Enfilade

Press release (10 April 2014) from The Met:

Goya and the Altamira Family
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 22 April — 3 August 2014

Curated by y Xavier F. Salomon

Goya, Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga, 1787–88
50 x 40 inches (NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

By special arrangement with the Banco de España, from April 22 through August 3, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will reunite for the first time four portraits painted by Francisco de Goya (1746–1828) that were commissioned by the Count of Altamira, who was a director of the bank. Goya and the Altamira Family will consist of

• Banco de España’s Portrait of the Count of Altamira
• the Metropolitan’s beloved Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga, the so-called ‘Red Boy’
• the beautiful portrait of Manuel’s mother and sister, Condesa de Altamira and Her Daughter, María Agustina, from the Metropolitan Museum’s Robert Lehman Collection
• and a portrait of Manuel Osorio’s brother Vicente Joaquin de Toledo, from a private collection.

All four portraits were painted between 1786 and 1788 when Goya was beginning to experiment with aristocratic portraiture. A fifth portrait depicting Count Altamira’s middle son, Juan María Osorio, was painted around the same time by Agustín Esteve, one of Goya’s pupils, and will be lent by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

The Banco de San Carlos (the present-day Banco de España) commissioned Goya to create a series of portraits of the directors of the bank in Madrid, including the full-length depiction of Vicente Joaquín Osorio Moscoso y Guzmán, Count of Altamira. It was the success of this portrait that led to the subsequent commission to Goya for three portraits of members of the count’s family.

The exhibition is organized by Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, The Frick Collection, New York. The exhibition is made possible by the Placido Arango Fund. It was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art with the assistance of the Consulate of Spain in New York.

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From the museum’s shop:

 Xavier F. Salomon, Goya and the Altamira Family, Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Spring 2014), 48 pages, $15.

Ever since its arrival at the Metropolitan as part of the outstanding collection of Old Master paintings bequeathed by New York financier and philanthropist Jules Bache, Goya’s portrait of Don Manuel Osorio, the three- or four-year-old son of the conde de Altamira, has ranked as one of the museum’s most popular paintings. In celebration of the reinstallation of the Metropolitan’s European Paintings galleries, inaugurated last May, the condesa de Altamira and her son have been temporarily reunited in a gallery devoted to Goya and his contemporaries in Spain. But from the outset this move was planned as just the first stage of a more eventful family reunion that would also include Don Manuel’s older brother, Vicente Osorio, and their father, Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso y Guzmán, conde de Altamira: all four pictures outstanding works by Goya.

The publication is made possible through the generosity of the Lila Acheson Wallace Fund for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, established by the cofounder of Reader’s Digest.

Press release for the exhibition now on at the Winter Palace in Vienna:

Lost Treasures of the Jewish Ghetto / Schätze des Jüdischen Ghettos in Venedig
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 21 February — 28 April 2013
Ca’ d’Oro, Venice, 1 June — 29 September 2013
Winter Palace, Vienna, 28 April — 6 July 2014

Torah Crown, 1796. Parcel-gilt silver
(Collection of the Comunità Ebraica di Venezia)

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In 2016, the Jewish Ghetto of Venice will celebrate its 500th anniversary. Venice was considered a hub of Jewish culture over the centuries, with its ghetto being home to a flourishing international Jewish community. In order to properly mark this anniversary, the international organisation Venetian Heritage, in cooperation with Maison Vhernier, has organised the temporary exhibition Treasures of the Jewish Ghetto of Venice, which is being presented at the Winter Palace from 28 April to 6 July 2014. Although created as a site of segregation, the Venice ghetto developed into a place of encounter for numerous groups of Jews from different countries and into an important source of inspiration for Jewish culture in many other regions around the globe. From 1516 to 1797—almost over three centuries—a community of various ethnical backgrounds (Germans, Italians, Jews from East and West) coexisted in Europe’s most tolerant town. In 1943, a number of precious objects were hidden by the Nazis. These valuables had then fallen into oblivion, until they were unearthed during the restoration of the Scola Spagnola several years ago. The show illustrates the richness and beauty of practiced Jewry until destroyed by National Socialism; it also keeps track of the conservation of the objects before they were stolen and their recent rediscovery.

