We visited the Kunsthistorisches Museum after the Museum of Natural History. The two buildings face each other and are mirror images – outside and the same broad design within. Same marble stairs and central dome. The History of Modern Art as reflected in the collections of the Hapsburgs. Lots of wonderful pictures. Some that I was especially pleased to see.
This is the painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Procession to Calvary about which the film The Mill and the Cross was made. Seen at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2011. I was so excited to see the real thing! This is what I said about the film after seeing it:
A beautiful looking film depicting how the people in Brueghel’s paintings would have lived, their clothes (fantastic detail), what they ate, where they slept, how they carried their bread, transported their produce to market, how the children played, all under the the terror imposed by the Spanish redcoats carrying out the cruel (inhuman to us) punishments decreed by the church. Fantastic tableaux recreating actual scenes in Pieter Brueghel’s paintings. Individuals up close, couples going about their daily business, groups moving back and forth. Interspersed with the backdrop to the painting with tiny figures moving around in different bits of it. Cute. Director Lech Majewski was on hand to describe how he did it. The attention to detail, research, building up the whole from small pieces. Very articulate and interesting. The mill on the top of a fantastic rocky outcrop (non-existent in Flanders) full of symbolism (on this rock I build my church etc) was fantastic, including the inner workings – massive wooden cogs, wheels and endless stairs. The miller, representing God, looking out on all the people and activities on the plain below. Majewski is taken with Brueghel’s penchant for distracting the viewer away from the really important moment. A recreation of the way of the cross and the crucifixion concludes the film (and I agree with the reviewer who felt this took away from the overall charm of the film). Charlotte Rampling as the mother of Jesus! There’s a turn up. She looked the part.
Then we saw the Hans Holbein the Younger portrait of Jane Seymour that Hilary Mantel decribes to such good effect in Bring Up The Bodies. She describes just this head-dress being put on to demonstrate Jane’s transformation from demure young thing to future Queen. The painting is much more beautiful in real life than in reproductions in books and even on the web. Much richer colours.
There were lots of other famous pictures. Vermeer’s The Art of Painting. This picture doesn’t go near to doing it justice. Very beautiful.
Three self-portraits by Rembrandt and a lovely picture of a very old woman.
And three Raphael’s. This was not my favourite but I couldn’t get a clear picture of that one. Still this gives an idea. A lovely softness to the figures. And beautiful skin and lovely colours again.
I also loved this head of a woman. So serene.
There was a great deal more of course – great canvasses depicting biblical scene after biblical scene. All reminiscent of the tacky reproductions seen in churches everywhere. And all a bit over-whelmimg. As were the great exhibition halls and statuary all around. Not too many visitors to make it uncomfortable. But after two hours we were done!
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