Exhibition | El Greco to Goya: Masterpieces from The Bowes Museum
Now on view at The Wallace Collection:
El Greco to Goya: Spanish Masterpieces from The Bowes Museum
The Wallace Collection, London, 27 September 2017 — 7 January 2018
Claudio Coello, Portrait of Mariana of Austria, Queen of Spain, 1683–93 (County Durham: The Bowes Museum).
The Wallace Collection presents El Greco to Goya: Spanish Masterpieces from The Bowes Museum, the first London exhibition of Spanish art from The Bowes Museum in County Durham, including works by Goya and El Greco. This collaborative exhibition between the Wallace Collection and The Bowes Museum celebrates the partnership between these two great museums. Like the Wallace Collection, The Bowes Museum is the product of one family’s obsession with collecting great works of art. John Bowes and Richard Wallace—both illegitimate sons of aristocratic fathers—bequeathed collections of international significance to the nation.
The exhibition spans three centuries and explores one of the largest collections of Spanish art in Britain. On display are El Greco’s The Tears of Saint Peter, thought to be the artist’s earliest interpretation of this subject, Goya’s psychologically penetrating Portrait of Juan Antonio Meléndez Valdés and disturbing Interior of a Prison, plus perhaps less well known but outstanding works such as Antonio de Pereda’s, Tobias Restoring His Father’s Sight. The works chosen explore a period of huge social, religious, and political upheaval in Spain, providing a microcosm of the changes in style and subject matter during this period. The paintings complement works by Velázquez and Murillo on permanent display at the Wallace Collection.
Xavier Bray, Wallace Collection Director: “El Greco to Goya is not only an unprecedented opportunity to see Spanish art of extraordinary power and significance in London, but also the beginning of an exciting relationship between the Wallace Collection and The Bowes Museum. Both institutions share a commitment to making great art accessible to wider audiences and we are looking forward to working closely together to develop a long term connection between London and the North East.”
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Symposium: El Greco to Goya
The Wallace Collection, London, 25 November 2017
This major international, one-day symposium on Spanish painting, accompanies the exhibition El Greco to Goya: Spanish Masterpieces from The Bowes Museum. The aim of the symposium is to explore in greater depth the remarkable collection of Spanish paintings on loan from The Bowes, our regional partner, which is outstanding in both its quality and range. Speakers include Xavier Bray, Peter Cherry, Edward Payne, María Cruz de Carlos Varona, Bernadette Petti, Juliet Wilson Bareau, and Véronique Gerard Powell. Tickets are £25 (£10 for students) and can be purchased by following this link.
Francisco de Goya, Interior of a Prison, 1793–94 (County Durham: The Bowes Museum).
P R O G R A M M E
9:30 Registration
9:50 Welcome
10:00 Morning Session
• Bernadette Petti (Assistant Curator of Fine Art, The Bowes Museum), An Overview of Four Centuries of Spanish Art in The Bowes Museum
• Véronique Gerard-Powell (Senior lecturer, University of Paris, Sorbonne), A Reluctant Purchase: El Greco’s Tears of St Peter
• Peter Cherry (Lecturer, Trinity College Dublin), Foreign Food: Spanish Still Life in the British Isles
• María Cruz de Carlos Varona (Lecturer, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Claudio Coello’s Portrait of Mariana of Austria
1:00 Lunch Break
2:00 Afternoon Session
• Xavier Bray (Director, The Wallace Collection), Goya and Religion: Early Works for the Spanish Church
• Juliet Wilson-Bareau (Independent Academic), Goya’s Prisons: Of the State, of the Church, and of the Mind
• Edward Payne (Head Curator: Spanish Art, The Auckland Project), A Museum in the Making: The Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland
4:30 Close
New Book | Livre de Croquis de Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
From Musée du Louvre Éditions:
Xavier Salmon, Livre de Croquis de Gabriel de Saint-Aubin Peintre, 1760–1778 (Milan: Officina Libraria, 2017), 2 vols., 196 pages, ISBN: 978 889976 5385, £40 / €45.
En 1783, soit trois années après la mort de Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, Pahin de la Blancherie indiquait que l’on n’avait jamais rencontré l’artiste « qu’un crayon à la main, dessinant tout ce qui se présentait à ses yeux ». Cependant, malgré cette passion du dessin, le chroniqueur de la vie parisienne fut bien vite oublié et il fallut attendre les Goncourt à la fin du XIXème siècle pour le redécouvrir. Chacun, dès lors, goûta l’art de Saint-Aubin et rechercha ses œuvres. Grand collectionneur du XVIIIe siècle français, Camille Groult entra en possession d’un exceptionnel carnet réunissant plus d’une centaine de pages sur lesquelles le maître avait griffonné son quotidien. Longtemps ce rarissime témoignage de l’art de Saint-Aubin demeura jalousement gardé. Edmond de Goncourt ne put en donner qu’un dépouillement incomplet. Quelques années après, Emile Dacier, grand spécialiste de l’artiste, ajouta quelques éléments nouveaux mais sans avoir obtenu de pouvoir examiner en détail le carnet. Le 20 novembre 1941, le Louvre en faisait l’acquisition. L’œuvre livrait enfin tous ses secrets. Dacier en reprit l’étude et publia en 1943 un opuscule de quarante planches.
