One of the great benefits of being an intern at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is going on exclusive tours with department curators. Pictured above are photos from three different tours in which I recently took part: one in the Indian and Himalayan galleries, one in the European Painting Before 1900 galleries and another in the American Art Galleries. All three curators (Darielle Mason, Joseph J. Rishel and Alexandra Kirtley) gave some fascinating information about the collection they handle on a day-to-day basis. For instance, Ms. Kirtley's fun fact was that the claw and ball foot often associated with Chippendale furniture was, in fact, never sold by Thomas Chippendale. the claw and ball foot was never published in the company's catalogs, therefore not offered to their customers (Of course coming from me this doesn't sound too exciting, but these people, especially Alexandra Kirtley, get you just as, if not more excited than they are about the museum's collection). The great thing about going on tours guided by curators is experiencing their contagious compassion for art.
I highly recommend going on a tour at the PMA. Click here for tour details.