The Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon (french: Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon) is a municipal
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
of fine arts in the French city of
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...
. Located near the
Place des Terreaux
The Place des Terreaux is a square located in the centre of Lyon, France, on the Presqu'île between the Rhône and the Saône rivers, at the foot of the hill of La Croix-Rousse in the 1st arrondissement. It borders both the Hôtel de Ville and ...
, it is housed in a former Benedictine convent which was active during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was restored between 1988 and 1998, remaining open to visitors throughout this time despite the restoration works. Its collections range from ancient
Egyptian antiquities
Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious p ...
to the
Modern art period, making the museum one of the most important in Europe. It also hosts important exhibitions of art, for example the exhibitions of works by
Georges Braque and
Henri Laurens
Henri Laurens (February 18, 1885 – May 5, 1954) was a French sculptor and illustrator.
Early life and education
Born in Paris, Henri Laurens worked as a stonemason before he became a sculptor. From 1899 to 1902, he attended drawing class ...
in the second half of 2005, and another on the work of
Théodore Géricault
Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault (; 26 September 1791 – 26 January 1824) was a French Painting, painter and Lithography, lithographer, whose best-known painting is ''The Raft of the Medusa''. Although he died young, he was one of the pi ...
from April to July 2006. It is one of the largest art museums in France.
Buildings
Abbey
Until 1792, the buildings belonged to the Royal
Abbaye des Dames de Saint-Pierre, which was built in the 17th century. The abbess always came from the high French nobility
and here received the personalities of the kingdom. The institution had a particularly aristocratic slant, as is shown by its renovation by
Louis XIV of France
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of ...
in the 17th and 18th centuries. The present state of the palais Saint-Pierre is largely down to these renovations, which included the construction of the baroque refectory and monumental honour-staircase, said to be by
Thomas Blanchet. Since then, the refectory has been renovated and now serves as the reception for group visits, as well as housing two monumental paintings on the subject of dining, ''The Multiplication of the Loaves'' and ''The Last Supper'', both by
Pierre-Louis Cretey. The rest of its current layout was designed by Nicolas Bidaut and Simon Guillaume and is made up of sculptures.
The Palais du commerce et des Arts
The expulsion of the nuns and the destruction of the église Saint-Saturnin date to the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
, though the abbey's other church (the église Saint-Pierre) still exists and now houses 19th and 20th century sculptures. After the Revolution, the remaining buildings housed the Palais du Commerce et des Arts, at first made up of works confiscated from the clergy and nobility but later becoming more multi-disciplinary. For example, it gained archaeology and natural history collections and those of the
Académie des Sciences et des Lettres. The imperial drawing school was created in 1805 in the Palais du Commerce et des Arts to provide Lyon's silk factories with designers, giving birth to the famous
Lyon School
The Lyon School (french: École de Lyon) is a term for a group of French artists which gathered around Paul Chenavard. It was founded by Pierre Revoil, one of the representatives of the Troubadour style. It included Victor Orsel, Louis Janmot a ...
. In 1860, the Chambre de Commerce left the Palais Saint-Pierre and the establishment became the Palais des Arts. From 1875, the museum's collections underwent a major expansion and had to be expanded — the staircase by
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (14 December 1824 – 24 October 1898) was a French painter known for his mural painting, who came to be known as "the painter for France". He became the co-founder and president of the Société Nationale des Beaux ...
dates to this era.
The Musée des Beaux-Arts
The collections were opened up considerably at the start of the 20th century, leading to the Palais des Arts becoming the Musée des Beaux-Arts. The building acquired its present layout in the mid-1990s after the completion of several restoration projects.
Collections
Paintings
The paintings department has European 14th- to mid-20th-century paintings. They are arranged chronologically and by major schools in 35 rooms. The collection features :
* Ancient French painting (16th to 18th century) (
Nicolas Poussin,
Simon Vouet
Simon Vouet (; 9 January 1590 – 30 June 1649) was a French painter who studied and rose to prominence in Italy before being summoned by Louis XIII to serve as Premier peintre du Roi in France. He and his studio of artists created religious and ...
,
Philippe de Champaigne
Philippe de Champaigne (; 26 May 1602 – 12 August 1674) was a Brabançon-born French Baroque era painter, a major exponent of the French school. He was a founding member of the Académie de peinture et de sculpture in Paris, the premier art ...
