Down to the wire, with under a month to go, we compiled our final museum
list: Cluny, Trianon at Versailles, Orsay, and a final weekend tbd.
With that settled, we headed out yesterday after yoga to begin
trimming the list. The Musee de Cluny is the Middle Ages museum,
located on the site of the old Roman baths and in a private medieval mansion which proudly stand in the middle of the very
modernized central Paris. Just being able to stroll past Roman ruins and a 15th century mini-palace on your way to find a new pair of shoes: another reason to love
Europe.
The first thing you notice on a trip to the Musée Cluny is the building itself (above image: top left): this museum, housed in the 15th century private mansion (hôtel particulier in French, which does *not* translate as hotel), it's pretty surreal to be standing a medieval courtyard as modern-day Haussmanian Parisian architecture looms over the ancient walls.
Once you walk inside, one of the first rooms is entirely dark, its walls covered in backlit stained glass from a 15th century Gothic hotel (which probably means a mansion-- those French translations can be tricky!). My favorite here was a scene of the devil and his assistant stealing Job's farm animals. Of note was the devil's facial expression (above image: top, second from left): priceless.
One cool feature about this museum is that it was disabled-friendly. It even had special exhibits in many rooms for the blind, including traces of some stained glass scenes with Braille explanations and one of a series of 13th century Parisian sculptures specially reserved exclusively to be touched by blind visitors who'd like to appreciate the art work (above image: top, second to right). Of course, it takes a certain luxury to have so many 13th century sculptures that you can spare one, but still I found the idea very thoughtful and clever.
Among other medieval trinkets, a certain jewelry box caught my eye for its intricate carvings. My initial reaction was surprise that ivory was already available and being carved in Paris by about 1300, when this box was made, since the French didn't colonize the Ivory Coast until nearly 600 years later. Upon closer inspection, I couldn't help but be entertained: on the left of the box (above image: top right), you can spot two medieval people canoodling while riding horse. With such a short life expectancy, I suppose you didn't have a minute to spare! Then again, backwards horseback riding while canoodling might be a contributing factor to such life expectancy...
No medieval collection could be complete without the shining armor of the era's knights. I found a classic iron suit from France, dated to between 1380-1400 (middle left). Gotta love the beak. And while sticking to medieval classics, right alongside that image is one of some very stylish ladies from a larger tapestry (middle, second from left). Especially contrasted against the surrounding monks and nun, these ladies were making fashion statements well before the era of haute couture and catwalks.
You can't discuss a visit to the Musée de Cluny without a nod to its most famous collection, the tapestry series of the Lady and the Unicorn (bottom left), made in the late 1400s and (according to wikipedia) "often considered one of the greatest works of art of the Middle Ages in Europe." The tapestries are displayed wrapped around the walls of a small, very dimly-lit room to give a full 360-degree viewing experience. Five of the six represent the five senses and the final tapestry, which displays the words, "à mon seul désir" (to my only desire) may symbolize love or understanding (again, thanks wikipedia!).
I was struck throughout my visit by how very earthy the people of the middle ages were: though generally not raunchy (at least in what got preserved), they weren't squeamish about the coarser aspects of life. Dying and suffering were portrayed in gruesome detail. The statue of the woman presented a more stomachable illustration of the very "earthy" theme running through the medieval art.
Lest I mislead that medieval art focused overly on worldly themes, consider the two stacked images (bottom, second to right): on display was one very pimped out bible, gilded and covered in carved ivory and precious stones. Beneath this, check out the rings from Popes Paul II and Sixte IV, illustrated alongside other medieval rings to give you some idea of papal bling proportions. Then again, for heavenly topics, there is certainly more than a little earthly pleasure for the possesors of both the jewelry and the book.
But trying to stay on the holier side of things, we've got our aquamanile (bottom right), a water jug designed to hold water for hand washing over a basin during classy meals or church ceremony. And as is only fitting for medieval aquamaniles, or medieval anything, it's in the shape of a unicorn. (What else?) You know, with toys like this, it couldn't be all that bad in medieval times (in between, you know, the plagues and inquisitions and witch hunts). At least you might have gotten to serve your wine or beer from a unicorn fountain. And between the aforementioned plagues and witch hunts and the like, you were probably in need of a drink... especially one from a unicorn fountain.
