Exhibition | Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100–1900
Incense Burner in the Form of a Goose, Ming dynasty (1368–1644), early 15th century, bronze
(New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art).
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
From the press release (9 January) for the exhibition:
Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100–1900
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 28 February — 28 September 2025
Shanghai Museum, 3 November 2025 — 8 March 2026
Curated by Pengliang Lu
In ancient China, bronze vessels were emblems of ritual and power. A millennium later, in the period from 1100 to 1900, such vessels were rediscovered as embodiments of a long-lost golden age that was worthy of study and emulation. This ‘return to the past (fugu) was part of a widespread phenomenon across all the arts to reclaim the virtues of a classical tradition. An important aspect of this phenomenon was the revival of bronze casting as a major art form. Opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on 28 February 2025, Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100–1900 aims to be the most comprehensive study of Chinese bronzes during this period. This exhibition, co-organized by The Met and the Shanghai Museum, where it will open following its display in New York, will present the new aesthetic represented by these creative adaptations of the past, while exploring their cultural and political significance throughout China’s long history.
“While bronze as an art form has long held a significant role throughout China’s history, this exhibition explores an often-overlooked time period when a resurgence of craftsmanship and artistic achievements revitalized the medium,” said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer. “Bringing together major loans from institutions in China alongside works from The Met collection, this exhibition offers viewers an important opportunity to better understand the lasting aesthetic and cultural impact of bronze objects.”
The exhibition will be divided into five thematic and chronological sections that explicate over 200 works of art—an array of bronze vessels complemented by a selection of paintings, ceramics, jades, and other media. Some 100 pieces from The Met collection will be augmented by nearly 100 loans from major institutions in China, Japan, Korea, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States to present the most comprehensive narrative of the ongoing importance of bronzes as an art medium throughout China’s long history. Featured in the exhibition are around 60 loans from institutions in China, including major works such as a monumental 12th-century bell with imperial procession from the Liaoning Provincial Museum, documented ritual bronzes for Confucian temples from the Shanghai Museum, and luxury archaistic vessels made in the 18th-century imperial workshop from the Palace Museum, Beijing.
The exhibition begins with the section “Reconstructing Ancient Rites,” which introduces how emperors and scholar-officials commissioned ritual bronzes from the 12th to the 16th century as part of an effort to restore and align themselves with antique ceremonies and rites. The exhibition continues with “Experimenting with Styles,” illustrating how the form, decoration, and function of ancient bronzes were creatively reinterpreted from the 13th to the 15th century. The next section, “Establishing New Standards,” will explore further transformations in both the aesthetic and technical direction of bronze making from the 15th to the 17th century. The fourth section, “Living with Bronzes,” will feature a display in the Ming Furniture Room (Gallery 218) to demonstrate how bronzes were used in literati life from the 16th to the 19th century. The last section, “Harmonizing with Antiquity,” will examine how the deep scholarly appreciation of archaic bronzes during the 18th and 19th centuries led to a final flourishing of bronze production.
Pengliang Lu, Brooke Russell Astor Curator of Chinese Art at The Met, said: “This exhibition attempts a long-overdue reevaluation of later Chinese bronzes by seeking to establish a reliable chronology of this art form across the last millennium of Chinese history. The exhibition will also distinguish outstanding works from lesser examples based on their artistic and cultural merits.”
Later Chinese bronzes have long been stigmatized as poor imitations of ancient bronzes rather than being seen as fundamentally new creations with their own aesthetic and functional character. This exhibition redresses this misunderstanding by showcasing their artistic virtuosity, innovative creativity, and wide cultural impact. Through archaeologically recovered examples and cross-medium comparisons to a wide range of objects, the exhibition demonstrates the ongoing importance and influence of bronzes as well as how they inspired the form and function of works in other media. Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100–1900 is curated by Pengliang Lu, Brooke Russell Astor Curator of Chinese Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The catalogue is distributed by Yale University Press:
Pengliang Lu, Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100–1900 (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2025), 320 pages, ISBN: 978-1588397904, $65.
