The Fine Arts Museum of Tours, part II !!!

Posted in Europe, France

I am back at you with the city of Tours with its wonderful fine arts museum in a historical building. I need to tell you more from my last visit last week and new pictures, love history and all related to museums are part of it. The museum is excellent. Therefore, here is my new take on the Fine Arts Museum of Tours, part II !!! Hope you enjoy it as I.

Tours, a city on the banks of the Loire and Cher rivers in the department 37 of Indre-et-Loire,as seat of the area and of the metropolitan region of  Tours Métropole Val de Loire. It is in the administrative region of Centre-Val-de-Loire, and in my belle France, I left the history of it in my previous post on the museum, From here we left back home along the D751 A10 A85 A11 Nantes N165 roads,

It has a beautiful collection of French paintings and the primitive Italian or old Italian masters painter such as Mantegna, as well as sculpture by Rodin, Houdon and others. A French-style garden extends past the episcopal palace of the 18C, which has retained part of its original decor. A cedar of lebanon, tree can be seen in this same courtyard, in a building in front of the palace, Fritz, a stuffed Asian elephant, slaughtered because he became uncontrollable during a parade of the circus Barnum & Bailey in the streets of Tours on June 10, 1902. Access to the elephant and the large cedar tree is free inside the park.

The Fine Arts Museum’s oldest fund consists of works seized in 1794 (during the French revolution) from the houses of emigrants, churches and convents, in particular the large abbeys of Marmoutier, Bourgueil and La Riche, as well as paintings and furniture from the Château de Chanteloup and the Château de Richelieu.  

The Fine Arts Museum maintains an important and fairly homogeneous collection of paintings punctuated by several masterpieces, including the two paintings by Andrea Mantegna   coming from the San Zeno Altarpiece (the Last of the three elements of the predelle, the Crucifixion, being preserved at the Louvre museum): the ancient French painting is represented abundantly for the 17C and 18C. The French painting of the 19C is also amply represented, the collection of Flemish and Dutch paintings presents works by major artists such as Rubens and Rembrandt. The 20C is illustrated above all by a beautiful set of abstract paintings.  Among the most famous are Gabriel Blanchard, François Boucher, Louis de Boulogne, Jean-Pierre Louis Laurent Houël, Charles de La Fosse, Charles Lamy, Eustache Le Sueur, Joseph Parrocel, Jean Restout. Gaëtan Cathelineau , student and friend of David, Professor of drawing at the Royal College of Tours, bequeathed about fifty paintings of ancient painters, including the only undeniable Hubert Robert of the collection, “Cascade under a ruined bridge”, and an astonishing Louis Cretey, “Tobie and the Angel”. In 1963 the museum received the collection of the painter and collector Octave Linet, constituting one of the largest collections of Italian primitives after the Louvre Museum and the Museum of the Petit Palais d’Avignon.

For the sculpture, you will find notably the imposing Diane huntress (Diane chasseresse) , bronze of Jean-Antoine Houdon, one of the very rare original prints of the work in marble executed from 1776, as well as works by Antoine Coysevox (bust of Louis XIV), Auguste Rodin (Balzac drape, bronze, 1898), Antoine Bourdelle, Alexander Calder (Mobile, painted metal, circa 1957) and Olivier Debré.

The museums of Tours on the Fine Arts museum : https://musees.tours.fr/visiter/musees-et-sites-patrimoniaux/musee-des-beaux-arts/

The local Loire Valley tourist office on the Fine Arts Museum: https://www.loirevalley-france.co.uk/cultural-sites/museum-of-fine-arts-and-its-garden/

The Touraine Loire Valley tourist office on the fine arts museum of Tours:  https://www.tourainevaldeloire.com/en/offers/musee-des-beaux-arts-de-tours-et-son-jardin-tours-en-5153225/

There you go folks, Tours is wonderful ,and with the Fine Arts Museum is a winner, a must to visit, Again, hope you have enjoy the post on the Fine Arts Museum of Tours, part II !!! as I

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!

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Published by pedmar10

I am a lover of travels to Europe , Americas , Africa and Asia as well ,who like to share my experiences of the last 53 years with the world, visiting so far 81 countries; living in 6, working in 5, and Citizen of 4, speaking fluently 4 languages. I can deal with sports especially football/soccer and love music, arts, wine collector/drinker, and go out to restaurants, and just visit the world. My background comes all the way from Candelaria and Pajara in Tenerife, Spain where my grandparents came from ;not knowing each other then, to Punta Brava, west of Havana, Cuba. There , my parents born in Cuba met and later on I was born there too. 100% guanche (annexed Tenerife to Spain on April 10 ,1496). I left Cuba as many have to Madrid, Spain where I lived for 4 years. Then, move to Perth Amboy ,New Jersey USA (living there 13 yrs) ; where I completed high school, became a US Citizen, learned to drive a car, and learned English. Afterward, went to the university in Florida, ERAU, and upon graduation decided to moved there to Ormond by the Sea, near Daytona Beach, finally moving North Miami, then Hialeah, then another moved to Silver Lakes division in Miramar, Broward county, Florida; in Florida I lived a total of 18 years. Finally , moved to France in 2003 ,Versailles call me for its royalty, and working in Paris was great. It was time to seek frontiers again and moved to Brech near Auray, Morbihan in Brittany , and later move to not too far Pluvigner. Total so far in France has been 20 years, and counting. Moving average a home every 5.5 years hopefully this will be my last. Cheers All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the written permission of the copyright holder, me. No part of this work may be modified, without the written permission of the holder, me.No part of this work may be exposed to public view in any form or by any means, without identifying the holder as the author, and with the before mentioned permission.

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