Antwerpen

Museum des Beaux Arts

and its

Modern Section

The Antwerp museum has a beautiful collection of Old Masters and a post-nineteenth-century section which Barbara took to her heart. Among the old masters are two unusual Simone Martinis (probably painted in Avignon), the only early Renaissance paintings in Flanders. They belong to one poliptych which came to Flanders via Dijon, Burgundy. Two more panels from the same retable are in Berlin and Paris. However, my favorite in Antwerp is Jean Fouqet's Madonna with the surrealistically red angels.

The discovery in the modern section was the enigmatic Ensor. More of him we saw in Brussels.

Simone Martini, Annunciation, 1333

Simone Martini, Descent from the Cross, 1333

Dieric Bouts the Elder, Virgin, 1425

Jan van Eyck, St. Barbara, 1437

Jan van Eyck, Madonna, 1439

Antonello di Messina, Crucifixion, 1475

Roger van der Weyden, The Seven Sacraments, 1445

Rogier vander Weyden, Philip de Croy, 1460

Jean Fouquet, Madonna, 1450

Quentin Massys, St. John the Baptist Triptych, 1508

Frans Floris, Rebellious Angels, 1554

Rubens, Lamentation Triptych, 1618

Rubens, Cucifixion, 1620

Post-19th-Century Paintings

Ensor, The Oyster Eater, 1882

Ensor, The Skeleton Painter, 1896

Modigliani, Sitting Nude, 1912