Enfilade

Olafur Eliasson, Wishes versus Wonders, 2015, as installed at the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy, Vienna,  2015
Photo by Anders Sune Berg

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Press release for the exhibition now on view in Vienna’s Winter Palace:

Olafur Eliasson: Baroque Baroque
Winter Palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy, Vienna, 21 November 2015 — 6 March 2016

With works from Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21), Vienna and Juan & Patricia Vergez private collections, Buenos Aires

Olafur Eliasson: Baroque Baroque brings together a significant selection of artworks by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson from the private collections of Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary and Juan and Patricia Vergez and presents them within the grand baroque setting of the Belvedere’s Winter Palace. The former city residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663–1736), was an important site of artistic and scientific patronage in baroque Vienna. Baroque Baroque is an encounter between artworks, aesthetics, and worldviews from two vastly different epochs. The exhibition challenges viewers’ habits of perception and proposes that reality can be understood as unstable and evolving, as a process of constant negotiation. Surprising affinities between Eliasson’s works and their temporary settings become evident as the juxtapositions explore the relationships between object and viewer, representation and experience, actual and virtual, giving rise to a concept of the baroque superimposed on itself—the Baroque Baroque.

Olafur Eliasson, Seu planeta compartilhado (Your shared planet), 2011, as installed at the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy, Vienna in 2015. Photo by Anders Sune Berg.

While emphasizing the way spaces are constructed by history and tradition, Eliasson’s works address the viewer in her embodied experience. Through the use of projections, shadows, and reflections, the artworks foreground the relationship between body, perception, and image. They anchor agency in the body and mind in motion as they invite the viewer’s active engagement by mirroring, fragmenting, and inverting her position within space.

Eliasson says, “I find it inspiring that the baroque exhibited such confidence in the fluidity of the boundaries between models of reality and, simply, reality. The presentation of my works at the Winter Palace is based on trust in the possibility of constructing reality according to our shared dreams and desires and on faith in the idea that constructions and models are as real as anything.”

TBA21 Founder, Francesca von Habsburg says: “This exhibition brings together several elements that I think support the vision of collectors and their responsibility as well as their ability to create art projects that defy traditional categorization. Both Patricia and Juan Vergez and I have been collecting and supporting Olafur Eliasson for many years with great enthusiasm, as he is indeed a renaissance man of many talents! In this presentation we wanted to introduce a parallel, that Olafur himself has mirrored in the exhibition rooms, that juxtaposes the precious Baroque cultural heritage of Vienna with the work of an artist that I feel very close to.”

In the entrance Vestibule, the light installation Die organische und kristalline Beschreibung (1996) floods the walls, floor, and ceiling with swelling washes of blue and yellow light, an ocean of color that loosens the viewer’s sense of the stability of her environment. In Yellow corridor (1997), monofrequency light is used to heighten the precariousness of our relationship to visible space. Eliasson’s optical machines and installations—such as Kaleidoscope (2001), New Berlin Sphere (2009), Your welcome reflected (2003), and Seu planeta compartilhado (Your shared planet, 2011)—reflect the artist’s ongoing investigations of color, perception, transformation, and deconstruction, an inquiry that is particularly interesting in relation to the baroque context. A site-specific intervention in the form of a continuous mirror traversing the enfilade of grand rooms further disorients the viewer by folding and re-folding the complex spaces it produces. Wishes versus wonders (2015), a steel half-ring mounted to the mirror wall in the Hall of Battle Paintings, stages an encounter between reality, illusion, and the elaborate artifice of the surroundings, simultaneously multiplying lines of potentiality.

Within this terrain of doubling and paradox, Eliasson calls into question our received habits of seeing and experiencing space. His artworks make us wonder and reconsider, giving meaning to the enigmatic doubling inherent in Baroque Baroque.

Belvedere–The Winter Palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene’s Winter Palace [begun in 1697] is one of the most magnificent baroque edifices in Vienna and is the fourth exhibition venue of the Belvedere Museum. Originally built as a lavish urban residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663–1736), then acquired in the eighteenth century by Empress Maria Theresa before being used for the Court Treasury and later as the Ministry of Finance, this baroque palace underwent extensive renovation before reopening as a public museum in October 2013. Since then the Belvedere has staged numerous exhibitions at the Winter Palace, placing particular emphasis on programs and projects that create a dialogue between the baroque setting and contemporary art. Artistic interventions result in inspiring new artworks created in situ that draw on the palace’s unique ambiance and history. Vital starting points have been the city palace’s architecture, the prince’s former collections, and the holdings of the Belvedere.

