Jacob De Wit Art Analysis

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After visiting the San Diego Museum of Art on October 3rd, in San Diego, California, one display of art that really stood out to me was a piece by Jacob De Wit called, “An Allegory of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle”. My first response to the painting was amazement. As I walked in to the exhibit, I noticed this piece of art from across the room and it caught my attention immediately. As I continued to approach the artwork, I could not tell if it was a painting or a sculpture until I was standing right in front of it. It was so beautiful. Walking up to a piece of art, assuming it was a carving in the wall, only to realize that it wasn’t; that it was a painting using the effects of shadowing and oil paint to make it appear as if it was a high relief sculpture popping out of the wall. The way the artist played with the …show more content…
This is a term used by contemporaries that plays on the artist’s last name, Wit, which is Dutch for “white”. The political aspect would be the war itself, while the personal connection is that this war in particular involved the homeland of Jacob de Wit. Being a subject that hits so close to his home, he used his passion for art to display a significant turn in his country’s history. This is why the content is most likely being portrayed with witjes- a style he used often when portraying his symbolic work. This painting was done in 1748 and represents the signing of the treaty that ended the War of the Austrian Succession. This allegorical painting shows two children staking a pole in the ground with a hat on the top. Two other children are on either side of them sharing and collecting harvest. There is one other young child with angel wings blowing a horn, who I believe is sounding to the world of the truce that is taking