,
Eustache Lesueur
Eustache Le Sueur or Lesueur (19 November 161730 April 1655) was a French artist and one of the founders of the French Academy of Painting. He is known primarily for his paintings of religious subjects. He was a leading exponent of the neoclas ...
,
Charles Le Brun
Charles Le Brun (baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French painter, physiognomist, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. As court painter to Louis XIV, who declared him "the greatest French artist of ...
,
Hyacinthe Rigaud
Jacint Rigau-Ros i Serra (; 18 July 1659 – 29 December 1743), known in French as Hyacinthe Rigaud (), was a Catalan-French baroque painter most famous for his portraits of Louis XIV and other members of the French nobility.
Biography
Rigaud ...
,
François Boucher,
Jean-Baptiste Greuze
Jean-Baptiste Greuze (, 21 August 1725 – 4 March 1805) was a French painter of portraits, genre scenes, and history painting.
Biography Early life
Greuze was born at Tournus, a market town in Burgundy. He is generally said to have formed h ...
,
Adrien Manglard
Adrien is a given name and surname, and the French spelling for the name Adrian. It is also the masculine form of the feminine name Adrienne. It may refer to:
People Given name
* Adrien Auzout (1622–1691), French astronomer
* Adrien Baille ...
,
Claude Joseph Vernet
Claude-Joseph Vernet (14 August 17143 December 1789) was a French painter. His son, Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, was also a painter.
Life and work
Vernet was born in Avignon. When only fourteen years of age he aided his father, Antoine Vernet ...
etc.).
* 19th-century French painting (
Ingres,
Géricault,
Delacroix,
Degas
Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.
Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is espec ...
,
Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...
,
Manet
A wireless ad hoc network (WANET) or mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a decentralized type of wireless network. The network is ad hoc because it does not rely on a pre-existing infrastructure, such as routers in wired networks or access points ...
,
Morisot,
Cézanne,
Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
,
Van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...
etc.) ;
* 14th- to 18th-century Italian painting (
Perugino
Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil.
Ea ...
,
Lorenzo Costa
Lorenzo Costa (1460 – 5 March 1535) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance.
Biography
He was born at Ferrara, but moved to Bologna by his early twenties, and was probably influenced by the Bolognese School. However, many artists worked in ...
,
Veronese,
Tintoretto
Tintoretto ( , , ; born Jacopo Robusti; late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594) was an Italian painter identified with the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the speed wit ...
,
Correggio
Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sens ...
,
Guido Reni,
Domenichino
Domenico Zampieri (, ; October 21, 1581 – April 6, 1641), known by the diminutive Domenichino (, ) after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters.
Life
Domenichino was born in Bologna, son of a sho ...
,
Pietro da Cortona,
Guercino
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as Guercino, or il Guercino , was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vi ...
,
Salvator Rosa,
Luca Giordano
Luca Giordano (18 October 1634 – 3 January 1705) was an Italian late-Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain.
Earl ...
,
Mattia Preti
Mattia Preti (24 February 1613 – 3 January 1699) was an Italian Baroque artist who worked in Italy and Malta. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Saint John.
Life
Born in the small town of Taverna in Calabria, Preti was called ''Il Ca ...
,
Canaletto
Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school.
Painter of city views or ...
,
Francesco Guardi,
Giandomenico Tiepolo etc.) ;
* Ancient Spanish painting (mainly 17th century) (
El Greco,
Jusepe de Ribera
Jusepe de Ribera (1591 – 1652) was a painter and printmaker, who along with Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting. Referring ...
,
Francisco de Zurbarán
Francisco de Zurbarán ( , ; baptized 7 November 1598 – 27 August 1664) was a Spanish painter. He is known primarily for his religious paintings depicting monks, nuns, and martyrs, and for his still-lifes. Zurbarán gained the nickname "Spanish ...
etc.) ;
* Ancient German, Flemish and Dutch painting (mainly 16th and 17th centuries) (
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder (german: Lucas Cranach der Ältere ; – 16 October 1553) was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is kno ...