Book Launch | The Dominion of Flowers
From EventBrite:
The Dominion of Flowers: North American Book Launch
Online and in-person, University of Toronto, Thursday, 23 January 2025, 6.30pm
Between 1760 and 1840, plants were imported into Britain via empire and depicted in periodicals and scientific treatises as specimens alongside objects of natural history. Mark Laird’s provocative new book—part art history, part polemic—weaves fine art, botanical illustration, gender studies, and rare archival material into a political and ethical account of Britain’s horticultural heritage. Drawing on Professor Laird’s genealogical research into his family’s colonial past, The Dominion of Flowers foregrounds Indigenous ideas about ‘plant relations’ in a study that animates trans-oceanic movements of plants and people.
The talk will show how, researched ‘virtually’ in pandemic Toronto, the book’s three-part structure emerged: global, pan-European, and local. His epilogue links New Zealand to Canada, past and present. Following the talk, Therese O’Malley, a historian of landscape and garden design, will facilitate a conversation about Laird’s 40-year career as scholar and practitioner. Prompted by one reviewer who claimed “Laird pioneered plant humanities avant la lettre,” the conversation will turn to botanical studies within the humanities.
Mark Laird is Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto’s John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, and a former faculty member of Harvard University. He is the author of The Flowering of the Landscape Garden and A Natural History of English Gardening. The Dominion of Flowers completes his trilogy. In the UK he has been historic planting consultant to Painshill Park Trust, English Heritage, and Strawberry Hill Trust, and in Ontario he has worked on Rideau Hall, Parkwood, and Chiefswood.
Therese O’Malley, FSAH is an historian of landscape and garden design, focusing on the 18th to 20th centuries and the transatlantic exchange of plants and ideas. Former associate dean of CASVA, National Gallery of Art (1984–2021), she continues to lecture and publish internationally. Her many publications include Keywords in American Landscape Design (2010), now expanded as the website, History of Early American Landscape Design (heald.nga.gov). O’Malley has held guest professorships at Penn, Harvard, and Princeton, and serves on boards and advisory committees including those of Dumbarton Oaks, New York Botanical Garden, and the U.S. State Dept. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Property. She was chair of the Association of Research Institutes in Art History (1994–2000) and president of the Society of Architectural Historians (2000–2006).
Mark Laird, The Dominion of Flowers: Botanical Art and Global Plant Relations (London: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2024), 277 pages, ISBN: 978-1913107451, £35 / $50.
New Book | Printing Colour, 1700–1830
From Oxford UP:
Margaret Morgan Grasselli and Elizabeth Savage, eds., Printing Colour 1700–1830: Histories, Techniques, Functions, and Receptions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2025), 448 pages, $185. Proceedings of the British Academy
Printing Colour 1700–1830 offers a broad-ranging examination of the rich period of invention, experimentation, and creativity surrounding colour printing in Europe between two critically important developments, four-colour separation printing around 1710, and chromolithography around 1830. Its 28 field-defining contributions by 23 leading experts expand the corpus beyond rare fine art impressions to include many millions of colour-printed images and objects. The chapters unveil the explosive growth in the production and marketing of colour prints at this pivotal moment. They address the numerous scientific and technological advances that fed the burgeoning popularity for such diverse colour-printed consumer goods as clothing, textiles, wallpapers, and ceramics. They recontextualise the rise in colour-printed paper currencies, book endpapers and typography, and ephemera, including lottery tickets and advertisements. This landmark volume launches colour printing of the long 18th century as an interdisciplinary field of study, opening new avenues for research across historical and scientific fields.
Elizabeth Savage is Senior Lecturer in Book History and Communications, School of Advanced Study, and Head of Academic Research Engagement, Senate House Library, University of London. In 2020–22, she was an Honorary Fellow at Centre for the Study of the Book, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford University. In 2022–23, she was a Fellow at Linda Hall Library. Her research into pre-industrial European printing techniques, especially for colour, has won awards including the Schulman and Bullard Article Prize. Her latest book is Early Colour Printing: German Renaissance Woodcuts at the British Museum, and she co-edited Printing Colour 1400–1700. She regularly curates and contributes to exhibitions about print heritage, for example at the British Museum and Musée du Louvre. She teaches at London Rare Books School.
