Couldn’t resist another blog about my trip to the Metropolitan Museum last week (see Friday’s post for the Civil War photo exhibit). It was so fun to be able to spend almost unlimited time there for a change, as usually I have one or more of my kids in tow and their shelf life in a museum is short.

Here are some highlights from the medieval gallery. This is Saint Firmin, a fourth century missionary and martyr who became the patron saint of Amiens, in Basque. Yes, he is standing up, holding his own head in his hands. His biographical record is sketchy, but he was said to have been captured and beheaded by the Romans. I just thought this statue was – well, not what you see every day.

And—sorry about the crummy photos—I was agog at the headgear on these fifteenth century courtiers. The women’s hats (although you can hardly call them hats) are called hennins. (Here is a much clearer shot of it, at the Met’s website.)

This is a statue from the fourteenth century, from a time when it was the fashion to appear pregnant. Lots of theories as to why, but consider the timing. Post-plague population replenishment?

As some of my loyal readers know, I am a huge fan of the painter Velazquez, and this painting of his slave, Juan de Pareja, has always been one of my absolute favorites.

In the headphone tour, the museum curator actually says that if he could take one painting home with him from the Museum, this would be the one. (I blogged about this painting here.)

And finally—I had no idea the Met owned this painting of Lavoisier and his wife by the painter David.

And I had no idea how enormous it is. Lavoisier, known as the father of modern chemistry, was guillotined during the French Revolution (I blogged about him here). And David is another source of (my) fascination—I blogged about him here and here.