The Masters

I'll just say this: After talking with the very (whew!) excited Timothy J. Standring, the Gates Foundation curator of painting and sculpture, any art-illiterate doubts I had about the relevance of Masterpieces on Loan: Caravaggio, Poussin, Lorrain are long, long gone. "Imagine Shakespeare coming to town," says Standring. "Imagine Mozart's...

By Mark Dragotta

August 16, 2007

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I'll just say this: After talking with the very (whew!) excited Timothy J. Standring, the Gates Foundation curator of painting and sculpture, any art-illiterate doubts I had about the relevance of Masterpieces on Loan: Caravaggio, Poussin, Lorrain are long, long gone. "Imagine Shakespeare coming to town," says Standring. "Imagine Mozart's Clarinet Concerto." (Imagine someone who knows a lot more than you, talking faster than you can write). "These were created by Old Masters, and we have an opportunity to go to the Denver Art Museum and see paintings of this caliber. It really gives us an opportunity to bridge ourselves with the past."

On view at the Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway, Caravaggio's "Still Life with Fruit on a Stone Ledge," Poussin's "Midas Washing at the Source of the Pactolus" and Lorrain's "Landscape with Cowherd Piping" will be displayed on the sixth floor of the North Building. "These represent three great examples bridging the gap between the Renaissance and Impressionism," says Standring. "They paved the way for everything that was happening up until Impressionism. To put it in terms of non-art-historians: They're just great paintings. Period. Stop. End of story. I can't even believe the Denver Art Museum has these paintings in their building."

Tickets are $13 for adults, $10 for seniors and students and $5 for anyone six to eighteen years old. Museum hours vary. For more information call 720-865-5000.
June 28-Sept. 7, 2008

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