Description: My sister and I were at the Frick together when she commented on the extraordinary wealth: “My god it’s a whole different world in here.”
The funny thing is that I didn’t know which world she was talking about. Was it the world of feathered aristocracy in the portraits on the wall? Did she mean the building itself, once home to Gilded-Age industrialist Henry Clay Frick? Or maybe it was the museum-goers mingling all around us: a smorgasbord of French-speaking diplomats, university professors layered in tweed, and Upper East Side women just now donning their furs again after a decade of politically corrected expulsion.
You can enjoy all of these worlds, like some blue collar fly on the wall, for a relatively cheap admission price: $15 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $5 for those of us with university ID cards that remain unexpired 2 years after graduation. The audio guides are free and highly recommended. They dwell not just on the artistry of the paintings, but also the anecdotes and histories behind them.
Look for a classic portrait of Utopia author, Thomas More. It sits directly across the fireplace mantle from a portrait of his mortal enemy, Thomas Cromwell. Both pieces are the work of Hans Holbein the Younger, a Bavarian artist who you might already know from his renderings of Henry VIII. Above the mantle, as if to calm the tension between More and Cromwell, is a large El Greco portrait of the ascetic priest, Saint Jerome.
Other personal favorites include Johannes Vermeer with a signature piece of streaming light, called “Officer and Laughing Girl.” The Frick has a ton of religiously themed work, but none more eye-catching than El Greco’s “Purification of the Temple.” A flamboyant Jesus Christ, dressed in wine-colored robes, dances across the canvas, expelling traders, and money-lenders from the temple floor.
Intriguing portraits of English women include the distant but sexy Lady Peel, by Thomas Lawrence, and a George Romney portrait of the famous Emma Hart, known as Lady Hamilton. With her rosy cheeks, and holding a cute little puppy, you’d never guess Ms. Hart, the human Barbie of her time, led an extravagant lifestyle chock full of extra-marital affairs with powerful men.
There are countless paintings and sculptures to fall in love with at the Frick, spanning the very best of European art over three or four centuries. (Frick had only two American paintings in his collection, one of them a George Washington portrait by Gilbert Stuart.) Not to mention all the antique clocks, textiles, and furniture pieces, which are everywhere and yet always escape my attention.
In short, the Frick is a gorgeous place, manageable, with something for everyone; an overwhelming art experience that won’t make you feel overwhelmed (in contrast to the nearby Metropolitan Museum of Art). One last note: special exhibitions are held on the lower level. Lines for them grow very long and the museum will often sell time-specific tickets.
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