Blogging Anniversary - 10 years

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A while ago I checked when I did my first blog post, in order to celebrate with an anniversary post. Well, that day came and went without any reaction from me. Better late than never, so here a reminder of my very first blog post from 24 October 2012.  The book was New Finnish Grammar  by Diego Marani. Marani is an Italian novelist, translator and newspaper columnist. While working as a translator for the European Union he invented a language ‘Europanto’ which is a mixture of languages and based on the common practice of word-borrowing usage of many EU languages. It was a suitable book to start with, being a book about letters, languages and memories. With a beautiful prose, the novel went directly to my heart.  "One night at Trieste in September 1943 a seriously wounded soldier is found on the quay. The doctor, of a newly arrived German hospital ship, Pietri Friari gives the unconscious soldier medical assistance. His new patient has no documents or anything that can ide...
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A day in Antwerp

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Rockox House
Yesterday, Karin and I went to Antwerp to visit the Rockox house and museum. Since the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp is on repair, part of their collection is shown in this house. So who was Rockox? He lived in Antwerp from 1560-1640, born into a wealthy, bourgeois family, and studied in Leuven, Paris and Douai (a town in north eastern France (I had to look it up!). Married to Adriana Perez, who also came from an old and wealthy merchant family (of Spanish origin). During the first half of the 17th century he was an important figure in the political, artistic as well as in the social life of Antwerp. At one time he was a mayor. He gained an exceptional reputation as a patron, antiquarian, humanist and numismatist (the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects; had to look this up as well; thank you Wikipedia). Interested in the arts, he commissioned, and hereby supported the local artists, including Rubens. He also was a benefactor of the poor. When he died he requested his house to be sold and to benefit the poor.


Renaissance room
It is a beautiful house, and now the wall are filled with marvellous paintings from the great Belgian, Dutch and other masters of the time. The rooms are divided in Renaissance and Baroque paintings. The name of this project is The Golden Cabinet  which refers to the famous work with the same name by Cornelis de Bie (1627-1715), from southern Netherlands.

Barock room. Rubens in the middle
 and Karin to the left
Antwerp is a really beautiful city to stroll around in. Lovely small streets, fantastic old houses. Each street is a new discovery. Karin discovered (she obviously looks higher up than me!) that many houses have statues in the corners.

This was my third visit to the city in a short while. Now I have seen most of the museums that I am interested in. However, there are always more to see. Walking around the city is a joy in itself.

Philippe de Croy
by Rogier van der Weyden
In the book Master of Bruges by Terence Morgan (my review here) about the painter Hans Memling, he was an apprentice to Rogier van der Weyden. I had not heard about him before, and now he pops up everywhere! Also here in the museum with a portrait of Philippe de Croy.









Old house in the shadow of the church

The shopping street. The grand old house
is today Inno Department Store

Reading man in the entrance
to a book store!


A beautiful door from an old house

Comments

  1. Mudpuddle6 March 2015 at 06:30

    the "reader" statue is an almost duplicate of lytton strachey!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisbeth 6 March 2015 at 12:59

      Could be. I have to ask in the shop next time I pass by! I quite like it.

      Delete

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