Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Twenty Minutes at the Kimbell

St Anthony Torment of the Demons by Michealangelo (age 13)
Ordination by Poussin
I had the great pleasure of traveling to Fort Worth recently, visiting relatives there.  The state of Texas has three cities to commend it--Austin and San Antonio being the other two.  Both of these latter cities are falling victim to their own success, it seems.  Fort Worth, however, is just about right.  Unlike Dallas, this is a city of real neighborhoods.  And the city fathers have put some real thought into infrastructure--it being surprisingly easy to zip between the residential areas, downtown, the medical district and the arts district.  In terms of sheer livability, Fort Worth is hard to beat.

Christ and the Woman of Samaria by Guercino
I visited my aunt in rehab and then started home, a drive taking the better part of three hours. On a whim, I decided to stop off at the Kimbell Museum of Art, one of the city's treasures.   I was able to park almost at the front door, and the gallery is free of charge.  I spent twenty minutes or so, revisiting some of my favorite works, a few of which are posted here.
Four Figures on a Step by Murillo
Christ Blessing by Bellini
The Anger of Achilles by David

The Cardsharps by Caravaggio

The Cheat With the Ace of  Clubs by de la Tour
I always enjoy ending-up in front of a matched pair of paintings--The Cardsharps by Caravaggio and The Cheat with the Ace of Clubs by de la Tour.  Both present a similar theme:  the easy fleecing of these rosy-cheeked sons of privilege.  De la Tour's is especially droll, as his cheat--by showing his hand--makes the viewer an accomplice in relieving the youth of his gold doubloons on the table.

3 comments:

Aaron Taylor said...

I just love paintings of St Anthony, with or without demons but especially with. We might have to go check out the Kimbell sometime.

Anonymous said...

I live in Dallas and love going over to Fort Worth. However, I think that half of Fort Worth works in Dallas or its suburbs, judging by evening traffic when I've had to be in Fort Worth for pm meetings. The joy of having to be over in south Fort Worth for a 7 pm meeting driving from north east Dallas after work in pouring rain is just indescribable.

Terry (John) said...

Anon,
Good point. I finished my seminar in Richardson at about 4:50 Friday afternoon, and then had to drive to southwest Fort Worth. It wasn't raining, but everything else was in play.