Enfilade

From the Hermitage:

Ruins, Palaces and Prisons: Piranesi and Italian Eighteenth-Century Architectural Fantasies
State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, 7 December 2011 — 25 March 2012

Curated by A.V. Ippolitov, M.F. Korshunova, and V.M. Uspenskiy

Piranesi, Title page of the 'Carceri' series, 1749-1750

On December 7th, 2011, Saint Catherine’s day, the State Hermitage Museum welcomed an exhibition entitled Ruins, Palaces and Prisons: Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Italian Eighteenth-Century Architectural Fantasies, dedicated to the early period of Piranesi’s work. This exhibit is being held as part of the Year of Italy in Russia and Year of Russia in Italy 2011 program, which continues tradition of partnership and cooperation between the two countries in the fields of art and culture.

This exhibition, presenting about 100 drawings and prints from the collection of the Hermitage, is divided into two parts: the first is dedicated to Piranesi and will present the series entitled Prima Parte (“Prima Parte “), Grotteschi (“Grotesques”) and Carceri (“Dungeons”) in their rare original condition, which have never been published in Russia before. All of them are from the 1750 album Opere Varie, which was acquired by the Empress Catherine the Great in 1768 as part of the collection of Count Bruhl and became the basis of the graphic arts collection of the Hermitage. The Carceri is presented in two conditions; the early one, from the Bruhl
collection, and a later one which was extensively revised. This is the first
time this sort of juxtaposition has been presented in Russia.

Piranesi, "Drawbridge," A page from the 'Carceri' series, 1749-1750

The second part consist of drawings by Italian artists of the 18th century who worked as scene decorators, designers and architects and created the unique genre of imaginative Veduta, which is important for understanding the style of the settecento, as the 18th century is called in Italian, a unique and complex phenomenon. Imaginative Veduta is represented by the work of the Galli Bibiena family, G. Valeriani, Pietro Gonzaga, G. Barbari, G. Mannocchi, many of which are being published for the first time. The phenomenon of Piranesi’ early fantasies is put in the context of a unique genre, and is examined at this exhibit as original sources, as is the influence of the Piranesi phenomenon on the later development of imaginative Veduta.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) has an enduring place in the history or art as an artist who defined European art in the mid 18th- early 19th century. Piranesi is acknowledged as a reformer of public taste and one of the progenitors of neoclassicism, which might be called the Avant Garde of the 18th century, and as such his name is associated with this movement. However, while the series of etching entitled Carceri (dungeons), a procession of frightening, inexplicable and obscure images was not well known in the artist’s life, was many decades ahead of its time. Carceri become of the works of art most beloved by modernism. This series, which was not particularly popular during Piranesi’s life, a rediscovery of Romanticism attracted writers, architects, directors then and continues to do so now not only with its unusual subject matter, but also with its unusual spatial construction, which reminds one not of real architecture, but of the unreal space of a dream or hallucination. (more…)

Jean-François-Pierre Peyron, “Curius Denatus refusant les présents
des ambassadeurs Samnites,” XVIIIe siècle, Musée de Grenoble

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Currently on display at the Musée de Grenoble, as noted by Hélène Bremer . . .

L’idée et la ligne – Dessins français
Musée de Grenoble, 5 November 2011 — 12 February 2012

Après la présentation de ses plus belles feuilles italiennes, le musée de Grenoble met en valeur son extraordinaire fonds de dessins français. De la Renaissance à la fin du XVIIIe siècle, les plus grands artistes répondent présents. Nicolo dell’Abate, appelé pour travailler à Fontainebleau, offre une introduction magistrale à un parcours graphique qui puise ses sources en Italie. Laurent de la Hyre, Simon Vouet, Philippe de Champaigne, Patel, Charles Mellin, Charles Alphonse Dufresnoy ou François Perrier illustrent brillament les tendances d’une école française qui s’affirme et prend peu à peu son indépendance face à l’Italie. Le Brun, Noël Coypel, Jean-Baptiste de Champaigne, Louis de Boulogne et Charles de la Fosse poursuivent les avancées sous Louis XIV. La partie la plus riche et paradoxalement la moins connue de cette collection concerne le XVIIIe siècle : Boucher, Pierre ou Huber Robert viennent marquer le triomphe de la couleur et de la nature. Feuillet après feuillet, un pan entier de l’histoire de l’art française se dessine
sous nos yeux.

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Catalogue: Guillaume Kazerouni, Barbara Brejon de Lavergnée, Jérôme Delaplanche and Pierre Rosenberg, L’idée et la ligne: Dessins français du musée de Grenoble, XVIe-XVIIIe siècle (Paris: Somogy éditions d’art, 2011), 240 pages, ISBN: 9782757204818, €35.

From the Cognacq-Jay, as noted by Hélène Bremer . . .

Boîtes en or et objets de vertu
Cognacq-Jay Museum, Paris, 21 December 2011 — 6 May 2012

A l’occasion de la parution du Catalogue raisonné des Boîtes en or et objet de vertu, le musée Cognacq-Jay expose cet hiver sa riche collection de boîtes, tabatières, étuis, boîtes à rouge, à mouches, nécessaires de toilette, à écrire…  Avec 240 objets, celle-ci est l’une des plus importantes des musées français.

