The Art of Lyon

Lyon has several fascinating art museums, none of which minded if visitors took photos.
Here are a few examples of some of the artwork of the city.

Much of the art of the Middle Ages was religious in nature.
One of the most common subjects of medieval art was the Virgin Mary.

This sculpture of Saint Mary Magdalen shows her before her conversion
(and, it seems, after a few pints of the ale she holds in her hands!).

In the bas-relief sculpture below, the torments of hell.

The painting below shows Jesus releasing souls from hell (with a detail on the right).

The painting below includes a man wearing spectacles (a new invention at the end of the Middle Ages).

Below are a few examples of early modern art, also largely religious in content.

This painting is the mystical marriage of Saint Catherine of Siena
with the Baby Jesus (who is slipping a ring onto her finger).

Below is the ascension of Jesus, an event that was apparently watched by King Louis IX of France,
standing, as well as King Louis XIV of France, kneeling, as seen in the detail on the right.

There were lots of painting from the late nineteenth century school of artists
known as the Pre-Raphaelites, who often based their art on medieval themes.

The painting below imagines an artist at work embellishing a medieval monastery.
Those that follow below that show how fascinating medieval monasteries were to these artists.

This artist imagined what a medieval tournament would have looked like.

Many of these Pre-Raphaelite artists painted portraits of medieval persons as they imagined them.

The range of twentieth-century art can be adequately represented by a painting by Marc Chagall,
below left, and an artist who works with dried fruit and potatoes, right.

One of the more interesting museums of Lyon was a museum of miniatures, mostly dioramas no bigger
than a cubic foot or so, that showed traditional scenes of Lyon life, including an apothecary shop, . . .

. . . a public bathhouse, . . .

. . . a butcher's shop, . . .

. . . a printer's shop, . . .

. . . a farm, . . .

. . . and various domestic scenes through the centuries, from the Middle Ages, . . .

. . . through the nineteenth century, . . .

. . . into the early twentieth century, . . .

. . . and even up to the later twentieth century.

Among these dioramas were other bits of miniature art: below on the left, cut out glass lit from behind,
showing Lyon at night, and below on the right, through a real arched opening a painted mural of Lyon's riverscape.

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