New Book | Staging ‘The Mysterious Mother’
From Yale UP:
Cynthia Roman, Jill Campbell, and Jonathan Kramnick, eds., Staging ‘The Mysterious Mother’ (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2023), 376 pages, ISBN: 978-0300263657, $65.
Horace Walpole’s five-act tragedy The Mysterious Mother (1768), a sensational tale of incest and intrigue, was initially circulated only among the author’s friends. Walpole never permitted it to be performed during his lifetime except as a private theatrical. He described his play as a “delicious entertainment for the closet” and claimed that he “did not think it would do for the stage.” Yet the essays in this volume trace a history of private readings, amateur theatricals, and even early public performances, demonstrating that the play was read and performed more than Walpole’s protests suggest. Exploring a wide variety of topics—including the play’s crypto-Catholicism, its treatments of incest, guilt, motherhood, orphans, and scientific spectacle, and the complex relations between print and performance—the essays demonstrate the rich relevance of The Mysterious Mother to current critical discussions. The volume includes the proceedings of a mini-conference hosted at Yale University in 2018 on the occasion of a staged reading of the play. Also included are the director’s reflections, an abridged script, a facsimile of Walpole’s own copy of the full-length play, and reproductions of the illustrations he commissioned from Lady Diana Beauclerk.
Cynthia E. Roman is curator of prints, drawings, and paintings at the Lewis Walpole Library. Jill Campbell is professor of English and affiliated faculty in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at Yale University. Jonathan Kramnick is the Maynard Mack Professor of English at Yale University and the director of the Lewis Walpole Library.
Exhibition | Objects of Addiction
Now on view at Harvard Art Musesums:
Objects of Addiction: Opium, Empire, and the Chinese Art Trade
Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 15 September 2023 — 14 January 2024
Curated by Sarah Laursen, with contributions from Emily Axelsen, Allison Chang, and Madison Stein
Basilius Besler, Papaver flore pleno rubrum, Papaver eraticum rubrum (plate 290), from Hortus Eystettensis, 1613 or 1713, hand-colored print (Economic Botany Library of Oakes Ames, Harvard University, Julio Mario Santo Domingo Collection, TL42499.1).
How did the sale of opium in China by Massachusetts merchants in the 19th century contribute to a growing appetite for Chinese art at Harvard at the start of the 20th century?
Objects of Addiction explores the entwined histories of the opium trade and the Chinese art market between the late 18th and early 20th centuries. Opium and Chinese art, acquired through both legal and illicit means, had profound effects on the global economy, cultural landscape, and education—and in the case of opium, on public health and immigration—that still reverberate today.
The first section of the exhibition examines the origins of the opium trade, the participation of Massachusetts traders, and opium’s devastating impact on the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) and the Chinese people. Works presented here include smoking paraphernalia, an opium account book, and photographs, along with mass media illustrations critiquing the use and sale of opium.
The second section highlights the history of imperial art collecting in China and demonstrates the growing appetite for Chinese art in Europe and the United States after the Opium Wars (1839–42 and 1856–60). Artworks from Massachusetts-based private and public collections show the shift in taste at this time from export ceramics and paintings to palace treasures and archaeological materials, including ancient bronzes and jades unearthed from tombs and Buddhist sculptures chiseled from cave temple walls. Through the histories of museum directors, professors, and donors, this section looks critically at the sources of Harvard’s Chinese art collection.
A special section of the exhibition investigates parallels between China’s opium crisis and the opioid epidemic in Massachusetts today. We invite visitors to share their thoughts and personal experiences in this space. A range of public programs throughout the fall will encourage community discussion around the opioid crisis, the effects of the Opium Wars on U.S.–China relations, the role of opium in Chinese exclusion in the United States, and art collecting practices. In addition, the artist collective 2nd Act will present a series of substance use prevention workshops, and the Cambridge Public Health Department and Somerville Health and Human Services Department will host trainings on the use of naloxone (Narcan) to reverse opioid overdoses.
This exhibition features works from the collections of the Harvard Art Museums. In addition, loans have been generously provided by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Fine Arts Library, Harvard-Yenching Library, Economic Botany Library of Oakes Ames, Houghton Library, and Baker Library (all at Harvard), as well as by the Forbes House Museum, the Ipswich Museum, and Mr. and Mrs. James E. Breece III.
