'Hidden' museum treasures

[herrbert]

I guess a lot of us, visit museums when they are traveling. Of course there are some pieces, that you 'need' to see once in your life (Guernica, the Sunflowers, the Mona Lisa, David, the Rosetta Stone and a long list will follow). If you really think about it, these pieces, how beautiful or important they might be, are only one piece of the collection of a museum. What I am interested in, is what everybody else has seen in a museum, that has made a lasting impression, but is not regarded as a masterpiece, like the ones I mentioned before, and of course, we can we find it.

My list would be: (I'll probably forget some, right now)

1. The Dance by Jean Baptiste Carpeaux, saw it at the NY Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, but I believe you can also see it in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. Love the detail on this work, and the work of Carpeaux in general.

2. Jesus resucitado, (Christ resurrected) a painting by Bramatino, that can be found in the museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid.

3. Belvedere, by MC Escher. Escher in het Paleis, the Hague. The way he tricks the mind is fantastic, he can make a picture look very natural, but if you look closer, you see the optical illusion.

For the pictures

1. www.chess-theory.com/images5/20707_jean_baptiste_carpeaux.jpg (not the Copenhagen one)

2. www.museothyssen.org/thyssen/img/obra599/1937.1_61_300.jpg

3. www.artchive.com/artchive/e/escher/escher_belvedere.jpg

(I was in doubt if I should add the tower of Bable, by Bruegel or not, but I it's too well-known too be in this list of hidden treasures.)

[madamtrashheap]

Aha, so this is what you meant in another post about it giving you an idea...nice thread btw!

So, my (long) list in no particular order:

Rome - Santa Maria del Popolo church in Piaaza del Popolo holds Caravaggio’s “Crucifiction of St Peter” and “Conversion on the Way to Damascus” (look them both up in Wikipedia), not just because of their images, but also their location – tucked away in a church that most walk straight past; Villa Borghese – Titian’s “Sacred and Profound Love” www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/eamor.htm

Assisi – Giotto’s frescoes of St Francis in the Basilica ( www.christusrex.org/www1/francis/lower.html ) that tell the story of St Francis and were amazingly restored after the earthquake; the San Damiano or “ talking”cross in Santa Chiara basilica that spoke to St Francis (I always think of the singing bush in “The Three Amigos” – blasphemy I know, but there you go!) www.terrainvisibile.it/assisi/doc/ing/cchiara.htm

Urbino – Palazzo Ducale Galleria Nazionale delle Marche holds the “Ideal City", supposedly by Piero della Francesca although it’s unsigned concise.britannica.com/ebc/art-56209

Florence – Giotto frescoes at back of Santa Croce and the self-carved statues on Michelangelo’s tomb en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_di_Santa_Croce_di_Firenze; Ognissanti church – “The Last Supper” by Ghirlandaio www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/ognissanti_last_supper.html; statue of Bacchus by Michelangelo in the Bargello Museum www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/museum_of_bargello.html; Uffizi – Piero della Francesco’s portrait of Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino www.le-marche.com/Marche/html/montefel.htm

Sicily – brilliantly preserved mosaics of Piazza Amerina www.piazza-armerina.it/mosaici/photo/index.html

Vatican Museum – “The Last Judgement” – Michelangelo (I know it’s not “hidden” but it often gets overlooked due to the ceiling and I like the story it tells.

Amsterdam – The Potato Eaters by Van Gogh in his museum www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/potatoindex.html and the fact that it is a dark painting from his earlier period rather than one of the “brighter” ones from later in his works.

Brussels – I’m always impressed by Victor Horta’s achitechtural Art Nouveau of the Horta Museum www.hortamuseum.be/ even though it's not a "piece" per se.

Barcelona – Gaudi’s art always makes me stop and gaze, particularly at Casa Mila/La Pedrera ( www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Casa_Mila.html/cid_863614.jpg ) and the park benches and lizards at Park Güell www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/gaudi/park-guell.html

Spain – Dali Teatre Museu in Figueres www.scholarsresource.com/browse/work/2144582057 for the giant eggs on the exterior (too hard to pick a favourite piece inside).

Munich – “Devil’s Footprint” in Frauenkirche or Church of Our Lady, www.wfg-gk.de/mystik18.html (scroll down for footprint image) - and yes, you could argue forever if it's "art", but you get to see the rest of the interior too.

Paris – apart from the treasure trove that is the painting floor at Musee d’Orsay (I spend hours there), I love wandering amongst the statues in gardens at Musee Rodin www.musee-rodin.fr, and seeing what's new at the Centre Pompidou Modern Art Gallery www.centrepompidou.fr

I'm with you on the Escher "Belverdere" too Herrbert - trippy but in a good way! There are so many other things, not just paintings, that have captured me over the years, I just can't recall them all (lucky for travel journals!).

[lia]

Naples, Cappella Sansevero www.museosansevero.it : "Il Cristo velato" (statue). just astonishing. it's not really hidden, but not much known, either.. As for what madametrashheap said, I was just a bit upset seeing the devil's footprint in Munich's Frauenkirche..I mean, it's actually a FOOTPRINT, as if the devil was wearing shoes..I expected something more "devilish". anyway the legend is very fascinating - the architect had this gorgeous progect for a chucrh, but couldn't come to an end because he had no more money to continue, so he sold his sold to the devil. Lucifer promised to help him finishing, but he had one request: the church had to be very dark (no huge windows, no scratching light entering from anywhere). the architect agreed and finished the church, but "fooled" the devil: the church is very dark in the entrance, but when you go ahead there are windows and lots of light entering. so, the devil went to check his architect's work, and was very satisfied, at first..until he arrived where the light begins, and he vanished, leaving his footstep in that point. as for the architect's soul, I don't know..fooling the devil can be dangerous, I guess I love legends, just thought it might be interesting - even though it goes a bit out of the main topic

[madamtrashheap]

lia said:

Naples, Cappella Sansevero www.museosansevero.it : "Il Cristo velato" (statue).

Told you I'd forget other places - this is an amazing statue, still can't get over how real it looks! Good call!

[lia]

Another one - San Satiro, in Milan (Italy)(http://arengario.net/momenti/momenti34.html).It's a little church, and it's famous for that, actually: its size didn't allow the characteristic abside behind the altar, so, even though you could swear you see an abside with columns and everything, and it looks like there are various meters between the altar and the wall, the truth is that there's less than a meter, and what you see it's an optical illusion due to the genius of the architect, Bramante. The original project had a 9.70 meters abside; for lack of authorizations, they trasformed in 97 centimeters.
AND: Porto (Portugal). On the "other side" of the river (the one opposite to the city centre - it's Vila Nova de Gaia, actually) there are several wine museums. They explain you how they transform grapes into Porto wine, show you the places where they keep it, and - finally! - give you some wine tasting of the different types of Porto wine. Interesting - and good ;D