Sunday, August 4, 2013

Wallace Collection Paintings

A couple of days before Rebecca and Penelope arrived--Bastille Day, I like to think--we visited the Wallace Collection, a London museum we'd not seen before. The usual line about the Wallace, which is true, is that if it were located in any place but a London, Paris, Rome, or maybe Madrid, it would be the main show in town. But, alas, it is in London, and so stands in the shadows of the National Gallery, the Tates, V&A, BM, and more. It still gets its share of visitors, however, and, from what I saw and heard (we did a tour before indulging ourselves on our own), far more than its share of the discerning ones. We were there for the paintings, but the Wallace exhibits far more than paintings...sculpture, ceramics, textiles, furniture, weaponry.... I'll do a second post on some of the "other" stuff.
Velasquez' Lady with a Fan


















Murillo's Adoration














Titian's Perseus and Andromeda














Van Dyke's Man and Best Friend


















Obligatory Rembrandt Self-Portrait





















Rubens' Jesus Charging Peter: how much did he charge,
I wonder? The Papacy alone would have been worth
billions, gazillions...





















There were many French 18th century works; here, Fragonard's
The Swing





















Fragonard's The Scholar














And his The Schoolmistress














And a number of Watteaus...here, Gilles and Family















Watteau's The Music Party














Jan Steen's The Alchemist; one of many Steens



















Franz Hals' Laughing Cavalier




















A whole room of Canalettos














I never miss a Claude Lorrain...here, Mercury fooling around with Apollo...

















Delacroix's Faust and Mephistopheles




















And, finally, Poussin's Dance to the Music of Time



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