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The Huntington Estate Art Gallery
Viewing the home of the Huntington's left me wondering where they went to be comfortable. The chairs in the formal living room were museum pieces of the French Provincial style covered with beautiful French tapestry . The living room lacked the cozy look. The dining room had a warmer feel as sunlight streamed through the tall windows. In 1934 a 2,900 square foot hall was added to the home to display the GG Grand Manner portraits. Now called "The Thornton Art Gallery" it is home to Gainsborough's Blueboy and Lawrence's Pinky. Interesting to me was the fact that when Henry Huntington bought "The Blue Boy" for over $700,000, it was the highest price ever paid for a work of art at that time. Pinky is the portrait of a young girl from Jamaica. The story is that she died shortly after the painting was completed. Blue Boy is a stunning work of a 12 year old lad posing in a velvet suit. The folds of the fabric are so exquisitely shaded and painted to appear with dimension.
Surprising to me was a view of the chapel. It was a very small room in an obscure area of the residence. The art glass windows were striking.
To heighten one's understanding and appreciation of the 51,000 pieces of Huntington art collection of which only 1200 objects are on display at any one time, free audio tours are available. Major pieces have a brief explaination.
Tomorrow I will post photos of the gardens.
2 comments:
So beautiful! I think my mom had copies of Blue Boy & Pinky somewhere :)
Thank you Jewels. It was such a thrill to actually believe that I was standing befor the original.
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