Curated by Sarah Laursen, Alan J. Dworsky Associate Curator of Chinese Art, Harvard Art Museums; with contributions from Harvard students Emily Axelsen (Class of 2023), Allison Chang (Class of 2023), and Madison Stein (Class of 2024), who were instrumental in the early development and planning of this exhibition. We are also grateful to the community members, students, and scholars who lent their time and expertise.
Lecture | Mei Mei Rado on European Tapestries at the Qing Court
Designed by Jean Jans, the Younger (active 1668–1723), after Albert Eckhout (c. 1610–1666), The Battle of the Animals, detail, Gobelins Manufactory, ca. 1723 (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, WA1901.1).
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Next week at Harvard:
Mei Mei Rado | European Tapestries at the Qing Court: Global Textiles and a Cross-cultural Medium
Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University, Cambridge, 7 November 2023, 6pm
This presentation draws from Dr. Rado’s forthcoming book The Empire’s New Cloth: Cross-cultural Textiles at the Qing Court (Yale University Press, early 2025). Large-scale pictorial tapestries ranked among the most precious art forms in the early modern period. While their circulations and functions among European courts have been well studied, less known are their journeys to China and subsequent roles in stimulating new developments in Qing imperial arts.
The first part of this talk uncovers the history of French tapestries that entered the Qing court during the eighteenth century as diplomatic gifts and trade goods, including the first and second Tentures chinoises woven by the Beauvais Manufactory and the Tenture des Indes made by the Gobelins Manufactory. Their trajectories reconstructed from both the French and Qing sides offer a window into the complexity of global networks and contingency of cultural encounters. These tapestries’ themes, marked by idealized exoticism compressing distance and time, functioned as a kind of diplomatic lingua franca adaptable to express divergent cultural and political visions. The second part of the presentation examines how European tapestries gave rise to a new type of textile art form in the Qing imperial workshops and an innovative mode for furnishing the palace interiors. The medium’s architectonic tension and interactive visual potential enabled the Qianlong emperor to envision his own physical presence in relation to the tapestry in space and offered him new ways to reenact narratives charged with imperial significance.
Mei Mei Rado is Assistant Professor at the Bard Graduate Center, specializing in textile and dress history, with a focus on China and France from the 18th through early 20th century. Before joining BGC, Dr. Rado was Associate Curator of Costume and Textiles at LACMA, having previously held fellowship positions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, and the Palace Museum in Beijing.
Online Lectures | David Pearson on Cambridge Bookbinding, 1450–1775
Thomas Rowlandson, Inside View of the Public Library, Cambridge, published in London by Rudolph Ackermann, 9 November 1809, hand-colored etching and aquatint, plate: 23 × 32 cm (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 59.533.1635).
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As recently announced on the SHARP listserv (Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing) . . .
David Pearson | Cambridge Bookbinding, 1450–1775
Online and in-person, Robinson College, Cambridge, 21–23 November 2023
The Sandars Readership in Bibliography is one of the most prestigious honorary posts to which book historians, librarians, and researchers can be appointed. Those elected deliver a series of lectures on their chosen subject. This year’s Reader, Dr David Pearson, will address the topic of Cambridge bindings.
The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments. . . together with the Psalter (Cambridge: John Baskerville for B. Dod in London, 1761), with gilt-tooled binding from the workshop of Edwin Moore, ca.1761–65 (TC.77.1), pasteboards, covered with black goatskin, gilt-tooled; rebacked, preserving most of the original gilt-tooled spine.
Cambridge has been a leading centre for binding books (as well as for printing and selling them) for many centuries, and books bound in Cambridge are found all over the world. How do we recognise them, and what can they tell us? The 2023 lectures will build on a project aiming, for the first time, to produce a comprehensive overview of Cambridge binding work through the early modern period. They will explore the evolution of the craft in its broader context, and the questions we should ask when we identify books bound in Cambridge. Cambridge Bookbindings 1450–1770, featuring 45 bookbindings in Cambridge during the handpress period using the collections of Cambridge University Library, is available on the Cambridge Digital Library.
The three lectures will be held in-person at Robinson College, live-streamed, and recorded. Click on the lectures below for more information and to register (please register for each lecture you hope to attend).