The first thing you notice on a trip to the Musée Cluny is the building itself (above image: top left): this museum, housed in the 15th century private mansion (hôtel particulier in French, which does *not* translate as hotel), it's pretty surreal to be standing a medieval courtyard as modern-day Haussmanian Parisian architecture looms over the ancient walls.
Once you walk inside, one of the first rooms is entirely dark, its walls covered in backlit stained glass from a 15th century Gothic hotel (which probably means a mansion-- those French translations can be tricky!). My favorite here was a scene of the devil and his assistant stealing Job's farm animals. Of note was the devil's facial expression (above image: top, second from left): priceless.
One cool feature about this museum is that it was disabled-friendly. It even had special exhibits in many rooms for the blind, including traces of some stained glass scenes with Braille explanations and one of a series of 13th century Parisian sculptures specially reserved exclusively to be touched by blind visitors who'd like to appreciate the art work (above image: top, second to right). Of course, it takes a certain luxury to have so many 13th century sculptures that you can spare one, but still I found the idea very thoughtful and clever.
Among other medieval trinkets, a certain jewelry box caught my eye for its intricate carvings. My initial reaction was surprise that ivory was already available and being carved in Paris by about 1300, when this box was made, since the French didn't colonize the Ivory Coast until nearly 600 years later. Upon closer inspection, I couldn't help but be entertained: on the left of the box (above image: top right), you can spot two medieval people canoodling while riding horse. With such a short life expectancy, I suppose you didn't have a minute to spare! Then again, backwards horseback riding while canoodling might be a contributing factor to such life expectancy...
No medieval collection could be complete without the shining armor of the era's knights. I found a classic iron suit from France, dated to between 1380-1400 (middle left). Gotta love the beak. And while sticking to medieval classics, right alongside that image is one of some very stylish ladies from a larger tapestry (middle, second from left). Especially contrasted against the surrounding monks and nun, these ladies were making fashion statements well before the era of haute couture and catwalks.
You can't discuss a visit to the Musée de Cluny without a nod to its most famous collection, the tapestry series of the Lady and the Unicorn (bottom left), made in the late 1400s and (according to wikipedia) "often considered one of the greatest works of art of the Middle Ages in Europe." The tapestries are displayed wrapped around the walls of a small, very dimly-lit room to give a full 360-degree viewing experience. Five of the six represent the five senses and the final tapestry, which displays the words, "à mon seul désir" (to my only desire) may symbolize love or understanding (again, thanks wikipedia!).
I was struck throughout my visit by how very earthy the people of the middle ages were: though generally not raunchy (at least in what got preserved), they weren't squeamish about the coarser aspects of life. Dying and suffering were portrayed in gruesome detail. The statue of the woman presented a more stomachable illustration of the very "earthy" theme running through the medieval art.
Lest I mislead that medieval art focused overly on worldly themes, consider the two stacked images (bottom, second to right): on display was one very pimped out bible, gilded and covered in carved ivory and precious stones. Beneath this, check out the rings from Popes Paul II and Sixte IV, illustrated alongside other medieval rings to give you some idea of papal bling proportions. Then again, for heavenly topics, there is certainly more than a little earthly pleasure for the possesors of both the jewelry and the book.
But trying to stay on the holier side of things, we've got our aquamanile (bottom right), a water jug designed to hold water for hand washing over a basin during classy meals or church ceremony. And as is only fitting for medieval aquamaniles, or medieval anything, it's in the shape of a unicorn. (What else?) You know, with toys like this, it couldn't be all that bad in medieval times (in between, you know, the plagues and inquisitions and witch hunts). At least you might have gotten to serve your wine or beer from a unicorn fountain. And between the aforementioned plagues and witch hunts and the like, you were probably in need of a drink... especially one from a unicorn fountain.
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