Best Paintings in the Met

[Elizabeth Schott]

Administrator's Note: This thread was split off from the "It's Better Than You Think Thread"

Marvin, I can't believe I didn't write this down, but what was the first portrait you shared with us in the Met?

There was the first one, one you said you would carry out if given the choice of two, then what was your second. If I would have realized how important your lesson that evening was, I would have doubled my already doubled notes. Just my visit to this exhibit in Atlanta showed me this. Can you post them?

This might be getting away from the context of this thread (thankfully), and maybe should be the start of another.

[Timothy C. Tyler]

But Marvin, no one can even pronounce Ingres' name over here!

Ange

ongre

Ingress


ungre


ong


in-grey

[Marvin Mattelson]

Tim,

Fortunately his work can be appreciated in any language.

Beth,

The hypothetical question posed by John Sanden at the ASOPA convention in NY a couple of years back was: What painting would you save if the Met was on fire and you could only carry out one?

My #1 choice is William McGregor Paxton's "Tea leaves," no close seconds.

Tied for a distant second place: "Princess Broglie" by Ingres and it's Lehman Collection neighbor, a portrait of a young man by Sir Henry Raeburn, "Herman Doomer" by Rembrandt and "James Stewart" by Van Dyke.

[Michele Rushworth]

I'd save the Velazquez portrait of Juan de Pareja, followed closely by Lawrence's "Calmady Children".

And by the way, for anyone who's not sure, the correct pronunciation of the name Ingres (using the closest English spelling approximation) would be "ang", rhyming with "sang".

[Marvin Mattelson]

Michele,

Juan de Pareja was the overwhelming #1 choice of the attendees, so of course I wholeheartedly disagreed. It is a fabulous painting none the less.

Have you ever seen the Paxton in the flesh?

[Michele Rushworth]

Didn't notice the Paxton on my most recent trip to the Met but I was looking for it online just now. I couldn't find it anywhere, not even in a Google image search. The Met doesn't seem to have it or the Van Dyke you mentioned in their online collection either.

Do you know the name of the Raeburn portrait you were referring to? I stood in awe for a long time in front of a lovely little Raeburn portrait here in Seattle a couple of months ago.

I do remember being stopped in my tracks in front of the Princess Broglie portrait at the Met, mostly lamenting the fact that women don't wear such fun-to-paint clothing any more. I find Ingres' work cold and unapproachable though, however technically excellent it may be.

[Mike McCarty]

Hard to beat, "Herman Doomer" by Rembrandt.

[Michele Rushworth]

Here's Juan de Pareja. A remarkable painting of a remarkable man (born a slave, later became an accomplished artist).

[Timothy C. Tyler]

Michele, no soft whispered "r"?

That Dutch guy was pretty good.

[Michele Rushworth]

And the Calmady Sisters, by Lawrence. The epitome of sweetness and light.