THE WALTERS ART MUSEUM
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A 15 minute walk from the harbour, in the Mount Vernon Cultural District district. The museum, whose architecture is inspired by the interior courtyard of the dell'Università palace in Genoa, Italy, was founded in 1909. It houses one of the finest collections in the country, that of Henry Walters (1848-1931).
Among all its treasures, we tried to select a few.
Level 1: European porcelain. Many porcelain of Sèvres of different colours (blue, green, purple), including th-century vases and a portrait (tapestry) of Louis XVI (1745-1793); another room is devoted to French art of the th century: Pastoral, by François Boucher; Buste of Voltaire, a bronze by Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828); Fire Screen, of Jacques Vigorous Duplessis. The Treasury can see the th-century Italian, French and English rings; Swiss watches, splendid 1761 th-century French tobacco boxes (snuffox), one of which, from, representing the family of Louis XV; also a cute round springtime (1785) by Claude Pierre Pottier.
Then there is Asian art: India, Nepal and Tibet.
Level 2: The Ancient World: Greek, Roman, Etruscan, Egyptian, near-eastern art. Beautiful novels (th century BC), including rings with portraits and scenes from Greek mythology. Greek art: bracelet with head of antelope; Snake Goddess or Priestess Ivory, dating from the 1920 th century BC (acquired by Walters in the s), representative of Minoan religious art; Black-Figure Plate (600 B.C.), flat with black painted motifs on the orange-coloured natural colour of the painter of La; Nike's bronze (formerly 500 BC), goddess sent by Zeus to crown on Earth the victors of battles; a bronze warrior helmet (in the Corinthian, the Seventh or the th century BC); an amphora (500-485 BC) decorated with a figurine dressed in black on a red background; a statue of Muse seated (probably Urania), from the beginning of the third century BC. necklaces, bracelets, rings. Ancient Egypt: falcon statues, lion heads. Ancient Treasury: jewellery (updated in the tombs of Olbia, present Ukraine).
A particularly interesting room exhibits Roman tombs and texts commenting on the way of life of the Romans. Also, 6 statuettes found in Pompeii, in the lararium (altar or chapel where you put the deities supposed to protect the home) of a house, and 2 statues of Hercules, one bronze, the other marble. Egyptian art: statue of Amun-Re, supreme god of ancient Egypt; 4 mummy coffins, including that of Nesit Iset; cercueil of a baboon, the incarnation of the God Thot. th and th centuries European art, th-century Flemish art, Dutch art galleries of the th century. Art of the ancient Americas and art of South-East Asia and Korea.
Level 3: The Medieval World consists of several rooms. Byzantine, Gothic, Medieval, Islamic art. The Baroque Art and Renaissance section shows works from Spain, France and Italy, including Carlo Crivelli paintings. Ceramics from Europe are also exposed.
Level 4: The Grand Salon, inspired by the Louvre Exhibition, where artists exhibited and sold their paintings in the th century. To be seen: Sale of slaves in Rome and death of Julius Caesar (1859) by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904); Meeting of Moors (1843-1844), Delacroix (1798-1863); Odalisque to the slave (1842), Ingres (1780-1867).
Impressionist paintings: The Church of Eragny (1884) and the Route from Versailles to Louveciennes (1869), Pissarro; Spring (1872), from Monet. Two Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898): L'Espoir (1872) and Ludus Pro Patria (1883). Neo-classicism and romanticism: Delacroix's canvases (inspired by scenes of the New Testament), including Christ on the Cross (1846). Artists'paintings from Barbizon School, landscapes of the th century, by artists such as Jean-François Millet, Diaz de la Peña, Jules Dupré, Charles François, Theodore Rousseau, Daubigny. Also Asian art (painting, calligraphy, Buddhist sculptures, Chinese, Korean and Japanese art, Japanese arms and armor).