ILA visits The Ringling at Sarasota! 🎪🖌️🎭 Venetian Mansion + Classical European Art + Circus History

On September 22, 2024, Ila made her first visit to The Ringling. And what is that? It is a fun place on the coast of Sarasota Florida that has a museum of classical European art, circus history exhibits, gardens, sculptures, and also a playground. John Ringling was a businessman who ran circuses including his own family's Ringling Brothers Circus, which bought out and later combined with the Barnum and Bailey Circus. His wife Mabel died in 1929, and John, as the last of the Ringling brothers, passed away in 1936, having bequested the property to the state of Florida. After his debts where settled, the amazing mansion was opened to visitors ten years later.
Trying to find art in the United States is like trying to find gold in a trash dump. There is a pretty good museum in Jacksonville, the Walters in Baltimore, and the Met in New York, but the extra stuff at the Ringling spikes up the experience. The art itself is stunning too. Look at these huge paintings by Rubens depicting the Triumph of the Eucharist. According to the book that John's nephew published in 1960, they were rolled up like rugs in an out-building belonging to the Duke of Westminister, before Mister Ringling, horrified at the sight of them going to waste, put up the money and made them his "most important purchase."
Ila took this nice pic with The Triumph of Divine Love, another tall painting by Rubens in the same area. John bought the four Eucharist paintings in 1926, but this one was added by the Museum in 1980. It illustrates the "Love of God" as an allegorical "mother of charity." She is not supposed to be Mary, although you might expect that.
Cah-dah-zahn is the Venetian-style mansion that John and Mabel left for us to enjoy. The walk past the gardens raises your emotions, and then before you know it, you are transported by the artistry of the building, and the amazing view across the waves.
Turning the corner, Ila had some fun at the playground, then she returned to the first part of the Circus Museum and fired the cannon again and again. She was taken in by all the circus stuff, and was amazed by Howard Brothers Circus Model that was built by Howard Tibbels and has over 40,000 pieces.
Finally going to the second circus museum building, she got a close look at Ringling's restored rail car, a Hagenbeck wagon, and a Zacchini cannon, among other things.
I would advise you to go see the Ringling before Americans come up with some stupid reason to shut it down. It's a pocket of resistance to their bad tastes and minimalist nonsense, and as out of place as a Rubens next to a Warhol. They have already ruined the Ringling Circus performances by worrying about mindless animals, shut down Doris Duke's gardens in New Jersey over wealth envy, and the classical galleries and statues of Ringling may be next. The childish fun of the circus exhibits will probably go with it.
When Ila's daddy was her age, he got to ride the elephants at the circus, even in his small town in the middle of nowhere, but sadly it is now rare to find a show which has elephants at all. The Loomis Brothers Circus is one of the few, and we recommend that you go to loomis circus dot com to see their upcoming tour dates. There are also some incredible videos of them on RUclips, but also notice the videos of the animal people who are trying to bring them down. Enjoy it while you can. Next summer hopefully we can all visit the Ringling and then head down to three-thousand Ringling Boulevard to see the Loomis Brothers with their elephants working for the good of humans like God intended.