THE FINE ARTS MUSEUM: Palais des Beaux-Arts of Lille ~ Palace of Fine Art in Lille, Paris
©Natalie Keshing
Editor-in-Chief
http://www.natswritings.com
About Natalie Keshing
The building, completed between 1885 and 1892, is typical of the monumental architecture of the late 19th century.
Fully renovated in 1997, its 22,000 m² house prestigious collections of European painting (Sir Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish Baroque painter. A proponent of an extravagant Baroque style that emphasized movement, colour, and sensuality, Rubens is well known for his Counter-Reformation altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects.
Others from the same era were Van Dyck, Goya, Delacroix…), a few key examples of 19th century French painting (David’s Belisarius, Courbet’s L’après-dînée à Ornans, Puvis de Chavannes’ The Slumber, …), a large collection of drawings (including 40 sheets by Raphaël), a sculpture gallery (Carpeaux, Rodin, Claudel, Bartholdi…) and 17th and 18th centuries ceramics.Also worthy of note is the presentation of relief maps of fifteen fortified towns in Northern France and Belgium (18th century models used by the French Kings during wars).