Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore
After leaving my friends in North Carolina I made my way north to visit the next two people on my list, the aforementioned Jen in Philadelphia who I used to swim with, and one of my old bosses, Michael, who’s in Atlantic City. But on my way I really wanted to see at least one of two museums located in Baltimore, either the Baltimore Art Museum of the Walters Art Gallery. I hemmed. I hawed. Baltimore Art Museum had Roman mosaics from Antioch that I hadn’t seen in person – ones that completed the incomplete panels in the Worcester Art Museum – and the Walters had an excellent collection of ancient Mediterranean portraiture and specifically an exemplary example of an early portrait of the Empress Livia, whose portraiture typology I studied in college. I ultimately decided on the Walters, thinking I would be able to spend less than a full day there since I was on a time schedule and all. Right, well, I should know myself better because that didn’t happen at all, but whatever. I should also point out that both museums are free which is awesome. I fully intend on returning to Baltimore to visit both museums (especially since there were multiple galleries at the Walters that were closed for renovation) and also see the beautiful historical brick architecture of the city. I am very rarely moved by a desire to photograph a city, but Baltimore proved an exception to that.
The Walters was more impressive than I anticipated and my visit was thus longer than expected. Their collection is both larger and more interesting than I thought and their ancient collection in particular was outstanding. This means of course that I had a difficult time trying to whittle down the photos to post but luckily for you I didn’t take all that many since my camera was in for repairs. All the photos below were taken with my phone so the quality may not be very good.
Mosaic of a partridge, Roman Tunisian, 2nd-3rd century A.D., Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
Late Helladic IIB or IIIA Mycenaean jug, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
Hellenistic copy (1st C. B.C.) of Praxiteles’ Aphrodite of Knidos (ca. 364 B.C.), Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
Late Republican (mid-30s B.C.) Portrait of Livia with exemplary nodus hairstyle, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
Late Etruscan (4th and 3rd century B.C.) cistae from Praeneste, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
Roman sarcophagus depicting the Abduction of Persephone, ca. 200-220 A.D., Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
Egyptian statue of falcon from Luxor, ca. 664-100 B.C., Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
Roman-Period Egyptian Mummy Portrait, 1st-3rd century A.D., Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
Middle Kingdom faience hippopotamus (not the famous William from the MET), ca. 1191-1640 B.C., Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
Early Byzantine tomb door from Syria, 5th – 6th century A.D., Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
13th century Iranian pottery from Kashan, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
Gothic stained glass window from Soissons Cathedral (France) depicting the prophet Joel, ca. 1200-1223 A.D., Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
Madonna and Child with the Four Evengelists, Andrea di Bartolo, ca. 1400-1410 A.D., Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, El Greco, 1585-1590 A.D., Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
Ganesha statue from Pala Dynasty (India), 11th century, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
Staircase and cupola of the Hackerman House, 1848-1850 A.D., Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