• Tuesday, 21 November, 5pm, followed by a drinks reception at the University Library
• Wednesday, 22 November, 5pm
• Thursday, 23 November, 5pm
David Pearson was formerly Director of Culture, Heritage, and Libraries for the City of London Corporation. He is a Senior Fellow of the Institute of English Studies at the University of London, was Lyell Reader in Bibliography at Oxford (2017–18), and teaches regularly on the Rare Book Schools in London and Virginia. His books include Provenance Research in Book History (new edition, 2019), English Bookbinding Styles, 1450–1800 (2005), Book Ownership in Stuart England (2021), and Speaking Volumes: Books with Histories (2022). In 2020 he launched the Book Owners Online database.
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Of the binding of The Book of Common Prayer pictured above, Dr Pearson writes,
The name which is most immediately associated with Cambridge bookbinding work of the middle decades of the eighteenth century, and whose workshop produced many handsomely-decorated bindings, is Edwin Moore. . . The ornamental design which became fashionable in England for upmarket binding work, from about 1720, is what has come to be known as ‘Harleian style’, characterised by a large central lozenge-shaped pattern made up of small tools symmetrically arranged, surrounded by a wide border of rolls and/or other tools around the perimeters. Moore’s better quality work conformed very much to this idea, and numerous bindings like this survive, made from the 1740s, 50s and 60s. . .
Exhibition | Portrait Miniatures from the Grantchester Collection
On view at Compton Verney:
Portrait Miniatures: Highlights from the Grantchester Collection
Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park, Warwickshire, 10 September 2022 — 31 December 2023
Henriette Rath, Portrait of Madame Argand, 1799, watercolour on ivory, 1799 (Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park, photograph by Jamie Woodle). Together with her sister, Jeanne-Françoise, Henriette founded the Musée Rath in Geneva, the first purpose-built art museum in Switzerland, constructed between 1824 and 1826.
We are excited to present highlights from the Grantchester Miniatures Collection in Compton Verney’s British Portraits gallery. The Grantchester Collection of portrait miniatures was gifted to Compton Verney in 2019. It is a highly personal collection developed by the late Lady Grantchester [Betty Suenson-Taylor], the sister of our founder Sir Peter Moores, who established the Compton Verney House Trust in 1993. Showcasing over 40 exquisite miniatures from the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, this will be the first time that many of these works have been shown in public. The collection includes portraits in miniature by Isaac Oliver, Richard Cosway, George Engleheart and John Smart.
A guide to the exhibition is available here»
Exhibition | History in the Making
‘Bedford Gift Service’ tureen and stand, Sèvres, decoration by Jean-Pierre Ledoux, 1761–63
(Woburn Abbey Collection)
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From the press release (via Art Daily) for the exhibition at Compton Verney:
History in the Making: Stories of Materials and Makers, 2000BC to Now
Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park, Warwickshire, 21 October 2023 — 11 February 2024
Curated by Oli McCall and Hannah Obee
History in the Making: Stories of Materials and Makers presents the stories of the people and processes behind outstanding examples of historic and contemporary craft by bringing together a treasure-trove of objects in a unique exploration and celebration of materials and making. Installed in both suites of temporary exhibition galleries at Compton Verney, the exhibition presents historic craft masterpieces from Woburn Abbey and Compton Verney alongside contemporary creations by some of the most exciting makers working today, many of which are being loaned for the first time by the Crafts Council, the UK’s national charity for craft.
Works on display include ancient Chinese ceramics from Compton Verney’s internationally renowned Chinese collection, 18th-century Indian bed textiles from Woburn Abbey, painted silks by award-winning artist and designer Christian Ovonlen, and glazed stoneware vessels by rising star ceramic artist Shawanda Corbett. By displaying the historic in dialogue with the new, the exhibition uncovers the skilful craft processes, technical innovations, and material properties of decorative objects across the ages, while also highlighting the environmental and ethical considerations around the use of natural materials. Each gallery focuses on a different material group—textile, organic, metal, stone, clay, and wood—providing a framework within which contemporary issues such as globalisation and colonial economies, social class and the importance of craft traditions in diverse cultures will be explored.
