"The Art of Death": Real Museum Pieces in the Book

I've made no secret that the real Virginia Museum of Fine Arts heavily influenced the fictitious Richmond Museum of Fine Arts.

See?

After the JUMP, you'll see pics of many things at the VMFA (and elsewhere) that inspired various scenes and such in The Art of Death.

Even if you can't make it to the VMFA, maybe it'll make you want to visit your own nearby art museum.



First off, here's the atrium of the VMFA:

The atrium of the RMFA is curved and larger, but the openness of this area was obviously attractive for several scenes.

Here's that huge, silver, spiky crucifix that Terry carries around for much of the book:

A Spanish 16th century processional cross.  I imagine it's quite heavy.

From that same portion of the book, just a sampling of the many crosses that happen to be in an octagonal room at the end of a small hallway.

When I saw all of those crosses and artifacts in a dead-end room, I knew that would be a good place to hole up for a while.

Some of the stained glass, statues, and reliquaries:

In the Asian section, here's a funerary couch.  Not a place to sit; it's a place to put the casket of the deceased:

A selection of Chinese "burial jade":

Which led me to the jade burial suit (not at the VMFA):

The ancient Indian cremation urn (which, in my book, held the spirit of the bhuta):

A couple of sweet looking African swords:

A sarcophagus, with mummy inside (this particular mummy happened to be a famed charioteer):

And some nearby canopic jars:

A Roman sarcophagus (in the book, the vessel that contained the Lemures):

Ornate eastern European chest (not hard to imagine this as a casket):

Here's the painting "Moonlight" by Frederick Childe Hassam that struck me emotionally, and consequentially, Chaney:

This silver vase inspired the urn that held the ashes of the Marquis d'Apcher.  This real one, however, is huge and English (not French):

The luxurious Worsham-Rockefeller Room featuring late 19th century furnishings.  It's the place I imagined Abhartach getting some rest before some unfortunate moron caught his attention:

Art Deco silverware (handy for dispatching a werewolf):

Lastly, you may have read the part about the remains of St. Albertus, his bones bedazzled with gold and gems, and thought that I was full of it.  Well, I wasn't:

(St. Albertus is on the left.  Not at the VMFA.)


With that, I believe I'm finished exploring the world of The Art of Death.

Please, give it a try and then rate/review it wherever you got it.

Thanks again.