New Book | The Museum by the Park: 14 Queen Anne’s Gate
From Paul Holberton Publishing:
Max Bryant, The Museum by the Park: 14 Queen Anne’s Gate (London: Paul Holberton Publishing, 2017), 128 pages, ISBN: 978 1911300 328, £25 / $35.
The depth of history at Queen Anne’s Gate—a handsome Baroque street overlooking St James’s Park—is unusual even in London, and few houses resonate with more memories than the extraordinary number 14. The story of the house over the centuries features political revolutionaries, occult initiations, clandestine war meetings, and a decapitated head. It begins, however, as a museum of Roman sculpture, unrivalled outside Italy, designed for connoisseur and virtuoso Charles Townley (1737–1805). Townley embodied Enlightenment values perhaps more completely than any other figure in the art world of 18th-century Britain—his portrait by Johann Zoffany is one of the iconic paintings of the period—yet remarkably he has never been the subject of a major publication.
Written with a sparkle matching Townley’s own enthusiasm, this beautiful and engaging publication tells the story of 14 Queen Anne’s Gate and examines the extraordinary life of Charles Townley and his remarkable collection of over 150 Roman marble statues (mostly now in The British Museum but captured in spectacular engravings of the period). It will be a revelation.
The house was designed as a temple to the past, reviving in the modern city the occult practices of the ancient world. Here visitors in the eighteenth century would have found an assembly of Roman sculpture unrivalled outside Italy, as well as a library and collection devoted to understanding a universal ‘generative sprit’ worshipped by early civilizations. That spirit may be found in the succession of major roles the house has continued to take through generations of dramatic change up to the present day.
Charles Townley, for whom the house was built, was a figure both marginal and emblematic. Catholic and bisexual, he forged a life literally on the borders of the Protestant British establishment. He remains little understood or appreciated in his homeland and, remarkably, has never been the subject of a major exhibition or publication. The ‘emblematic’ side of Townley’s life was dedicated to virtù, the term used for an appreciation of fine art pursued for its own sake. The ‘marginal’ side of Townley, by contrast, manifested itself in a fascination with the ancient occult, particularly the Bacchic mysteries. The house he made for himself was at once a temple to virtu and to Bacchus and contained an unprecedented programme of Bacchic iconography.
Library Research Grants from the Getty
From The Getty:
Getty Research Institute Library Research Grants
Applications due by 16 October 2017
Getty Library Research Grants provide partial, short-term support for researchers requiring the use of specific collections housed in the Getty Research Institute (GRI). The GRI’s grant budget has been generously supplemented by donations from Getty Research Institute Council members and the Getty Conservation Institute.
Specialized Library Research Grant Opportunities
In addition to the open call for applications relating to projects utilizing any specific area of the GRI’s collections, several focused grants will be awarded in the following areas of study:
• Research related to the modern commercial art market, Los Angeles modern architecture, or design
• Research in the area of 18th-century German art as it relates to the religious, philosophical, and aesthetic contextualization of the Romantic movement
• Research within the GRI’s photo archive, a collection of two million photographs of works of art and architecture providing opportunities for original pictorial research in the fine arts, including the history of photography
• Research that utilizes the Conservation Collection, specialized research materials related to the preservation and conservation of material cultural heritage
Eligibility
Library Research Grants are intended for researchers of all nationalities and at any level who demonstrate a compelling need to use materials housed in the Research Library, and whose place of residence is more than eighty miles from the Getty Center. Projects must relate to specific items in the library collection. (To search the collections, please consult the Research Library’s Search Tools and Databases.)
Terms
Library Research Grants are intended to provide partial support for costs relating to travel, lodging, and living expenses. Housing is not provided. In general, grants are awarded as follows depending upon the distance traveled:
• Within California (must be more than 80 miles away from GRI): $800
• North America, including Canada and Mexico: $1,500
• International outside of North America: $3,000
The research period may range from several days to a maximum of three months. These terms apply as of August 2017 and are subject to future changes. Please see important information about the terms of these grants here.
Notification Process
Applicants are notified of the Research Institute’s decision approximately two months following the deadline. Applicants who do not receive grant awards are still welcome to use the Research Library in accordance with its access policy.
Application Availability and Deadline
Complete application materials are now accepted through an online application process only. The next deadline to submit application materials (including letters of recommendation) for these grants is 5:00pm (PDT) October 16, 2017.
More information is available here»
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