The next exhibit was the one I had wanted to see for awhile. It was almost done, but better late than never.
The exhibit was well presented, and offered some interesting information, especially about Swiss contributions to the Baroque period. It was somewhat marred by the current propensity to disparage one’s own country and people for political correctness’s sake. I didn’t get many pictures, but some of the paintings showed the turn art took toward displaying the luxuries of everyday life, such as in sumptuous still life arrangements. These were accompanied by tut-tutting on disparities between the rich with their new fruits, and the poor living on “grains and cabbage, though the introduction of the potato helped their diet.” Yes! So acknowledge some good from that colonizing.
Another painting showed a prosperous gentleman - “having worked for the East India Company” - in fine brocades with his fine horse, and…..gasp….two “enslaved men” also in fine clothes, well-fed, obviously in good spirits, but enough to blacken the whole of Swiss history, because TWO slaves were found in the country, at least in one painting.
Anyway, attempts were made to show the grandeur of the era.
The entrance, in the new part of the museum:
With a peek to the old part of the building, in its neo-gothic glory
A wood and polymer replica of the pictured tower turret
A very significant contributor to the glories of the Baroque era
There were others noted, plus some who would have contributed the biggest and the best, but for lack of funds.
This is one such concept, that didn’t get built.
It would have been the biggest dome north of the alps.
Here is a lovely representation of the era that did get built.
A huge painting of the Il Gesu church. I wanted to get a close up of the dwarf in the corner, but my camera refused to work.
So, that was it for the pictures of the Baroque exhibit. None of the Memento Mori, or fine dinnerware, or fancy shoes.
But, in the next post I will show some pictures from the permanent collection, because my picture-taker went back into business again.
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