Seek-and-go-Hyde

I'd only heard about the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls quite recently.  Finding ourselves without children (they'd made their own arrangements) for the afternoon, the Man and I went to seek it out.

What a perfect place!  The collection is housed in the former home of Louis and Charlotte Hyde. It's a substantial house, but not ostentatious, and close-by the papermill from which the Hydes made their fortune.  It was built in 1912 in the style of an Italian villa, featuring a Florentine courtyard at the centre with an American twist: a glass roof.  None of the rooms are enormous, all are tastefully furnished with modest amounts of antique furniture from all over the world.  In each room the real focus is on the artworks, collected by the Hydes themselves and spanning almost 6,000 years of creativity.

Every room contains treasures by some of the best-known European and American artists - a Degas here, a Renoir there, over there a Picasso, here a Whistler and a Winslow Homer.  There are paintings by Reubens and El Greco.  There are fine examples of religious art, landscapes, portraits, sculpture...  Most are rather small, many are studies for bigger artworks.  Everything was chosen to fit with the scale of the house. 

We toured the house by ourselves (almost the only visitors), then with a guide - we had her to ourselves, and enjoyed her genuine enthusiasm for the collection.  Sometimes visiting a gallery can be an exhausting business - too much to see and take in.  But we left the Hyde in a very happy mood, as if we'd just been treated to a well-proportioned meal made with quality ingredients - we'd enjoyed everything, and felt entirely satisfied.