Tag: cordoba

Postcard from Malaga, Spain: Perusing 2,000 years of art

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“Dying Moments: Kicking a Man When He’s Down,” Bernardo Ferrandiz y Badenes (1835-1885), 1881

From Museum of Malaga label: This allegorical composition alludes to an episode in the artist’s life. A man of choleric temperament, he had a run-in with a fellow Academy member… which resulted in Ferrandiz being tried and sent to prison. Deeply shaken by this event, which led to his removal from the post of director of the San Telmo Fine Art School and social and personal disgrace, the once-haughty artist depicted himself as the skeleton of a cat. Only then, when the feline is “down,” so to speak, does the weakest of its sworn enemies, the mouse, dare to scurry among its remains.

Pondered how to pick a piece of art to represent a museum’s enormous collection…. Not sure why this painting by the man regarded as a founder of the Malaga School of painting was nominated, except Day of the Dead has been on my mind.

The Mister spied the painting first, perhaps drawn by the unusual printing painted directly on the frame. Somewhat illiterate in Spanish (understatement), I am label dependent. But what a great personal story – a tale of the politics of art – lurks within that frame.

The Museum of Malaga occupies the Palacio de la Aduana. The former customs house was commissioned by King Charles III (1716-1788) in 1787 in recognition of Malaga’s major role as a maritime trading center.

Two collections, one of fine arts and one of archaeology, were merged to become the Malaga Museum of Art and moved into the almost 200,000 square-foot neoclassical building in 2016. A lot to wander through and absorb, but here’s an abbreviated armchair tour.

“The Saltimbanques/Acrobats,” Jose Suarez Peregrin, 1932
“The Miracle of Santa Cecilda,” Jose Nogales Sevilla, 1892
detail of “The Saltimbanques/Acrobats,” Jose Suarez Peregrin, 1932
“Anatomy of the Heart: And She Had a Heart,” Enrique Simonet y Lombardo, 1890
“Gravures de Pablo Picasso,” 1947
detail of “Anatomy of the Heart: And She Had a Heart,” Enrique Simonet y Lombardo, 1890
detail of mosaic floor “Birth of Venus,” Cartama, 2nd century
Three Faces: Mujer de Picasso, Eve and me
Mudejar ceiling corbel from the Convent of La Merced, 16th century
“A Child’s Dream,” Jose Moreno Villa, 1932
“The Painter and His Model,” Jose Carlos Duran Jimenez, 1981
detail of mosaic floor “Birth of Venus,” Cartama, 2nd century
marble torso of emperor clad in a breastplate with victories and deities Oceanus and Tellus, Cordoba, 2nd centry
detail of mosaic floor “Birth of Venus,” Cartama, 2nd century
pendant with intaglio of Egyptian goddess Sekhmet; gold, silver and carnelian; Malaga; 6th century B.C.
detail of “Innoculation of the Children,” Enrique Borras y Abella, 1900
baptismal font produced by a Triana pottery in Sevilla, 15th century
marble female head with diadem, Cordoba, 1st century
palms outside the Museum of Malaga
mosaic floor “Birth of Venus,” Cartama, 2nd century
silver hoard of Cerro Colorado, 3rd-2nd century B.C.
Mudejar ceiling corbel from the Convent of La Merced, 16th century
Pitcher, Pablo Ruiz Picasso, 1954
colossal votive foot, Sevilla, 2nd century

Loved the horse “volunteering” his serum to inoculate a child in the 1900 painting by Enrique Borras. But my particular favorite is Enrique Simonet’s 1890 painting of an autopsy – “Anatomy of the Heart: And She Had a Heart.” Alas, now she has none. Seems a screen-shot from a macabre film.

Postcard from Cordoba, Spain: Random remaining reflections

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While tour groups swarm around and overwhelm La Mezquita and the Jewish Quarter in Cordoba, many visitors are day-trippers who fail to roam very far from that area. A few blocks away, Cordoba almost seems sleepy.

Am delivering a few remaining photographic souvenirs from our stay there.

 

Postcard from Cordoba, Spain: Regional flavors dominate menus

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Torching of seafood atop paella at Al Grano Arroces y Mas

The distance from Cordoba to Seville is less than 100 miles, but the cuisine distinctions seem much greater. The regional favorite tapa is flamenquin. A slice of pork loin is topped with a slice of jamon and a piece of cheese and then rolled up and deep-fried. Fried eggplant drizzled with dark honey is found everywhere. The traditional salad consists of wedges of romaine topped with fried garlic with vinegar and oil for dressing. Sephardic-style preparations are abundant, and oxtail, rabo del toro, reigns.

A by-the-book traditional Cordoba menu removed from the main Mezquita tourist zone can be experienced at Restaurante Sociedad Plateros Maria Auxiliadora. Nothing trendy. A place where large family gatherings are held to celebrate First Communions or high school graduations.

Bodegas Mezquita, of which there are several, proved a popular spot for sampling Sephardic dishes. The warm garbanzo salad was wonderful, and we enjoyed a hardy lamb stew and fried merluza, hake.

Following a delicate appetizer of red tuna carpaccio atop a wispy crust, the Mister got his rabo del toro fix at La Fuente 12.

Restaurante Sociedad Plateros de Maria
El Astronauta moussaka
El Astronauta grilled tuna
Restaurante Campos del Mar pechuga de pollo a la plancha
Al Grano Arroces y Mas salad with grilled apples and goat cheese
El Astronauto pastilla
Bodegas Mezquita merluza en adobo al estilo Sefardi
La Fuente 12 crujiente de atun rojo
Restaurante Campos del Mar flan
Restaurante Campos del Mar oranges
Restaurante Sociedad Plateros de Maria grilled rosada
Restaurante Campos del Mar chef’s sample of habas con chorizo
La Fuente 12 rabo de toro
Al Grano Arroces y Mas
Restaurante Sociedad Plateros de Maria lechuga al ajillo
Bodegas Mezquita warm Sephardi salad with garbanzos, chard and hummus
La Fuente 12 berejenas a la miel
Restaurante Campos del Mar goat cheese salad
berenjenas a la miel
Al Grano Arroces y Mas tosta de anchoa doble cero
flamenquin
El Astronauta grilled vegetables
Bodegas Mezquita lamb stew al estilo Sefardi
Restaurante Campos del Mar mushrooms with jamon

Restaurante Campos del Mar was far off the tourist grid, and it was well under-populated during its fixe prix lunch hour. The chef was so disappointed we did not order his habas (giant lima beans) con chorizo, he brought us a healthy portion to sample. I sometimes am blood-sausage-challenged, but, in his richly flavored broth, it was wonderful. The goat cheese salad was overdressed, a regional tendency, but the dressing was so good we managed to polish it off.

Reservations are needed to sample the rice specialties of the small Al Grano Arroces y Mas. Grilled apples were a nice change on our salad with the usual generous portion of goat cheese. Rather than try to replicate Valencian paella, the chef throws out the rule book. Seafood is placed atop the cooked pan of rice and dramatically scorched tableside.

In addition to the Mercado Victoria, our favorite spot to eat was the somewhat funky laid-back El Astronauta. A plate of grilled vegetables, always welcome. Perfectly cooked grilled tuna. Moussaka. And a luscious preparation of Moroccan savory-sweet chicken pastilla.