Enfilade

Now on view at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs:

A Day in the Eighteenth Century: Chronicle of a Parisian Townhouse

Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 18 February — 5 July 2026

Curated by Ariane James-Sarazin and Sophie Motsch

Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre, La Mauvaise Nouvelle (The Bad News), oil on canvas, 23.5 × 18.5 cm (Paris: Musée des Arts Décoratifs).

A Day in the Eighteenth Century: Chronicle of a Parisian Townhouse invites visitors to step inside the intimate world of an eighteenth-century aristocratic residence and its inhabitants—masters, servants, and household animals. Featuring more than 550 original objects, drawn from the museum’s collections and for most of them, rarely on view, the exhibition gathers all fields of expression of the decorative arts—wood panelling and wallpapers, furniture, ceramics, silverware, clothing and fashion accessories, toys, and jewellery—to recreate the life of a Parisian hôtel particulier in the 1780s. In a cinematic, sound-filled and scented atmosphere, the visitors wander from room to room as if they were close acquaintances, friends, or privileged guests of the family.

The exhibition is curated by Ariane James-Sarazin, Chief Heritage Curator responsible for the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century collections and the Nissim de Camondo collection, together with Sophie Motsch, Assistant Curator.

Ariane James-Sarazin and Sophie Motsch, eds., Une journée au XVIIIe siècle, chronique d’un hôtel particulier (Paris: Éditions Les Arts Décoratifs, 2026), 528 pages, ISBN: 978-2383140351, €39.

William Blake, The Body of Abel Found by Adam and Eve, ca. 1826, ink, tempera, and gold on mahogany

(London: Tate, N05888).

◊    ◊    ◊    ◊    ◊

From the press release for the exhibition:

William Blake: The Age of Romantic Fantasy

National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 16 April — 19 July 2026

Curated by Alice Insley and Anne Hodge

The National Gallery of Ireland is presenting a new major exhibition William Blake: The Age of Romantic Fantasy. This loan exhibition from Tate, curated in partnership with the National Gallery of Ireland, presents a selection of Blake’s most iconic works of art, alongside paintings and drawings by his contemporaries. It offers a rare opportunity to encounter one of the most visionary figures in art and literature.

William Blake (1757–1827) is a singular force in the history of art. Poet, painter, and printmaker, he created a visionary universe of mythic beings and prophetic scenes, exploring heaven and hell through a language entirely his own. In a world shaped by revolution and social upheaval, Blake and his peers pushed art into bold new territories using the power of the creative imagination.

Wildly unconventional in terms of both technique and thought, Blake developed a distinctive visual language to explore opposing forces of creation and destruction, reason and imagination. His inventive works have resonated far beyond his own era. Blake’s influence continues to echo through contemporary culture, inspiring musicians such as U2, Bob Dylan, and Patti Smith; filmmakers including Ridley Scott and Martin Scorsese; writers from J.G. Ballard to Allen Ginsberg; and designers such as Una Burke, whose work features in a special three-piece collaboration accompanying the exhibition in the Gallery’s gift shop.

Opening with a selection of Blake’s iconic large colour prints, William Blake: The Age of Romantic Fantasy immediately immerses visitors in the drama and visionary intensity that defines his work. These striking images introduce the exhibition’s central themes, which unfold across a series of sections that place key works by Blake alongside paintings and drawings by the artists he admired and those who were inspired by him. By placing Blake in a wider context of originality and experimentation, the exhibition offers a compelling insight into a transformative moment in European art. It provides a window into uniquely imaginative works of art that address many topics that are as urgent and relevant today as they were during the Romantic period. . . .

Speaking on the opening of the exhibition, Dr Caroline Campbell, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland, said: “It is very exciting to continue our partnership with our colleagues at Tate and present the work of William Blake alongside his contemporaries in this major exhibition. The impact that Blake and the era of Romanticism have had on Western art cannot be overstated. William Blake: The Age of Romantic Fantasy allows our visitors to explore a familiar name in much greater depth. We hope that it will inspire and delight all who visit the National Gallery of Ireland during spring-summer 2026. I also take this opportunity to thank our Partners at Tate, the supporters of our William Blake Giving Circle and the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport for their ongoing support.”

