Legacy
Walk into any museum or art gallery and there’s one exhibit, often in pride of place, which most people walk past.
It’s the list of benefactors - the quid pro quo for a sizable donation is your name on a wall which the public at large barely register.
By Neverstoplearning26
Let’s look at what used to happen first.
Initially, thanks would be given to donors by putting their coat of arms on the wall.
But arms for alms didn’t last and a new approach was taken.
Paintings were made personal - there's the odd portrait, but often something more telling about the person.
The artist used the blank slate to paint something about the donor. Each picture says something about them and their life - at least, what mattered to them.
And what we have now is the essence of someone captured in a single picture and a window into their world. Collectively, we have a view of the varied people of Carpentras, which judging by the pictures, is also, perhaps a view of the world they saw beyond.
Getting there
It takes about 30 minutes to get to Carpentras from Avignon Centre, but if you are coming from Paris and want to go straight to Carpentras, change at the TGV station.
You can find out more about Carpentras here.