Click on the image above to view a larger High Resolution image
For this painting I wanted to capture the character of both the Lightner Museum with its ornate Spanish architecture, and the founder of the Ancient City, Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. Choosing the low angle perspective gave me a vantage point placing Don Pedro as if he was pausing a moment in front of the beautiful structure just as the sun comes up over The Casa Monica Hotel across the street.
The Lightner museum occupies three floors of the former Hotel Alcazar, commissioned by Henry M. Flagler to appeal to wealthy tourists who traveled south for the winter on his railroad.
It was built in 1887, from the design of New York City architects Carrère and Hastings, in the Spanish Renaissance Revival style. The firm also designed the Ponce de León Hotel across the street (now part of Flagler College). Both structures are notable as being among the earliest examples of poured concrete buildings in the world. These architects later designed the New York Public Library and the U.S. Senate office building.
Chicago publisher, Otto C. Lightner, purchased the building to house his extensive collection of Victoriana in 1946 and opened the museum two years later. He gave the museum to the city of St. Augustine. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The statue of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (a Spanish admiral and explorer who founded St. Augustine, Florida in 1565) stands high atop a pedestal in front of the historic Alcazar Hotel, which now contains the St. Augustine City Hall and the Lightner Museum. The statue was a gift from St. Augustine's sister city, the city of Avilés, Spain, in 1972. The sculpture is a replica of the statue near Menéndez's tomb in his ancestral home of Avilés.
Thank-You Jayells for supporting the local Art Scene
