10/21/17 Musee Estienne de Saint Jean

John was looking up local exhibits and ran across reviews for this little museum.  We have walked by it a million times, but never visited. It was wonderful!  What a gem right under our noses.  It is a 17th century mansion with period furnishings, marionettes, and other folk art pieces.  It is only open in the afternoons from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm.

The tour starts with some exhibits.  Here are two dioramas of a typical evening of entertainment for the aristocracy:

The needlework on the costumes is absolutely gorgeous!  Dolls are about 6 or 7 inches tall so tiny, tiny stitches.

Beautiful (and huge) screen decorated with oil-painted religious and military scenes.

Some marionettes:

Child's riding prop:

Beautiful furniture pieces...

...and decorative painting:

A beautiful painting of the Annunciation:

And three representations of the Blessed Mother:

Le Baccicio was an Italian artist who was commissioned to design the ceiling in the baptistery of St. Peter's.  He worked on it for 30 years, finally went to Rome to oversee the installation (mosaic tile), and died a few days after interacting pneumonia from being in the cold chapel for hours at a time.  Sadly, the project was abandoned after his death.

Somehow, the model he painted on a wooden frame ended up in a house in Aix and is displayed in this museum.  What a story!

More of John's "paintings":

Speaks for itself:

Some folk music on the Cours: