Museums in NYC

[fbhjr]

We got up fairly early Saturday (OK, my normal time) and headed off to NYC.
It was dark and rainy when we set out.


At points the rain was pretty hard, but most of the time it was just drizzle.


We stopped by this Civil War memorial to pick up perrin_o_ravnos and his friend.

I’m sure there is some joke that could be made there about the cannon balls, but I’m not going to make it.

Due to the rain there were a bunch of accents on the roads into NYC, but we managed to take alternate routes and not lose too much time.


We got to the Cloisters before 11AM. (http://www.metmuseum.org/visit/visit-the-cloisters )


It was raining pretty hard at that point, so we didn’t spend much time of the view and went pretty fast into the museum.


The Cloisters is one of my wife’s favorite places. And, we both very much like the gardens there.


Even if it was a bit too rainy to spend much time in them, the colonnade around them is still very nice.


They have a lot of art work there at the museum. But, being Medieval European, that means it is almost all religious art. I certainly have nothing against that, but it is a whole lot of just one flavor.


They also have a lot of tapestries. This one is longer than my living room.



I have spoken before how I never did well in art appreciation classes and often have a strange view on art: http://fbhjr.livejournal.com/449787.html
This particular tapestry also struck me as funny.

This is supposed to be Jesus. But, instead of making me think of the son of God or something it makes me think he’s saying "Oy, what do they want this time?"


At least on the other corner he just looks bored.


And, no one in the whole tapestry looks happy. It is supposed to be about the redemption of mankind, but even the angels look under the weather.


I used to know someone who said "Christ on a donkey!" when upset. They have this at the museum.



Some of the other tapestries are not as large, but folks seem to be having a somewhat better time. This is one of the few that is not religious.

They still don’t look too happy, but giving a falcon a bath wouldn’t make me happy too.

It is a "smaller" one, but you can see my wife for scale.

Their most famous tapestries are about the unicorn hunt. We have a copy of this one of the series in our living room.

Ours has a smaller aspect ratio, so there are a lot fewer people in it.


There is a whole series of these unicorn tapestries, most of which are in good shape. Only one was mostly lost in the French revolution




They even have a "unicorn" horn.


They have some other tapestries there as well, but they aren’t as nice. Some of them it isn’t even clear who it is.


I spent a fair bit of time at the gardens. I like them a lot.


Sadly we were told it was going to rain all day, so we didn’t spend a lot of time walking in them. But, my wife did not let this stop her.



The plant garden has some interesting things besides flowers in it.


It is hard to get photos of rain, but this is the water coming off of the roof.


We did look at the inside courtyard too. My wife really likes the carved columns.



I brought my iPad. It isn’t that I don’t like these things. I do. I just tend to look at them very quickly, more than once. Then, move on.


perrin_o_ravnos and I did go look for the Holy Grail. We figured this was a good place to look.


I like that they know just who made this one.

And, why this one was made.


Not finding the Holy Grail, we retired to the gardens again.


It was a nice morning at the Cloisters.

Comments

[meathiel]

Looks like they just transported some Spanish monastery to NYC ... *lol* Pity about the weather!

The monastery we visited a few weeks ago - Seligenstadt - also had an assortment of poisonous plants ... which I found ... interesting! ;-)

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

They did bring parts of monasteries over from Europe. Some from Spain.
So, you're not wrong about it...

[marketeer]

The Cloisters was always my favorite place to visit in NYC.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm with your wife, I wouldn't let a little rain keep me from those pretty gardens!

The tapestry pictures were amusing. The bored one also looks like he's drugged.

[endlessblush.livejournal.com]

Rainy days are perfect days for museums! Loving all the photos.

[chris-warrior.livejournal.com]

good pics of the Unicorn Tapestries! i'm glad the exhibit was back together :D

even in the rain, the gardens are lovely. one of these days, i have to get down there in the summer/fall instead of spring.

[merilune.livejournal.com]

Unicorn tapestries! How wonderful! I really like unicorns.

I like that they have magical and medicinal herbs there too, that's a great touch. Better than just looking at them on a piece of paper!

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

Great pictures!

[chaquir.livejournal.com]

pretty!!

[palusbuteo.livejournal.com]

Hooray!

[newlifeinstpaul.livejournal.com]

In my (rather mature) mind, I keep hearing the Knights that Say Ni and their demands:

'Bring us another tapestry!'
'Not too expensive.'
'The same size as the first.'
'And no one too happy on it!'

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

We are no longer the knights who say Ni!
We are now the knights who say:
tapestry
tapestry
tapesty!