Libourne France City Art Gallery.
Libourne France City Art Gallery. This gallery is a hidden gem.
Most towns in France have their art gallery and most are well worth visiting.
This gallery we stumbled upon after visiting St Emilion one day with the intention of visiting Bordeaux the next, but were frustrated in doing so by a SNCF rail strike – much to the annoyance of the local population it must be said.
A wet morning, breakfast enjoyed and a couple of shops visited so then to the city hall where we were warmly welcomed to the city art gallery and what a find!
Many of the works on display are not really worthy of note but only against the gems shown below.
The gallery rightly claims its masterpiece being …
Manfredi being a follower of the great Caravaggio. You can clearly see the influence here: the drama, the shadows, the ‘ordinary’ people. Action, excitement, religious iconography but with Caravaggio’s distinct ‘human’ touch.
Libourne France City Art Gallery
And with the welcome of more identification of women artists in the past – this fantastic portrait:
Sofonisba Anguissola an Italian Renaissance painter, mainly concentrated on portraits and apparently actually met Michelangelo.
So much for the Italians. Let’s move to some outstanding French pieces …
Rene Princeteau – the gallery contains a great number of his works amongst which this piece painted at the end of the French Prussian war – so much of a cause of the conflicts in the 20th Century. Princeteau was a mentor/tutor to Toulouse-Lautrec. This work was painted in 1872.
Libourne France City Art Gallery
My favourite remains a simple nude:
… and
… and of further note …
and …
… the colours of which must be seen for real to be appreciated.
A musee des beaux -arts well worth a detour.