Anne Hodge, Curator of Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery of Ireland said: “William Blake is such an iconic figure in art and literature. I am delighted that our visitors will be able to enjoy a selection of his work in context, alongside that of his fellow artists. Many people are aware that he wrote the poem The Tyger, but know little else about him. This exhibition will provide a window into the richness of Blake’s imagination and his innovation as an artist.”

Alice Insley, Curator British Art, 1730–1850 at Tate, said: “William Blake is today celebrated for the great originality and vision of his art and poetry. Yet he was not alone in giving his imagination free rein. This exhibition shows Blake’s extraordinary works alongside paintings and drawings by his contemporaries—those who he admired and those who he inspired—to reveal how British art was taken in exciting new directions in this moment. We are delighted to be able to share these works from Tate’s collection with visitors to the National Gallery of Ireland and hope that they will continue to inspire across the centuries.”

Alice Insley, Anne Hodge, and Christina Morin, William Blake: The Age of Romantic Fantasy (Dublin: The National Gallery of Ireland, 2026), 144 pages, ISBN: 978-1911716129, €40.

From the press release for the exhibition:

Johann Baptist Lampi the Elder and the Younger: Overpainted and Uncovered

Lower Belvedere, Vienna, 13 May — 11 October 2026

Curated by Katharina Lovecky

What do a Neoclassical family portrait and a Biedermeier depiction of Venus have in common? Both the portrait of Caroline and Viktor von Tomatis by Johann Baptist Lampi the Elder (1751–1830) and Sleeping Venus with Cupid in front of a Mirror by his eponymous son (1775–1837) were overpainted. Based on the results of technical investigations and art-historical research, this exhibition from the IN-SIGHT series traces the consequences of these later interventions in the work of the two artists.

General Director Stella Rollig: “Based on two works in the Belvedere’s collection, this show offers fresh perspectives on the oeuvres of Johann Baptist the Elder and Johann Baptist the Younger. The eventful history of these overpainted works demonstrates how they have changed over time in terms of both their formal appearance and their content and messages. In addition, the exhibition highlights how our current views on the treatment of art—defined by the principles of conservation and the ideal of originality—have evolved through history and only started to become established in the mid-nineteenth century.”

Johann Baptist Lampi the Elder, Zoë and Adelaide von Tomatis, 1788/89 (Vienna: Belvedere; photo by Johannes Stoll).

During his time in Warsaw in 1788–89, Johann Baptist Lampi the Elder painted several portraits of the Tomatis family. Milanese dancer Catarina, née Filipazzi, had moved to Warsaw with entrepreneur Carlo Tomatis in 1765. One of the three portraits of the family by Lampi shows two of their children, Caroline and Viktor, standing either side of a bust. X-ray and infrared imaging from 2016 revealed this bust to be an overpainting: hidden beneath the layers of paint is a portrait of their mother, Catarina, embracing her children. Based on this work and further portraits in addition to archival material, this exhibition tells the story of the Tomatis family.

In 2022 Johann Baptist Lampi the Younger’s painting Venus Sleeping on a Day Bed—as it was then known—was also analyzed using X-ray and infrared imaging. In this case, the figure of Cupid emerged, concealed beneath a black surface. The erasure of the god of love made the mythological content less apparent. This explains why the painting was later interpreted as a portrait of Emilie Victoria Kraus, one of Napoleon’s lovers, in two twentieth-century novels set in Salzburg. It was precisely this misinterpretation that paved the way to the painting’s popularity, which even reached as far as Paraguay. Now, for the first time since the revealing of Cupid in 2024, the painting will be shown to the public under its original title.

The history of these two paintings shows how fascinating art-historical research can be. The original content was forgotten due to overpainting, which resulted in misinterpretations. For the first time in the German-speaking world, the history of the Tomatis family has been examined in the context of their portraits while enduring myths surrounding this depiction of Venus have been challenged and debunked. At the same time, the comparison of the two works—encompassing the context in which they were created and commissioned—reveals the profound changes of this era that was characterized by the transition from a feudal to a bourgeois society, said curator Katharina Lovecky.

This exhibition uncovers the layers of meaning contained within two works, which had been hidden by overpainting. It shows that the meaning of artworks can be significantly altered once they leave the artist’s studio: A family portrait expressing a mother’s love for her children was transformed into a memorial while an idealized Venus morphed into the portrait of a local Salzburg celebrity.

Katharina Lovecky, Roberto Pancheri, Stella Rollig, and Ana Stefaner, Johann Baptist Lampi der Ältere und der Jüngere: Übermalt und freigelegt (Wien: Belvedere, 2026), 112 pages, ISBN: 978-3903327757, €19.

Bernardo Bellotto, Vienna Viewed from the Belvedere Palace, 1759/60, oil on canvas, 135 × 213 cm
(Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum)

◊    ◊    ◊    ◊    ◊

From the press release for the exhibition:

Canaletto & Bellotto

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 24 March 2026 – 6 September 2026

Curated by Mateusz Mayer

In the 18th century, painted cityscapes (in Italian, vedute: ‘views’) became much sought-after souvenirs. Particularly so among young British aristocrats who bought these paintings on their so-called ‘Grand Tour’, an educational journey across Europe, as a sign of their newly acquired worldly finesse and as a keepsake of their travel experiences. Two of the most eminent exponents of veduta painting are in the center of the new exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The Venetian painters Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto (1697–1768), and his nephew and pupil Bernardo Bellotto (1721–1780) have continued to inform our imagination of several European cities to this day. With their delicate feel for light, atmosphere, and architectural precision, Canaletto and Bellotto transformed these places into stages on which everyday life played out—and in the views of them, into places of longing.

“Canaletto’s and Bellotto’s works show Europe as a space of cultural encounter, long before the concept of a European public ever gained currency. Their vedute connect cities such as Venice, Dresden, London, and Vienna through the perspective of 18th- century travelers and collectors. The exhibition illustrates how art became the visual language of a shared European experiential environment—an empowering culture of exchange, inspiration, and curiosity about other cities and societies,” says Jonathan Fine, Director General of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

In the 1730s, Canaletto’s vedute fetched record prices in Venice. With the outbreak of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748), however, the market slumped: international travel came to a halt, and deep-pocketed patrons stayed away. Uncle and nephew first responded by turning to new subject matter in their work, but soon realized that prospects for their careers were better outside Italy. The exhibition starts out in Venice and then moves on to Canaletto’s time in England as well as to Bellotto’s places of work in Vienna and Dresden, with the main focus on exploring the veduta as a painterly genre.

“City views from the 18th century, which are often perceived as immediate, almost photographic depictions of reality, are in fact carefully constructed pictorial creations that afford telltale insights into the social and political contexts of the time they were created,” adds Mateusz Mayer, curator of the exhibition.

Canaletto’s and Bellotto’s paintings unfold a multifaceted panorama of the Europe of their time. By showing a selection of particularly significant works and placing them within the scientific currents of the period, the exhibition demonstrates that the veduta is not an objective documentation. Rather, it is a deliberately designed image of a city—informed by artistic choices, socio-political conditions, and the expectations of the patrons commissioning them— manifesting a concept that is particularly relevant in light of present-day debates about visual media, urban development, and the cultural memory.

Canaletto—One Name, Two Artists

The name ‘Canaletto’ has come to be almost synonymous with the ‘veduta’ genre, and not infrequently has caused some confusion, as Bernardo Bellotto also added ‘called Canaletto’ to his signature in some works. He did this not only to underscore his artistic connection with his famous relative and teacher, but also to bolster up his own market value. In this exhibition, though, only the uncle is referred to as ‘Canaletto’. While the latter, throughout his lifetime, led the precarious existence of a freelance veduta painter, dependent on a changing clientele of patrons, Bellotto was eventually granted the honor of a permanent position at the court of the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland.

High-Caliber Loans

The exhibition features 32 outstanding paintings—comprising works from the Kunsthistorisches Museum as well as high-caliber loans. One of the highlights is Canaletto’s spectacular view Venice: The Bacino di San Marco from San Giorgio Maggiore (1735/44) from the holdings of the Wallace Collection. The son of a stage painter, Canaletto was familiar with perspective construction and geometry as they were employed in the theater. That theatrical quality becomes particularly evident in this painting in his subtle handling of spatial illusion.

