Something Beautiful

Reims Cathedral (west facade)

The Reims Cathedral is famous as the site of the coronation of French kings, and as a particularly fine example of Gothic architecture.  .   It has two highly-decorated facades, the western facade and the northern. 

Today we will look at the West facade, which is the cathedral's face and contains its main entrances.   

First, there are two "buttresses" on this facade, one at each end of the cathedral's face --

left buttress (at far left of cathedral's face)

right buttress (at far right of the West facade)

Next, there are three portals, known as the North, Center and South portals. 

     a.  North portal (right-most entrance of West facade) --

North portal

North portal, left side (jamb statues)

North portal, right side (jamb statues)

      b.  The Center portal is the largest and most ornate of the three --

Center portal

Center portal, left side

Center portal, right side 

Central portal, trumeau

c.  Finally, there is the South portal --

South portal

South portal, left side

South portal, right side 

Tomorrow I'll try for the other main facade. 

Gothic architecture

For days I have been struggling, unsuccessfully, to put together a page on Reims Cathedral, France.  Until such time as I might succeed in that, I offer this page of wonderful photographs on the broader topic of Gothic cathedrals in general. 

Camille Pissarro (NGL)

The National Gallery, London, is a marvelous art museum with a fine website.  This morning I found myself looking at its small collection of 12 works by Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro (1830-1903).   

Among these twelve are two works painted in England --

Fox Hill, Upper Norwood, 1870

The Avenue, Sydenham, 1871

Pissarro painted city-scapes, such as these two works made in Paris --

Boulevard Montmartre at Night, 1897

Louvre under Snow, 1902

The artist spent a great deal of time in the French countryside --

View from Louveciennes, 1869-70

Cote des Boeufs at L'Hermitage, 1877

He painted portraits of people dear to him --

Portrait of Cezanne, 1874

Portrait of Felix Pissarro, 1881

Finally and, to my mind, best of all, he painted country people in their natural rural settings --

A Wool-Carder, 1880

Little Country Maid, 1882

The Pork Butcher, 1883

My personal favorite of all the Pissarros at the NGL is this enchanting portrayal --

Pere Melon Sawing at Pontoise, 1879

Magellans Large and Small

Is it just me, or is there something touching about this astrophotograph of the two Magellanic clouds or, more accurately, galaxies?

The Milky Way

An impressive photo of our home galaxy and the two Magellanic Clouds.