Margaret Morgan Grasselli worked for forty years at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, thirty as Curator of Old Master Drawings. Having retired in 2020, she then served as Visiting Lecturer in the department of History of Art and Architecture of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University (2020–22) and Visiting Senior Scholar for Drawings at the Harvard Art Museums (2020–23). An expert on French drawings, she is also an authority on French color prints of the 18th century. She organised the 2003 exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Colorful Impressions: The Printing Revolution in Eighteenth-Century France, and was the editor and primary author of the accompanying catalogue.
c o n t e n t s
Introduction — Margaret Morgan Grasselli and Elizabeth Savage
Part 1 | Materials and Techniques Printing Colour in 18th-Century Europe
• Tools, Machines, and Presswork for Printing Colour in 18th-Century Europe — Margaret Morgan Grasselli and Elizabeth Savage
• Colour Printing Inks and Colour Inking in 18th-Century Europe — Elizabeth Savage
Part 2 | Relief Techniques: Letterpress, and Colour Woodcut
• Colour Letterpress in Europe in the Long 18th Century — Ad Stijnman
• Elisha Kirkall and His Proposals for Printing in Chiaroscuro, Natural Colours, and Tints, 1720–40 — Simon Turner
• Printing Chiaroscuro and Colour Woodcuts in Paris, Venice, and London c.1725–70 — Tico Seifert
• Bringing Colour to Books and Objects with Decorated Paper in the Long 18th Century — Sid Berger, Michèle Cloonan
• Colour for Commerce: Letterpress-Printed Ephemera in Britain, 1700–1830 — Rob Banham
Part 3 | Mezzotint and Trichromatic Printing
• The Politics of Process Mezzotint: Jacob Christoff Le Blon’s Reputation, 1700–89 — Elizabeth Savage
• From Colour Theory to Colour Practice: Printmakers in Pursuit of the Ideal Pigments in 18th-Century Europe — Dionysia Christoforou, Manon van der Mullen, and Victor Gonzalez
• Colouring the Body: Printed Colour in Medical Treatises during the Long 18th Century — Julia Nurse
• Colour Printing in Late 18th-Century Italy: Édouard and Louis Dagoty, 1770–1800 — Alice Nicoliello
Part 4 | Chalk, Pastel and Watercolour Manner, and Aquatint
• Printed Paintings and Engraved Drawings: Technical Innovations in Colour Printing in 18th-Century France — Margaret Morgan Grasselli
• Coloured Prints in Imitation of Old Master Drawings in 18th-Century Italy: Anton Maria Zanetti the Elder, Benigno Bossi, Francesco Rosaspina and their Contemporaries — Benedetta Spadaccini
• François-Philippe Charpentier and the Development of Aquatint in France in the 1760s — Rena Hoisington
• A Voyage pittoresque in Norway through Colour Prints, 1789–c.1815 — Chiara Palandri
• The Market for Colour Prints in Paris at the End of the 18th Century — Corinne Le Bitouzé
• Multiple-Plate Colour Prints and the Problems of Variant Impressions, Missing Plates, and Disappearing Inks — Margaret Morgan Grasselli
Part 5 | Stipple and a la Poupée
• English Colour-Printed Stipple Engravings, 1774–1800 — David Alexander
• Between Painting and Graphic Arts: Colour Printmaking in Russia, 1750s–1800s — Zalina Tetermazova
• Anne Allen, Jean Pillement, and the Development of à la poupée Printing in France — Geert-Jan Janse
• The Contribution of à la poupée-inked Colour Printing to Natural History Illustration in France, 1800–1870 — Karen Cook
Part 6 | Consumer Goods and Expanding Markets for Colour Printing
• Anatomy to Embroidery: Intaglio Colour-Printed Illustrations in European Books and Periodicals, 1700–1850 — Ad Stijnman
• Early Dye-Patterned Colour on Calico in Europe, 1600–1840 — Susan Greene
• Printed Wallpaper in England in the Long 18th Century — Phillippa Mapes
• Colour Printing on English Ceramics, 1751–70 — Patricia Ferguson
Part 7 | Technical Experimentation and Industrialisation
• William Blake’s Colour Printing: Methods and Materials — Michael Phillips
• Innovation and Tradition in Early 19th-Century Colour Printing — Michael Twyman
• The Beginnings of Commercial Colour Printing in Europe, 1835–40 — Michael Twyman
Exhibition | Luisa Roldán: Royal Sculptor
Adam Busiakiewicz noted the exhibition at Art History News a few weeks ago:
Luisa Roldán: Escultora Real
Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid, 29 November 2024 — 9 March 2025
Curated by Miguel Ángel Marcos Villán and Pablo Amador Marrero
Luisa Roldán, Virgen con el Niño (Sevilla, Convento de San José).