Aujourd’hui, c’est l’ensemble du carnet qui est pour la première fois reproduit à l’échelle réelle et étudié de manière exhaustive. De petites dimensions (18 x 12,5 cm), et réunissant 108 pages dont 103 illustrées et annotées entre 1759 et 1778, l’ouvrage est un document inestimable. L’artiste nous invite à parcourir les rues de Paris, à découvrir certains de ses monuments, à partager avec lui quelques événements marquants ou bien encore à vivre le quotidien de son petit monde peuplé de si nombreuses jeunes femmes toutes occupées à la lecture, à la musique ou aux travaux d’aiguille. De sa fine écriture souvent si difficile à lire, il a couvert de jour comme de nuit les pages de nombreuses annotations, noms de collectionneurs, prix de denrées, maximes ou bien encore localisations. Pour qui aime le Paris du XVIIIe siècle, pour qui cherche à mieux connaître l’art de Saint-Aubin, le carnet du Louvre invite indéniablement à la plus passionnante des découvertes.
Distributed by ACC Publishing:
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (Paris, 1724–1780) was “never seen without a pencil in his hand, intent in sketching all that appeared in front of his eyes.” His Livre de Croquis (sketchbook) is a veritable chronicle of Parisian life in the 18th century. Compiled between 1760 and 1778, it contains views of the streets and monuments of the ville lumière, scenes at the theatre or of a grand ball, portraits of young workers writing, sewing or playing an instrument. Saint-Aubin’s minute annotations are deciphered and explained in the commentary volume. The sketchbook, acquired from the heirs of Saint-Aubin, was guarded jealously in a private collection—and was, therefore, almost unknown—until 1941 when it was acquired by the Louvre. It has never before been reproduced in its entirety. Text in French.
Xavier Salmon is the director of the Prints and Drawings Department at the Musée du Louvre. He has curated many exhibitions and edited their catalogues. His book Fontainebleau: Le temps des Italiens was awarded the ‘grand prix de l’Académie Française’ in 2014.
Volume 1: Reproduction
Same size as the Louvre’s album containing the drawings
Volume 2: Commentary
• Introduction: Across Paris Accompanied by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
• Description of the Sketchbook
• Bibliography
2018–19 James Smithson Fellowship: History, Memory, and Authenticity
2018–19 James Smithson Fellowship: History, Memory, and Authenticity
Applications due by 15 January 2018
The Smithsonian Institution invites applications for the 2018–19 James Smithson Fellowship. The theme for this coming year is “History, Memory, and Authenticity.”
After hearing the Declaration of Independence read aloud on the night of July 9, 1776, a group of American colonists proceeded to Lower Manhattan, tied ropes around an equestrian statue of King George III, and pulled it down. Although debate about public symbols and what they represent is as old as our nation itself, recently the volume of public discourse attempting to reconcile meaning attached to historic people, objects, and places has increased. As discussion about history’s ‘authenticity’ in social media and modern society has surged, so too has dialogue about the meaning of scientific research and its uses in public life.
This public desire for modern life to be better informed by history and science presents an opportunity for researchers to engage in a number of pressing conversations on the national and global level.
The James Smithson Fellowship is open to post-doctoral students in the fields of science, the humanities, and the arts. The James Smithson Fellowship Program was created to offer early career opportunities for post-doctoral researchers interested in gaining a better understanding about the interplay between scholarship and public policy through a Smithsonian lens. While this fellowship provides an immersion experience working with Smithsonian researchers and relevant collections, it also affords fellows a hands-on opportunity to explore relationships between research and public policy through direct interaction with Smithsonian leaders, and with policy leaders throughout the Washington, DC network.
The program is designed for a new generation of leaders, who seek a experience that leverages both scholarly and practical expertise in an environment of innovation like no other. Among the goals of the James Smithson Fellowship are to provide fellows with the opportunity to
• Conduct scholarly research at the Smithsonian
• Strengthen understanding of the interplay between research and public policy
• Gain skills at leveraging research to inform conversations about public policy
To support independent research and study, the fellowship includes a base stipend of $53,000. In addition to this base stipend, allowances may also be provided to help cover relocation, health insurance, and research expenses.
Additional information is available here»
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