Also of unique quality are Canaletto’s London paintings, such as London: The Thames on Lord Mayor’s Day (c. 1748) from the Lobkowicz Collection and Westminster Abbey with a Procession of the Knights of the Order of the Bath (1749) from the collection of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. On view for the general public in Austria for the first time here, they afford rare insights into Canaletto’s artistic engagement with the English capital city.

Another main emphasis is on Bellotto’s two-year stay in Vienna, an extremely productive creative period. His large-size views of Vienna’s inner city, such as View of Vienna from the Belvedere (1759/60), and of palaces around the city from the holdings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum have been cleaned especially for the exhibition. Complemented by prominent loans from the collection of the Princes of Liechtenstein, such as The Liechtenstein Garden Palace in Vienna, Seen from the Belvedere (1759/60), these vedute can now be presented together, almost in their entirety, for the first time in more than 20 years.

In order to further elucidate the intellectual and artistic context of the epoch, the show is supplemented with additional paintings, art prints, and scientific instruments on loan from numerous European museums. Lenders include: Academy of Fine Arts Vienna; Albertina, Vienna; Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation supported by Tate; Compton Verney; Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Museo Correr, Venice; Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice; Royal Castle in Warsaw – Museum; Leica Microsystems GmbH; Liechtenstein. The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna; Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie, Troyes; Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid; Museu National d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona; National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; Nationalmuseum, Stockholm; Austrian National Library, Vienna; Saxon State Archives, Central State Archives Dresden; Schottenstift, Vienna; Vienna Museum of Science and Technology; The British Museum, London; The Dean and Chapter of Westminster, London; The Lobkowicz Collections, Lobkowicz Palace, Prague Castle, Czech Republic; The Wallace Collection, London; Wien Museum, Vienna.

The exhibition was curated by Mateusz Mayer, curator of the Picture Gallery of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Serenella Zoppolat (architettura21) and Tilo Perkmann (Artvis) did the exhibition design.

The catalogue is distributed by The University of Chicago Press:

Mateusz Mayer, Canaletto & Bellotto: Observation and Invention in Venice, London, and Vienna (Munich: Hirmer, 2026), 176 pages, ISBN: 978-3777447551, $50 / Canaletto & Bellotto: Beobachtung und Erfindung in Venedig, London und Wien, ISBN: 978-3777447544, €40.

Opening soon at the Cognacq-Jay:

Révéler le Féminin: Mode et Apparences au XVIIIe Siècle

Musée Cognacq-Jay, Paris, 25 March — 20 September 2026

Curated by Pascale Gorguet Ballesteros, Adeline Collange-Perugi, and Saskia Ooms

Jean-Charles Nicaise Perrin, Portait of Madame Perrin, 1791 (Musée des Arts et de l’Archéologie de Valenciennes; photo by Thomas Douvry).

Présentée au musée Cognacq-Jay en collaboration avec le Palais Galliera, l’exposition Révéler le féminin: Mode et Apparences au XVIIIe siècle propose une immersion dans l’univers fascinant des féminités au siècle des Lumières.

Portraits, scènes galantes et pièces textiles historiques dialoguent pour explorer la diversité des représentations de la féminité telles qu’elles se déploient dans les mises en scène du XVIIIe siècle. L’exposition souligne l’essor d’un style français dont l’élégance séduit alors les cours et l’aristocratie européennes, révélant une histoire du costume à la fois ancrée dans une réalité matérielle et nourrie par l’imaginaire.

Au cœur de cette époque, la France s’impose comme le théâtre incontournable du raffinement et du prestige. Les artistes tels que Maurice Quentin de La Tour, Jean-Marc Nattier, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, ou encore Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun excellent à traduire l’éclat des étoffes comme la profondeur des âmes, offrant à leurs modèles une aura de grâce et de pouvoir. Le parcours de l’exposition, qui met en lumière ces œuvres virtuoses, s’enrichit de portraits marqués par une dimension psychologique nouvelle, où l’intimité et le naturel prennent une place centrale, sous l’influence anglaise. En parallèle, les pastorales de François Boucher et les fêtes galantes d’Antoine Watteau façonnent une féminité idéalisée et poétique.

Enfin, des photographies contemporaines de Steven Meisel, Esther Ségal, ou encore Valérie Belin, ainsi qu’une création Chanel par Karl Lagerfeld, suggèrent en contrepoint une réflexion sur la persistance des codes et l’héritage du XVIIIe siècle dans la mode actuelle, entre exigence sociale et imaginaire de la beauté.

Commissariat
• Pascale Gorguet Ballesteros, conservateur général du patrimoine, responsable des départements mode XVIIIe et Poupées au Palais Galliera
• Adeline Collange-Perugi, conservatrice du patrimoine et responsable de la collection art ancien, Musée d’arts de Nantes
• Saskia Ooms, attachée de conservation au musée Cognacq-Jay

Révéler le Féminin: Mode et Apparences au XVIIIe Siècle (Paris: Paris Musées, 2026), 112 pages, ISBN: 978-2759606382, €25.

Now on view at Portugal’s National Museum Soares dos Reis, with an English summary from the Instagram account of Trois Crayons:

The presence of many French artists in Portugal from the beginning of the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century—and their impact on the development of Portuguese art, especially the decorative arts—is the great revelation of this selection of works.

◊     ◊     ◊     ◊     ◊

Drawings by European Masters in Portuguese Collections III: France

Desenhos de Mestres Europeus em Coleções Portuguesas III: França

Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis, Porto, 13 December 2025 — 26 April 2026

Curated by Nicholas Turner

Com mecenato do BPI | Fundação La Caixa e apoio das Tintas CIN, esta é a primeira exposição dedicada a desenhos franceses de coleções públicas e privadas portuguesas, e a terceira e última de uma série de exposições organizadas com o intuito de divulgar o pouco conhecido acervo de desenhos de antigos mestres conservado no nosso país.

A primeira exposição, Desenhos de Mestres Europeus em Coleções Portuguesas (2000–01), apresentou aos visitantes obras de referência de todas as escolas, enquanto a segunda, Desenhos de Mestres Europeus em Coleções Portuguesas II: Itália e Portugal (2021), se centrou na influência da arte italiana no desenvolvimento da arte portuguesa desde o século XVI até ao início do XIX.

Com a exposição Desenhos de Mestres Europeus em Coleções Portuguesas III: França pretende-se mostrar que a história da influência do desenho francês em Portugal é diferente, apesar de acidentada e sujeita a flutuações políticas. De facto, a presença de muitos artistas franceses em solo nacional desde o início do século XVIII até ao início do século XX—e o seu impacto no desenvolvimento da arte portuguesa, especialmente das artes decorativas—é a grande revelação da presente seleção de obras.

Quer fugindo de ambientes políticos difíceis ou evitando a forte concorrência na corte francesa, pelo menos meia dúzia de émigrés franceses, como Pierre-Antoine Quillard, Pierre Massart de Rochefort ou Jean-Baptiste Pillement, representados nesta exposição, deixaram a sua marca—e os seus desenhos—em Portugal. Este legado torna-se claro a partir de uma grande variedade de pinturas, desenhos e obras ilustradas que foram executadas no nosso país.

Com curadoria de Nicholas Turner, um dos mais prestigiados especialistas internacionais na área do desenho, a exposição Desenhos de Mestres Europeus em Coleções Portuguesas III: França, inclui 88 obras, quatro das quais em formato de livro, ficando patente ao público até 26 abril 2026.

Nicholas Turner, Desenhos de Mestres Europeus em Coleções Portuguesas III: França (Porto: Blue Book, 2026), 216 pages, ISBN: 978-9899223318, €40.

Installation view of the exhibition Eterno e Visione: Roma e Milano Capitali del Neoclassicismo
(Milan, Gallerie d’Italia, 2025)

◊    ◊    ◊    ◊    ◊

Now on view at the Gallerie d’Italia in Milan:

Eterno e Visione: Roma e Milano Capitali del Neoclassicismo

Gallerie d’Italia, Milan, 28 November 2025 — 6 April 2026

Curated by Francesco Leone, Elena Lissoni, and Fernando Mazzocca

From 1796, the year of Napoleon’s descent into Italy, until 1815, marked by the defeat at Waterloo and the Congress of Vienna, a radical political, economic, and social change took place on the peninsula. The momentous turning point of the Napoleonic Age also significantly involved the artistic scene. Only Rome and Milan escaped the decadence of major artistic centres like Florence, Venice, Genoa, and Naples. The Eternal City persisted as the universal capital of the arts due to the abundance of its heritage, from both antiquity and the Renaissance of Raphael and Michelangelo. Artists from all over the world continued to flock to Rome to learn their trade, and the city’s economy profited greatly from the presence of their studios and the activity of various workshops, which produced internationally appreciated bronzes and mosaics. The exhibition aims to evoke this exceptional creative season, comparing the highest level of artistic production of these two ‘capitals’, projected towards modern Europe while remaining firmly attached to the greatness of the past.

The leading artists in the exhibition are two brilliant men who were close friends: Antonio Canova, one of the most important artists of all time, and Giuseppe Bossi, an extraordinary painter, great connoisseur of Leonardo, and a sophisticated collector, as well as founder of the Pinactoca di Brera. Visitors can admire Antonio Canova’s masterpiece—previously thought to have been lost—the large model of a horse currently undergoing exceptional restoration. Other masterpieces by Bossi, Canova, and Andrea Appiani illustrate the creation of the image of Italy, in its well-known and then more popular iconography, due precisely to their genius.

The exhibition also highlights of one of history’s most ambitious architectural projects, conceived by the Bolognese architect Giovanni Antonio Antolini: the famous Foro Bonaparte, which, although never realised, had a major influence on the transformation of Napoleonic Milan into a modern city inspired by the magnificence of antiquity. With this utopian and visionary undertaking, Milan aspired to become the new Rome, pursuing the great ideal dream of classicism. Equally fascinating will be the re-enactment of Napoleon’s coronation as King of Italy in Milan Cathedral, through the exhibition of the so-called Italian Honours: the cape, crown, sceptre, and other splendid objects used during the ceremony, all of which underwent major restoration by Intesa Sanpaolo for the 19th edition of “Restituzioni” in 2022.

Roberto Bizzocchi, Elisa Baccini, Fernando Mazzocca, Francesco Leone, Elena Lissoni, Charles-Eloi Vial, et al., Eterno e Visione: Roma e Milano Capitali del Neoclassicismo (Turin: Allemandi, 2025), 368 pages, ISBN: 978-8842227137, €39.

Now on view at Versailles:

1725: Native American Allies at the Court of Louis XV

1725: Des alliés amérindiens à la cour de Louis XV

Château de Versailles, 25 November 2025 — 3 May 2026

Curated by Jonas Musco, Paz Núñez-Regueiro, and Bertrand Rondot

In 1725, four Native American chiefs and a Native American woman from the Mississippi Valley were received in France as part of an unprecedented diplomatic mission. The event marked the climax of efforts by the French crown to build relationships with Indigenous nations in North America, amidst ongoing conflicts between European colonial powers and the Indigenous allies. This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to explore the history and lives of the Native American nations of the Mississippi Valley in the 18th century, their connections with France, the extraordinary Atlantic crossing undertaken by their leaders, and their meeting with Louis XV, the royal court, and the capital.

The Indigenous Mississippi Valley in the 18th Century

The first section of the exhibition immerses visitors in the complex world of Native American societies of the Mississippi Valley at the time the French began exploring and settling the area. The encounter between these two civilizations soon led to a lasting alliance based on close diplomatic ties. The exhibition introduces the major Indigenous nations at the heart of this story through a contemporary map specially created for the show, alongside rare 18th-century maps. Some of these nations were already allied with the French through earlier treaties, notably reinforced in 1701 by the Great Peace of Montreal, a historic treaty exceptionally presented to the public.

Through a series of rare portraits—some of the only surviving from that period—a different image of Native societies emerges, far from the 19th-century Plains stereotypes. The selection of artefacts includes a remarkable feathered headdress made in the 18th century for a high-ranking chief, likely the oldest of this type known in the world. The presentation continues with a glimpse into their seasonal way of life, alternating between farming and hunting. Their relationship with the living world is also spiritual, involving social connections with more-than-human beings, such as the thunderbirds—powerful spirits often depicted on hides presented to the French as diplomatic gifts.

The Founding of a French Colony: Louisiana

The second section focuses on the close ties developed between the French and their Indigenous allies after the founding of the Louisiana colony. A selection of objects illustrates the cultural blending that emerged in the early 18th century: war clubs decorated with fleur-de-lis, necklaces made of imported beads, and European knives sheated in Native-style scabbards. The most emblematic items are a peace pipe richly decorated with feathers and a painted hide depicting it.

In 1724, to strengthen the alliance, the Compagnie des Indes proposed inviting the Native leaders to the court of young Louis XV. Étienne Véniard de Bourgmont, commander of the Missouri post, contacted the Otoe, Osage, and Missouria nations—their responses, transcribed in diplomatic correspondence, will be featured in the exhibition—while the Illinois sent Chicagou, the Michigamea chief and conveyed the words of Mamantouensa, chief of the Kaskadia, through Jesuit missionary Nicolas Ignace de Beaubois.

Forming the delegation was not without difficulty. Several other nations planned to send representatives, but the shipwreck of the vessel meant to transport them to France discouraged many from continuing. Ultimately, the delegation consisted of four chiefs and the daughter of a Missouri chief. They set sail in the spring of 1725. From that moment, the delegates were treated as international ambassadors, and a document reveals they were served ‘at the captain’s table’, an honor reserved for elite guests.

The Delegation’s Reception at Court

The final section traces the steps of the Native American chiefs’ visit to France—Paris, Versailles, and Fontainebleau—and details the royal court’s diplomatic protocol for receiving foreign embassies. Thanks to invaluable accounts from the Mercure de France, we follow their movements: meetings with the directors of the Compagnie des Indes, the organizers of the journey, and with princes and princesses of the royal blood.

The exhibition highlights the audience granted by Louis XV to the chiefs on November 25, 1725, at Fontainebleau. This was the most symbolic moment of the visit, during which the chiefs gave speeches to the king, who responded with marked interest in his guests. After touring Versailles, Marly, and Trianon, the delegates were honored with an invitation to hunt alongside with the king at Fontainebleau. They gladly accepted and participated ‘in their own way’—on foot and armed with bows.

The exhibition pathway, punctuated with excerpts from the Mercure de France, presents gifts similar to those exchanged between the Native delegates, the king and the government: prestigious headdresses, bows, and a peace pipe for the Native visitors, and a gold medal and other precious artifacts for the French. Portraits of the main French figures and, for the first time in France, a portrait of a Miami Native American will bring this historic meeting to life.

The exhibition concludes with a reference to the ‘Danse des Sauvages’, a famous piece by Jean-Philippe Rameau added to his opera Les Indes galantes. Inspired by the dance of two Native chiefs at the Comédie-Italienne, this rarely discussed source of inspiration reveals the enduring cultural impact of the 1725 delegation in France.

A special visitor program will allow guests to hear from Native members of the exhibition’s scientific committee as they reflect on the modern-day relationship between their nations and France, echoing this long-shared history.

Curators
• Jonas Musco, Historian, Research Associate
• Paz Núñez-Regueiro, Chief Curator of Heritage, Musée du quai Branly–Jacques Chirac
• Bertrand Rondot, Chief Curator of Heritage, Palace of Versailles

The exhibition is developed within the framework of the research project CRoyAN – Royal Collections of North America—coordinated by the musée du quai Branly–Jacques Chirac, in dialogue with four Native nations: the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, the Quapaw Nation, the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, and the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. The exhibition is organized thanks to the patronage of The CORA Foundation. The exhibition is co-organized with the musée du quai Branly–Jacques Chirac.

Jonas Musco, Paz Núñez-Regueiro, and Bertrand Rondot, 1725: Des alliés amérindiens à la cour de Louis XV (Paris: Liénart, 2025), 160 pages, ISBN: 978-2359064766, €29.

From the press release (3 December 2025) for the exhibition:

Longing: Painting from the Pahari Kingdoms of the Northwest Himalayas

Cincinnati Art Museum, 6 February — 7 June 2026

Curated by Ainsley Cameron

Krishna Playing with the Gopis in the Yamuna River, ca. 1770, India, Himachal Pradesh, Nurpur, opaque watercolor and gold on paper, (Cleveland Museum of Art, purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection and Millikin Purchase Fund, 2018.118).

