Tuesday, May 31, 2011

France/Spain 2011 - Day 2, Part 4 - Colmar: Unterlinden Museum

"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." - Groucho Marx

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France/Spain 2011
Day 2 - 18th March - Colmar: Unterlinden Museum
(Part 4)

There was some medieval art overlooking the ex-chapel where the Issenheim altar was.

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The Baptism of Christ, The visit of St Antony to St Paul in the desert. ~1510

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St Anne trinity with a figure of the donor. ~1515-20

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Christ on the Mount of Olives, the Last Supper, The Flagellation

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Martyrdom of St Catherine. ~1515-20

Strangely, on the first (second) storey, there was stuff with labels and information in both French and German. This was strange as the more important stuff on level 0 (the ground floor) was not similarly graced with this bilingualism.

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Moulds for Spiced Bread from the convent of Unterlinden

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More moulds

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Mould for spiced bread: the Sacrifice of Abraham. 1604 and 19th c. (?!?!)

There was also a modern art collection but as predicted it was blah. There was a Renoir - a portrait of Josephe le Cœur

A section of the museum was specifically dedicated to Alsace, and that was nice. I especially liked Alsatian nationalism from the German era.

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Spinning wheel with hair (?!)

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Marriage in Lower Alsace. 1877. Camille Pabst.
Notice the regional clothing

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In Alsace: news of France. 1874. Gustave Brion.

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Day of the King in Alsace. Gustave Brion. 1865.

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Peculiar image: Louis XVIII. Start of 19th c.

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Bear hunt: Niklaus Michad Spengler (1727). Crocodile hunt: School of the same (first half of 18th c.).
This bemused me.

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Medieval Weapons

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Medieval Weapons closeup

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Gothic Room

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The Penitent Magdalene. 1860. Jean Jacques Henner
She doesn't look very penitent, but I think that's the point

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A family in the Stone Age. Emmanuel Benner. 1892

There was still a bit of the museum I hadn't yet explored (and a few gems I'd spotted) but my visit was cut short and I was chased out because the Keepers wanted to have lunch. It was a slight pity but life is a constrained optimization problem, and I decided not to return at 2pm as a Castle awaited me. Addendum: Incidentally the museum was the only place, so far, where people spoke to me in English (I didn't open my mouth so they assumed I didn't speak the language). The other time was at admission: I asked for an English audioguide and the woman switched to English, and the ticket checker used it too.

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Emperor. End 16th c. Alsace.

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Plaque on the museum building, a former Dominican convent
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