Emily Hannak - Museum Piece

“The Brazen Serpent” is an oil on canvas piece from 1736 by artist Giovanni Domenico Ferretti. The painting shows several men in the foreground wounded or in pain on the ground with vipers around or on their bodies. A tall, dead tree looms above them holding a coiled serpent that is meant to represent Satan and sin. In the center is an old man, identified as Moses by the engraving on the golden frame, bathed in much more light than the people around him to signify his goodness and his importance. He is warding off those around him away from the snake; they are reaching for the snake as a representation of the temptation of sin, and are painted in a dim, off-green light with crazed expressions in their eyes and on their faces. The scene is an interpretation of a bible story depicting the good and heavenly protecting mankind from evil and pain. I was drawn to this piece because the era it came from has always interested me. The works are always so vivid, colorful, detailed, life-like, and always hold some degree of importance or higher meaning. This painting was instantly intriguing because it had the clearest message amongst the other similar but cryptic paintings in the room, as well as a powerful story and message. To me, this painting is absolutely an example of art. Compared to most purposeless and ugly modern or expressionistic “art”, Ferretti’s piece is practically a masterpiece; modern art fails to convey any importance or emotion at all to me, while “The Brazen Serpent” manages to instill a sense of fear from the insane eyes of the man Moses is pushing out of the way, or being able to recognize pain in the faces of the men on the ground. To me, artworks like these are precisely what I imagine when I hear the word “art”. The location of the canvas, however, does not do it justice. It is physically further away from the rest of the collection, and is literally behind and overshadowed by the alcove it is shoved into in order to emphasize another, larger piece in front of it. It Is also not as well lit, and was actually difficult to see some details in the shadows. I feel this work should be given a more prominent space where it can be appreciated deservedly. Apart from the small alcove it is shoves into, it fits into the room’s exhibit wonderfully, and is a worthy addition.