The Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon (, ) is a municipal
museum
A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...
of fine arts in the French city of
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
. Located near the
Place des Terreaux, 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 ongoing restoration works. Its collections range from ancient
Egyptian antiquities to the
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...
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
Georges Braque ( ; ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with ...
and
Henri Laurens 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 painter and lithographer, whose best-known painting is '' The Raft of the Medusa''. Despite his short life, he was one of the pioneers of the Romanti ...
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
Abbey of Saint-Pierre-les-Nonnains, 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
LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
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, 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. 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-Ar ...
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
Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythologic ...
,
Simon Vouet,
Philippe de Champaigne
Philippe de Champaigne (; 26 May 1602 – 12 August 1674) was a Duchy of Brabant, Brabant-born French people, French Baroque era painter, a major exponent of the French art, French school. He was a founding member of the Académie royale de pein ...
,
Eustache Lesueur,
Charles Le Brun
Charles Le Brun (; baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French Painting, painter, Physiognomy, physiognomist, Aesthetics, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. He served as a court painter to Louis XIV, ...
,
Hyacinthe Rigaud,
François Boucher
François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...
,
Jean-Baptiste Greuze,
Adrien Manglard,
Claude Joseph 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 people, French Impressionism, Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.
Degas also produced bronze sculptures, Print ...
,
Renoir,
Manet,
Morisot,
Cézanne,
Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...
,
Van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...
etc.)
* 14th- to 18th-century Italian painting (
Perugino
Pietro Perugino ( ; ; born Pietro Vannucci or Pietro Vanucci; – 1523), an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael became his most famous ...
,
Lorenzo Costa
Lorenzo Costa (1460 – 5 March 1535) was an Italian painter.
Biography
He was born at Ferrara, but moved to Bologna by his early twenties, and was probably influenced by the Bolognese school, Bolognese School. However, many artists worked in ...
,
Veronese,
Tintoretto
Jacopo Robusti (late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594), best known as Tintoretto ( ; , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized th ...
,
Correggio
Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter who was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Renaissance, who was responsible for som ...
,
Guido Reni
Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian Baroque painter, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious works, but al ...
,
Domenichino,
Pietro da Cortona
Pietro da Cortona (; 1 November 1596 or 159716 May 1669) was an Italian Baroque painter and architect. Along with his contemporaries and rivals Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini, he was one of the key figures in the emergence of Roman ...
,
Guercino,
Salvator Rosa,
Luca Giordano,
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,
Francesco Guardi,
Giandomenico Tiepolo etc.)
* Ancient Spanish painting (mainly 17th century) (
El Greco
Doménikos Theotokópoulos (, ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. ...
,
Jusepe de Ribera,
Francisco de Zurbarán etc.)
* Ancient German, Flemish and Dutch painting (mainly 16th and 17th centuries) (
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder ( ; – 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 known for his portraits, both of German ...
,
Quentin Metsys,
Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...
,
Anthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy.
The seventh child of ...
,
,
Gerard David,
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
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, Vuillard was a member of the avant garde artistic group Les Nabis, creating paintings that assembled areas ...
,
Pierre Bonnard,
Georges Rouault,
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...
,
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
,
Georges Braque
Georges Braque ( ; ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with ...
,
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,
Maurice de Vlaminck,
Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (; ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the École de Paris who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern art, modern style characterized by a surre ...
,
Fernand Léger,
Joan Miró,
Giorgio de Chirico,
Max Ernst
Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...
,
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...
and painters of the
Paris School 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
François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...
: ''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
*an ''
Odalisque'' (1841) by
James Pradier
*a group by
Antoine Etex representing ''
Cain and His Race Cursed By God''
Antiquities
Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
is the main theme of the museum's antiquities department, due to the historic importance of
egyptology
Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Ancient Greek, Greek , ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian History of Egypt, history, Egyptian language, language, Ancient Egypt ...
in Lyon, encouraged by men like
Victor Loret, whose family gave over 1000 objects to the museum in 1954. From 1895, the
musée du Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
provided nearly 400 objects (unguent vases, funerary figurines etc.) to form the foundation of the department; other objects (
canopic vases, 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
Deir el-Medina (), or Dayr al-Madīnah, is an ancient Egyptian workmen's village which was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th to 20th Dynasties of the New Kingdom of Egypt (ca. 1550–1080 BC). ...
.
The highlights of the collection are its display of sarcophaguses and the
gates of
Ptolemy III and
Ptolemy IV from the temple of
Medamud dug by the Lyons archaeologist
Alexandre Varille in 1939 and donated by the
French Institute of Oriental Archeology 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:

* 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 –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 Dynast ...
to
Late Period coffins, canopic vases, organs,
shabtis 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. Thou ...
found at
Saqqarah, dating to the
26th Dynasty, as well as a Roman-era shroud.

