Tell me more.
Jean de Carondelet was a well-known and wealthy cleric and statesmen in his time, in 16th century Flanders. He commissioned several portraits by prominent Netherlandish painters like Vermeyen who was also the court painter of Austria-Hungary at the time.
Tell me more.
I especially love the opportunity to get up close and personal with this over life-size statue of a king! Ordinarily, his head would be far above ours, but this way we can get a good look at all the subtle carving details. It is by the style of the face, especially the wide-set, upwardly angled, spherical eyes, and the broad, flaring nose, that scholars have narrowed down the unknown identity of this head to one of two kings.
Who was Zanobi Strozzi?
Zanobi Strozzi was an artist born in 1412 to a wealthy family in Florence, Italy. He worked as a painter of miniatures and a manuscript illuminator. His work was in high demand in Florence and his work is thought to decorate many private chapels.
So I'm looking at this plate for Elizabeth at The Dinner Party and I'm noticing that hers is the only one that has a kind of Halo or placeholder that looks kind of like a crown? And no one else really has that directly underneath their plate. Was there any particular reason that Elizabeth R does?
The name of the runner reflects how Queen Elizabeth I referred to herself as Elizabeth R. Her name is even embroidered in the Queen's own penmanship!
That pattern around the plate is meant to evoke a ruff --- the high, stiff collars she wore with her gowns, but your interpretation of it as a crown is also appropriate.
The deep blues, purples and reds of this place setting recall the colors typically used in portraits of Elizabeth I.
What's going on here?
The ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead was a set of spells and instructions to assist the dead on their journey to the afterlife. Here, some of the nearly 200 chapters have been replaced with visual representations.
This vignette replaces Chapter 150 which describes 15 mounds and their associated monsters that the deceased must pass on their way to the afterlife. The text in these shapes names the mounds.
The artist has painted high-voltage lines, but it seemed to me that the appearance of this one dates from 1882 and the painting was painted in 1879. There were already high-voltage lines?
What you see are actually telegraph poles, not electrical voltage lines.
How common is the image of a blue lotus in Egyptian Art? (I see one example in this museum).
Very common.The lotus is a symbol of birth and rebirth on which the Creator solar deity first appeared in the Nun, the formless ocean within which the universe was created.
Got it, thank you.
Why are the 4 sons of Horus depicted as animals?
Like many Egyptian deities, the sons of Horus’s most recognizable forms are as humans with the heads of animals. Horus himself, like his son Qebehsenuef, is typically depicted with the head of a falcon.
Are these replicas?
Just about everything you see in our museum is original pieces! Any replicas will be noted in the label. All of these ceramic pieces are centuries old, made in Europe and Asia.
I'm curious, what would make you think they are replicas?
Because they are in such good condition! I could not believe they are originals.
It's true that ceramics will break if they are dropped, for example, but other than that they are very durable! Because of the high temperatures of the firing process, glazes keep their color and the clay bodies keep their shape.
Our collection includes intact ceramics from as many as 5000 years ago!
Thank you.
What colour were females' sarcophagi skin (before they were painted red in the woman's afterlife section)?
Whitish-yellow is the color associated with women. Yellow skin represented the skin of a goddess made from gold.
