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| Staircase from Cassiobury House, Hertfordshire, attributed to Edward Pearce, ca 1677-80 |
As I noted in my last entry, the reimagined British Decorative Arts galleries were expected to open in another month, which indeed occurred on March 2, 2020. Then 11 days later the entire museum (and essentially the whole country) closed for the COVID pandemic. This was our first day in New York since then, and we spent two days at the Met catching up. The new British Galleries were indeed more interesting and informative than the old. Everything is arranged by century from 1500 to 1900, with historical context, from Henry VII’s break with the Catholic Church around 1500 through the growth of the British Empire to the beginning of modern times. The museum floor plan works nicely, as the chronology starts just off the Medieval section and ends just outside the American Wing. An added bonus is a new audio guide, one of the Met’s few audio guides still available on smartphones for free.
