Sarasota, FL - Ringlings Art

Before Ringling died, he willed his house and his museum with his art collection to the state to keep it intact and away from his creditors. Good move and now we can all enjoy what he and his wife enjoyed and collected over the years. The state has added considerably to the collection over the years and has designated this to be the official art museum of Florida and the 16th largest in the US. It has also added 150,000 sq ft to the original land and has built quite a few buildings including a theater, a welcome center and an addition to the original art museum.

Actually, Sarasota was just a small hamlet until Ringling bought his land and started developing it. When he brought his circus to winter here, it injected a much needed lift go the economy and began to bring tourists to this area. Visitors could watch practices and rehearsals for $.25 which then went to charity.

The building was designed for his art collection and even some of the pillars at the entryways to the rooms are copies of pillars in the paintings.

Although, sometimes these little things overshadow the paintings, themselves and you get distracted looking for these things. You look at the museum itself rather than the art.

We arrived about 6:00 in the evening, in time to see the sun setting behind the copy of the David he has in the gardens and the statues along the roof line of the museum.

He was particularly interested in art of the Baroque and late Renaissance (1550 - 1750) and has paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck, Michelangelo, Poussin and Velazques. and and most of his pieces were of this period. All in all it has 1000 paintings (and, no, I did not count them but am relying on information from others), 2500 prints and drawings and 1500 decorative art pieces like buffets and sofas and sconces, etc. His Rubens paintings are huge - 15’ tall and are arranged on the 4 walls of one gallery. Originally there were 11 paintings which were commissioned as patterns for tapestries. 4 of these paintings were destroyed by fire in 1731, Ringling bought 4 and the state added 1 later.

Here is one of the tapestries modeled on the paintings.

Here is a small section of the same tapestry - note the fine stitch work.

Much of the furniture was bought when he bought the mansion of one of the Astors. He brought the painted panels, the gilt moldings, the furniture and the ceiling medallions along with the furniture.

Here’s an interesting picture - one artist did the figures and another did the flowers. When you look at them, you can tell this - the brush strokes are different. The people are hazier while the flowers are crisp and distinct.

I liked the skeptical look on the face in this picture. Ya gotta like Rembrandt.

Marvelous museum and art - we stayed long enough to hear the guards circling around telling everyone that there were only 15 minutes to go. That’s Gary who looks tiny compared to the size of these paintings.

We bought gas on the way home and I snapped this picture of the price wondering how low it could go? Obviously still lower.