Musée d'Art Ancien

Musée d'Art Ancien Review

In the first of the interconnected art museums, the Ancient Art Museum pays special attention to the great, so-called Flemish Primitives of the 15th century, who revolutionized the art of painting with oil. The Spanish and the Austrians pilfered some of the finest works, but there's plenty left by the likes of Memling, Petrus Christus, Rogier van der Weyden, and Hieronymus Bosch. The collection of works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder is outstanding; it includes The Fall of Icarus, in which the figure of the mythological hero disappearing in the sea is but one detail of a scene in which people continue to go about their business. Bruegel the Younger's wonderful Fight between Carnival and Lent is also here. A century later Rubens, Van Dyck, and Jordaans dominated the art scene; their works are on the floor above. Look for Rubens's outstanding The Martyrdom of St. Livinus. The 18th-century collection on the ground floor includes the melodramatic Death of Marat, by Jacques-Louis David, who, like many other French artists and writers, spent years of exile in Belgium. You can forge ahead into the 19th and 20th centuries by using the underground passage that connects this museum to the adjacent Musée d'Art Moderne. There are English-language brochures and guided tours available.