On Tuesday Michael had to be at the University all day so I was on my own to find something to do. My first thought was to visit the Contemporary Art Museum but, when I put it into Google Maps, I was informed that it was closed on Tuesdays….Boo!!!
I hopped on my computer and started looking for somewhere else to go and settled on the Capodimonte Museum. As always, the first trick was getting there!!
I knew that I needed to catch the Metro at Municipio and ride it to the Museo stop. After that, it was all up to Google Maps to get me the additional mile down the road. But then things got interesting……
Yes…this is the street that I had to follow for an entire mile. Only a portion was steps, but the rest was curving and straight up!!! Here is another view looking down from where I had just climbed…..
The street was tiny and there were cars and/or motorcycles parked on either side and when a larger vehicle approached, it was “plaster yourself to the wall time”…..
It took a while, but I finally reached Capodimonte park and found the sign for the museum…..
I have to admit that when I saw the word “Porcellana”, I almost didn’t enter, thinking that it was going to contain tons of Porcelain figurines….the kind that my Mother LOVED!!…..
But I went in anyway and was so glad that I did.
The museum is located in the Palazzo di Capodimonte , originally designed as a hunting lodge for Charles VII of Bourbon. This monumental palace was begun in 1738 and took more than a century to complete. It now holds more art than you could EVER view at one time!!!
As I bought my ticket, I ordered an audio guide and was handed a player as well as a sheet listing all of the pieces that were discussed. I was also handed a map of the gallery, telling where the different rooms were located….all 160 of them. Finally, I was handed an I-phone and headset to use for the special exhibit….
….altogether too much to keep up with!!
I started the tour in the special exhibit which was an interesting look at the art, music and culture of Southern Italy. The iphone/headset would click on as you entered each room, first giving information about the room and contents and then playing music as you continued to look around. It made for a very pleasurable experience.
The first room that I entered contained various musical instruments and I was drawn to this Mandolin-esque guitar. Look at the designs on the frets and at the end of the instrument……
I liked this sculpture, but really liked the shadow that it threw onto the wall behind it…..
….and this man was striking as well…..
When the gallery was about the culture of a time, they used these funky “dolls” to convey the people. This was an example of a game night…..
Some of the scenes were a little weird but I loved the “expressiveness of this “woman”…..
It is amazing what can be conveyed without a lot of details!!!
In addition to the art itself, the castle rooms were astounding. In this room, there was a video playing with “people” sitting around watching it, but I was too drawn to the chandelier and other aspects of the room to notice it……
When I did concentrate on the scene in the room I realized that it wasn’t all dolls. Can you find the two real people?…..
These characters were dressed in period clothing and I loved the decorations on this bodice and skirt…..
As I left the special exhibit, I handed in my iphone and started to concentrate on the audio guide. The problem was that none of the artwork was marked to let me know which ones were talked about so I had to….1) figure out which room I was in, 2), look at the index list and figure out which pieces were in that particular room, 3) find the artwork that was being discussed, and 4) hold the guide to my ear to hear because they didn’t provide headphones!!! Needless to say, I gave it up after the first piece of art and decided that I really didn’t need to know all of the details about the pieces!!!
(As a note going forward…..I put a set of earbuds in my purse so that I wont be caught without them again!!!)
Instead, I chose to pick out certain things that I found interest in,
….such as why this portrait by Michelangelo Anselmi was painted with another person in the background?
Or….exactly what is the ogre looking thing in this seemingly religious painting by Joos Van Der Becke…..
The museum went on for hall after hall with many of the paintings being set in dark rooms with dark walls and little light. Unfortunately, I quickly tired of this!!
Then I came to an area that I loved….. the “Depositi”. These rooms hold all of the “other” artwork that is owned by the museum but isn’t currently in it’s permanent exhibits. I loved the serene look on this girl’s face……
….and the tag giving the details of the sculpture didn’t bother me a bit!!
I am still not sure about this piece…..
….and why there is a turkey riding on a wild boar.
There were rooms and rooms that looked exactly like this……
….and I found out that they even had excess picture frames…..
I loved this picture of the “Last Supper” by Batista Franco…..
….and this table reminded me of a good applique design…..
….although I would probably opt for something a bit simpler…..
And then I saw it…..the “Blanket”……
I used my iPhone measuring app and determined that it was about 9 feet wide. As you can imagine, I spent a good bit of time recording many of the bits and pieces of this wonderful quilt…..
Everywhere I looked, there seemed to be longer halls with more art in each room…..
I eventually made my way into the “Contemporary Art” section but was disappointed in the 10 or so pieces that were displayed. I did like this one…..
….especially since it was made of paper that looked liked kid’s drawings…..
Because this Palace is located on one of the hills of Naples, the views out the windows were spectacular…..
…..and yes that’s Vesuvius again!!!
The hike back home was easier since it was downhill, but still took a little over an hour to walk….metro….walk…..back to the Flat.
I had one more quick trip out the grocery store and was not surprised to see that my phone said that I had clocked 15,400 steps and climbed 38 flights of stairs!!! I call that a good day!!!