I woke up nice and late on Monday morning, at nearly 8:50. I blogged, and wasted some time, but was finally en route to my destination of the Musee Quai Branly, the museum of anthropology which Nick recommended to me. Unfortunately, when I arrived after a nice long walk which took the rest of the morning, I learned it would have been a good idea to verify the museum's horaires, because it isn't open on Mondays! I looked at my map, the ever-useful Paris Pratique, and decided to visit the Musee Jacquemart-Andre instead, which my Mother had wished to visit, and which Giulia, at EDUCO, had recommended to me. Moreover, I had seen a great deal of Metro ads for the temporary exhibition currently on display, on the works of the early Renaissance artist Fra Angelico.
The Musee Jacquemart-Andre is located in a grand old 19th-century bourgeois mansion, and the basis for the collections is the collection of the house's former owners, Edouard Andre and Nelie Jacquemart (see Wikipedia for more information). Photography of any sort is not permitted, but I very much would have liked to have taken a few shots of the apartments. The apartments themselves are quite incredible, decorated just as richly as those of a chateau, and even more lavishly than many of the rooms of the Musee Carnavalet, which had belonged to a Marquise. A great deal of the art in the first few rooms consists of the portraits and busts of various 19th-century bigwigs, about whom I couldn't have cared less. Then, in the corner of the library, are works by David, by Rembrandt, and by Van Dyck. David painted ordinary portraits, it seems, and not just titanic neo-classical canvasses. I was especially pleased by the Rembrandt paintings on display, which, I thought, were more interesting than those at the Louvre: his "Portrait d'Amalia van Solms" was particularly striking. I also found some Titian and Botticelli: just who were these people, capable of purchasing so much art?! At least it all ended up in a museum, rather than being funneled into just another private collection. The ceilings are painted, and even the ordinary objects around the house are somewhat artistic: there was a sugar bowl in the shape of a red cabbage that made me think of Mom, and of her china closet.
I had to wait in a line for several minutes in order to enter the eight-room suite which housed the temporary exhibit on Fra Angelico and his contemporaries. The museum has a nice introductory video, and I had also bought, for just 2 euros, the visitors' guidebook. Fra Angelico was a Florentine Dominican monk, and benefited from the wave of Florentine patronage that stimulated so many artistic achievements in the early 15th century. He painted oil on canvas, but he also painted frescoes and altarpieces, and he illuminated manuscripts. I saw some very beautiful pieces, many of them recently restored: a lot of Madonnas with Children (including the famous one on the Metro posters), crucifixions, martyrdoms, annunciations, scenes with boats and sailors, etc. By the end, Fra Angelico was getting so many commissions that he needed a great deal of assistance in order to fill them all, and before long, many of his assistants, most notably Zanobi Strozzi, began careers of their own.
After a bit more time in the apartments, I realized that I had just enough time to make it to a museum I hadn't yet visited: the National Archives, which close at 5:30 every day. I hopped onto the Metro in order to make it in time (also, I'll admit, because I was somewhat cold by this point), and despite being rather confused in the Marais (3e arrondissement), I managed to make my way to the Archives in time for a 30-minute visit to the permanent collections, which was really all I needed. On display are the neo-classically-designed apartments of the Prince and Princess (Francois de Rohan-Soubise and his wife Anne de Rohan-Chabot), which are OK, but not really worth seeing for themselves. Upstairs though, in the Princess's apartments, are displayed a series of choice documents, each one more startling than the last: a land grant given by Charlemagne, bestowing a portion of Alsace; an official letter of homage sent to Philippe-Auguste; the Edict of Nantes; Moliere's marriage contract; a page from Louis XIV's will (drawn up in 1714); the signed Tennis Court Oath; a page from Napoleon's will; and the Constitution of the 5th Republic. Quite a lot of history to fit in one room! And everyone else was looking at the temporary exhibit!
It's the morning of my last day in Paris, now. I don't want to leave my dorm, because of the rain, but how else am I going to visit the Musee Marmottan and the Musee Quai Branly?
~JD
No comments:
Post a Comment