Musée Départemental d'Art Ancien et Contemporain (Museum of Antiquities and Contemporary Art)

Musée Départemental d'Art Ancien et Contemporain (Museum of Antiquities and Contemporary Art) Review

On an island in the Moselle in the center of Épinal, the spectacular Musée Départemental d'Art Ancien et Contemporain is in a renovated 17th-century hospital, whose ancient classical traces are still visible under a dramatic barrel-vaulted skylight. The crowning jewel here is Job Lectured by His Wife, one of the greatest works of Georges de la Tour, the painter whose candlelight scenes constitute Lorraine's most memorable artistic legacy. Works of other old masters, including those by Rembrandt, Fragonard, and Boucher, are on view and were once part of the famous collection of the Princes of Salm. The museum also contains one of France's largest collections of contemporary art, as well as Gallo-Roman artifacts, rural tools, and local faïence.