Esta exposición permitirá al visitante adentrarse en una vida apasionante. Luisa Roldán (1652–1706) aunó excelencia, versatilidad y habilidad para romper las barreras de género y llegar a lo más alto como artista: fue nombrada escultora del rey por Carlos II, cargo que mantuvo con Felipe V. Además, fue la primera artista española en ingresar en la Academia de San Lucas en Roma, un hito nunca antes alcanzado por escultores hispanos.
Pero Luisa Roldán: Escultora real también es el producto de una reivindicación y de una necesidad de hacer presente la trayectoria de una de las más destacadas artistas españolas. De hecho, nunca cayó en el olvido y autores como Antonio Palomino (quien la conocería personalmente), Antonio Ponz o Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez alabaron su obra. Sin embargo, el hecho de que fuera considerada por muchos como autora de menor calidad que su padre, identificando con él buena parte de su producción, ha pesado en algunos de los estudios que se realizaron sobre su figura. Como también que se le adjudicaran sobre todo obras de devoción, delicadas y de pequeño formato en barro cocido, «más propias de su condición y sexo», según autores como el propio Ceán Bermúdez, dejando en un lugar secundario su rica y extraordinaria producción de obras en madera y de mayor formato.
La dedicación de Luisa Roldán al oficio de la escultura sólo fue posible por su nacimiento en el seno de una familia dedicada a esta disciplina. Su padre, Pedro Roldan fue el gran artista del mercado sevillano y de buena parte del andaluz durante la segunda mitad del siglo XVII. La artista, cuyas dotes para el oficio se desvelaron en época muy temprana, heredó de él la inquietud por el mejor conocimiento del arte. Tras dejar el taller paterno se estableció en Sevilla junto a su marido, Luis Antonio de los Arcos. De allí se trasladaron a Cádiz, metrópoli comercial del momento, y posteriormente el matrimonio y sus hijos fijaron su residencia en Madrid. Allí la escultora pudo entrar al servicio de la Corte, alcanzando el mayor éxito y reconocimiento al que cualquier artista de la época podía aspirar.
Miguel Ángel Marcos Villán and Pablo Amador Marrero, Luisa Roldán: Escultora Real (Valladolid: Museo Nacional de Escultura, 2024), €40.
The Burlington Magazine, December 2024
The long 18th century in the December issue of The Burlington:
The Burlington Magazine 166 (December 2024)
e d i t o r i a l
• “A ‘Grand Life’: Belle da Costa Greene,” pp. 1203–04.
New York’s Morgan Library & Museum was founded as a public institution in 1924 and its centenary this year has been celebrated in style. The most substantial project to form part of the anniversary is the exhibition (25th October–4th May 2025) on Belle da Costa Greene (1879–1950), the museum’s inaugural Director. This is an exercise in fascinating institutional storytelling, but at the same time also considerably more, as Greene was an extraordinary and accomplished figure.
l e t t e r
• Elizabeth Cropper, “Further Notes on boîtes à portrait’,” p. 1205.
A response to Samantha Happé’s article in the October issue of The Burlington: “Portable Diplomacy: Louis XIV’s ‘boîtes à portrait’,” pp. 1036–43.
r e v i e w s
• Richard Rand, Review of the exhibition Revoir Watteau: Un comédien sans réplique. Pierrot, dit le ‘Gilles’ (Louvre, 2024–25), pp. 1238–40.
• Gauvin Alexander Bailey, Review of the exhibition Paris through the Eyes of Saint-Aubin (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2024-25), pp. 1249–50.
• Denise Amy Baxter, Review of the exhibition The Legacy of Vesuvius: Bourbon Discoveries on the Bay of Naples (Meadows Musem, 2024), pp. 1251–53.
