Back Among the Ruins and the Forest Passage (Part 1)

Portrait of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1888, oil on canvas, by Frank Hall (1845-1888)

Our recent visit to the Morgan Library and Museum in Midtown Manhattan last week was so uplifting and enjoyable that we had to go back and lose ourselves again in the stately halls and ongoing exhibits. This time I’ll spare the reader my contempt for the city and the art world and simply share some of the remarkable works on display. As is usually the case, I enjoyed the installations much more the second time around.

Part One: The Library

The Morgan Library was designed by Charles Follen McKim (1847-1909)
to house J.P. Morgan's growing collection of rare books and manuscripts.
The exterior of the palatial structure was constructed with Tennessee pink
marble in a classical style based upon villas of the Italian Renaissance

(Above & below) The recessed portico is flanked by a pair of stone lionesses

(Above & below) The East Room

The sixteenth-century Netherlandish tapestry by Pieter Coecke van Aelst
(1502-1550) depicts avarice, one of the seven deadly sins,
personified by the mythological King Midas

The Mantelpiece on the east wall of the Library is
carved of Istrian marble in the Renaissance style

(Above & below) Allegorical depictions of the arts and sciences
alternate with portraits of figures identifying the library
as a place for the preservation of art and ideas

Beginning directly above the fireplace and moving to the right, these
figures are Dante Alighieri, Comedy, Sandro Botticelli, Painting,
Michelangelo Buonarotti, Architecture, Antonio da Sangallo, Poetry,
Socrates, History, William Caxton, Music, Herodotus, Science,
Galileo Galilei, Astronomy, Christopher Columbus, and Tragedy

The Gutenberg Bible, 1455

(L) Jeweled cover of the Lindau Gospels, France, workshop of Charles the Bald, ca. 870-80. (R) Enameled Book Cover with Crucifixion Plaque, copper-gilt and champlevé enamel, Lomoges, France, 1190-1215

(L) Bronze bust of Alfonso II d’Avalos (1502-1546), Marquis of Pescara and Vasto, by Annibale Fontana (1540-1587). (R) Foundation Figure of King Ur Namma, Sumerian, Mesopotamia, Third Dynasty of Ur (ca. 2112-2095 B.c.); copper Inscribed: Ur-Namma, king of Ur, king of Sumer and Akkad,
the one who built the temple of Enlil 

Gospel Lectionary, in Latin, Germany, Magdeburg, ca. 1220-30

Stavelot Triptych, Belgium, Abbey of Stavelot (southeast of Liège), setting and madallions, ca. 1156-58, Byzantine enamels from Constantinople, ca. 1100

Also see:
• Back Among the Ruins and the Forest Passage (Part 2)

• Among the Ruins and the Forest Passage

• Briganti Field Trip: Maker of Middle-Earth Exhibit at the Morgan Library & Museum