* 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 from the late temple at
Medamud (the former is fragmentary but retains part of its original
polychromy, whereas the latter is nearly complete). The other bas-reliefs in this room come from
Koptos - eight are dated to the
Middle Kingdom and come from a temple to Min. They were discovered by
Adolphe Reinach
Adolphe Joseph Reinach (12 January 1887 – 30 August 1914) was a French archaeologist and Egyptologist who participated in excavations in Greece and Egypt and published works on the Gauls.
Working in Egypt for the Société française des fou ...
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 Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...
. Even if Pharaonic statuary is underrepresented in the museum, the fragment of the statue of
Ramses VI in pink granite and the outline of the statue of
Commodus
Commodus (; ; 31 August 161 – 31 December 192) was Roman emperor from 177 to 192, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father Marcus Aurelius and then ruling alone from 180. Commodus's sole reign is commonly thought to mark the end o ...
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 ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts of which the fore mast, mainmast, and any additional masts are Square rig, rigged square, and only the aftmost mast (mizzen in three-maste ...
or statue dating to the reign of
Ptolemy II
Ptolemy II Philadelphus (, ''Ptolemaîos Philádelphos'', "Ptolemy, sibling-lover"; 309 – 28 January 246 BC) was the pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 284 to 246 BC. He was the son of Ptolemy I, the Macedonian Greek general of Alexander the G ...
. On the walls are three fragments of bas-reliefs from the
28th Dynasty, also found in Koptos.

* 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
Hapi, god of the Nile, dating from the Late Period. One whole case is devoted to representations of
Osiris
Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wikt:wsjr, wsjr'') was the ancient Egyptian deities, god of fertility, agriculture, the Ancient Egyptian religion#Afterlife, afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...
and another to those of the pharaoh. In this room is the head of a pharaoh of the
30th Dynasty, attributed to
Nectanebo II, a Middle Kingdom bust (characterised by its over-large ears), and a scarab with the name of
Amenhotep II.
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
Horus (), also known as Heru, Har, Her, or Hor () in Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as the god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and t ...
, Late Period
Image:Statuette du Nil divin Hâpy, basse époque.JPG, Statuette of the Nile God Hâpy, Late Period

* Room 5 : Pharaoh and his servants
In one case are 18 wooden models obtained from tombs from the time of the
23rd Dynasty 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 is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
statue of an anonymous
Old Kingdom
In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning –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 Dynast ...
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 ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...
, 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 Mononym
* Amon of Judah ( 664– 640 BC), king of Judah
* Amon of Toul ( 375– 423 AD), second recorded Bishop of ...
,
vizir of
Thebes and chief of works under
Amenophis III, 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 ''patera'' () or ''phiale'' ( ) is a shallow ceramic or metal libation bowl. It often has a bulbous indentation ('' omphalos'', "belly button") in the center underside to facilitate holding it, ...
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
Sumer
Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...
ian,
Assyria
Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...
n and
Babylonia
Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...
n civilisations, as well as
Luristan bronzes, ceramics and statuettes from
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
and a fine collection of
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
n 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 from the
Acropolis of Athens
The Acropolis of Athens (; ) is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens, Greece, and contains the remains of several Ancient Greek architecture, ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, ...
. A second room is dedicated to
ancient Greece
Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...
, containing a series of
Attic vases in
black-figure
Black-figure pottery painting (also known as black-figure style or black-figure ceramic; ) is one of the styles of Ancient Greek vase painting, painting on pottery of ancient Greece, antique Greek vases. It was especially common between the 7th a ...
or
red-figure, bronzes and terracotta
Tanagra figurines. Finally, a small room is devoted to
Magna Graecia
Magna Graecia refers to the Greek-speaking areas of southern Italy, encompassing the modern Regions of Italy, Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania, and Sicily. These regions were Greek colonisation, extensively settled by G ...
, 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 (cultural), Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire in Roman Gaul. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, Roman culture, language ...
collections of the city of
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
, previously presented at the Museum of Fine Arts and the Antiquarium, were transferred in 1975 at the
Lugdunum museum on the hill of
Fourvière 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
Hector Guimard (, 10 March 1867 – 20 May 1942) was a French architect and designer, and a prominent figure of the Art Nouveau style. He achieved early fame with his design for the Castel Beranger, the first Art Nouveau apartment building i ...
* Islamic art
* Far East ceramics
* Chinese, Korean and Japanese stoneware (since 1917) - rare pieces illustrating the
tea ceremony, displayed next to the
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...
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,
Parmigianino,
Fra Bartolomeo
Fra Bartolomeo or Bartolommeo (, , ; 28 March 1472 – 31 October 1517), also known as Bartolommeo di Pagholo, Bartolommeo di San Marco, Bartolomeo di Paolo di Jacopo del Fattorino, and his original nickname Baccio della Porta, was an Ital ...
,
Leonetto Cappiello,
Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythologic ...
,
François Boucher
François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...
,
Ingres,
Théodore Géricault
Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault (; 26 September 1791 – 26 January 1824) was a French painter and lithographer, whose best-known painting is '' The Raft of the Medusa''. Despite his short life, he was one of the pioneers of the Romanti ...
,
Eugène Delacroix
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( ; ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French people, French Romanticism, Romantic artist who was regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: ...
,
Camille Corot
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; 16 July 1796 – 22 February 1875), or simply Camille Corot, was a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. A pivotal figure in landscape painting, his vast output si ...
,
Honoré Daumier
Honoré-Victorin Daumier (; February 26, 1808 – February 10 or 11, 1879) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the July Revolution, Revolution of 1830 ...
,
Odilon Redon
Odilon Redon (born Bertrand Redon; ; 20 April 18406 July 1916) was a French Symbolist painting, Symbolist draftsman, printmaker, and painter.
Early in his career, both before and after fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, Redon worked almost exc ...
,
Puvis de Chavannes,
Edgar Degas,
Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...
,
Fernand Léger and a remarkable study by
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer ( , ;; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, Old master prin ...
.
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, 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
Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world, operated by Google.
It utilizes high-re ...
*
See also
Abbey of Saint-Pierre-les-Nonnains
{{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