A too-short visit to The Met

When Hannah and Eva were here, we went to the Met the same day we went to the Cloisters. The Met really deserves a day or two to itself, and I definitely plan to go back — the two or so hours we had there were only enough to see a few musical instruments and about 3/4 of the European Painters section.

I was very clever and snapped pictures without any added descriptions, and with a bunch of them I don’t even remember the artist! So bear with me as I show you ‘pretty paintings’ and some interesting musical instruments.

This painting shows Apollo getting ready for his daily trip around the world:

I forget the context, but the expressions in this one just cracks me up! (And just what exactly are those sneaky women up to?)

I got to see original works by Rembrandt van Rijn!

Just look at the amazing detail of the lace in this Rembrandt:

And now onto some musical instruments, starting with the keyboards.

This, believe it or not, is a harpsichord. It even has a golden carseat on the back!

And a fancy schmanchy piano:

Now for the strings:

Check out the cool curves on this 6-string violin (or is it a viola, or something else?):

And did you know you used to be able to get pocket violins? Street performers would use them — so cute!

Don’t ask me how you’d play this harpo-lyre. Four arms, anyone?

This horn was so beautifully painted, and the photo really doesn’t do it justice, but hey, you get an idea of what it was like! It almost looks a bit like Delft work.

Ben and I hope to go back there some day and look at some more things in more detail — it’s such a big place, with such an amazing array of things!