Enfilade

Now on view at the Beaux-Arts de Paris:

The Tiepolos: Invention and Virtuosity in Venice
Beaux-Arts de Paris, 22 March — 30 June 2024

Curated by Hélène Gasnault and Giulia Longo

This exceptional exhibition brings together drawings and etchings by Giambattista Tiepolo and his two sons, Giandomenico and Lorenzo Tiepolo, a family of virtuoso artists in 18th-century Venice.

The Beaux-Arts de Paris owns a remarkable collection of ten works by Giambattista Tiepolo (1696–1770), making it the second-largest public collection of the artist’s drawings in France. Above all, this collection is the only one in France to include drawings not only by Giambattista, but also by his two painter sons, Giandomenico (1727–1804) and Lorenzo (1736–1776), as well as another of Tiepolo’s assistants in the 1730s, Giovanni Raggi. This collection alone provides an overview of graphic practices within the family and the studio.

The study of these sheets and prints, combined with works by other artists—sources of inspiration such as Rembrandt, masters such as Piazzetta, and contemporaries such as Canaletto, Guardi, and Novelli—highlights the great modernity of their art. This is particularly evident in their ability to produce variations on the same theme, both in traditional religious and mythological subjects and in figure studies, particularly caricatures, as well as scenes from Venetian life. The exhibition also explores the relationship between the father and his sons, and the work within a family of artists.

The exhibition opens with a series of studies of heads and faces that raise the question of training in the Tiepolo studio. It then moves on to religious paintings and large-scale secular decors produced by the Tiepolos and their contemporaries in Venice, followed by autonomous graphic works conceived outside of any painted project, as pure graphic exercises or pleasures, based on iconographic themes repeated almost obsessively, in multiple variants. It is the exceptional inventiveness of Giambattista and Giandomenico Tiepolo, one of the most fascinating facets of their artistic personalities, that these drawings and prints allow us to rediscover.

Curated by Hélène Gasnault, curator of drawings at Beaux-Arts de Paris, and Giulia Longo, curator of engravings and photos at Beaux-Arts de Paris.

Hélène Gasnault, ed., with additional texts by Catherine Loisel and Giulia Longo, Les Tiepolo: Invention et virtuosité à Venise (Paris: Beaux-Arts de Paris éditions, 2024), 112 pages, ISBN: 978-2840568780, €25.

This exhibition of over 100 Italian drawings closed on Sunday, though there is a catalogue:

Disegno Disegni
Musée Jenish, Vevey, Switzerland, 8 December 2023 — 14 April 2024

Curated by Emmanuelle Neukomm et Pamella Guerdat

Pietro Palmieri, Trompe-l’oeil with eight copied engravings and study drawings stacked on top of each other, 1783, pen, black and brown inks, brown wash, and blue watercolor on paper, 45 × 60 cm (Vevey: Musée Jenish; photo by David Quattrocchi).

Avec Guerchin, Novelli, Piola, Tiepolo ou encore Zuccari, le dessin italien ancien et moderne est au coeur de l’exposition Disegno disegni.

Dans le sillage du legs de René de Cérenville en 1968, qui faisait la part belle à la création graphique de la Péninsule, les fonds italiens du Musée Jenisch Vevey n’ont cessé de s’enrichir au fil des années, constituant aujourd’hui l’un des noyaux essentiels du patrimoine veveysan. Plus de 100 feuilles issues d’une collection particulière déposée au musée depuis 2003 sont mises en lumière pour l’occasion, dans un dialogue fécond avec les propres fonds de l’institution. Les pièces ainsi réunies invitent à voyager à travers les grands centres artistiques d’Italie, de Venise à Rome, en passant par Bologne et Florence. Autant d’écoles à l’origine d’une production dessinée placée sous le signe de la diversité technique et matérielle. Sujets religieux et profanes, pages d’études et dessins autonomes célèbrent la pluralité qui caractérise le médium et ses multiples fonctions, entre la fin du XVe siècle et les premières décennies du XIXe siècle.

Une exposition sous le commissariat de Emmanuelle Neukomm et Pamella Guerdat, conservatrice et conservatrice adjointe Beaux-Arts, assistées de Leïla Thomas, collaboratrice scientifique.

Marcantonio Franceschini, Allegory of Fame, before 1696 (Private Collection).

