While we were all forced to take Art History 101 in a shitty, not-endowed-by-fancy-STEM-alumni lecture hall, Hannah Brown got one hell of an intro to this writer’s college minor: She strolled though an empty Mauritshuis gallery in the Netherlands, an oasis for (very expensive) Dutch and Flemish masters. Or rather, Brown weeped through Mauritshuis, as she let Johannes Vermeer’s Girl With the Pearl Earring and, way more pointedly, Master of Frankfurt’s St. Catherine get the best of her before sending Mike home. How could she not be weepy? St. Catherine depicts a sworded-up badass woman, pensively reading scripture, while a bunch of men look like idiots in the background. I believe that’s what my old professor would call “symbolism.â€
“I’ve been here for a little while, and I got to see all the art and stuff, and I’ve never been surrounded by so much beauty. It’s really overwhelming,†Brown explained. “There was this painting, it was like, St. Catherine, and she was holding a sword and a Bible, and there were all these men in the background and they’re all fighting. It really just encompassed everything I’m going through right now.†All that’s missing is some Roll Tide memorabilia.