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I took A. today to see this exhibit:
http://www.stlouis.art.museum/napoleon/
Admitance for those under six was free; the cashier clearly believed I was lying when I told him A. was 4.
As you can see at that link above, the poster for the exhibit featured the Lefebvre portrait of Napoleon in court dress, so I was very surprised to see this:
Did the promoters miss the signficance of it? As I told A.(not that he comprehended), this is undoubtedly the most important painting that has ever been displayed in St. Louis. There are no words to describe its technical virtuosity.
They also had Gros'painting of Eylau:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Gros_-_Napoleon_on_the_Battlefield_of_Eylau.png
Most of the material, however, was houshold items from Josephine's personal suite at Fountainebleau. The bed fixtures were swan themed, the iconography of the other material was derived from the story of Cupid and Psyche in Apuleius. There has rarely been such good taste.
We were constantly interfered with by a tour group with a guide giving them the most trivial information. Unbeleivably, they were French. Why would they come here to see this? I would hardly have believed they were French without hearing the language--they were dressed no differntly than Americans.
Almost everyone there was walking around with somehting like a cell phose pressed up to their ears, evidently telling them oversimplified facts and politically correct interpretations of the objets they were seeing. The docent took it amiss when I refused them for myself and A. I suppose she couldn't imagine anyone understanding the exhibition from his own knowledge.
At the end they had stuffed toy swans (about the size of a mallard) for sale. I considered one for M.; but $40 was a bit much. I had hoped for china based on Josephine's, but no such was on offer.
http://www.stlouis.art.museum/napoleon/
Admitance for those under six was free; the cashier clearly believed I was lying when I told him A. was 4.
As you can see at that link above, the poster for the exhibit featured the Lefebvre portrait of Napoleon in court dress, so I was very surprised to see this:
Did the promoters miss the signficance of it? As I told A.(not that he comprehended), this is undoubtedly the most important painting that has ever been displayed in St. Louis. There are no words to describe its technical virtuosity.
They also had Gros'painting of Eylau:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Gros_-_Napoleon_on_the_Battlefield_of_Eylau.png
Most of the material, however, was houshold items from Josephine's personal suite at Fountainebleau. The bed fixtures were swan themed, the iconography of the other material was derived from the story of Cupid and Psyche in Apuleius. There has rarely been such good taste.
We were constantly interfered with by a tour group with a guide giving them the most trivial information. Unbeleivably, they were French. Why would they come here to see this? I would hardly have believed they were French without hearing the language--they were dressed no differntly than Americans.
Almost everyone there was walking around with somehting like a cell phose pressed up to their ears, evidently telling them oversimplified facts and politically correct interpretations of the objets they were seeing. The docent took it amiss when I refused them for myself and A. I suppose she couldn't imagine anyone understanding the exhibition from his own knowledge.
At the end they had stuffed toy swans (about the size of a mallard) for sale. I considered one for M.; but $40 was a bit much. I had hoped for china based on Josephine's, but no such was on offer.