Pamella Guerdat et Emmanuelle Neukomm, eds., Disegno disegni: Dessins italiens de la Renaissance au XIXe siècle (Milan: Silvana Editoriale, 2024), 340 pages, ISBN: 978-8836654727, €45.

Préface — Nathalie Chaix
Le dédale des provenances — Ètienne Dumont
Connoisseurship et marché de l’art — Frédéric Elsig
Avertissement
Catalogue: Dessins ita­liens de la Renais­sance au XIX siècle
Du dessin, la part maudite — Jérémie Koering

Index 
Bibliographie sélective
Remerciements 
Impressum

Now on view at the Cognacq-Jay:

Pocket Luxuries: Small Precious Objects in the Age of Enlightenment
Luxe de poche: Petits objets précieux au siècle des Lumières
Musée Cognacq-Jay, Paris, 28 March — 29 September 2024

Curated by Sixtine de Saint Léger and Gabrielle Baraud

L’exposition Luxe de poche au musée Cognacq-Jay présente une collection exceptionnelle de petits objets précieux et sophistiqués, en or, enrichis de pierres dures ou de pierres précieuses, couverts de nacre, de porcelaine ou d’émaux translucides, parfois ornés de miniatures. Les usages de ces objets varient, mais ils ressortent tous des us et coutumes d’un quotidien raffiné, signe de richesse, souvenir intime. Au siècle des Lumières comme aux suivants, ils suscitent un véritable engouement en France d’abord puis dans toute l’Europe. Luxe de poche a pour ambition de renouveler le regard que l’on porte sur ces objets, en adoptant une approche plurielle, qui convoque à la fois l’histoire de l’art et l’histoire de la mode, l’histoire des techniques, l’histoire culturelle et l’anthropologie en faisant résonner ces objets avec d’autres œuvres : des accessoires de mode, mais aussi les vêtements qu’ils viennent compléter, le mobilier où ils sont rangés ou présentés et enfin des tableaux, dessins et gravures où ces objets sont mis en scène. Ce dialogue permet d’envisager ces objets dans le contexte plus large du luxe et de la mode au XVIIIe et au début du XIXe siècle.

Point de départ de cette nouvelle exposition, la remarquable collection d’Ernest Cognacq est enrichie de prêts importants—d’institutions prestigieuses comme le musée du Louvre, le musée des Arts décoratifs de Paris, le Château de Versailles, le Palais Galliera, les Collections royales anglaises ou le Victoria and Albert Museum à Londres—afin d’offrir une nouvelle lecture de ces accessoires indispensables du luxe.

Commissariat scientifique
• Vincent Bastien, collaborateur scientifique au Château de Versailles
• Ariane Fennetaux, professeure des universités, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
• Pascal Faracci, conservateur en chef du patrimoine

Sixtine de Saint-Léger, ed., Luxe de poche: Petits objets précieux au siècle des Lumières (Paris: Musée Cognacq-Jay, 2024), 96 pages, ISBN: 978-2759605798, €19. With contributions by Gabrielle Baraud, Vincent Bastien, Ariane Fennetaux, and Alice Minter.

From the Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden:

Timeless Beauty: A History of Still Life / Zeitlose Schönheit: Eine Geschichte des Stilllebens
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Zwinger, Dresden, 17 November 2023 — 1 September 2024

Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750), Floral Still Life, 1690, oil on canvas on oak panel, 35 × 27 cm (Dresden: Museum Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, 3149).

In the Winckelmann Forum of the Semper Building, the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister presents around 80 works from its own collection in the exhibition Timeless Beauty: A History of Still Life. The wide-ranging presentation—with masterpieces by painters such as Frans Snyders, Balthasar van der Ast, Jan Davidsz. de Heem, Adriaen van Utrecht, Willem Claesz. Heda, Abraham Mignon, and Rachel Ruysch—comprehensively illuminates the genre ‘still life’. Since when has it existed? What exactly constitutes a still life? What meaning, what content and what function did they have and still have today? What allegories and symbols are hidden in these motifs?

Still lifes were not only showpieces of decorative room furnishings, in which the overall effect was in the foreground. They also bear witness to natural scientific interests: the depicted object is regarded as a scientifically object and ‘document’—today as in the Age of Enlightenment. At the same time, however, still lifes are also an illusion, a game with the eye (trompe-l’œuil), in which the optical effect of the entire motif takes center stage. Through the bravura of painting, the ephemeral is immortalized. Many of the works on display, some of them recently restored, allow visitors to rediscover this fascinating genre, as only a few of the more than 100 still lifes in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister are on permanent display.