Chefs-d’œuvre de l’orfèvrerie, en or, enrichis de pierres dures ou précieuses, d’émail, de porcelaine, d’ivoire ou de nacre. . . étaient dès le XVIIIe siècle l’objet d’orgueil et de convoitise Leur forme était parfois étrange, prenant l’apparence d’un dromadaire, d’un tatou, d’une jambe, d’une tête, d’un violoncelle. . . Leur usage, participant aux rituels de la vie quotidienne, témoigne des pratiques de la sociabilité au Siècle des Lumières : le tabac, les modes cosmétiques, le jeu. . .
L’exposition mettra exceptionnellement en lumière cette collection, au moyen d’une scénographie originale et surprenante, et en réunissant autour de ces
objets des dessins, des gravures pour mieux comprendre leurs secrets de
fabrication et leur usage.

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Catalogue: Objets de Vertus, Boites, Tabatieres, Etuis et Necessaires Collections D’Orfevrerie (Paris: Paris Musées, 2011), ISBN: 9782759601813, €44.

From The Met:

Duncan Phyfe: Master Cabinetmaker in New York
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 20 December 2011 — 6 May 2012
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 20 June — 11 September 2012

In the early 1800s, furniture from the workshop of New York City cabinetmaker Duncan Phyfe (1770–1854) was in such demand that he was referred to as the “United States Rage.” This exhibition—the first retrospective on Phyfe in ninety years—will serve to re-introduce this artistic and influential master cabinetmaker to a contemporary audience.

The full chronological sweep of Phyfe’s distinguished career will be featured, including examples of his best-known furniture based on the English Regency designs of Thomas Sheraton, work from the middle and later stages of his career when he adopted the richer “archaeological” antique style of the 1820s, and a highly refined, plain Grecian style based on French Restauration prototypes. The exhibition brings together nearly one hundred works from private and public collections throughout the United States. Highlights of the exhibition include some never-before-seen documented
masterpieces and furniture descended directly in the Phyfe family, as well as
the cabinetmaker’s own tool chest.

Organized chronologically, the exhibition will present the cabinetmaker’s life and work through drawings, documents, personal possession, and furniture. Portraits of his clients and contemporary depictions of New York City street scenes and domestic interiors will provide a glimpse into Phyfe’s milieu.

Read more»

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Catalogue: Peter Kenny, Frances Bretter, Michael Brown, and Matthew Thurlow, Duncan Phyfe: Master Cabinetmaker in New York (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011), 352 pages, ISBN: 9780300155112, $65.

From the Louvre, as noted by Hélène Bremer:

French Drawings from the Mariette Collection
Musée du Louvre, Paris, 10 November 2011 — 6 February 2012

Curated by Pierre Rosenberg, Laure Barthélemy-Labeeuw, and Bénédicte Gady

Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Egret (Paris: Louvre)

Pierre Jean Mariette (1694–1774) brought together one of the most fascinating collections in the whole of the eighteenth century, with drawings taking pride of place (around ten thousand sheets). Masterpieces by great artists stood alongside pieces of bravura by minor masters, in line with the encyclopedic commitment of this “genius jack-of-all-trades.” A collection of this caliber seemed destined to join those of king and nation. This was the wish of both Mariette and the administration—but, as sometimes happens, the heirs decided otherwise. The auctioning-off lasted for no less than two and a half months, during which time nearly one thousand drawings were nonetheless purchased for the king’s cabinet.

Pierre Rosenberg, of the French Academy, President emeritus of the Musée du Louvre, assisted by Laure Barthélemy-Labeeuw, rose to the dizzying challenge of reconstructing this legendary collection by scouring public and private collections the world over to track down drawings that had once belonged to Mariette. On the occasion of the publication of two initial volumes listing nearly four thousand French drawings, the Musée du Louvre is presenting the survey’s methodological basis and its main findings. On display are around one hundred works, some famous and some recently identified, which went from the collector’s to the museum’s portfolios.

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From Artbooks.com:

Pierre Rosenberg and Laure Barthélemy-Labeeuw, Les Dessins de la Collection de Pierre-Jean Mariette, volumes 1-2 (Milan: Electa, 2011), 704 pages, ISBN: 9788837064273, €600 / $900.

After the reproduction of the complete auction catalogue illustrated by Saint-Aubin and kept in Boston, a necessary tool through which to track down many of the items, the entire drawing collection which belonged to Pierre-Jean Mariette (1694-1774) is now being reproposed. Without any doubt, to use the words of Frederik Johannes “Frits” Lugt, the 20th-century collector, Mariette was the greatest, if not the ‘prince’ in the field of drawing collections. He began his collection during brief sojourns in Italy and, from 1750 onwards, devoted himself exclusively to this pursuit. During his lifetime he put together almost 9,000 items, carefully cataloguing them according to school and type. When he died, they were scattered as a result of 42 auctions (between November 1775 and January 1776).

The incredible task of putting the collection back together was made possible because of the trade-mark (a capital M) which Mariette stamped on every drawing he owned and by the unusual mounting of each drawing on a blue background (‘Mariette blue’) which brought out the best qualities of the drawings. The whole collection will be published in six volumes: the first two are devoted to the French School, three to the Italian school and one to the Dutch, Flemish and German schools. A monumental work of inestimable historical and artistic value. This ambitious publishing project reconstructed the world’s largest-ever collection of drawings. The first volumes focus on the French school: thousands of drawings that were scattered worldwide can now finally be seen at a single glance.

Additional information (in Italian) comes from the Italian bookseller, LibroCo.Italia»

Humphrey Wine provides a review in the April 2012 issue of Apollo Magazine (note added April 2012).