Featuring more than 40 works of art, Longing: Painting from the Pahari Kingdoms of the Northwest Himalayas will present colorful court paintings from present-day India dating between the 17th and 19th centuries. Practicing unique techniques, artists produced these small, portable paintings primarily for royal, noble, and priestly patronage. The paintings were often given as gifts between regional nobility, families, and political allies creating large networks of artistic exchange.

Influenced by the region’s culture and politics, the artworks portray longing in several ways: through paintings of devotees who long to connect with the divine, through individuals and couples who yearn for romance, and through rulers and noblemen who longed to be at the center of political control. The exhibition encourages visitors to experience art as multisensory. Select paintings will be paired with scent or touch opportunities, while others are paired with musical soundscapes, to heighten the works’ bhava (emotion or mood) and encourage multiple ways to physically, intellectually, and emotionally connect with the art.

“This exhibition explores paintings through the lens of a shared human emotion,” reflects Ainsley M. Cameron, PhD, Curator of South Asian Art, Islamic Art & Antiquities at CAM. “Through color, form, and composition, paintings that portray devotional and cultural values, amorous alliance, or political gain also reveal an emotive force reflective of the region in which they were produced. I’m excited to share the vibrant painting histories of the Pahari region with Cincinnati audiences, to encourage our visitors to actively participate in their museum experience, to interact with art in multiple ways, and to forge new connections with the works on display.”

Longing is part of a larger research project connecting the South Asian art collections at the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA), and the National Museum of Asian Art (NMAA) in Washington, DC. Alongside scholars based in India, curators from these three museums are working collaboratively to research, publish, and display works from the Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim Collection. Beginning in April 2026, the CMA and the NMAA will also present exhibitions of paintings from the Pahari kingdoms. These three distinct thematic exhibitions are presented in the publication Pahari Paintings: Art and Stories, a lavishly illustrated volume that foregrounds recent research in paintings from this mountainous region. Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art and Yale University Press, the volume celebrates both the Benkaim Collection and this cross-institutional collaboration.

Sonya Rhie Mace, Sarang Sharma, and Vijay Sharma, eds., Pahari Paintings: Art and Stories (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2026), 368 pages, ISBN: 978-0300286489, $65. With contributions by Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Ainsley Cameron, Debra Diamond, and Vrinda Agrawal

Attributed to an artist from the generation (ca. 1725–ca. 1785) after Nainsukh and Manaku, Krishna and His Family Admire a Solar Eclipse, from a Bhagavata Purana (Ancient Tales of the Lord), canto 10.82 (detail); India, Himachal Pradesh state, 1775–80; opaque watercolor on paper (Washington DC: National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Purchase from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F2017.13.5).

◊    ◊    ◊    ◊    ◊

Opening this spring at the National Museum of Asian Art:

Of the Hills: Pahari Paintings from India’s Himalayan Kingdoms

National Museum of Asian Art, Washington DC, 18 April — 26 July 2026

Curated by Debra Diamond

The tallest mountains on earth rise from the plains of northern India in a series of steep hills, snowy peaks, and narrow valleys. From the same Himalayan region arose some of the world’s most beautiful—yet least understood—works of art. Discover the extraordinary beauty and unique history of paintings made for Hindu kings in India’s Pahari (hill) region between the 1620s and 1830s. Pahari artists worked in radically different styles ranging from lyrical and naturalistic to boldly colored and abstracted. Of the Hills: Pahari Paintings from India’s Himalayan Kingdoms illuminates new scholarship on the collaborative artist communities in which most painters worked. Learn about the political, cultural, and religious contexts of these forty-eight exquisite works, and look closely to enter a world of fine detail that delights and astounds.

The exhibition celebrates the remarkable collection of Pahari paintings the museum acquired from renowned art historian Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim. Some of these artworks have never been exhibited publicly before. We’ve brought these rare pieces into conversation with our historic collections and paintings on loan from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Of the Hills is accompanied by the major publication Pahari Paintings: Art and Stories and runs concurrently with Pahari exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cincinnati Art Museum.

Sonya Rhie Mace, Sarang Sharma, and Vijay Sharma, eds., Pahari Paintings: Art and Stories (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2026), 368 pages, ISBN: 978-0300286489, $65. With contributions by Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Ainsley Cameron, Debra Diamond, and Vrinda Agrawal