,
Quentin Metsys,
Rubens,
Anthony van Dyck,
Jacob Jordaens,
Gerard David
Gerard David (c. 1460 – 13 August 1523) was an Early Netherlandish painter and manuscript illuminator known for his brilliant use of color. Only a bare outline of his life survives, although some facts are known. He may have been the Meester ...
,
Rembrandt etc.);
* 20th-century painting (including
Édouard Vuillard
Jean-Édouard Vuillard (; 11 November 186821 June 1940) was a French painter, decorative artist and printmaker. From 1891 through 1900, he was a prominent member of the Nabis, making paintings which assembled areas of pure color, and interior sc ...
,
Pierre Bonnard,
Georges Rouault
Georges Henri Rouault (; 27 May 1871, Paris – 13 February 1958) was a French painter, draughtsman and print artist, whose work is often associated with Fauvism and Expressionism.
Childhood and education
Rouault was born in Paris into a ...
,
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...
,
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
,
Georges Braque,
Albert Gleizes
Albert Gleizes (; 8 December 1881 – 23 June 1953) was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a self-proclaimed founder of Cubism and an influence on the School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on ...
,
André Derain
André Derain (, ; 10 June 1880 – 8 September 1954) was a French artist, painter, sculptor and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse.
Biography
Early years
Derain was born in 1880 in Chatou, Yvelines, Île-de-France (region), Île-de-Franc ...
,
Maurice de Vlaminck
Maurice de Vlaminck (4 April 1876 – 11 October 1958) was a French painter. Along with André Derain and Henri Matisse, he is considered one of the principal figures in the Fauve movement, a group of modern artists who from 1904 to 1908 we ...
,
Amedeo Modigliani,
Fernand Léger,
Joan Miró,
Giorgio de Chirico
Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( , ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian
artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the '' scuola metafisica'' art movement, which profoundly influ ...
,
Max Ernst
Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealis ...
,
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
and painters of the
Paris School
The School of Paris (french: École de Paris) refers to the French and émigré artists who worked in Paris in the first half of the 20th century.
The School of Paris was not a single art movement or institution, but refers to the importance ...
etc.);
Sculptures
Most of the collection is displayed in two sections: on the ground floor are Medieval and Renaissance sculptures and stuccos of the old baroque refectory; and in the abbey's church are sculptures from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
At the heart of the abbey, the former cloister is now a municipal garden, right in the centre of the town, on the peninsula. It is decorated with several 19th century statues:
*two sculptures by
Auguste Rodin : ''The shadow, or Adam'' (1902) and ''The temptation of Saint Anthony'' (1900) ;
*a sculpture by
Léon-Alexandre Delhomme representing ''
Democrites meditating on the seat of the soul'' (1864) ;
*a sculpture by
Emile Antoine Bourdelle representing ''
Carpeaux at work'' (1909) ;
*a ''Venus'' (1918–1928) by
Aristide Maillol
Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol (; December 8, 1861 – September 27, 1944) was a French Sculpture, sculptor, Painting, painter, and printmaking, printmaker.Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette . "Maillol, Aristide". ''Grove Art Online. Oxford ...
;
*an ''
Odalisque
An odalisque (, tr, odalık) was a chambermaid or a female attendant in a Turkish seraglio, particularly the court ladies in the household of the Ottoman sultan. In western usage, the term came to mean the harem concubine, and refers to the ...
'' (1841) by
James Pradier
James Pradier (born Jean-Jacques Pradier, ; 23 May 1790 – 4 June 1852) was a Genevan-born French sculpture, sculptor best known for his work in the neoclassicism, neoclassical style.
Life and work
Born in Geneva (then Republic of Geneva), Prad ...
,
*a group by
Antoine Etex representing ''
Cain and His Race Cursed By God''
Antiquities
Egypt
Ancient Egypt is the main theme of the museum's antiquities department, due to the historic importance of
egyptology
Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious p ...
in Lyon, encouraged by men like
Victor Loret
Victor Clement Georges Philippe Loret (1 September 1859 – 3 February 1946) was a French Egyptologist.
Biography
His father, Clément Loret, was a professional organist and composer, of Belgian origin, who had been living in Paris since ...
