Something Beautiful

Chinese porcelain

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., possesses some beautiful Chinese porcelain.  Here are ten examples which particularly caught my eye. 

Two bowls --

Bowl, ca. 1740

White bowl with "rice-grain" decoration; 18th century

Three vases --

Bottle vase, ca. 1730

Vase, 18th century

Small vase, ca. 1800

Three miniature vases (longtime personal favorites) --

Miniature vase, ca. 1920

Miniature vase

Miniature vase

Cologne Cathedral

It's Sunday and so we are on our way to church.   The QTVR site from which I took yesterday's links also features several ornate European cathedrals and churches.   

The city of Köln (Cologne), Germany, contains one of Europe's most handsome cathedrals.  Below you will find three panoramic photos of the city taken from a Cathedral tower; two views of the Cathedral's exterior, and four of the Cathedral's rather astonishing interior.

Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral)

The city, seen from the four-cornered cathedral tower -- 

View 1

View 2

View 3 

Exterior of the Cathedral -- 

Western facade (main entrance) 

South side 

Interior of the Cathedral -- 

Nave and High Altar  (Check out the ceiling and the floor!)

Nave 

North aisle and Ambulatory 

Apse and Ambulatory 

Five QTVRs

Five wonderful QTVR (Quick-time virtual reality) photos, arranged roughly from the smaller,  man-made to the great and natural --

General Assembly, United Nations, New York City

London, England

Elves' Chasm, Grand Canyon

Mt. Everest, Nepal

Moon

Lindau book cover

The Morgan Library in NYC possesses the achingly beautiful Lindau book cover.   

Becalmed off Halfway Rock

Here is a truly marvelous painting at the National Gallery of Art --

Becalmed off Halfway Rock, 1860, by Fitz Hugh Lane.

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Orvieto Cathedral

For me, the Cathedral of Orvieto, Italy, has the most beautiful exterior of any church in Christendom.   So far as I can tell, it is shown to best advantage on the Web at Professor M. A. Sullivan's fine art history site.   

Professor Sullivan provides numerous photos spread out over six Web pages.   Of these, my greatest interest is in the  first, which focuses on the western facade of the Cathedral and, in particular, on its mosaics.

 

The western facade, in general --

Facade, head-on;

Facade, from left;

Facade, from right;

The rose window, in particular --

Rose window, head-on (with depictions of Sts. Gregory, Jerome, Ambrose and Augustine);

Rose window, from left;

The mosaics, in particular --

Mosaics of the entire facade;

Mosaics above the main entrance; 

Marriage of Mary and Joseph (top "spike" above left entrance)

Coronation of Mary (topmost spike of the entire facade)

Mary Queen of Heaven (spike immediately above the main entrance)