Now on view at Mia:

Living Rooms: The Jane Austen Reading Room
Minneapolis Institute of Art, 21 November 2015 — 26 June 2016

This installation situates Jane Austen in a unique period room setting. Taking up two of Mia’s well-loved English interiors—the Queen Anne room and the Georgian Drawing room—this display will discuss Austen’s habits as a reader and writer, recreate scenes from her novel Emma (celebrating its 200th birthday in 2015), and invite museum visitors to read works that Austen read, wrote, or inspired. This project is part of Living Rooms, an initiative to present Mia’s historic interiors and decorative arts collections in new ways.

François Boucher, Les Charmes de la vie champêtre, ca. 1735–40
(Paris: Musée du Louvre)

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From the exhibition press materials, via Claudine Colin Communications:

Dansez, embrassez qui vous voudrez: Fêtes et plaisirs d’amour au siècle de la Pompadour
Dance, Kiss Who You Wish: Parties and Pleasures in the Time of Madame de Pompadour
Musée du Louvre-Lens,  5 December 2015 — 29 February 2016

Curated by Xavier Salmon

Chiswick House by Lord Burlington, 1729
(London: RIBA Collections)

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Press release (23 July 2015) for the exhibition  now on view at RIBA:

Palladian Design: The Good, the Bad and the Unexpected
Royal Institute of British Architects, London, 9 September 2015 — 9 January 2016

The Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio is the only architect who has given his name to a style, one that is still in use around the world after nearly 500 years. From the US Capitol to a 21st-century Somerset cowshed, Palladian Design: The Good, the Bad and the Unexpected introduces Palladio’s design principles and explores how they have been interpreted, copied and re-imagined across time and continents from his death in 1580 right up to the present day.

Focusing on his legacy, RIBA’s exhibition explores how architects such as Inigo Jones and Lord Burlington turned Palladianism into a national style. The style was adopted in the design of houses, churches, and public buildings around the world from New Delhi to Leningrad. Palladianism became so widespread that it seeped into people’s unconscious references and desires: elements were found popping-up in American Negro Churches and terraced housing and homes in the UK. The 20th century saw a revival of traditional Palladian mansions while the 21st century has seen his design principles being utilised in a more abstract way. The exhibition asks many questions about what makes a building ‘Palladian’. Does a building have to look classical to be Palladian? Is it the design principles or the social and political connotations of tradition, power, and establishment that have led to the enduring popularity of the style? The exhibition is structured chronologically around three themes: revolution, evolution, and the contemporary. It includes 50 original works, including drawings, models, and busts.

The first part of the exhibition introduces Palladio and outlines his unique system of architecture. It charts the development of Anglo-Palladianism from 17th-century England, through to the transformation of Palladianism into a national style by the mid-18th century. It also explores the role of books in spreading Palladio’s ideas—both his own Four Books of Architecture and later publications that spread Palladian style beyond Britain. Highlights include Palladio’s A Design for a Palace (1540s) and projects for low-cost housing in Venice (1550s), original drawings by Inigo Jones include a preliminary design for the Queen’s House at Greenwich (1616), Colen Campbell’s original pen and wash design for Mereworth Castle, Kent (1723), and an original drawing of Lord Burlington’s Chiswick House (1729).

The second part of the exhibition follows Palladio’s legacy worldwide in a series of themes that explore how others have either followed his guidelines to the letter or employed them more creatively. It looks at how Palladian design has been adopted for commercial viability and in the service of politics and religion—both in western countries and in colonial and post-colonial contexts. Away from the centres of power, people turned their hand to Palladian self-builds with anonymous builders using pattern books to fuse Palladian elements with local vernacular traditions. Highlights include the original 1721 model of St Martin-in-the-Fields church by James Gibbs, a perspective of Catherine the Great’s Pella Palace near St Petersburg by Ivan Starov (c.1786), a watercolour perspective of Stormont in Belfast by Sir Arnold Thornely (1927), and Palladio’s original designs for the Villa Valmarana (c.1560) and the Palazzo Antonini (c.1560).

