How is Vermeer's Woman Holding a Balance both a genre painting and an allegorical vanitas painting? Describe the iconography of the painting and explain its significance.
What will be an ideal response?
The ideal answer should include:
1. Vermeer's Woman Holding a Balance depicts a woman who holds a balance and contemplates the act of weighing and judging.
2. A painting of the Last Judgment hangs on the wall behind her, highlighting the figure of Christ the Judge directly over her head.
3. This references eternal judgement and possibly reflects the artist's own position as a Catholic living in a Protestant country.
4. The theme of vanitas-the transience of earthly life-is evoked by the gold and pearls on the table that shimmer in the reflected light from the window, inspiring spiritual reflections on the fleeting nature of beauty, youth, and riches.
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What will be an ideal response?
Which musician, largely self-taught, spent the first half of his career as freelance violinist, church organist, and music teacher in a region of England that was some distance from the sophistication of the London metropolis?
A) Charles Stanford B) Edward Elgar C) Ralph Vaughan Williams D) Frederick Delius