Flixbus carried us from Bruges to Ghent in an hour or so, and a Bolt took us to our hotel, the Ghent Holiday Inn Expo, a couple miles from the old city, but an easy transit on the tram.
The next day we visited the Museum voor Schone Kunsten, MSK, as they call it, Ghent's very fine museum. We've visited a couple times before, both to see the MSK's collection and to have a look at the ongoing restoration of the Ghent Altarpiece. Previous visits to the MSK are: https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2013/06/more-ghent-art.html, and some pix of the Altarpiece in restoration are included in https://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2015/06/ghent-2015.html.
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| The MSK is a large and beautiful facility; above just the entrance |
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| Colin de Cotjer, Adoration of the Magi, 1500 |
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Viennese Master of Mary of Burgundy, Titus' Conquest of Jerusalem,
late 15th |
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| Impressive detail thereof |
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Bosch, Christ Carrying the Cross, 1510-1516; some
claim this is a copy of a lost Bosch; we could really
use Bosch now with his ability to portray hate and
viciousness |
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Bosch, St. Jerome, 1485-1495; authorship never
disputed |
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Now we are outside the glassed-in studio/lab where
the Ghent Altarpiece is undergoing its most recent restoration;
never mind the "no fotos" sign |
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The most recent analysis and restoration have revealed
that some 70% of the polyptych has been over-painted over
the centuries since it was completed in 1432; restoration is
revealing the original incredibly luminous color and detail,
and much more, as we'll see the next day at the cathedral
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| The angelic choir and St. John |
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God, resting; incredible to me how thin the panels
are |
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The angelic organist and choir, undergoing analysis
of some sort; these are all from the upper register; the
lower register was completed a couple years ago and
is now back in the cathedral |
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| Team Rubens, Annunciation, 1577 |
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Melchior de Mars, St. Sebastian Released by the Widow
Irene and her Servant, 1620; all shot up |
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| Martinus van Reymenswale, The Calling of St. Matthew, 1536 |
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Franz Hals, Portrait of a Woman, 1540; by now they
were finally painting oil on canvas in the north, although
wood panels and even metal plates sometimes were used |
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Among several younger Brueghels: Pieter's The Village Lawyer,
1621, original, clever, and very satirical |
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Of course the mainstay of the younger Brueghels was making
copies of dad's work (for which he trained them); dancing can
be such fun (lower right) |
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Antony van Dyck, Jupiter and Antiope, 1620; Jupiter doing what
Jupiter does, namely inseminating unsuspecting females, with his
pet eagle looking on |
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And now for something completely different...in the middle of a
large hall, this installation of an artist/scholar's abode; we were
quite envious; Patrick van Caeckenberg, The Pantalogue... |
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| Vicki peering in, wondering if it could be put on wheels |
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Among my favorites, Alfred Stevens' Mary Magdalene,
1897 |
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And something we may have missed last time, two Georges
Roualts, The Holy Face, 1953 |
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| And Nazareth, 1946 |