The last section of the exhibition follows the story of 20th- and 21st-century Palladianism. Despite the rise of modernism, Palladianism survived in Britain and America as a domestic style both for landed families and the newly rich who commissioned grand classical homes to evoke a sense of history and confer status. Highlights include a linocut perspective of Kings Walden Bury, Essex by Raymond Erith and Quinlan Terry (1971) and photographs and models of houses built since the 1960s. The exhibition goes on to explore post-modern Palladianism, where the style has been referenced historically, playfully or ironically. Key exhibits include works by Swedish architect Erik Asplund and Belgian architect Charles Vandenhove alongside other new buildings on the continent and in Canada. The exhibition ends by examining contemporary abstract Palladianism—buildings that contain no visual references to classical architecture but follow Palladian design principles in terms of proportion or planning. It asks whether a building has to look like a Palladian building in order to be one? It will include a newly commissioned film comparing Palladio’s Villa Caldogno with Brick House (2005) by Caruso St John and looks at a selection of contemporary buildings, ranging from a model of an underground house in Mongolia by OFFICE Architects to offices in Switzerland by Peter Märkli.

The exhibition coincides with the 300th anniversary of the publication of two books key to the spread of Palladianism worldwide: Giacomo Leoni’s first full translation into English of Palladio’s I Quattro Libri dell’ Architettura and Colen Campbell’s survey of English architecture Vitruvius Britannicus, both published in 1715. These books paved the way for a flood of cheaper pattern books that enabled anyone, from Russian royalty to a American carpenters, to create Palladian designs.

The RIBA Collections contain over 350 drawings and sketches by Andrea Palladio, the world’s largest assemblage of his drawings—85% of all those in existence. The exhibition is designed by Caruso St John Architects. The design takes its inspiration from the interior of Palladio’s villas and the way that his Four Books of Architecture have been used by generations of architects. The palette will reference Villa Caldogno’s frescos. Palladian Design is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, The Headley Trust, and the American Friends of the British Architectural Library.

Opening next week at Galerie Canesso:

Alessandro Magnasco (1667–1749), The Mature Years of a Nonconformist Painter
Galerie Canesso, Paris, 25 November 2015 — 31 January 2016
Palazzo Bianco, Genoa, 25 February — 5 June 2016

Alessandro Magnasco (1667–1749), les années de la maturité est une exposition centrée sur les plus belles œuvres de la production tardive de ce peintre anticonformiste. L’exposition a le privilège de bénéficier d’un partenariat exceptionnel avec les Musei de Strada Nuova de la ville de Gênes, lieu de naissance de l’artiste. Elle débute à la Galerie Canesso à Paris (du 25 novembre 2015 au 31 janvier 2016) pour faire ensuite étape au Palazzo Bianco de Gênes (du 25 février 2016 au 5 juin 2016).

Artiste à l’œuvre originale et extravagante, Magnasco a été découvert au début du XX^e siècle et il est considéré, à certains égards, comme l’un des précurseurs de Goya (1746–1828), des Expressionnistes et l’un des pères du fantastique et du macabre. La fascination de l’artiste pour les atmosphères sombres, la dissolution des formes et un propos moral sévère met en évidence sa dissidence par rapport à la culture figurative contemporaine. Néanmoins, son œuvre riche et variée ne peut se définir par ces seuls caractères. Les réalisations de l’artiste impressionnent, tant du point de vue du langage pictural extrêmement personnel, que de celui des sujets qu’il est le seul à aborder en Europe entre les XVII^e et les XVIII^e siècles. Ses compositions parcourues de petites figures en mouvement nous portent vers l’art de Guardi (1712–1793) et des Vénitiens du Settecento. L’exposition présentera une vingtaine de tableaux, certains à découvrir pour la première fois en France.