, whose family gave over 1000 objects to the museum in 1954. From 1895, the
musée du Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
provided nearly 400 objects (unguent vases, funerary figurines etc.) to form the foundation of the department; other objects (
canopic vase
Canopus (, ; grc-gre, Κάνωπος, ), also known as Canobus ( grc-gre, Κάνωβος, ), was an ancient Egyptian coastal town, located in the Nile Delta. Its site is in the eastern outskirts of modern-day Alexandria, around from the cent ...
s, jewellery, material from
Antinoöpolis) were added later to complement this initial donation, and were augmented in 1936 by objects from the artisans' village of
Deir el-Medina.
The highlights of the collection are its display of sarcophaguses and the
gates
Gates is the plural of gate, a point of entry to a space which is enclosed by walls. It may also refer to:
People
* Gates (surname), various people with the last name
* Gates Brown (1939-2013), American Major League Baseball player
* Gates McFadde ...
of
Ptolemy III and
Ptolemy IV
egy, Iwaennetjerwymenkhwy Setepptah Userkare Sekhemankhamun Clayton (2006) p. 208.
, predecessor = Ptolemy III
, successor = Ptolemy V
, horus = ''ḥnw-ḳni sḫꜤi.n-sw-it.f'Khunuqeni sekhaensuitef'' The strong youth whose f ...
from the temple of
Medamud
Medamud (, from ) was a settlement in ancient Egypt. Its present-day territory is located about 8 km east-north from Luxor.
The Temple of Montu was located here. It was excavated by Fernand Bisson de la Roque in 1925, who identified sev ...
dug by the Lyons archaeologist
Alexandre Varille in 1939 and donated by the
French Institute of Oriental Archeology
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...
of Cairo. The remaining objects shed light on everyday life in ancient Egypt.
The collection has 600 works displayed in 9 rooms, in a thematic and chronological sequence:
![Tumb bas relief of priest holding a mummy-MBA Lyon 1969-141-IMG 0510](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Tumb_bas_relief_of_priest_holding_a_mummy-MBA_Lyon_1969-141-IMG_0510.jpg)
* Room 1 : Life After Death
The development of funerary practices are explored via a display of
Old Kingdom
In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...
to
Late Period coffins, canopic vases, organs,
shabti
The ushabti (also called shabti or shawabti, with a number of variant spellings) was a funerary figurine used in ancient Egyptian funerary practices. The Egyptological term is derived from , which replaced earlier , perhaps the nisba of "' ...
s and 155 amulets on a variety of subjects. There is also a fragment of the tomb of
Bakenranef
Bakenranef, known by the ancient Greeks as Bocchoris (Ancient Greek: , ; Latin: ) or Bochchoris (, ; Latin: ) was briefly a king of the 24th Dynasty of Egypt. Based at Sais in the western Delta, he ruled Lower Egypt from c. 725 to 720 BC. Thoug ...
found at
Saqqarah, dating to the
26th Dynasty
The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXVI, alternatively 26th Dynasty or Dynasty 26) dynasty was the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest in 525 BC (although others followed). The dynasty's reign (664–525 ...
, as well as a Roman-era shroud.
![Cesarion before Isis IMG 0060-black](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Cesarion_before_Isis_IMG_0060-black.jpg)
* Room 2 : The divine and its rites
Decorations from a temple are recreated along the length of this room, culminating with the gates of
Ptolemy III and
Ptolemy IV
egy, Iwaennetjerwymenkhwy Setepptah Userkare Sekhemankhamun Clayton (2006) p. 208.
, predecessor = Ptolemy III
, successor = Ptolemy V
, horus = ''ḥnw-ḳni sḫꜤi.n-sw-it.f'Khunuqeni sekhaensuitef'' The strong youth whose f ...
from the late temple at
Medamud
Medamud (, from ) was a settlement in ancient Egypt. Its present-day territory is located about 8 km east-north from Luxor.
The Temple of Montu was located here. It was excavated by Fernand Bisson de la Roque in 1925, who identified sev ...
(the former is fragmentary but retains part of its original
polychromy
Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors.
Ancient Egypt
Colossal statu ...
, whereas the latter is nearly complete). The other bas-reliefs in this room come from
Koptos
Qift ( arz, قفط ; cop, Ⲕⲉϥⲧ, link=no ''Keft'' or ''Kebto''; Egyptian Gebtu; grc, Κόπτος, link=no ''Coptos'' / ''Koptos''; Roman Justinianopolis) is a small town in the Qena Governorate of Egypt about north of Luxor, situated un ...