Konstanze Krüger, ed., Stillleben: Zeitlose Schönheit (Berlin: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2023), 160 pages, ISBN: 978-3775751131, $50.
Konstanze Krüger, ed., Still Life: Timeless Beauty (Berlin: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2024), 144 pages, ISBN: 978-3775751148, $40.

From the press release for the exhibition:

William Blake’s Universe / William Blakes Universum
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 23 February — 19 May 2024
Hamburger Kunsthalle, 14 June — 8 September 2024

Curated by David Bindman and Esther Chadwick

Responding to the upheavals of revolution and war in Europe and the Americas, visionary artist, poet, and printmaker William Blake (1757–1827) produced an astonishing body of work that combined criticism of the contemporary world with his vision for universal redemption. But he wasn’t the only one. William Blake’s Universe is the first major exhibition to consider Blake’s position in a constellation of European artists and writers striving for renewed spirituality in art and life.

Organised in collaboration with the Hamburger Kunsthalle, and drawing on extensive research, this ambitious exhibition will explore the artist’s unexpected yet profound links with important European figures including pre-eminent German Romantic artists Philipp Otto Runge (1777–1820) and Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840). It will also place Blake within his artistic network in Britain, drawing parallels with the work of his peers, mentors, and followers including Henry Fuseli (1741–1825), John Flaxman (1755–1826), and Samuel Palmer (1805–1881).

Poster with detail of William Blake after Henry Fuseli, Head of a Damned Soul, ca. 1788–90, engraving and etching on paper (University of Cambridge: The Fitzwilliam Museum).

Featuring around 180 paintings, drawings, and prints—including over 90 of those by Blake—this major exhibition marks the largest ever display of work from the Fitzwilliam’s world-class William Blake collection, with additional loans from the British Museum, Tate, Ashmolean and other institutions. Examples of the artist’s most iconic and much-loved works including Albion Rose (1794–96) and Europe: A Prophecy (1794), will be joined by rarely exhibited artworks from Blake’s oeuvre, including outstanding new acquisitions from the Sir Geoffrey Keynes bequest, displayed publicly for the first time since joining the Fitzwilliam collection. These include the trial frontispiece of Blake’s prophetic book Jerusalem (1804–1820) and his spectacular large drawing Free Version of the Laocoön (c.1825). Additional highlights include the unique first state of Joseph of Arimathea (1773), produced by Blake as an apprentice aged 16, shown alongside a reworked version of the same image, completed by Blake in his mature years.

Visitors will have a special opportunity to discover the work of Runge, one of Germany’s most important Romantic artists, who has been very rarely seen in the UK until now. Bringing together the largest number of Runge works in the UK to date, the exhibition will include the engravings from the Times of Day (1802–10) series, a defining work of German Romanticism. Representing not only the changing times of day, but the seasons, the ages of man and historical epochs, Runge obsessively returned to this important body of work, an extensive number of preparatory drawings and studies of which will be presented at the Fitzwilliam. Among the works on loan from the Hamburger Kunsthalle will be The Large Morning (1808–09), a fragmentary oil painting widely considered to be one of the most important works from Runge’s short career, cut short by his death aged 33.

Another highlight of the exhibition will be Caspar David Friedrich’s seven sepia drawings The Ages of Man (c.1826) on loan from the Hamburger Kunsthalle. Thought to be inspired by Runge’s interest in visual representations of time, the exquisitely delicate series is associated with the themes of change in nature, the cyclical representation of time, and the temporality of human life.

William Blake’s Universe will unfold in three main sections—past, present and future—with an introductory display of artists’ portraits. ‘The Past: Antiquity and the Gothic’ will focus on the legacy of classical antiquity and Blake’s turn towards the Gothic as an alternative source of inspiration, as well as a spotlight section on Flaxman, an artistic mentor to Blake who gained great acclaim in Germany and across Europe. ‘The Present: Europe in Flames’ will concentrate on the responses of Blake and his close contemporaries in Britain to the revolutionary 1790s. The third section, ‘The Future: Spiritual Renewal’, will show how visions of redemption from a fallen world became a central concern for Blake and his contemporaries in the post-revolutionary period. Jacob Böhme’s mystical ideas about light and cosmic unity, which form a bridge between Blake and his German contemporaries, will be a central display.