From UCL:

Revolution under a King: French Prints, 1789–92
UCL Art Museum, London, 11 January — 10 June 2016

Curated by David Bindman and Richard Taws

We are pleased to announce that in January 2016 we’ll be opening the exhibition Revolution under a King: French Prints, 1789–92, featuring a selection of prints from the early, highly volatile years of the French Revolution, curated by Professor David Bindman and Dr Richard Taws, in collaboration between UCL Art Museum and UCL History of Art. It is well known that a chain of key historical events characterised the French Revolution, making it effectively the biggest political media event of its time. These events were communicated extensively throughout Europe in print culture and the combination of image and text, employed extensively in newspapers and graphic works, made for powerful satire and caricature.

It is, however, not always realised that the pivotal moment, the Fall of the Bastille, was in fact followed by three years in which the king of France still nominally presided over the dissolution of the old feudal order. It is this period that is the focus of the exhibition, tracing the early years of the Revolution from the ‘June Days’ of 1789, through the Fall of the Bastille, to the eventual deposition of the Louis XVI in 1792. The exhibition will consist of vivid coloured prints of major events from the period, and a selection of medals, including one made from ‘chains of servitude’ supposedly found in the ruins of the Bastille.

Press release (9 November 2015) for exhibitions now on view in Edinburgh:

Rise and Fall: The Earl of Mar and the 1715 Jacobite Rising
Calum Colvin: Jacobites by Name
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, 14 November 2015 — 27 March 2016

Sir Godfrey Kneller, Portrait of John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar, with His Son Thomas, Lord Erskine (Collection of Earl of Mar & Kellie at Alloa Tower, National Trust for Scotland)

The 300th anniversary of the 1715 Jacobite Rising will be marked by two fascinating new displays at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this winter. A key player in the rising, John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar, will be the focus of Rise and Fall, while Calum Colvin, one of Scotland’s leading contemporary artists, will explore the visual imagery and legacy of the Jacobite Risings of 1715 and 1745 in Jacobites by Name.

Responsible for initiating and subsequently ending the Rising, the Earl of Mar (1675–1732) was an extraordinary individual, passionate about both politics and the arts. Born in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, he was a Member of Parliament and later Secretary of State for Scotland, before being deprived of office by the new Hanoverian king, George I, in 1714. Mar raised the standard of rebellion against the Hanoverians, and from September to December 1715 he was effectively ruling Scotland.

The 1715 Rising is a key date in the power struggle between the Protestant Hanoverians and of the exiled Stuarts. It was a major attempt by the Jacobites—the supporters of King James VII (of Scotland) and II (of England) and his heirs—to regain the throne for the Stuart claimant, James Francis Edward Stuart. However victory eluded Mar and he ultimately fled to France with James Stuart in 1716, where he remained until his death in 1732.

At the centre of Rise and Fall will be two large and impressive portraits of the Earl and his wife, Frances Pierrepont (of around 1714), by Sir Godfrey Kneller, the leading portrait painter in England of the time. These imposing paintings usually hang at the National Trust for Scotland property Alloa Tower—the ancestral home of the Earls of Mar and Kellie—and were commissioned by Mar himself. Although he is often defined by his political and military career, Mar was a man of fine taste and an enthusiastic patron of the arts, with a talent for amateur architecture and garden design.

Prints, drawings and miniatures also on show in Rise and Fall bring alive this cataclysmic episode of Scottish history and shed light on the life and interests of the Earl of Mar. Key loans have come from the collection of the current Earl and Mar of Kellie and the National Records of Scotland.

Calum Colvin, Lochaber no More, 2015

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s outstanding Jacobite collection has been used to inspire a contemporary intervention which complements Rise and Fall by the renowned Scottish artist Calum Colvin. His Jacobites by Name inventively combines photography with painting and installation. The result includes new works such as Lochaber no More (2015) which links two images of Charles Edward Stuart, commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, the second Jacobite pretender to the throne and instigator of the failed 1745 Jacobite Rising. The first of the images shows Charles as a young man and the other much older.

To make his photographic works, Colvin constructs a set in his studio, using furniture and ornaments, and then paints images on to these three-dimensional objects. When seen through the lens of his camera, a two-dimensional image is formed, a blend of reality and illusion. Lochaber no More is a powerful evocation of the passage of time and the melancholy of lost Jacobite hope, while fragments of burned tartan hint at the tragic outcome of the last rising. In his work, Colvin also alludes to the tradition of secret symbolism and optical illusionism in Jacobite-related art; because support for the exiled Stuarts was dangerous and could lead to accusations of disloyalty to the Crown, ‘secret’ portraits of the Pretenders were to be discovered on folded fans, sewn discreetly onto articles of clothing, or concealed inside the lid of a closed box.

