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![RiO [de Janeiro] night wallpaper](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/56b90c1c-8aac-4748-b436-8cfc0479b74c/d4ww90e-768673ab-dcbb-4a36-9ec0-e88ee83c997a.jpg/v1/crop/w_92,h_92,x_14,y_0,scl_0.087619047619048,q_70,strp/rio__de_janeiro__night_wallpaper_by_pawppy_d4ww90e-92s.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9NTYzIiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvNTZiOTBjMWMtOGFhYy00NzQ4LWI0MzYtOGNmYzA0NzliNzRjXC9kNHd3OTBlLTc2ODY3M2FiLWRjYmItNGEzNi05ZWMwLWU4OGVlODNjOTk3YS5qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9OTAwIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmltYWdlLm9wZXJhdGlvbnMiXX0.nIlVp4qdj66QymWVQ1Sfu6-kFO1shkQXiSViGJQ4-rQ)
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Pop quiz for art students!
SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS:
1. How many different directional light sources are present in this picture?
2. Given the number and position of the directional light sources you've identified, would you say this scene is set on Earth? Why or why not?
3. It's late afternoon. Why are the gas lamps lit?
4. It's a warm afternoon. Why do these householders have a fire in every fireplace?
5. To the best of your ability, estimate the size of these cottages, then estimate the number of livable rooms per floor. Judging from the chimneys visible in the picture, what is the average number of fireplaces per room?
6. Find a photo of a real village whose inhabitants all use wood- or coal-burning stoves. How many chimneys in that village are sending up identical plumes of smoke?
7. Is this a picture of a lake, or a moving watercourse?
8. How many times a year do these cottages flood?
9. Enlist a friend who's good at gardening to help you identify the flowers, shrubs, and trees in this painting. Working from these clues, and from other clues like all the ducks being adults, try to determine what month this painting is supposed to be taking place. Show your work.
ESSAY QUESTIONS:
10. In the real world, the "every window pane like beaten gold" effect is produced by near-sunset reflections of the sun and sky. Please explain how the effect is being produced here, given that (a.) this planet's primary sun is low in the sky, and is located somewhere off to the left of the painting; (b.) its secondary sun is high overhead, as witness the dappling on the grass; and (c.) few if any of the windows are at identical angles to the viewer and the hypothetical gold-colored light source.
11. The path along the bank is too narrow for conventional vehicles. What mechanisms you can think of that might have left those parallel ruts in it?
12. Do you think it's a coincidence that the path along the bank is the same width as a sidewalk, and that the spatial relationship of the houses to the "lake" matches the spatial relationship between suburban houses and suburban streets? Have you ever noticed that almost all of the picturesque watercourses in Thomas Kinkade's paintings have the same positions and proportions as the streets in suburban housing developments, and that if you strip the houses of their thatching, small-paned bow windows, nonfunctional chimneys, and other twee details, they look an awful lot like suburban tract housing?
13. As a matter of policy, Thomas Kinkade never sold his originals. How much do you suppose art experts could tell about Kinkade's methods of composition if they were allowed to examine those originals?
14. Some of Thomas Kinkade's paintings contain substantial areas that exactly comparable areas of other paintings, right down to the brushstrokes and tiny stray blobs of color. Is this evidence that Thomas Kinkade was a really good artist?
EXTRA CREDIT:
Thomas Kinkade styled himself "the painter of light". What, then, do other artists paint? (Hint: one word, five letters, one vowel; rhymes with "bite".)
SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS:
1. How many different directional light sources are present in this picture?
2. Given the number and position of the directional light sources you've identified, would you say this scene is set on Earth? Why or why not?
3. It's late afternoon. Why are the gas lamps lit?
4. It's a warm afternoon. Why do these householders have a fire in every fireplace?
5. To the best of your ability, estimate the size of these cottages, then estimate the number of livable rooms per floor. Judging from the chimneys visible in the picture, what is the average number of fireplaces per room?
6. Find a photo of a real village whose inhabitants all use wood- or coal-burning stoves. How many chimneys in that village are sending up identical plumes of smoke?
7. Is this a picture of a lake, or a moving watercourse?
8. How many times a year do these cottages flood?
9. Enlist a friend who's good at gardening to help you identify the flowers, shrubs, and trees in this painting. Working from these clues, and from other clues like all the ducks being adults, try to determine what month this painting is supposed to be taking place. Show your work.
ESSAY QUESTIONS:
10. In the real world, the "every window pane like beaten gold" effect is produced by near-sunset reflections of the sun and sky. Please explain how the effect is being produced here, given that (a.) this planet's primary sun is low in the sky, and is located somewhere off to the left of the painting; (b.) its secondary sun is high overhead, as witness the dappling on the grass; and (c.) few if any of the windows are at identical angles to the viewer and the hypothetical gold-colored light source.
11. The path along the bank is too narrow for conventional vehicles. What mechanisms you can think of that might have left those parallel ruts in it?
12. Do you think it's a coincidence that the path along the bank is the same width as a sidewalk, and that the spatial relationship of the houses to the "lake" matches the spatial relationship between suburban houses and suburban streets? Have you ever noticed that almost all of the picturesque watercourses in Thomas Kinkade's paintings have the same positions and proportions as the streets in suburban housing developments, and that if you strip the houses of their thatching, small-paned bow windows, nonfunctional chimneys, and other twee details, they look an awful lot like suburban tract housing?
13. As a matter of policy, Thomas Kinkade never sold his originals. How much do you suppose art experts could tell about Kinkade's methods of composition if they were allowed to examine those originals?
14. Some of Thomas Kinkade's paintings contain substantial areas that exactly comparable areas of other paintings, right down to the brushstrokes and tiny stray blobs of color. Is this evidence that Thomas Kinkade was a really good artist?
EXTRA CREDIT:
Thomas Kinkade styled himself "the painter of light". What, then, do other artists paint? (Hint: one word, five letters, one vowel; rhymes with "bite".)