Sunday, October 17, 2021

Petit Palais

We might have skipped the Petit Palais this year, but there was a special exhibition of pre-Raphaelite paintings we wanted to see. The Petit Palais is one of Paris' 14 city museums, and anywhere else would be a city or a nation's major art museum attraction. Thirteen thousand paintings, sculptures, other objects of history and art. For a more thorough introduction, look here, and here and also here. Below I'll focus just on a few things that were new to us. And the pre-Raphaelites.

Petit Palais, built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle, from the top of the
Grand Palais, across Winston Churchill Avenue


And let me take this opportunity to say I think the 
French monument to Churchill is vastly superior to
the one in Parliament Square

Among the many halls of sculpture, furnishings, historic items...

And paintings

Another large, contemporary art exhibition, configurations of
glass beads and bricks...

Not what we came to see





































































































Also not what we came to see, but well worth a look: a whole
hall given to photographs and paintings of the historic Mairies
(city halls) of Paris' 20 districts; here, ours, the 2nd; got to love
the self-regarding city










In a collection of Christian icons from the Mediterranean and
Black Sea areas

Martyrs

Devotional icons with metal covers to protect
the paint

A type of classical drinking vessel we'd not seen 
before

In a hall of classical artifacts

The pre-Raphaelites are from a private collection,
on a five year loan, are shown along with the permanent
collections, which include Steens, a Breughel/Jr., a
Rembrandt selfie, Pedro/Paulo, a Claude, an Ingres,
not to mention all the 19th century Parisian stuff; above,
anyhow, is Waterhouse's Lamia, 1909

Edward Byrne-Jones, King Copethua and the Beggar
Maid

Frederic Leighton, Whispers, 1881

Waterhouse, The Rescue

Lawrence Alma-Tadema, The Betrothal Ring

William Holman Hunt, Il Dolce Far Niente

Rossetti, A Christmas Carol, 1867

So one of our favorites at the Petit Palais is Hector
Guimard's dining room, posted in one of the items
noted above; outside it is a setting of jewelry from,
no less, Fouquet's jewelry store, which we just saw
 at the Carnavalet

Unidentified pre-Raphaelite in the permanent collection

Crossing the Pont Alexandre, looking back at the Grand Palais
(extensive renovation going on)

And now walking in the 7th

To a bonus destination for the day, another of Paris' more famous
market streets

1 comment:

Tawana said...


Ahhh, Rue Cler. Our old neighborhood!