Huntington Library, San Marino

I should have taken more pictures.  I also could have spent three days there.  The Huntington Library and Gardens offers a top-notch collection of art and documents in a stunning botanical setting.  We started our visit with lunch at their large cafe 1919.  I had a hearty quinoa and kale salad with a fresh agua fresca of green melon and cucumber.  My friend had fried pollack with a piece of chocolate cake.  The food was very good and there is a large menu.

It was over 100 degrees, so we didn't want to spend time in the gardens.  We started in the library, which contains over 400,000 books, documents and manuscripts.  On display were an Audubon elephant folio, a Gutenberg bible, an early Shakespeare folio, a letter from Abraham Lincoln and much more.  The rooms devoted to science included an early Venetian translation of a work by Ptolemy, books by Copernicus, Newton, Harvey and more.  It was an outstanding exhibition!

We crossed the walkway into what was originally the home of the Huntington family.  The building was designed by noted architect Myron Hunt, who also designed the Rose Bowl and the campus of Caltech.  Both in nearby Pasadena.  This building houses the British collection which represents works by Gainsborough, Reynolds, Romney, Lawrence, Turner, Constable, Stubbs and other European artists of the 18th and 19th century.  The two most popular works are "Pinkie", Lawrence's portrait of Sarah Barrett Moulton and "Blue Boy" by Gainsborough.  They are across the gallery from one another.

I want to go back for the gardens and the American art collection housed in another building.  There is also a large gift shop with lots of quality merchandise from books to reproductions that relate to the art and gardens.

Part of their collection of Wedgwood

A garden outside the British collection

More Wedgwood

The library

A flock of parrots were hanging out in the palms

Lunch!

Fish with lots of vegetables

Quinoa with kale and chicken and an agua fresca