Copying a Brueghel

On our first full day in Vienna we went to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, one of the great art museums in the world--it did not disappoint. Tops in the collection are paintings by Pieter Breughel the Elder (1525-69), and among them is my favorite painting in the world: "Hunters in the Snow." An artist was doing a full-sized copy of it, and she smiled broadly when I told her it was "mein Lieblingsgemaelde ueberhaupt" (altogether my favorite painting). It portrays Winter in a series of six paintings of the seasons by the artist.

As I was preparing the blip, it occurred to me that this was a similar experience to seeing my
first Caravaggio on the first full day of our visit to Rome last February--another beloved painting by another great artist.

Our previous visit to Vienna was in 1997, and we'd been too long away. So far we're having a great time, including two really excellent fish dinners. I'll report further in the next few days.