In this class, we talked about Vittore Carpaccio’s scenes from the Life of St. Ursula: Arrival of the English Ambassadors and St. Ursula with her Father. Although we have talked about the interaction between the viewer and the painting before, I was interested in the unique ways the painting invited the viewer to gaze into the scene and become a part of it. The way the subjects in the painting lean into the railing, combined with the openings in the railing, allow the viewer to perceive it intimately. This, combined with the depth in the painting, and the opening on the other side of the painted building continues this illusion, showing the ship and other civilians in the backdrop. Additionally, we talked about Joos van Ghent’s The Communion of the Apostles. The painting, which presents an impossible situation of Christ giving communion before or not during the Last Supper, is paired with a predella by Paolo Ucello. The collaboration was interesting to me, but I’m curious to see how the antisemitic imagery functions with the piece. Typically, we discussed that predellas were meant to give context to a piece, but besides adding antisemitism themes to a piece that otherwise didn’t feel like it had a message that was antisemitic – although it may help to facilitate our discussion into the shift into this kind of imagery. The last concept that I’m excited to explore further was our discussion of Johnson’s opinion that altarpieces like Raphael’s painting were both secular and not, as they were painted for Churches, but contained messages and themes exclusive to the patron’s experience and specifications.