July 25 -- National Gallery of Art

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The moon was still visible, the morning of July 25.

Enjoying my big-sky view from the hotel window.

This was the first time I rode on one of the new subway trains, with detailed info about where you are and where you are going.  We are headed for Judiciary Square.

Lots of court buildings around Judiciary Square.

Art Deco eagle in front of one of the buildings.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Hey, look -- we can see the Washington Monument!

Crepe myrtle.  In addition to excellent flowers, it has interesting bark.....

Looking straight up.  The exposure was wonky, but it's reasonably sharp.  Increasing the "exposure" so we can see the color, but it's still not as pretty as it was in person.  Love the curvy stamens.

The National Gallery of Art.  There's a big street between us and the NGA.

Crossing that busy street.  I'm thinking it's the same busy street, with the Capitol at the end, that we crossed yesterday.  Only now we are closer to the Capitol.

It was another hot and steamy day.  This very nice big fountain, partially in the shade, is on our path to the NGA.  We'll pause here.

See the Washington Monument?

Zooming in -- here it is again, behind the Museum of Natural History.

Unzoomed, turning a bit to the right....

Inside the National Gallery of Art at last.

There was a big exhibit of art that has been recently donated by Andrew Mellon.

I have mixed feelings.  All of this money, in the possession of one man, to do with as he chose -- just wrong, in my humble.

But at least he donated a whole bunch of art to a public museum, where we all can see it........

Both of these versions of Degas' famous little dancer were his...............  One says "plaster" and the other says "wax"......  I'm assuming that Mellon owned both of these object made by the master (even better than owning mere copies in bronze??).

They were facing each other in the museum -- a dramatic and effective way to display them, I thought.

I believe we are no longer in the "new Mellon donations" exhibit.

This lion was relatively small -- about a foot wide?  Alas, I did not capture its info.

This is the area under the National Gallery's dome.  I don't like people in my pics, but the guy in black pants and a white shirt, just under the lip of the fountain at the left edge of the image (just left of the blue shirt of the woman with the shopping bags), shows how big those black columns are.  Big.

Standing in the same place, looking up.....

Moving a bit, to see as much of the dome as we can see with this lens.

Looking at more art.  Fra Fillipo Lippi, c. 1440.  Florentine. 

Wondering which rich men's hands this went through, to end up here in the USA........  The NGA publishes provenance.  The answer in this case, I believe, is that we do not know where it was between 1440 and 1821 when it is believed to have been sold by Edward Solly to the Königliche Museen (later Kaiser-Friedrich Museum), Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.



Nice floor................

This is one of my very favorite pieces in the National Gallery of Art.

Little boy, made of marble around 1460 by Desiderio da Settingnano (Florentine).  Something else that used to belong to Andrew Mellon. 

I have been making a point of visiting this kid ever since I first saw him, sometime in the 1970s.  He is still as appealing as ever.  That upper lip..................

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