Colvin was born in Glasgow and studied art in Dundee and London, before coming to prominence in the mid-1980s. He has exhibited extensively in Europe and the United States and has worked on commissions for the National Galleries of Scotland.

Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery said: “The Jacobite struggle remains potent and romantic 300 years after the key events that defined it. These complementary displays connect powerful portraiture of the 18th century with contemporary responses, and remind us in an engaging and inspiring way of a turbulent period in Scottish history. We are especially grateful to the National Trust for Scotland, the Earl of Mar and Kellie and the artist Calum Colvin for their generosity and commitment to the project.”

Calum Colvin commented: “This new body of work investigates the traces of Jacobite material culture, portraiture and visual illusion to be found in Scottish museums up and down the country. I wanted to take a fresh look at this material with a view to re-interpret the matrix of symbols and allusions that they carry and, through a range of different types of contemporary making, bring them into the digital age. The works are contrasted with the existing collection in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and question the role of this familiar iconography in Scottish national culture.”

About the National Trust for Scotland

One of Scotland’s leading conservation charities, the National Trust for Scotland cares for some of the nation’s most important heritage sites, from grand castles to humble homes and wild coastline. With more than 100 properties packed with paintings, textiles, ceramics, sculpture and fine furniture, the Trust holds Scotland’s biggest collection of in-situ artworks. Amongst its gems include many fine pictures by artists including Raeburn, Batoni and Peploe to name a few. Some of Scotland’s finest contemporary works, including pieces by Ken Currie, Julia Douglas and Julie Roberts, are on currently on display at Drum Castle in Aberdeenshire while Aberdeen Art Gallery undergoes a major refurbishment.

Alloa Tower is the ancestral home of the Erskine family, the Earls of Mar and Kellie. The tower is the largest, oldest keep in Scotland and was originally built to guard the nearby ferry crossing on the River Forth. The Erskines were aides to the Stuart monarchs and guardians to the royal children—Mary, Queen of Scots and James VI both spent part of their early lives at Alloa Tower. It was Mary who granted the earldom to the Erskines in 1565. Since its construction around 1368, Alloa Tower has been altered many times and provides a rich variety of architectural styles and historic collections. Once part of a much larger mansion, with extensive gardens modelled on those of Versailles, among the features within the tower are a sweeping, eighteenth-century Italianate staircase, a medieval oak beamed roof, a dungeon and a well. It also houses collections of important paintings, on loan from the Erskine family, including the two full length portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneller on display here.

In 2015 the fourteenth-century Alloa Tower in Clackmannanshire was acquired by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), having previously been managed by NTS working in partnership with the Clackmannanshire Heritage Trust, with financial support from Clackmannanshire Council. From 1988, Alloa Tower was restored from a semi-derelict state and first opened to the public in 1996. It is this partnership, and the philanthropic endeavours over many years of the current Earl of Mar and Kellie and his father, that have enabled NTS to secure the tower’s long-term future.

Press release (12 November 2015) from the Getty:

Jean-Étienne Liotard: A Cosmopolitan Artist
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 20 October 2015 — 24 April 2016

Curated by Ketty Gottardo

Jean-Étienne Liotard, Portrait of Maria Frederike van Reede-Athlone at Seven Years of Age, 1755–56, pastel on vellum, 54.9 x 44.8 cm (Los Angeles: Getty Museum)

Swiss artist Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702–1789) excelled at the delicate art of pastel. His finest portraits display an astonishing realism achieved through intense observation and remarkable technical skill and feature royalty, aristocrats, and the bourgeoisie. Jean-Étienne Liotard: A Cosmopolitan Artist, comprised of pastels and drawings from the Getty Museum’s collection and two spectacular loans from a private collection, is now open and continues through April 24, 2016, at the Getty Center.

“For most of his very long career, Liotard worked as an itinerant portraitist,” says Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “The works of art in this room testify to the artist’s numerous travels and fame as well as to his astonishing facility in the medium of pastel.”

