the position of Christ’s head against the mountain backdrop.

The artwork is trying to emphasize Jesus as the figurehead of the church. In addition to that, landscape painting was not yet fully developed that time but the artwork shows how Witz gave justice to the piece. Aside from that