Following up at the Met 2 (Thursday Doors)

I have constructed no shrine,
but the scent of roses remains–
the image of your hands
imprinted on the handles of a cup–
the quiet sustenance of reflection

A Cup of Water and a Rose by Francisco de Zurbarán

I promised to photograph Velez Blanco at the Metropolitan Museum from the upper floor and finally managed it a few months ago. Since Colleen’s Ekphrastic Prompt, above, was a painting done by a Spanish painter around the same time Velez Blanco was originally constructed in Spain, I thought it made a good accompaniment.

I first walked around the balcony and photographed it from all three sides. There were more people in the room than on my previous visit, but it still gave me the feeling of stepping into another time.

I could also get better photos of the upper detailing.

There’s quite a bit of art from the same period, the 1500s and 1600s in Spain, displayed on the balcony. Here’s a wrought iron door escutcheon.

And I was also quite taken by this reliquary.

The only way I could get the entire room in one photo was to reduce the lens to one half. I like the way it distorts the dimensions–you can really get a good sense of the space as a whole.

My original Velez Blanco post is here, with close ups of the lower level and its doors, and more information about its origins.

And to see more doors, visit Thursday Doors here, hosted by Dan Antion.