Museums: National Gallery of Art #11

The National Gallery of Art's West Building is home to a very large collection of classical art.  

Greg is a longtime fan of paintings by artists of the Hudson River School, an American art movement during the mid-19th century.  The founder of the movement was Thomas Cole (1801-1848).  Cole's masterwork is a set of four allegorical paintings called The Voyage of Life.  Each painting is very large and represents a season in a person's life, visually depicting the highs and lows.  You can view the four paintings below.  

The Voyage of Life:  Childhood, Youth, Manhood, Old Age by Thomas Cole (1842) (oil on canvas):

The Voyage of Life: Childhood

The Voyage of Life: Youth

The Voyage of Life: Manhood

The Voyage of Life: Old Age

While touring the museum, we spotted a painting (pictured below) that seemed strangely familiar.  Upon closer inspection, we realized why the scene was familiar.  We saw the same scene while visiting Sicily during Year 2.  The scene is a view of a smoking Mt. Etna from the Greek/Roman Theater in Taormina.    

Below is a photo we snapped from the same ancient theater in Taormina.  Mt. Etna is smoking in the distance.  

Photo of Taormina and Mt. Etna (June 2017)

Thanks for (again) visiting the National Gallery of Art with us.

P.S.  In the National Gallery of Art, some of the artwork is found in surprising places.  Below is an artistic, brass water fountain in the lobby of the museum.