Echoes and shapes

I hope readers won't mind one more post about art in Berlin... I've been to the Gemäldegalerie before, but it was before I started this blog, so I want to mention three paintings here with beautiful, detailed landscapes. They each illustrate ways in which shapes and repeated patterns were used to provide harmony and visual interest, linking distant space with details in the foreground. Johann Koerbecke, Christ Carrying the Cross (detail), 1456/57Triangles dominate this first example, by Westphalian painter Johann Koerbecke. The clouds, trees and hillsides share a triangular form that is repeated at different levels of detail. White blossoms and clusters of leaves echo the overall shapes of the trees. The mounds, hillsides and distant mountain vary in colour but rise at similar angles. The sharper peaks of the building spires resemble the taller trees. In the foreground hats, arms, weapons and the angle of heads all follow the compositional scheme. And the cross on Christ's shoulder…