The San Diego Museum of Art
Plateresque-style art museum with a facade carved with life-size portraits of Old Masters.
Location
About this audio guide
Above the entrance of the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park, three Spanish painters stand carved in stone, none of whom ever set foot in California. This guide follows the man who put them there, stonecutter Chris Mueller, who had already shaped the ornament on the park's 1915 exposition buildings before architects William Templeton Johnson and Robert Snyder hired him again. You'll hear how he modeled the doorway on buildings in Salamanca and Valladolid that he likely never saw in person, working instead from photographs and printed plates. Look up at the crowded coats of arms above the door before you step inside.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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