William Blake’s Universe is curated by David Bindman, emeritus Durning-Lawrence professor of the History of Art at University College London, and Esther Chadwick, Lecturer in Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue featuring new scholarship by the curators, as well as essays by leading academics Sarah Haggarty, Joseph Leo Koerner, Cecilia Muratori, William Vaughan, and James Vigus.

Curators David Bindman and Esther Chadwick said: “This is the first exhibition to show William Blake not as an isolated figure but as part of European-wide attempts to find a new spirituality in face of the revolutions and wars of his time. We are excited to be able to shed new light on Blake by placing his works in dialogue with wider trends and themes in European art of the Romantic period, including transformations of classical tradition, fascination with Christian mysticism, belief in the coming apocalypse, spiritual regeneration and national revival.”

David Bindman and Esther Chadwick, eds., William Blake’s Universe (London: Philip Wilson Publishers, 2024), 224 pages, ISBN: 978-1781301272, £35 / $45.

This summer at the Wawel Royal Castle:

Magnificence of Rococo: Kaendler’s Meissen Porcelain Figures
Wspaniałość rokoka: Miśnieńskie figurki porcelanowe Johanna Joachima Kaendlera
Wawel Royal Castle, National Art Collection, Kraków, 23 May — 29 September 2024

At the age of 25, Johann Joachim Kaendler (1706–1775) was appointed court sculptor by Augustus the Strong (r. 1694–1733). In the same year he joined the Meissen porcelain manufactory as a modeller, to which he remained loyal throughout his life. Kaendler’s name is closely associated with the golden age of the Meissen manufactory in the 18th century, where, he demonstrated his artistic and technical talent in creating numerous porcelain sculptures, which are still highly valued as collectors’ items today. At the same time they are still part of the manufactory’s repertoire.

The choice of themes in Kaendler’s works reflects the courtly life of the period, which ranged from the late Baroque through the Rococo to the emerging Classicism. Until the end of the Saxon-Polish joint reign in 1763, the nobility and the court were almost the only clients of the manufactory, before the emerging middle classes finally discovered porcelain for themselves. Accordingly, Kaendler’s early works are oriented towards the preferences and fashions of the court. Hunting and theatre—especially the popular Commedia dell’arte—played a central role here, as did the Masonic Order, which was replaced by the Order of the Pug after the papal ban of 1738.

In 1736, for the first time Kaendler created one of the highly esteemed crinoline groups, which often depicted men and women in everyday court life, also in an amorous context. They were named after the ladies’ flared skirts, which were given their shape by a framework of fishbone. Alongside love adventures, the pastoral idyll, the simple life, was one of the secret longings of the nobility. This trend found its most famous manifestation in the Hameau of the French Queen Marie Antoinette (1755–1793) in Versailles. Kaendler served this fad with figures from the people, craftsmen, peasants and, last but not least, the ‘Cris de Paris’ (Cries of Paris), which embody various professions.

Increasing world trade and travel reports from distant countries stimulated people’s curiosity at that time. Exotic depictions of all kinds were in vogue. Artists and craftsmen endeavoured to satisfy the wishes of their customers with ever new subjects, which, however, were often far removed from reality—and few could verify it anyway. Kaendler devoted himself to the subject in his own way. He modelled figures in the national costumes of various peoples as well as animals that were foreign to Central Europeans at the time, such as elephants, lions and dromedaries, to name but a few. The chinoiseries had long since developed into a fashion in their own right. Kaendler did not limit himself to shaping individual figures in their characteristic costumes and physiognomy, but also created family scenes with a unique charm.

Kaendler’s surviving notes from the 1740s prove his productivity. The surviving porcelain sculptures bear witness to his creativity, his genius. Thus, within a few years, a world of his own was created in porcelain, which was enjoyed by the society of the time. Even if tastes have changed since then, Kaendler still proves to be a gifted artist when we take a closer look.

