Page 74 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Belgium & Luxembourg

72  BEL GIUM AND L UXEMBOURG REGION B Y REGION

s Musées Royaux des
Beaux-Arts de Belgique:
Musée Old Masters

Officially known as the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de
Belgique, the Musée Old Masters, Musée Fin de Siècle and
Musée Magritte are Brussels’s premier art museums. The
buildings cover two eras, ancien (15th to 18th century) and
moderne (19th century to present day), as well as René
Magritte’s works from the early 1900s to 1967. The Musée Old
Masters opened in 1887 and has the finest collection of Façade of Museum Corinthian
columns and busts of Flemish
Flemish art in the world. Housed in a Neo-Classical building, painters adorn the entrance.
designed by fashionable architect Alphonse Balat between
1874 and 1880, the collection was put together in the late
18th century, when it was made up of paint ings looted by the
French Revolutionary Army. Many more were recovered from
France after 1815, and the Musée Old Masters is now the
largest of the museums and is famed for holding the finest
collection of Flemish art in the world, with Old Masters such
as van Dyck and Rubens very well represented.
Ground level

The Census at Bethlehem (1610) Main Entrance
Pieter Brueghel the Younger (c.1564–1636) produced a version
of this subject, some 40 years after the original by his father.
Both works are in the collection, showing the progression to
the son’s smoother style.

Entrance to
the Museum Shop

. The Annunciation (1406–07)
The Master of Flémalle, Robert Campin
(c.1375–1444) depicted Archangel Gabriel
announcing the imminent birth of the
Messiah in a contemporary setting. The
everyday objects offer a homely contrast
to the momentous nature of the event.
For hotels and restaurants see p266 and pp280–83

072-073_EW_Belgium.indd 72 18/10/16 3:01 pm
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Starsight template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.7)
Date 24th April 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm