Day 26 – 4/19/15: French Decorative Arts

Formal Reception Room from the Hôtel de Tessé, Paris, 1768-72

The next day I went through the far more interesting French decorative arts area, also called the Wrightsman Galleries. These were actual complete rooms, rather than just random objects, as in the British galleries. They focused on the very elaborate Baroque and Rococo styles, the time periods of Versailles and the Louvre. Also in this sequence, I saw the one gallery devoted to Northern Europe, a special exhibit on Hungarian Treasures, and the Spanish patio from the castle of Velez Blanco. In another part of the museum, we saw the special Epic Mbembe Art, and took another look at the room with Peruvian art, since Nathan is now in Peru.

Patio from the Castle of Vélez Blanco, 1506-15

Day 25 – 4/18/15: British Decorative Arts

We spent most of the day at Central Park, which was packed with people on the first real spring day of the year. We were at the Met just a short time, during which time I saw two unimpressive areas: special photography exhibitions entitled "Fatal Attractions" and the next area of Decorative Arts, which was the British section. For whatever reason, after the excitement of Central Park, the old, dark British interiors were a let-down.