A highlight of History in the Making is the chance to see one of Woburn Abbey’s newly conserved Mortlake Tapestries. Dating from the 1660s, these huge wall hangings have been painstakingly conserved over a period of five years. Inspired by Raphael’s cartoon for The Miraculous Draught of Fishes (ca. 1515–16, on loan to the V&A from His Majesty The King), originally commissioned by Pope Leo X for the Sistine Chapel, the tapestry shows two boats on the waters of lake Galilee; on the left Christ is seated, with the Apostles Peter and Andrew in astonishment before him, their boat full of miraculous fish. The Mortlake manufactory was established in 1619 in the village of Mortlake, west of London. Under royal patronage, the workshop was able to rival continental centres such as Brussels and Paris for high-quality textiles. The tapestry from Woburn Abbey is being displayed in a gallery with pieces by textile artist and ceramicist Matt Smith, who has reworked vintage tapestries by unpicking and re-stitching elements—often faces—to illustrate how historical narratives are never objective accounts of truth, alluding to the marginalisation of queer people in society. His work often reshapes objects from their original uses to highlight marginalised points of view and hidden stories.
The exhibition includes examples of the Sèvres dinner service given by Louis XV of France to the Duke and Duchess of Bedford in 1763. The Sèvres ceramics have provided an intriguing opportunity for the exhibition’s co-curator Hannah Obee to delve into the iconic French manufacturer’s archives. She notes that “in the 18th century, luxury porcelain was about enhancing the prestige and wealth of nations. The individuals who made it were not part of the narrative, unlike today. However, the Sèvres archives provide a rich resource of information; so, we can now put names and sometimes faces to the objects they created. This is a unique feature of the show at Compton Verney.”
The exhibition also contains a set of bed textiles made in the 1750s in Gujarat, India. “Even now their colours are amazing and so vibrant,” observes Compton Verney senior curator Oli McCall. “The Bedford family had an agent in India who reported back to them about the people making them, who were all women. From these letters we gain valuable insights into the textile trade in the 18th century, anticipating modern globalisation.”
History in the Making also includes objects, once prized, but now seen as problematic, made from natural materials such as coral, tortoiseshell, and ivory. McCall, Obee, and their colleagues decided to include several of these pieces to reflect how makers once saw artistic and creative potential, without questioning the environmental damage that would result from the huge demand for such items. To demonstrate this, History in the Making showcases the work of contemporary makers who are sourcing sustainable materials for their work.
The display of historic silverware such as 18th-century candlesticks and tableware, acts as a reminder of the importance of human migration in the dissemination of craft expertise and techniques and the challenges faced by new arrivals. Huguenot silversmiths, for example, were members of the French Protestant faith who faced persecution in their homeland with over 50,000 Huguenots coming to Britain through the 16th to 18th-centuries. Their work and that of the people who made the Mortlake Tapestries, worked in the Sèvres factory, and produced the Indian bed textiles are just a handful of examples of how Britain connected with the wider world. The exhibition demonstrates and reminds us of this, whilst shining a spotlight on the things that people created for themselves as part of everyday life. Adi Toch’s 2020 print Precious Disposables, on loan from the Crafts Council, depicts a pair of the maker’s latex gloves covered in golden-hued brass dust. Made during the Coronavirus pandemic, the work invites us to think about how what is considered valuable shifts depending on social, political, and environmental concerns.
In the final room, pieces by some of the most exciting young makers working at the forefront of scientific and material innovation are displayed, highlighting the environmental responsibility that has become a focus of contemporary craft practices proposing more planet-friendly materials and methods. Diana Scherer uses plant roots to create ‘living fabrics’, which she fashions into wall hangings and framed works of art. Nicky James, meanwhile, makes garments in wool, but has found a way to make them more resilient by mimicking strong structures found in nature, such as the giant squid beak. Other makers are using cutting-edge innovation to work with ‘leather’ made from mushrooms, and even using silk worm cocoons to create furniture.
Geraldine Collinge, Director of Compton Verney, states: “We are delighted to be able to collaborate with Woburn Abbey and the Crafts Council on this ambitious exhibition, which will give visitors a unique opportunity to explore outstanding examples of craft by many of the leading makers past and present and reflect on the universal importance of materials and making. This exhibition reflects the bringing together of the historic and contemporary to tell stories, which is something we aim to do across our creative programme at Compton Verney. Throughout the winter and into the start of 2024 we will be providing a host of hands-on craft workshops and activities where visitors can get creative and pick up new skills.”
