Enfilade

Crucial for Roman culture in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Farnese Palace and its collections were also important for eighteenth-century artists and connoisseurs. Upon the death of Antonio Farnese in 1731, the family line came to an end, and the building passed to the Bourbons (hence the subsequent relocation of the collection to Naples). The current exhibition provides an extraordinary opportunity to view the building’s interior and some of the most important objects from the Farnese collection in their early modern setting. From www.france.fr . . .

The Farnese Palace: From the Renaissance to the French Embassy
Farnese Palace, Rome, 17 December 2010 — 27 April 2011

Giuseppe Vasi,"Palazzo Farnese," mid-eighteenth century

For this exhibition, the Farnese collection (the “Museum Farnesianum”) will return to its original premises. For the first time in centuries, the historic rooms of the emperors and philosophers will be recreated and the famous Dacian Prisoners will resume their place beside the door of the Grand Salon. The return of these exceptional works to “their” palace was made possible by the generous loan from the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. The Palace courtyard will be home to the monumental statue of Apollo Citharoedus made of porphyry and marble, known as Roma triumphans at the time, and will be filled virtually with the imposing silhouettes of the Farnese Hercules and the Latin Hercules, but also the Farnese Bull. Among the most important pieces of furniture are the Farnese cabinet from Ecouen Museum, a precious item of furniture from the Renaissance made by Flaminio Boulanger to contain the collection of coins, intaglios and meats of the Farneses. Tapestries from Quirinal, on loan from the President of the Republic of Italy and Chambord Castle, will be returned to the salons of the “noble floor,” as will Renaissance ceramics.

The collection of preparatory drawings by Annibale Carracci, coming from the Louvre Museum in particular, and the frescoes of the Fava Palace in Bologna will illustrate the creation of the famous Carracci Gallery. The opulent collection of paintings will return to the Northeast Gallery. The Portrait of Pope Paul III by Titian, Christ and the Canaanite Woman painted by Annibale Carracci for the private chapel of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese, works by Sebastiano del Piombo, the Carracci and Greco will all testify to the quality of the spectacular Farnese collection. Most of the aforementioned paintings come from the Capodimonte National Museum in Naples along with the galleries in Parma and Bologna.

This exceptional exhibition is a unique occasion for the public to rediscover the splendours of the Pomp of the Farneses. It will enable them to relive the intertwined histories of the popes, cardinals, kings, ambassadors and artists who, for five centuries, lived and came together at the Farnese Palace, helping to make it an exceptional place.

From the Hunterian:

Past, Present and Future: Caring for William Hunter’s Prints
Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow, 2 October 2010 — 21 June 2011

"Portraits de Nanteuil" volumes 1 & 2

This new display highlights a current Hunterian project on the Hunter volumes of prints. They consist largely of portraits of past celebrities and prints of paintings and drawings by Old Masters, including Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Rembrandt. An award from Museums Galleries Scotland has enabled conservation of some of the volumes, the cataloguing and digitizing of all and a research program carried out in collaboration with the University’s History of Art department.

Joanne Orr, CEO of Museums Galleries Scotland, said: “Museums Galleries Scotland investment to Scotland’s Recognised Collections of National Significance aims to enhance the overall visitor experience. Providing new opportunities to explore and enjoy Scotland’s top collections is a key focus and this exhibition is a excellent example of how this is happening. What goes on behind the scenes is as important as what visitors see ‘on stage’ when they arrive – this is a rare chance to get up close and personal to the fascinating work of curators.”

This work has provided valuable new information on Hunter’s motivations for collecting such volumes and on his close relationships with leading contemporary artists.

Press release from the Dorset County Museum:

Georgian Faces: Portrait of a County
Dorset County Museum, Dorchester, 15 January — 30 April 2011

Curated by Gwen Yarker

William Hogarth, "Portrait of Thomas Coombes, a Dorset Boatman Aged 108," 1742

Georgian Faces: Portrait of a County includes over sixty, mostly previously unseen, portraits of the people who shaped Dorset during the eighteenth century. The catalyst for the exhibition was provided by the Museum’s recent acquisition of George Romney’s Portrait of the Reverend Thomas Rackett as a Young Boy, a purchase made possible by the generosity of the Art Fund, HLF South West and local support. For the past year, curator Gwen Yarker (formerly of the National Maritime Museum) has been selecting portraits for the exhibition from all over Dorset and further afield. Some paintings are on loan from national institutions, but the majority have come from private collections. The exhibition shows portraits by many of the important portrait artists of the eighteenth century, including Sir Joshua Reynolds, George Romney, Thomas Gainsborough and Allan Ramsay. The exhibition also throws a spotlight on Thomas Beach, who was born at Milton Abbas, Dorset, trained with Reynolds and worked as a portrait painter in London, Bath and the West Country. The exhibition will provide the first opportunity for William Hogarth’s Portrait of Thomas Coombes, a Dorset Boatman Aged 108 to be exhibited for over 100 years. Hogarth’s father-in-law, the famous decorative painter Sir James Thornhill, was a native of the county who retired to Dorset in the 1720s.

George III visited Weymouth for his health following his first attack of porphyria. From 1789 to 1805 he regularly stayed in the town essentially requiring the court to relocate to the Dorset coast every year. From the 1790s the threat of invasion meant a local volunteer force was created. Portraits of several of its officers painted by Dorset-born Thomas Beach, feature in the exhibition. Georgian Faces also includes a series of cut-out silhouettes produced by George III’s daughter, Princess Elizabeth, during her friendship with local diarist and botanist Mary Frampton.

Portraits of Poole’s merchant princes reveal the riches gained from cod fishing and fur trading with Newfoundland. A highlight is Thomas Frye’s unpublished Portrait of Sir Peter Thompson, now in Poole Museum. The portrait of this rich merchant came to light when Gwen Yarker was cataloguing in Dorset for the Public Catalogue Foundation.

The exhibition shows that Dorset was not an isolated rural county, but that many of its residents, especially the Reverend Thomas Rackett and his circle, brought the latest thinking, ideas and intellectual developments in London to rural centres such as Blandford. They in turn returned to the capital with their local discourses in natural philosophy, antiquarianism and archaeology.