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  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the American wing of the Allentown art museum is a small painting that hits really close to home. It is called the View on the Lehigh River above Mauch Chunk. This is a genre scene that shows a small homestead in the foreground of a landscape of the Lehigh River. It was painted in 1862. View on the Lehigh River shows what life may have been like living along the Lehigh during that time. Critics have said his work â€Å"looks as European as it does American† (Gstavus1).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Down the hall in the European wing a painting by Aert van der Neer called River Landscape by Moonlight. It is a small dark painting that is so faint in contrasting colors that the viewer must get very close to it and squint in order to make out all of the objects in the scene. As the title suggests the painting depicts a river landscape, not common for the time. However, in his depiction the river is only visible as the light from the moon is reflecting off of it. The painting is undated, as are most of his works. It’s estimated that van der Neer was born between 1603 and 1604 and it is known that he died in 1677. Analyzing and comparing the two pieces, the viewer can recognize many similarities with in the two. The differences are evidently due to the amount of time that had elapsed between when the two painting were completed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When the viewer approaches River Landscape by Moonlight by a Dutch artist during the Baroque period, the first impression is made by the artist’s use of light. It is not uncommon to wonder where the faint light is coming from. A closer inspection will reveal that it is the moon peaking out of the cloud filled sky. The moonbeam’s shimmering light directs the viewer down the river, the reflection silhouettes two late night fishermen in the foreground. The river appears to be the brightest as it fades into the horizon underneath by the moon giving the painting great depth. The rivers contours are outlining by the moonlight reflecting off the water, illuminating the river banks ever so faintly. Moving into the shadows on the near bank of the river is a small house; its window pane catches the moonlight and sends it to the viewer. The space hidden in the shadows that contain the house and the wooden are behind it have