Colloquium | Léopold Robert and Aurèle Robert
From the conference programme:
Frères d’art: Léopold et Aurèle Robert
Neuchâtel / La Chaux-de-Fonds, 9–10 November 2023
Dans le cadre de l’exposition Léopold et Aurèle Robert présentée conjointement au Musée des beaux-arts de La Chaux-de-Fonds et au Musée d’art et d’histoire de Neuchâtel du 14 mai au 12 novembre 2023, l’Institut d’histoire de l’art et de muséologie de l’Université de Neuchâtel souhaite encourager la réflexion et l’échange d’idées à propos de ces deux figures artistiques à l’occasion d’un colloque international. Celui-ci se tiendra en présentiel le jeudi 9 novembre 2023 au Musée d’art et d’histoire de Neuchâtel, et le vendredi 10 novembre 2023 au Musée des beaux-arts de La Chaux-de-Fonds.
j e u d i , 9 n o v e m b r e 2 0 2 3
10.00 Accueil et café
10.30 La fabrique de l’œuvre: Léopold Robert au travail
• Léopold Robert au prisme de la conservation-restauration: État des lieux, nouvelles investigations et perspectives — Léa Gentil (Musée des beaux-arts de La Chaux-de-Fonds)
• La notion d’« œuvres de jeunesse » touchant Léopold Robert: Un réexamen des premières orientations de l’artiste — Cecilia Hurley (École du Louvre / Université de Neuchâtel)
• Les Brigands de Robert, ou l’art d’accommoder les restes de l’histoire de l’art — Pascal Griener (Université de Cambridge / École du Louvre)
12.30 Pause déjeuner
14.00 La fabrique de l’œuvre: Aurèle Robert au travail
• Un sens aigu de l’observation: Corpus d’études d’après nature d’Aurèle Robert conservé au Musée des beaux-arts du Locle — Anaëlle Hirschi (Chargée de projet de recherche en collaboration avec le Musée des beaux-arts du Locle)
• Les hors-champs de l’image: L’Atelier de Léopold Robert à Rome en 1829 par Aurèle Robert — Lucie Girardin Cestone (Musée d’art et d’histoire de Neuchâtel)
15.30 Pause café
16.00 Conférence
• Quand le folklore devient désirable: La mise en scène de la vie populaire entre représentation, collection et recherche — Federica Tamarozzi (Musée d’ethnographie de Genève)
v e n d r e d i , 1 0 n o v e m b r e 2 0 2 3
10.00 Accueil et café
10.30 Les stratégies de Léopold Robert, ou comment prendre sa place sur la scène artistique
• Une histoire de regards — Walter Tschopp (Fondation Ateliers d’Artistes)
• Léopold Robert et l’apparition de la grande scène de genre italienne en France — Laurent Langer (Musée d’art de Pully)
• Petit genre et grand format: Quelle grandeur pour représenter le peuple ? — Olivier Bonfait (Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, LIR3S)
12.30 Pause déjeuner
14.00 Regards contemporains sur Léopold Robert
• Léopold Robert et les écrivains de son temps (suite) — Alain Corbellari (Universités de Lausanne et de Neuchâtel)
• The legacy of Léopold Robert in 19th-century cosmopolitan Rome — Giovanna Capitelli (Università degli Studi Roma Tre)
15.30 Pause café
16.00 Conférence
• Et in Italia ego: Le voyage des peintres femmes à Rome et en Italie au XIXe siècle — Martine Lacas (Auteure, chercheuse et commissaire d’exposition indépendante)
The Burlington Magazine, October 2023
Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, Coriolanus Taking Leave of His Family, 1786, oil on canvas, 114 × 146 cm
(National Gallery of Art, Washington)
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The eighteenth century in the October issue of The Burlington:
The Burlington Magazine 165 (October 2023)
a r t i c l e
• Aaron Wile, “Girodet’s Coriolanus Taking Leave of His Family Rediscovered,” pp. 1094–1105.
In 2019 Girodet’s lost entry for the 1786 Grand prix de peinture came to light and was acquired by the National Gallery of Art, Washington. The painting, which depicts a rarely represented incident from the story of Coriolanus—a subject that may have had contemporary political relevance—was not awarded the prize, probably because Girodet was regarded as being too close to Jacques-Louis David, a relationship to which the work may allude.
s h o r t e r n o t i c e
• Antoinette Friedenthal, “Image of a Connoisseur: An Unknown Portrait of Pierre Jean Mariette,” pp. 1106–10.