• Camilla Pietrabissa, Review of the exhibition catalogue L’arte di tradurre l’arte: John Baptist Jackson incisore nella Venezia del Settecento, ed. by Orsola Braides, Giovanni Maria Fara, and Alessia Giachery (Biblioteca Marciana, 2024), pp. 1270–72.
The British printmaker John Baptist Jackson was active in Venice from 1731 to 1745.
• Tom Stammers, Review of Oliver Wunsch, A Delicate Matter: Art, Fragility, and Consumption in Eighteenth-Century France (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2024), pp. 1285–86.
o b i t u a r y
• Simon Jervis, Obituary for Georg Himmelheber (1929–2024), pp. 1287–88.
A pioneering historian of furniture and a curator at Karlsruhe and Munich, Georg Himmelheber was also a founder member of the Furniture History Society; although his expertise encompassed many periods and styles, he was perhaps best known for his work on ‘Biedermeier’ furniture.
s u p p l e m e n t
• “Acquisitions by Public Collections across the UK (2013–23) Made Possible by the Acceptance in Lieu of Tax and Cultural Gifts Schemes,” pp. 1289ff.
Print Quarterly, December 2024
The long eighteenth century in the latest issue of Print Quarterly:
Print Quarterly 41.4 (December 2024)
a r t i c l e s
Nicholas de Courteille, presumably after Jean Pierre Bouch, Jean Charles Pierre Lenoir, 1779, soft-ground etching, 308 × 235 mm (Paris, Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris).
• Dorinda Evans, “Jean Pierre Bouch, A Rediscovered Polymath”, pp. 394–407. This article attempts to compile the real identity and life story of the French artist Jean Pierre Bouch (1765–1820), whose diverse career included being a balloonist and pyrotechnician as well as portrait artist.
n o t e s a n d r e v i e w s
• Christian Rümelin, Review of Jean-Gérald Castex, ed., Graver pour le Roi: Collections Historiques de la Chalcographie du Louvre (Louvre éditions and Lienart éditions, 2019), pp. 434–37.
• Evonne Levy, Review of Bettina Wassenhoven, Gravuren nach Skulpturen – Skulpturen nach Gravuren (Konigshausen & Neumann, 2021), pp. 437–38.
• Simon McKeown, Review of Rosa de Marco and Agnès Guiderdoni, eds., Eliciting Wonder: The Emblem on the Stage (Librairie Droz, 2022), pp. 438–41.
• Clarissa von Spee, Review of Anne Farrer and Kevin McLoughlin, eds., The Handbook of the Colour Print in China, 1600–1800 (Brill, 2022), pp. 441–45.
• Nicholas JS Knowles, “The First British Caricature in Aquatint?,” pp. 445–47.
• Bénédicte Maronnie, Reviews of Chiara Casarin and Pierluigi Panza, eds., Giambattista Piranesi: Architetto senza tempo / An Architect out of Time (Silvana Editoriale, 2020); Moritz Wullen and Georg Schelbert, eds., Das Piranesi-Prinzip (E.A. Seeman Verlag, 2020); and Carolyn Yerkes and Heather Hyde Minor, Piranesi Unbound (Princeton University Press, 2020), pp. 469–73.
b o o k s r e c e i v e d
• Jennifer Milam and Nicola Parsons, eds., Making Ideas Visible in the Eighteenth Century (University of Delaware Press, 2021), p. 460.
• Ian Haywood, Queen Caroline and the Power of Caricature in Georgian England (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023), p. 460.
Exhibition | In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom
From the press release for the exhibition, recently covered by Jennifer Schuessler for The New York Times:
In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World
National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington DC, 13 December 2024 — 8 June 2025
Other venues will include museums in Belgium, Brazil, England, Senegal, and South Africa
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) recently unveiled its first international touring exhibition, In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World. Through powerful forms of artistic expressions, such as quilting, music and ironwork, the exhibition reveals healing traditions rooted in the resilience of enslaved people. Featuring more than 190 artifacts, 250 images, interactive stations, and newly commissioned artworks, In Slavery’s Wake offers a transformative space to honor these legacies of strength and creativity.
