Martin at the Met: Day 27 – 7/11/15: European Decorative Arts (part)

Saturday I drove to New York in the morning, and spent some in Central Park and visiting my nephew, so was at the Met mainly for the evening hours. I had completed the first half of the European Decorative Arts galleries, which is arranged coherently by country: Italian (galleries 500-508), British (509-519), French (522-532), and Spanish (534-535). The remainder is not as clearly organized. I saw a gallery of Rococo items from German-speaking Central Europe (533) followed by a room of Italian Renaissance bronze sculptures (536). The next seven galleries (537-543) are devoted to the Jack and Belle Linsky Collection but were, unfortunately, closed (I feared another section might prove difficult to get into). Next were some additional Wrightsman (French) Galleries (544-547) -- which somehow were separated numerically from the other Wrightsman Galleries (so my notion of always proceeding numerically does not always make sense). These galleries completed the wonderful French collection with some smaller period rooms and miscellaneous objects.

Next was the spectacular Petrie European Sculpture Court (548-549), which provides a dramatic view of the 1888 museum façade. I had been through this court dozens of times getting across the museum, and often stopped at some of the remarkable sculptures, but I had not seen them all. The most striking sculptures depict people in agony, and many of them are featured in the Met’s new “Body Language” audio tour. The centerpiece of this courtyard is “Perseus with the Head of Medusa”. Apparently decapitation used to be considered admirable, even heroic, but one would think with our increased repulsion to this practice that the Met might move it to a less prominent location. I completed the day with a special exhibit on George Caleb Bingham and the River.