Among the unpublished miniatures in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (V&A), is an eighteenth-century bust-length portrait of a middle-aged gentleman. A basic unillustrated inventory sheet for this work appeared in 2020 on the museum’s website. It stated that the portrait represents Pierre Jean Mariette (1694–1774) but gave no reasons for this identification and did not provide any information on the object’s provenance. It will be argued here that a combination of visual and documentary evidence confirms the identification.
r e v i e w s
• Mark Bill, Review of the exhibition Reframing Reynolds: A Celebration (The Box, Plymouth, 2023), pp. 1124–27.
• Stephen Lloyd, Review of the refurbished Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque galleries at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, pp. 1130–33.
• Beth McKillop, Review of the exhibition China’s Hidden Century (The British Museum, London, 2023), pp. 1136–38.
• Satish Padiyar, Review of the exhibition Sade: Freedom or Evil (CCCB, Barcelona, 2023), pp. 1143–46.
• Malcolm McNeill, Review of Anne Farrer and Kevin McLoughlin, eds., Handbook of the Colour Print in China, 1600–1800 (Brill, 2022), pp. 1150–52.
• Edward Cooke, Review of Elisa Ambrosio, Francine Giese, Alina Martimyanova, and Hans Bjarne Thomsen, eds., China and the West: Reconsidering Chinese Reverse Glass Painting (De Gruyter, 2022), pp. 1152–53.
• David Ekserdjian, Review of the catalogue, Denise Allen, Linda Borsch, James David Draper, Jeffrey Fraiman, and Richard Stone, eds., Italian Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2022), pp. 1156–58. The book is available as a free PDF The Met’s website.
• Rowan Watson, Review of Christopher de Hamel, The Posthumous Papers of the Manuscripts Club (Allen Lane, 2022), pp. 1160–62.
• Stefan Albl, Review of Francesco Lofano, Un pittore conteso nella Napoli del Settecento: L’epistolario e gli affari di Francesco de Mura (Istituto Italiano Studi Filosofici, 2022), pp. 1163–64.
New Book | David Rittenhouse
Distributed by Yale University Press:
Donald Fennimore and Frank Hohmann, David Rittenhouse: Philosopher-Mechanick of Colonial Philadelphia and His Famous Clocks (Winterthur, Delaware: Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, 2023), 272 pages, ISBN: 978-0300272956, $75.
A lush and in-depth celebration of the clocks of David Rittenhouse, one of eighteenth-century America’s greatest scientists and engineers.
David Rittenhouse: Philosopher-Mechanick of Colonial Philadelphia and His Famous Clocks brings a completely new focus on the life and works of the American astronomer, mathematician, surveyor, and inventor David Rittenhouse (1732–1796). A brilliant autodidact who would become the first director of the United States Mint, Rittenhouse was a pivotal figure of the cultural scene in Colonial Philadelphia. This publication expands the body of knowledge surrounding Rittenhouse and his brother Benjamin, as well as the era in which they lived. His masterful clocks are the principal subject matter, but the book also addresses Rittenhouse’s broader works, such as orreries, telescopes, surveying compasses, and other scientific equipment. These objects are all lushly illustrated with new photography, including rarely seen pieces in private collections. Providing a more complete and accurate view of Rittenhouse’s genius, this volume highlights the breadth of his talent and importance to both science and art in early America.
Donald L. Fennimore, curator emeritus, served as metalwork specialist at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Delaware for 34 years. Frank L. Hohmann, a retired Wall Street executive, is a collector of eighteenth-century furniture, with a concentration on brass dial clocks.
Independence Seaport Museum Acquires Folk Art Watercolor
Attributed to Cornelius van Buskirk, Navigation Lesson, ca. 1780s–90s, watercolor and ink on paper
(Philadelphia: Independence Seaport Museum, gift of Maya Muir, 2023.010.001)
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From the press release (17 October 2023) . . .
In the late 1700s, when young boys were taught the art of navigation, it was common that they would have used a workbook to write out their examples and trigonometry equations and to explore navigational theories. An especially rare example—which includes not only these materials needed for study but also exquisitely rendered watercolor drawings of people, ships, charts, and a log from a voyage made in April 1799—was used by a boy named Cornelius van Buskirk (1776–1863). One such watercolor drawing, entitled Navigation Lesson, which had been removed from the workbook and retained by the artist’s descendent family, was recently given to the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia to complement the actual workbook previously given to the museum by a direct descendant’s widow. What makes this already important drawing and larger document all the more extraordinary is that new research conducted by ISM staff shows that the figures in the drawing are of the young artist and his tutor, who is believed to be none other than Commodore John Barry (1745–1803), the man regarded as the father of the United States Navy.