“This global exhibition is a profound journey through the African diaspora, reflecting on our shared history and envisioning a future shaped by resilience and freedom,” said Kevin Young, Andrew W. Mellon Director, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. “It beautifully intertwines the past and present, inviting visitors to experience our heritage’s multilingual, multinational, and forward-looking spirit. This show reflects not just the impact of slavery but a celebration of the freedom-making efforts of the enslaved and abolitionists, embodying the humane and interconnected world we live in today.”
In Slavery’s Wake reckons with the impact of slavery and colonialism on present-day societies around the world and explores the often-overlooked efforts of the enslaved to force the end of slavery with legal emancipation and abolition as well as to provide a wellspring for descendants to draw upon to help create a better world for themselves and their communities through art, storytelling, music, protest, and communal healing. It delves into key questions about freedom and its expressions across six sections.
Organized by the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s Center for the Study of Global Slavery and the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University, the exhibition grew out of a decade-long collaboration between international curators, scholars, and community members who were committed to sharing stories of slavery and colonialism in public spaces. The collective worked across geographies, cultures, and languages, connecting the past and the present.
After its close in Washington, the exhibition will travel to museums in Belgium, Brazil, England, Senegal, and South Africa. Curatorial partners from each location contributed stories, objects and oral histories that reflect their local communities within this global history. It also incorporates a new collection of more than 150 oral histories filmed at each partner site, titled Unfinished Conversations. Voices from this international archive of everyday people’s memories and stories are featured throughout.
Paul Gardullo, Johanna Obenda, and Anthony Bogues, eds., with a foreword by Lonnie G. Bunch III, In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2024), 240 pages, ISBN: 978-1588347794, $40.
New Book | Ange Laurent de La Live de Jully
From Lienart:
Marie-Laure de Rochebrune, ed., Ange Laurent de La Live de Jully (1725–1779): Un grand amateur à l’époque des Lumières (Paris: Lienart éditions, 2024), 488 pages, ISBN: 978-2359064186, €55. With contributions by Lionel Arsac, Géraldine Aubert, Colin Bailey (foreword), Vincent Bastien, Mathieu da Vinha, Patricia de Fougerolle, Mathieu Deldicque, Vincent Droguet, Alexandre Maral, Marc-André Paulin, Alexandre Pradère, Yohan Rimaud, and Xavier Salmon.
Ange Laurent de La Live de Jully (1725–1779) fut l’une des figures les plus brillantes et les plus attachantes du monde des grands amateurs français de la seconde moitié du XVIIIe siècle. Mécène et ami des artistes de son temps, collectionneur, graveur, musicien et historien, il fut élu, très jeune, membre honoraire ou associé libre de l’Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, en raison de la qualité des collections qu’il avait réunies et aussi de ses capacités artistiques. Avec le concours des meilleurs spécialistes, cet ouvrage a pour ambition d’embrasser l’ensemble des collections de ce « dénicheur de talents » dans des domaines très divers—peintures, arts graphiques, sculptures, mobilier et objets d’art, livres, coquilles, instruments de musique—collections qui constituent autant de témoignages de son immense curiosité, de son ouverture d’esprit et de sa générosité envers les artistes. Il met également en lumière les milieux familial et intellectuel si stimulants dans lesquels il a baigné et qui expliquent, à bien des égards, la formation de son goût si raffiné et de son extrême sensibilité artistique.
Marie-Laure de Rochebrune est conservateur général au château de Versailles.
New Book | Coade Stone
From Springer:
Howell Edwards and Christopher Brooke, Coade Stone: A History and Analysis (New York: Springer, 2024), 275 pages, ISBN: 978-3031714313, $110.
The history and nature of artificial stone for use in architecture is a subject still shrouded in myth and misconception. This book aims to lay bare those misconceptions and present a scientific and architectural account of these materials, and especially Coade Stone, the most successful of all, which found great favour during the Georgian period. Many examples of Coade Stone cast sculpture still exist and several key examples are presented in context and as case studies . Eleanor Coade’s artificial stone was so good that many observers could not distinguish it from the natural stone it replaced: the growth in replication of the neo-classical statuary and building adornment required in the late Georgian and Regency period was well satisfied by the use of Coade stone. A holistic evaluation of Coade stone artefacts is undertaken whereby the use of analytical data, historical documentation, invoices, company records, impressed marks and expert connoisseurship will establishthe attribution of Coade stone artefacts, some of which are currently in the unknown category. Several new scientific analyses are presented that demonstrate the true nature of high temperature fired ceramic Coade Stone and allow comparison with other forms of artificial stone, such as the cold cured cementitious variations, which eventually replaced it in the Victorian period.