The remarkable success of pastel in the eighteenth century was due to the high demand for portraits from the nobility and bourgeoisie. The ease and swiftness with which pastel could be used allowed for much shorter sittings that pleased artists and sitters alike. Unlike oil painting, pastel does not need to dry, so drawings could be executed quickly, with changes and corrections easily made. The Portrait of Lord Mountstuart features a young English aristocrat whom Liotard encountered during a brief stay in Geneva in the midst of his Grand Tour to Italy; Mademoiselle Jacquet was a famous singer at the Paris Opera; Jean Tronchin was among Liotard’s cultivated Swiss patrons; and the magnificent Portrait of Baroness Maria Frederike, one of the Getty’s most-beloved treasures, is probably the most famous portrait he executed in Holland.

In his Treatise on Painting (1781), Liotard recommended the use of nine tones—four light, four dark, and one medium—to build up pastel images. Colors were blended with brushes, fingers, a stump, or even his own long beard. Liotard preferred to use vellum—made from calf skin—for his support, which imitated the texture of skin in portraits. “The delicate tone of skin seen in Liotard’s Portrait of Jean Tronchin (1759) is remarkable. Liotard used the texture of the vellum, along with a fine sfumato effect, to define his rich, fleshy, and aged face,” says Ketty Gottardo, associate curator of drawings and curator of the installation.

Liotard innovated a drawing technique that reinforced his compositions with large areas of tone applied to the verso (back), which would create glowing, translucent effects on the recto (front). After drawing the basic outlines of a composition, Liotard would turn over the sheet of paper and hold it against a window or source of light in order to trace it onto the verso with a thin stick of black chalk. Then he would fill in entire areas of the verso with watercolor, chalk, or pastel which served to enhance the colors on the front.

Additional information is available at Iris: The Online Magazine of the Getty.

Press release (2 September 2015) for the exhibition now on view at the Getty:

Art of the Fold: Drawings of Drapery and Costume
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 6 October 2015 — 10 January 2016

Curated by Stephanie Schrader

Louis Carrogis de Carmontelle, The Duchess of Chaulnes as a Gardener in an Allée, 1771, watercolor and gouache over black and red chalk (The J. Paul Getty Museum)

Drawn from the J. Paul Getty Museum’s renowned permanent collection, Art of the Fold: Drawings of Drapery and Costume explores how artists harnessed the expressive potential of cloth to convey meaning.

“From the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries, the convincing depiction of voluminous folds of fabric was a standard part of artistic training and practice,” explains Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “Focusing on the relationship between the body and clothing, artists of this period exploited drapery and costume to enhance the depiction of a figure’s emotional state and place in society. The drawings in this exhibition demonstrate the many ways in which artists employed drapery to evoke moods, shape identities, and tell stories.”

In Standing Female Saint (about 1450), from the Circle of Martin Schongauer, the abstract pattern of drapery folds generates an agitated sense of motion. Rather than outlining the body beneath it, the flowing tunic accentuates an emotional fervor typical of German fifteenth-century devotional imagery.

Drapery also played a crucial part in artists’ characterization of the human figure. In Hans Brosamer’s Study of a Pleated Skirt and Study of a Hanging Drapery (about 1500) the artist accurately depicts the tonal variations and ranges of light and shade created by folded fabric, capturing the natural flow of cloth with a refined linear quality and variegated hatchings. By isolating drapery from a human form, while at the same time making it anthropomorphic, the artist celebrates drapery as an independent subject.

In drawings of soldiers, peasants, nobles, and foreigners, clothing served as a primary indicator of social standing and class. In Jacob Jordaens’ Man Kneeling, Facing Right (about 1630) the artist applied opaque watercolor in thick layers creating angular, broken folds that animate the pose and heighten the sense of piety. Often a figure’s clothing indicates status or rank in the social hierarchy, and the flamboyant uniforms of the mercenary soldiers and the elegant attire of the upper classes convey their status.

In their depictions of costume, artists often departed from strict naturalism and relied upon their vivid imaginations. “Drawings of foreigners suggest how dress is embellished and exoticized, whereas theatrical costumes further illustrate how clothing can mask the identities of individuals represented,” says Stephanie Schrader, curator of drawings at the J. Paul Getty Museum, who organized the exhibition.

A checklist of the 38 works on view is available as a PDF file here.