- eight are dated to the
Middle Kingdom and come from a temple to Min. They were discovered by
Adolphe Reinach in 1909 in the foundations of a late building. 11 other fragments come from the end of the Ptolemaic era, and more precisely from the reign of
Cleopatra VII
Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...
. Even if Pharaonic statuary is underrepresented in the museum, the fragment of the statue of
Ramses VI
Ramesses VI Nebmaatre-Meryamun (sometimes written Ramses or Rameses, also known under his princely name of Amenherkhepshef C) was the fifth ruler of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt. He reigned for about eight years in the mid-to-late 12th century ...
in pink granite and the outline of the statue of
Commodus as pharaoh document this aspect of Egyptian art.
* Room 3 : The cult of the divine
Entered through the gate of Ptolemy IV, at the centre of this room is a support from a
barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...
or statue dating to the reign of
Ptolemy II. On the walls are 3 fragments of bas-reliefs from the
28th Dynasty, also found in Koptos.
![Head of Nectanebo II-MBA Lyon H1701-IMG 0204](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Head_of_Nectanebo_II-MBA_Lyon_H1701-IMG_0204.jpg)
* Room 4 : Images and emblems of the divine
This room's three cases contain a collection of bronze statuettes of Gods from the Egyptian pantheon, with a rare representation of
Hapy
Hapi ( Ancient Egyptian: ''ḥʿpy'') was the god of the annual flooding of the Nile in ancient Egyptian religion. The flood deposited rich silt (fertile soil) on the river's banks, allowing the Egyptians to grow crops.Wilkinson, p.106 Hapi was gre ...
, god of the Nile, dating from the Late Period. One whole case is devoted to representations of
Osiris
Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He wa ...
and another to those of the pharaoh. In this room is the head of a pharaoh of the
30th Dynasty
The Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXX, alternatively 30th Dynasty or Dynasty 30) is usually classified as the fifth Dynasty of the Late Period of ancient Egypt. It was founded after the overthrow of Nepherites II in 380 BC by Necta ...
, attributed to
Nectanebo II
Nectanebo II ( Egyptian: ; grc-gre, Νεκτανεβώς ) was the last native ruler of Ancient Egypt, as well as the third and last pharaoh from the Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt. He reigned from 358 to 340 BC.
Under Nectanebo II, Egypt prosper ...
, a Middle Kingdom bust (characterised by its over-large ears), and a scarab with the name of
Amenhotep II
Amenhotep II (sometimes called ''Amenophis II'' and meaning '' Amun is Satisfied'') was the seventh pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Amenhotep inherited a vast kingdom from his father Thutmose III, and held it by means of a few milit ...
.
File:Bust of a pharao-MBA Lyon H1369-IMG 0208.jpg, Bust of a pharaoh, Middle Kingdom
File:Horus as a child-MBA Lyon H1704-IMG 0155.jpg, Statuette of the child Horus, Late Period
Image:Statuette du Nil divin Hâpy, basse époque.JPG, Statuette of the Nile God Hâpy, Late Period
![Bark-MBA Lyon 1969-405-IMG 0139](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Bark-MBA_Lyon_1969-405-IMG_0139.jpg)
* Room 5 : Pharaoh and his servants
In one case are 18 wooden models obtained from tombs from the time of the
23rd Dynasty
The Twenty-third Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXIII, alternatively 23rd Dynasty or Dynasty 23) is usually classified as the third dynasty of the ancient Egyptian Third Intermediate Period. This dynasty consisted of a number of Meshwesh ki ...
from
Assiout. They represent scenes from everyday life such as grazing cattle, or
beer-making. In the opposite case are two displays: one on writing, and the other on the pharaoh's servants. The latter has, among other objects, a
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
statue of an anonymous
Old Kingdom
In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...
couple, a Ptolemaic male bust, and a fragment of a statuette of a kneeling scribe.
* Room 6 : Stelae
Arranged around a wooden statue of Osiris are four Middle Kingdom
stelae
A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...