Howell G. M. Edwards is Professor Emeritus of Molecular Spectroscopy at the University of Bradford. He read Chemistry at Jesus College in the University of Oxford and after completing his BA and BSc degrees he studied for his doctorate in Raman spectroscopy at Oxford with Dr Leonard Woodward and then became a Research Fellow at Jesus College, University of Cambridge. He joined the University of Bradford as a Lecturer in Structural and Inorganic Chemistry, becoming Head of the Department of Chemical and Forensic Sciences, and was awarded a Personal Chair in Molecular Spectroscopy in 1996. He has published over 1350 research papers in Raman spectroscopy and the characterisation of materials, along with six books on the application of this analytical technique to art, archaeology, and forensic science. He has had a lifelong interest in porcelains and the industrial archaeology, excavation, and the preservation of early porcelain manufactory sites.
Christopher J. Brooke studied for a BSc (Hons.) in Archaeological Sciences at the University of Bradford, specializing in geophysics, environmental archaeology, and palaeopathology, followed by a PhD at the University of Nottingham in the field of archaeological remote sensing for historic buildings analysis. He has worked in a wide range of organizations from central and local government, through university teaching appointments and industry, a major charity, and freelance consultancy. A Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, an Associate Fellow of the Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society, and a member of many professional organizations both nationally and in the UK East Midlands, he serves on a large number of advisory boards and committees. Dr Brooke’s principal research specializations are in electromagnetic remote sensing, nondestructive archeological site survey, record photography, mathematical image processing, environmental study, spectroscopy, the history and archaeology of churches, and the recording and conservation of historic buildings. He has lectured extensively at academic institutions throughout the UK and is currently Honorary Associate Professor in Medieval History and Church Archaeology at the University of Nottingham, and Visiting Fellow in Remote Sensing at Nottingham Trent University.
c o n t e n t s
1 Introduction: Coade Artificial Stone and Its Marks
2 Factors That Influenced the Success of Coade Stone
3 Artificial Stone: The Precursors, Contemporaries, and Later Variations of Coade Stone
4 Historical Myths and Anomalies Associated with Coade Stone
5 The Mineralogy of Fired Ceramics
6 The Analysis of Coade Stone Artefacts
7 Case Studies: Coade Stone
8 Conclusions
Appendices
Glossary
Index
Preservation Long Island Receives Curatorial Internship Grant
From the press release (18 November 2024). . .
High chest of drawers, Queens County, New York, 1740–70, walnut, tulip poplar, pine (Preservation Long Island purchase, 1961.13.1).
The Decorative Arts Trust is thrilled to announce that Preservation Long Island (PLI) is the recipient of the 2025–27 Curatorial Internship Grant. Headquartered in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, PLI was founded in 1948 as the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities. PLI advances the importance of historic preservation in the region through advocacy, education, and stewardship. Their program areas include interpreting historic sites, collecting art and material culture pertaining to Long Island history, creating publications and exhibitions, and providing direct support and technical assistance to individuals and groups engaged in local preservation efforts.
In 2026, PLI will celebrate the United States Semiquincentennial as well as the 50th anniversary of their landmark furniture publication, Long Island is My Nation: The Decorative Arts and Craftsmen, 1640–1830. PLI’s Peggy N. Gerry Curatorial Fellow will collaborate with Chief Curator & Director of Collections Lauren Brincat on a series of objectives aimed at cataloging Long Island furniture in public and private collections across the region, reexamining these objects from new perspectives, and enhancing their accessibility to 21st-century researchers and the public. The Fellow will take a leading role in a new initiative building upon previous scholarship towards the creation of a collaborative Long Island furniture digital database, an exhibition, and an accompanying catalogue. Also, the Fellow will coordinate and participate in a Long Island furniture symposium in summer 2025. PLI will post the Peggy N. Gerry Curatorial Fellow position on their website at preservationlongisland.org in spring 2025. For more information about Curatorial Internship Grants, visit decorativeartstrust.org/cig.
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