 |
Santiago Matamoros, horseback, in wood, inside the Museo Franz Mayer |
After the Palacio de Belles Artes, it was time for the nearby Museo Franz Mayer. This is a quirky museum inside an old church, on the edge of the historic core of Mexico City.
Let's go inside.
There is a small courtyard to the left of the entrance.
Same courtyard, from the second floor balcony.
Google maps describes the museum as an "international collection of 16th and 19th Century decorative arts, including silverware and textiles." It is that. But there is more to it than silverware and textiles.
This is the library.
It's small and us visitors cannot access the books held within. I could find no explanation for the giant yellow "Q" hanging from the ceiling.
Onto the silverware and textiles and other decorative arts from the 16th and 19th centuries.
This is a depiction of two Roman soldiers fighting over Christ's vestments:
I'm not a "look at furniture in a museum" sort of person, but if you're going to have furniture in a museum, the furniture should look like this:
Or this room divider screen:
I like room divider screens. I used to want one, but I couldn't find one that was I pictured in my head. Room dividers screens were sort of the cubical walls of their day, their day being a few hundred years ago. You can change room shapes easily, as needed, without worrying about knocking down load-bearing walls.
Moving from the decorative arts to just plain "art":
"La muerte de San Agustín." The death of St. Augustine, although, when you look close -- sacrilege alert -- it looks more "dinner on the corpse of St. Augustine."
I will put up the temporary divider screen before moving into drawings.
Separation made. This next one is "The Flagellation of Christ."
It's by German artist Albrecht Dürer. He lived from 1471 to 1528, so this puts the "16th Century" in the label for the collection at this museum.
That is from Pieter Brueghel. It dates from 1558, so, again, 16th Century. It's part of a series. This is from the same series:
This is a Rembrandt:
Even as a drawing you can see that strange effect that Rembrandt's works have, where the subject looks back-lit. Even the drawing has the foreground with that same back-lighting effect.
And we will end the drawings/prints with this one. The artist is Johannes Stradanus. Previously unfamiliar. The work is titled "America."
Because in 1600 Europeans thought "America" was just a bunch of naked ladies lying around in hammocks, I guess.
Back to the decorative arts. Chairs. Here are five chairs representing five European powers at the time.
England. France. Portugal.
Portugal (redux). Italy. Austria-Hungary.
These chairs accurately depict their countries at that time. England; sturdy and solid, but not comfortable. France: ornate and showy. Austria: practical but attractive. But the best design, without a doubt:
Italy. Beautiful. But of course it's not practical. Italian design never is.
And here are some fancy-fancy clocks from England:
And here is Santiago Matamoros.
Translation: St. James the Moor-Slayer. Matamoros? Matar = to kill. Moros = Moors. Put the two together and you get?
This is titled: "trinidad antropomórfica." Anthropomorphic trinity. The Holy Trinity depicted in human -- anthropomorphic -- form.
The son -- on the left which puts him at the right hand of the father -- with a lamb. The Holy Spirit with an angel. Father in the center.
Onto the silverware!
So much silver. So much of it made in the silversmith shops of Taxco.
This is a depiction of St. Michael the Archangel battling (and defeating) Satan:
And here is a silver fox (in the mirror) taking a picture of a silver dinner service:
Kind of emaciated looking.
And here is a silver fish.
I thought silverfish were something else.
And here is the founder of the museum himself:
Franz Mayer-Traumman. Not in silver.
Exterior shot of the Franz Mayer museum:
And that was enough museum-ing for the day. Two museums in one day is sufficient museum-ing.
Here is a fountain in nearby Alameda Park filled with wet children:
Foreshadow.
I was walking around this area, soaking in the sights and the atmosphere, and the afternoon thunderstorms that had been in the forecast every day of this trip, finally came. The skies open up and it was a drenching downpour. Soon as I was as soaked as the kids in the fountain.