, eight
New Kingdom stelae, and four from the Roman era. One of the most beautiful is that of
Ptahmose, high priest of
Amon
Amon may refer to:
Mythology
* Amun, an Ancient Egyptian deity, also known as Amon and Amon-Ra
* Aamon, a Goetic demon
People Momonym
* Amon of Judah ( 664– 640 BC), king of Judah
Given name
* Amon G. Carter (1879–1955), American pu ...
,
vizir of
Thebes and chief of works under
Amenophis III
Amenhotep III ( egy, jmn-ḥtp(.w), ''Amānəḥūtpū'' , "Amun is Satisfied"; Hellenized as Amenophis III), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different ...
, which retains traces of its polychromy.
* Room 7 : Everyday life
One case contains 14 protohistoric and pre-dynastic vases, whilst another shows a selection of vases spanning the New Kingdom to the
Late Period. The main display in this room contains many unique pieces, such as the
2nd Dynasty stela of Nes-Henou, or the magnificent wooden male head of the
28th Dynasty, perhaps part of the ornamentation of a harp. It also contains everyday objects like sandals, mirrors, jewellery, and even a stool.
* Room 8 : Egypt and the Greeks - Egypt and Rome
This room explores Greek and Roman influences on Egyptian art. This is especially prevalent in private works of art such as a series of terracotta figurines of Egyptian Gods with Hellenistic traits, and five 2nd and 3rd century funerary stelae from Koptos showing
Palmyrenean influence.
* Room 9 : Egypt and the Roman Empire - Coptic Christianity
This room houses gold-plated funerary masks from the
Roman period; and bas-reliefs,
patera
In the material culture of classical antiquity, a ''phiale'' ( ) or ''patera'' () is a shallow ceramic or metal libation bowl. It often has a bulbous indentation (''omphalos'', "bellybutton") in the center underside to facilitate holding it, in ...
s and textiles from the
Coptic civilisation, including a fragment of the famous "shawl of Sabina".
Near East and Middle East
One room contains cylinder seals, clay tablets and bas-reliefs from the
Sumerian,
Assyria
Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...
n and
Babylonian civilisations, as well as
Luristan bronze
Luristan bronzes (rarely "Lorestān", "Lorestāni" etc. in sources in English) are small cast objects decorated with bronze sculpture from the Early Iron Age which have been found in large numbers in Lorestān Province and Kermanshah in wester ...
s, ceramics and statuettes from
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
and a fine collection of
Syrian objects (including an anthropoid sarcophagus and a marble bas-relief).
Ancient Greece and Italy
A single room is devoted to the main work in this department, the 6th century BC marble
kore
Kore may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Kore (comics), a comic-book series by Josh Blaylock and Tim Seeley
*Kore (producer), French-Algerian music producer, also part of duo Kore & Skalp
*Kore (sculpture), a type of ancient Greek sculpture dep ...
from the
Acropolis of Athens
The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. Th ...
. A second room is dedicated to
ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...
, containing a series of
Attic vases in
black-figure
Black-figure pottery painting, also known as the black-figure style or black-figure ceramic ( grc, , }), is one of the styles of painting on antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, although there are ...
or
red-figure
Red-figure vase painting is one of the most important styles of figural Greek vase painting.
It developed in Athens around 520 BCE and remained in use until the late 3rd century BCE. It replaced the previously dominant style of black-figure va ...
, bronzes and terracotta
Tanagra figurines. Finally, a small room is devoted to
Magna Graecia, with many ceramics and bronze helmets.
Roman sculpture is also presented across several rooms - marble statues (a torso of Venus, a child on a cockerel, statues of draped figures etc.) and also small bronze figurines of Gods from the Roman Pantheon such as Mercury, Venus, Mars etc.
The
Gallo-Roman
Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...
collections of the city of
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...
, previously presented at the Museum of Fine Arts and the Antiquarium, were transferred in 1975 at the
Lugdunum museum on the hill of
Fourvière
Fourvière () is a district of Lyon, France, a hill immediately west of the old part of the town, rising from the river Saône. It is the site of the original Roman settlement of Lugdunum in 43 BC. The district contains many religious buildings i ...
near the Roman theatre and Odeon.