“The Independence Seaport Museum is thrilled to have been given this wonderful watercolor,” said Peter Seibert, president and CEO of ISM. “Not only is it an artistic tour de force but we are also now able to reunite it with the original manuscript copy book in our collection. Together, they tell the story of both the father of the U.S. Navy and the young man who was his student.”
The watercolor, which relates in many ways to similar genre scenes from the Federal period, is especially well drawn. It shows ‘C. Buskirk’ receiving a lesson in navigation from ‘I. Barry’ in what appears to be a parlor or study of what is likely Barry’s home. (Van Buskirk Family tradition states that ‘I. Barry’ is Commodore John Barry as ‘I’ is a classical shorthand for ‘J.’) Typical of genre scenes of the time, the room features a black-and-white painted floor, and the overall symmetry of the piece relates it to coastal New England folk artists such as Joseph H. Davis (1811–1865). Similarly, Van Buskirk paid careful attention to the face and hair of the subjects, as did Pennsylvania German artist Jacob Maentel (1763–1863). The size of the drawing (24.5 × 31.5 inches) along with its accurate artistic attention to detail is impressive. Shown against a boldly colorful, geometric background, the scientific instruments carried by the figures are precisely rendered, suggesting that the artist had more than a passing familiarity with maritime navigational tools. Both subjects are holding instruments often used in 18th-century maritime navigation: Barry holds a radial arm protractor used to measure and draft angles on paper, while Van Buskirk holds a Gunter’s scale, which was used to calculate trigonometric functions. Van Buskirk is also standing next to two globes—one terrestrial and other celestial—showcasing the interplay of the heavens and the earth in early navigation practices, which relied on positions of the stars for seafaring. Another fascinating element of the work is the inclusion of a pair of naval engagement paintings that the artist incorporated into the background. Having a painting within a larger painting is a technique used by skilled artists to showcase and show off their talents. Such elements raise the artistic level of this work from the casual to the masterpiece.
New research conducted by the Independence Seaport Museum’s curatorial and archival staff support the tradition of the artist’s descendent family of ‘Barry’ being Commodore Barry, based upon stylistic comparisons, life events, and family provenance. The darker complexion and size of the older man matches scholarly descriptions of Barry as having a ruddy complexion and a considerably slimmer figure prior to 1790. As he and his fellow officers lost their jobs and were owed back pay after Congress disbanded the Continental Navy, taking small jobs like tutoring a young boy in maritime navigation is not farfetched. Given this, Barry would have been in his 40s and Van Buskirk approximately 10 years old, an ideal age to learn navigation.
“This painting drew me in instantly when the Independence Seaport Museum received it as a donation,” said Sarah Augustine, archivist at the Independence Seaport Museum. “It is a beautiful representation of early American folk art that provides a visual story of the scholarship and mystique surrounding 18th- century maritime navigation. Since we received this donation, I have been heavily involved in researching Van Buskirk, the context of the painting, and the potential connection to Commodore John Barry. I am thrilled that the public will now get to interact with this painting, which was cherished by five generations of Van Buskirk’s descendants.”
While it was previously speculated that the entire workbook was completed together in 1799, ISM research points to the first part of the manuscript, which contains the equations and drawings, to have been made prior to the 1799 voyage as it served as a later practicum for Van Buskirk.
In 1984, the navigation workbook from which this watercolor was removed, was donated to ISM by Mrs. Schuyler Cammann. In 2023, Maya Muir, Mrs. Cammann’s daughter, donated this painting as well as another watercolor and two portraits to the museum, reuniting the book with this work of art. The painting will be on view in ISM’s forthcoming exhibition that will serve as an introduction to the museum.
If true that Van Buskirk is the artist of Navigation Lesson, it would identify a new folk artist of considerable skill and talent whose other works have yet to be identified. Research by ISM staff continues on this important and rare document.
The Independence Seaport Museum (ISM), founded in 1960 as the Philadelphia Maritime Museum, encourages visitors to discover Philadelphia’s river of history and world of connections. Stewards of Cruiser Olympia and World War II-era Submarine Becuna, ISM is home to interactive and award-winning exhibitions, one of the largest collections of historic maritime artifacts in the world and a boatbuilding workshop. Accredited by the American Association of Museums since the 1970s, it is a premier, year-round destination on the Penn’s Landing waterfront.
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