The exhibition jointly organised by the Röbbig Gallery and Wawel Royal Castle will present, for the first time in Poland, a magnificent group of figures by Johann Joachim Kaendler from European private collections. The exhibition will be an excellent pendant to the Wawel collection of Meissen porcelain, which centres around stately objects that create illustrate how the manufactory worked to elevate the prestige of the Wettin court. Wawel Hill was the seat of Polish kings from 1025, and coronations took place here, including that of Augustus II the Strony and his son Augustus III. The figurines presented by the Röbbig Gallery served the more private needs of porcelain lovers all over the world and continue to do so today. Together, the two collections will provide an opulent picture of life in the palaces and residences of the mid-eighteenth century.

Alfredo Reyes and Claudia Bodinek, eds., Magnificence of Rococo: Kaendler’s Meissen Porcelain Figures (Stuttgart: Arnoldsche, 2024), 400 pages, ISBN: 978-3897907072, $135.

From Philip Mould & Co:

‘Fruit of Friendship’: Portraits by Mary Beale
Philip Mould & Company, London, 25 April — 19 July 2024

Mary Beale, Portrait of a Young Boy Seated in a Landscape, 1680s, oil on canvas, 127 × 102 cm.

Mary Beale (1633–1699) was one of Britain’s first professional woman artists. Philip Mould & Company’s forthcoming exhibition ‘Fruit of Friendship’: Portraits by Mary Beale, opening this spring, will feature twenty-five of her works from public and private collections, spanning her entire career and including self-portraits, portraits of her family and friends, and formal commissions.

The exhibition will also shed light on Beale’s studio practice and highlight its radical reversal of conventional gender roles for the period. Beale’s husband Charles dedicated himself to his wife’s career and supported her studio diligently by priming canvases, manufacturing pigments, and recording business in a series of notebooks. The exhibition will present three works not seen in public before, including an early re-discovered portrait of the artist’s husband and a portrait of Anne Sotheby, which will be displayed in the gallery for two weeks before it is exhibited in Tate Britain’s upcoming exhibition Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain, 1520–1920.

The exhibition will be complemented by an openly available online catalogue. In anticipation of a comprehensive printed publication scheduled for summer 2024, this online resource will be an accessible guide to her works and their significance.

Ellie Smith and Lawrence Hendra, Fruit of Friendship: Portraits by Mary Beale (London: Paul Holberton Publishing, 2024), 160 pages, ISBN: 978-1913645748, £25.

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Note (added 4 September 2024) — The posting was updated to include the hardback catalogue.

Angelica Kauffman, Portrait of Emma, Lady Hamilton, as Muse of Comedy, detail, 1791, oil on canvas, 127 × 102 cm
(Private collection)

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A version of the exhibition appeared in 2020 at Düsseldorf’s Kunstpalast and was intended to arrive much sooner at the Royal Academy but was derailed by Covid. The show opens next month (hooray!). . .

Angelica Kauffman
Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1 March — 30 June 2024

Curated by Bettina Baumgärtel and Per Rumberg, with Annette Wickham

Angelica Kauffman RA (1741–1807) was one of the most celebrated artists of the 18th century. In this major exhibition, we trace her trajectory from child prodigy to one of Europe’s most sought-after painters.

Known for her celebrity portraits and pioneering history paintings, Angelica Kauffman helped to shape the direction of European art. She painted some of the most influential figures of her day—queens, countesses, actors and socialites—and she reinvented the genre of history painting by focusing largely on female protagonists from classical history and mythology. This exhibition covers Kauffman’s life and work: her rise to fame in London, her role as a founding member of the Royal Academy, and her later career in Rome where her studio became a hub for the city’s cultural life. See paintings and preparatory drawings by Kauffman, including some of her finest self-portraits and her celebrated ceiling paintings for the Royal Academy’s first home in Somerset House, as well as history paintings of subjects including Circe and Cleopatra, and discover the remarkable life of the artist whom one of her contemporaries described as “the most cultivated woman in Europe.”

The exhibition is curated by Bettina Baumgärtel, Head of the Department of Painting at the Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf, and Per Rumberg, Curator at the Royal Academy, with Annette Wickham, Curator of Works on Paper at the Royal Academy.

Bettina Baumgärtel and Annette Wickham, Angelica Kauffman (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2024), 144 pages, ISBN: 978-1915815033, £20 / $30.

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Note (added 15 February 2024) — Wendy Wassyng Roworth’s review of  the 2020 exhibition catalogue appeared in The Woman’s Art Journal 42.1 (Spring/Summer 2021): 46–48.