Objets d’Art
This department's collection ranges from the Middle Ages to the 20th century and includes:
* Byzantine ivories
*
Limoges enamel
Limoges enamel has been produced at Limoges, in south-western France, over several centuries up to the present. There are two periods when it was of European importance. From the 12th century to 1370 there was a large industry producing metal o ...
s
* Renaissance faience and maiolica
*
Art Nouveau room by
Hector Guimard
* Islamic art
* Far East ceramics
* Chinese, Korean and Japanese stoneware (since 1917) - rare pieces illustrating the
tea ceremony
An East Asian tea ceremony, or ''Chádào'' (), or ''Dado'' ( ko, 다도 (茶道)), is a ceremonially ritualized form of making tea (茶 ''cha'') practiced in East Asia by the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. The tea ceremony (), literally transl ...
, displayed next to the
Art Nouveau ceramics they inspired.
*''
The Death of Polydorus'', tapestry
*Silk fabrics produced by Lyon's silk manufacturing trade, including works by
Jean-François Bony.
Coins and medals
Lyon's "médaillier" is the second largest one in France after that in Paris, with nearly 50,000 coins, medals, seals and other objects. It is known at a European level and has held a prominent place in the numismatic world from its beginnings in the 19th century to recent discoveries of the treasuries of the Terreaux and the Célestins.
Graphic arts
This department was created at the start of the 19th century and includes works on paper - drawings, prints, engravings, watercolours etc. - based on line rather than colour. In all it more than 8,000 works, including ones by
Filippino Lippi
Filippino Lippi (April 1457 – 18 April 1504) was an Italian painter working in Florence, Italy during the later years of the Early Renaissance and first few years of the High Renaissance.
Biography
Filippino Lippi was born in Prato, Tusc ...
,
Parmigianino
Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 150324 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino (, , ; "the little one from Parma"), was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker active in Florence, Rome, B ...
,
Fra Bartolomeo
Fra Bartolomeo or Bartolommeo (, , ; 28 March 1472 – 31 October 1517), also known as Bartolommeo di Pagholo, Bartolommeo di S. Marco, and his original nickname Baccio della Porta, was an Italian Renaissance painter of religious subjects. ...
,
Leonetto Cappiello
Leonetto Cappiello (9 April 1875 – 2 February 1942) was an Italian and French poster art designer and painter, who mainly lived and worked in Paris. ,
Nicolas Poussin,
François Boucher,
Ingres,
Théodore Géricault
Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault (; 26 September 1791 – 26 January 1824) was a French Painting, painter and Lithography, lithographer, whose best-known painting is ''The Raft of the Medusa''. Although he died young, he was one of the pi ...
,
Eugène Delacroix
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: Britis ...
,
Camille Corot,
Honoré Daumier
Honoré-Victorin Daumier (; February 26, 1808February 10, 1879) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the second N ...
,
Odilon Redon,
Puvis de Chavannes
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (14 December 1824 – 24 October 1898) was a French painter known for his mural painting, who came to be known as "the painter for France". He became the co-founder and president of the Société Nationale des Bea ...
,
Edgar Degas,
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...
,
Fernand Léger and a remarkable study by
Albrecht Dürer.
Magazine
On the initiative of René Jullian, in 1952 the ''Bulletin des musées lyonnais'' was created, and 8 years later changed its name to ''Bulletin des musées et monuments Lyonnais''. In 2003 it changed to an annual publication and again changed its name, to ''Cahiers du musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon''.
Collection
*
Cloth of St Gereon
The Cloth of St Gereon is a mural tapestry of a repeat pattern with a decorative motif of a bull being attacked by a griffin, a fantastic creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle.Thomson, p. 52 "There is a tendency to a ...
, a fragment the museum has in its inventory. It is one of the oldest European tapestries in existence.
Notes
External links
Official Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon website
Ville de Lyon.fr: city's official Musée des Beaux-Arts webpage
Aerial view on Wikimapia (Google maps + Wiki)Virtual tour of the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyonprovided by
Google Arts & Culture
*
{{Authority control
Fine Arts of Lyon
Fine Arts of Lyon
1st arrondissement of Lyon
Fine Arts of Lyon
Fine Arts of Lyon
Fine Arts of Lyon
Fine Arts of Lyon
Fine Arts of Lyon
Fine Arts of Lyon
Fine Arts of Lyon
1801 establishments in France
Culture in Lyon