Heritage Green Gets Taste of European Old Masters
 Erin Jones (center), director of the Museum & Gallery at Heritage Green, cuts the grand opening ribbon Saturday morning with help from special friends of M&G. Joining her are (from left) Paul Wickensimer, Phil Hughes, Ben Rook, Jim Weisbecker, Greenville Mayor Knox White, Greenville County Council chair Butch Kirven, John Nolan, Donnalyn Hess and Chris Stone.
“This is a day we have been anticipating for a long time,” said Erin Jones, Director of the Museum & Gallery at Bob Jones University, that contains the world-renowned collection of religious art that includes displays of Italian, Spanish, French, English, Flemish, Dutch and German paintings from the 14th through the 19th centuries.
Works by major artists such as Rubens, van Duyck, Reni, Tintoretto, LeBrun, Cranach, Ribera and Murillo are aesthetically exhibited with period furniture, sculpture, tapestries and porcelains to lend a period ambience to the galleries and give patrons a panoramic view of ages past.
The Museum & Gallery at Heritage Green is a satellite of the Museum & Gallery at Bob Jones University.
On the first floor, Museum & Gallery at Heritage Green visitors are introduced to a display of 20 to 25 paintings that are rotated periodically from the collection of more than 400 works in the parent Museum & Gallery on the campus of Bob Jones University.
“We have been working for many years to find new ways to share our wonderful collection with more people in the Greenville Community, so this is an amazing opportunity to do that,” Mrs. Jones said. She added: “We’re especially excited about the educational aspect that the Museum & Gallery at Heritage Green offers our younger visitors. We hope that both our new guests and loyal patrons will develop a desire to learn and experience great works of art.”
The centerpiece of the first floor is the 15th century Italian Painting from the Museum & Gallery’s collection entitled, The Madonna and Child with Angels, painted in a circular format called a tondo.
A spokesman for the Museum & Gallery explains that “as an art historian considers a group of unsigned works that appear to be by the same hand, he or she reviews each work and selects the best representation of the artist’s skill and then names the artistic master of all the works after the place in which the best painting resides.” Greenville is represented all over the world by at least 32 other paintings that art historians have attributed to the work of the “Master of the Greenville Tondo.”
The second floor houses hands-on activities and an interactive learning center for children. A re-creation of an Old Master and modern master studio helps to provide an understanding of the tools used to create a masterwork. Visitors will have an opportunity to “feel various brush techniques used to create texture,” create a mask, have their face painted or have a picture taken as part of a great work of art.
Hours of operation are 10 a.m. thru 5 p.m. Tuesdays thru Saturdays and 2 until 5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $3 for students. Children under 12 are admitted free with an adult. Groups larger than 15 may call (864) 770-1306 for reservations. Additional information is available on the Museum & Gallery website, www.bjumg.org.
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