Huntington Gardens, the European Museum

Today we visited the Huntington Gardens in Los Angeles. These pictures were made in the Huntington residence and show a few pieces of art spread around a splendiferous seasonal house of the very rich.

When you enter, this is the first room: a magnificent salon with built in bookshelves filled with special editions, likely first editions, of many English language classics. It was like walking into an European furniture collector's salon. The tapestries were from the 1700's, as was most of the furniture. One felt very small in this very large room.

The built in bookcases were on every wall, and contained beautifully bound books. A treasure trove of English literature.

As some of you might remember, I love staircases; this statue is framed by columns and has a background of painted panels with a very interesting staircase.

Here's a view of the matching staircase to the right.

This may originally been a large ballroom, now it is the home of many famous paintings.

Blue Boy was bought by the Huntington's for a paltry $700,000. The largest amount ever paid for a painting at the time. It just happens that Blue Boy has a special meaning for me.

When I was in grade 1, my teacher suggested that I go visit her fiancé's parents who lived a few blocks away from our house in the west end of Ottawa. I did, they offered milk and cookies, and I sat in their small sitting room where they had a large copy of Blue Boy on the wall. It was quite likely the first piece of art that I noticed and paid attention to, at six years of age.  My Mother and Mrs. C became fast friends, a friendship that lasted until I attended University when Mrs. C died.   But I digress... Here's Blue Boy.

There are many paintings and sculptures in the Huntington house, this next one is just a sample.

The gardens were also spectacular, and maybe some pictures will follow in a few days. It was a very pleasant but long day and everyone else is sawing logs, so I think I'll join them.

Tomorrow, we go to the Getty Villa, to see more artistic treasures.  What fun!