Frejus Cloister Paintings

The paintings are ceiling shingles, maybe a foot wide and 5 inches high, scores of them, hundreds originally, but many faded beyond recognition. They were done in the mid-14th century, not a good time in some places, but after the worst of the Plague was over. In any case, they are interesting, often amusing, and highly suggestive of what was on the artist's (artists'?) mind(s). I'll just post the best of them in one long e-pistle.

The double-decker cloister; paintings only on the ground floor ceilings

Thus

Taking in the educational video; we had the place to ourselves as usual; except
for a couple nuns

Fascinating place

Frejus Cathedral

We were attracted to Frejus, which is between Cannes and Nice, for its cathedral, said by a guidebook to be very early Gothic, for its octagonal baptistry, and for the paintings in the cathedral cloister. The cathedral is indeed old, started in the 11th, but hardly Gothic. The baptistry was a 5th century recycling of earlier Roman bits, as we saw in Aix. The cloister paintings, next post, are naif, as we say en Francaise, but yield a rich perspective on Medieval life and imagination. Also some mirth.

En pied, admiring the pretty town, eschewing the Roman bits

The cathedral complex

Interesting carvings thereupon

His and hers, evidently

Helpful map #1,140; I can read little French, but I can always find "Vous etes ici"

Up in perhaps the bishop's private chapel...

Helpful model #6,407; color-coded too

The Baptistry

Alas, unlike Aix, you can't go in and have a nosey

But you can see clearly this is not of Medieval origin

Full immersion...

In the newer (13th) nave of the cathedral

Lombard vaulting, not very high

"Oh Lord we beseech thee, Amen"

St. Broomhilde, patron saint of broomsweeps

Tiled steeple

But it was the cloister that really attracted us

Musee d'Art Classique de Mougins

If you have interests in the classical world and in art, then Christian Levett's new (2011) museum in Mougins is for you. It is a one-man collection, like several we have enjoyed, but the quality of the pieces is exceptional and their juxtaposition with modern or contemporary art indeed shows the pervasive and continuing influence of antiquity on art. It is not a scholar's essay on classical and contemporary art, but rather the intersection of unusual collecting interests...and obviously great wealth.

The museum is housed in a Renaissance
building that was totally rebuilt, from within, to
house the collection

Some of the bust collection

Statues and other things virtually unblemished;
a Hadrian (much restored in earlier times)

Massacre of...well, sorry, I didn't get that one

Vicki's favorite, Domitia in the guise of
Demeter (Romans liked to dress-up)

Vicki marvels at the phallus colossus, a votive
offering found in the excavation of the Temple
de Gentalia Enlargimentia near Tivoli

Beautiful floor mosaic

Now on the Egyptian floor

A Chagall with arguably Egyptian origin

From Howard Carter's book; he painted, too

Attributed to Pedro Paulo...

Cocteau...Cocteau and Picasso both did time
in Mougins, adding to its flare

Howard Carter's book...you remember him from Highclere,
right? Downton Abbey?

Back upstairs and some of the best Roman
glass we have seen

Odysseus, Roman, 2nd AD; for you,
Penelope

Mariani's 1998 Transfiguration

Picasso's Four Models and a Bust; wait, no...

On the Greek floor now

A couple of later Picassos

The Venus is a Warhol, the giraffe (with drawers) a Dali

And another Dali

We are now on the arms and armor floor

Which includes the world's largest collection of Roman-era
arms and armor; not our thing, actually, although it was indeed
impressive; like all the rest

An article on Levett; founder of the UK's largest hedge fund;
keep it up Chris!