Visiting the Getty Museum

As I said last week when I blogged about the light weight polar fleece sweater, I visited southern California a couple weeks ago, which gave me the chance to visit the wonderful Getty Museum for a second time. The last time I went was when I attended Costume College several years ago. I didn't allow nearly enough time to see everything and have wanted to return for quite a while.
The building itself is a wonder. Above is an arial view.

The gardens are beautiful and the views spectacular.

There is even a fun tram to take you from the parking garage up to the museum. AND everything is free except for the parking!

But, the main reason to visit the Getty, is the art.  It is a large and diverse collection ranging from Medieval Europe to modern art and architecture.
The visit is making me want to make a new Renaissance men's pattern. There were several portraits of handsome guys from that era.

This one by Paolo Calairi from about 1576. Although I would probably do a English Tudor style to go with the woman's costume I made instead of this Italian style.

This is named "Portrait of a Man with a Sheet of Music", by Domenico Fetti. Probably considered more Baroque, painted in 1620.

This is called "David with the Head of Goliath." It's by Guido Cagnacci, painted around 1645- 50.  I don't think this outfit is close to what the real David would have worn, but I like it a lot. The slashed sleeves, the maroon sash and especially hat with the perky feather on the side. The angle of the feather goes with his confident attitude and pose.


Again, not exactly the costume I would make, but it is inspiring me to start researching.

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This painting is from about the same time.  It called "The Musicians' Brawl" and is by George de La Tour.  Of course it's interesting to see the clothing common people wore, but what's going on in the painting is what I like best, especially the man in the center right who is squirting a lemon in the eye of the other man apparently to prove if the other man is really blind.  The expressions of all the people watching the brawl are fun, too.  This scene just appealed to me so much. Probably because of my years in music school and all the competition that goes on there.

And here is another bust where we can see the back of a period hair do. This is from 1640 attributed to Alessandro Algardi.

They had some really interesting beds, too. This just looks like a big couch, but its the size of, at least, a queen size mattress. It's called the Turkish bed is French from about 1750.

She is Maria Cerri Capranica and is very obviously dressed in the baroque style with that big lace collar.

This bed is also French from about 1775. This one is called the Polonaise bed. It must be because of the style of the draperies.

Now, the word Polonaise means in the Polish style.  Chopin wrote piano pieces called Polonaises and there is a dance called a Polonaises.  I wonder why things with draped fabric are called Polonaises? Any one know?  There are two periods in clothing history with Polonaise style dresses.  I have found one example of each period.

These dresses are from the mid 18th century.

This is a 1870s version of a Polonaise dress. This is the first bustle period, the lower more sloping bustle.

So, every time I go to a museum I learn something or make a connection in my mind like seeing this Polonaise bed did for me.