These are the treasure throve of my belle France,and Paris is not alone the proof again is the Fine Arts Museum of Angers !! I have written about Angers before in my blog, but figure not enough on the wonderful Fine Arts Museum or Musée des Beaux Arts d’Angers. There are others museums, my favorite is this one, located in the famous logis Barrault.
The Museum of Fine Arts of Angers is in an old mansion, the Logis Barrault, place Saint-Éloi near the historic city center of Angers. It is part of the Toussaint complex which includes the garden of fine arts, the David d’Angers gallery (see post) and the municipal library. It presents a collection of works of art acquired over the centuries . The museum is administered by the City/Town hall of Angers.
In May 1801, the museum of the Central School of Maine-et-Loire opened its doors, along the lines of the Louvre museum. In 1803, the central schools were abolished, but at the behest of the town of Angers the painting museum was preserved, the natural history cabinet and the municipal library opened there in 1805. The museum was then considered to be one of the richest deposits which has been preserved in all the neighboring departments, and after that of Paris, it would be one of the most beautiful in France. The museum therefore became a municipal museum in 1805! In 1859, Lancelot Théodore Turpin de Crissé enriched the museum’s collections with an important legacy: Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities, ancient bronzes, Greek vases, glassware, enamels and earthenware, numerous paintings including those by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (Paolo and Francesca ), and some Primitives including a triptych from the Avignon school. In 1861, the painter Guillaume Bodinier offered the city the Pincé hotel (the Pincé museum) to house objects from the Turpin de Crissé collection in honor of the donor Lancelot Théodore Turpin de Crissé, The Beaurepaire gallery was inaugurated in 1887 , presenting works include La Danse by Charles-Adolphe Gumery, La Mort de Priam by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin.
From 1949, the museum was summarily reorganized, and reopened in 1950. Between 1999 and 2004 major renovations, alterations and enlargements were orchestrated . In 2003, the city of Angers received, by bequest of its last owner and donor, Daniel Duclaux, the Château de Villevêque and its large collection of art objects it contains. Among this collection rich with more than 900 works, a hundred old pieces of furniture, sixty old books, manuscripts and incunabula, Italian and Hispano-Moorish ceramics, Limousin enamels, 70 works of art, stone or wooden sculptures polychrome from the Middle Ages and tapestries from Flanders from the Renaissance period.
The Fine Arts museum covers a total area of 7,000 m2 divided into 2,500 m2 for permanent collections, 500 m2 for temporary exhibitions, 1,000 m2 for public reception areas (reception halls, museum passageways, auditorium, video room, café, shop, etc.) and 3,000 m2 for technical buildings. The description of it briefly are as follows. Two rooms on the first floor are devoted to the Primitives of the 14C (French, Italian and Flemish) and to works of art from the end of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, but also to the northern schools of the 16-17C, to French and Italian schools of the 16-17C. On the second floor, the visitor discovers works from the 18C under the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, then the large paintings from the first half of the 19C. For the 18C French. On the first floor, a large room is dedicated to modern art of the 20C and contemporary art. Finally, on the ground floor, the Gumery room presents large canvases from the second half of the 19C and sculptures.
The city of Angers museums on the Fine Arts museum : https://musees.angers.fr/lieux/musee-des-beaux-arts/index.html
The Angers tourist office on the Fine Arts museum : https://www.tourisme.destination-angers.com/en/plan-your-stay/your-activities/castles-and-heritage/museum-of-fine-arts-musee-des-beaux-arts-1617259
The local Anjou region tourist office on the Fine Arts museum : https://www.anjou-tourisme.com/fr/diffusio/visites/musee-des-beaux-arts-angers_TFOPCUUMBA
There you go folks, another gem of my belle France and this one not far in my lovely Pays de la Loire region, and the beautiful city of Angers. Hope you the Fine Arts museum as I
And remember, happy travel, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 