Under the Metropolitan

IN E. L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Claudia and Jamie Kincaid run away from home and take up residence in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They are soon entangled in a mystery surrounding a statue of an angel, which was bought by the museum at an auction for $225 and whose creator is not known. The children’s search for clues takes them, in the darkness of night, into the Met’s halls and galleries, where they discover an imprint on the cloth beneath the statue, three circles with an inscribed “M,” the mark of Michelangelo Buonarroti.

It was with a similar sense of mystery and excitement that I entered the same museum several weeks ago to discover what lies beneath the floors and beyond the exhibit-room walls. I knew that the Metropolitan’s reserves include some three million art objects-staggeringly more than could ever be shown. What would I find in the museum’s nether regions? I imagined dark, cobwebbed rooms, lost paintings of the great masters, and dust-covered crates overflowing with golden goblets and sparkling jewelry.

DK

About the Author

Daniel A. Kaufman

Featured Tags

Manage following

Art

New York City

IN E. L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Claudia and Jamie Kincaid run away from home and take up residence in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They are soon entangled in a mystery surrounding a statue of an angel, which was bought by the museum at an auction for $225 and whose creator is not known. The children’s search for clues takes them, in the darkness of night, into the Met’s halls and galleries, where they discover an imprint on the cloth beneath the statue, three circles with an inscribed “M,” the mark of Michelangelo Buonarroti.

It was with a similar sense of mystery and excitement that I entered the same museum several weeks ago to discover what lies beneath the floors and beyond the exhibit-room walls. I knew that the Metropolitan’s reserves include some three million art objects-staggeringly more than could ever be shown. What would I find in the museum’s nether regions? I imagined dark, cobwebbed rooms, lost paintings of the great masters, and dust-covered crates overflowing with golden goblets and sparkling jewelry.