The decorative art objects created by Venetian artisans between the 17th and early 20th centuries belong to a heritage that vividly demonstrates how Venetian culture, with its wide ethnic spectrum and multicultural feel, provided a role model for the rest of Europe. The former Winter Palace of Prince Eugene, who was known for his open-mindedness and far-reaching interests, offers itself as an ideal exhibition venue. The cult objects, which were in a deplorable state when they were found and have now been restored to their former splendour, represent a small part of the collections of the Jewish Museum in Venice and impressively attest to the great significance of the Venetian art of goldsmithing.

Most of the silver and bronze objects on display were used in rituals in Venetian synagogues during mass and on special occasions and holidays. Such liturgical pieces include, for example, the wooden tikim (Torah cases) in which the Torah scrolls are kept when not in use, and the magnificent Thora crowns and pairs of rimmonim adorning the scrolls or the tikim. Hanging above each tik is a lamp called a ner tamid (eternal light) that illuminates the tik or a larger ark in a synagogue. Two spice containers, used in the Havdallah service at the closing of Sabbath to bring worshipers back to reality from the ecstasy of Sabbath, are also on view, along with two yads (pointers helping readers follow a text) used during services. Utensils associated with traditional dietary include, among other things, the jug and bowl for washing one’s hands before meals, and the two Seder plates that were used on the evening of the Seder.

When Italy was occupied by the Nazis in September 1943, these objects were hidden and only surfaced several years ago. Thanks to an initiative by Venetian Heritage and Maison Vhernier, it was possible to restore them and present them to the public. From now on, they will form the heart of the Museo Ebraico di Venezia, which will be reopened on the occasion of the 500th anniversary celebrations of the Venetian ghetto.

Venice in the 18th Century

Rimmonim, Italian, silver, 48 x 10 cm, 1747 (Collection of the Comunità Ebraica di Venezia)

In 18th-century Venice, tourism became a booming branch of the economy. The charm of Venice depended not least on the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the town. Vedutists captured its enchanted atmosphere and sights, such as the church of Santa Maria della Salute, the Rialto Bridge, and the Doge’s Palace, their works serving as coveted souvenirs for visitors. The paintings were destined to be prominently installed in drawing rooms as status symbols proving that their owners were among those privileged citizens who could afford to undertake a Grand Tour through Italy.

The Jewish Ghetto of Venice

As Christians were not permitted to lend money to other Christians for interest, Jews played an important role in Venetian society as moneylenders, pawnbrokers, and merchants in second-hand articles. Whereas in earlier days Jews had only been allowed to stay in Venice for a maximum of 15 days a year, they were eventually allowed to settle in the town from 1509 on, if only under strict reservations. They were forbidden to openly practice their religion, purchase land, entertain sexual relationships with Christians, and wear ostentatious yellow or red hats. In 1516, the Senate of Venice declared the premises of a former foundry (geto) as a dwelling zone for Jews, arguing that Jews could impossibly be allowed to live in the city and move around freely. The ghetto was completely secluded: two gates were built that remained blocked for Jews during the dusk-to-dawn curfew. The area was extremely densely populated, with several thousand residents living on 2.4 hectares and five large synagogues accommodating various ethnic groups. In spite of these severe restrictions, Venice was considered one of the best places for Jews to live. In 1797, the Council of Venice handed the town over to Napoleon, and the gates to the Jewish ghetto were demolished to loud calls for freedom. The Jews of Venice were still years away from full equality, but they were no longer locked up in the ghetto.

Venetian Heritage

Venetian Heritage is an international non-profit organisation located in New York and Venice and is part of the UNESCO Private Committees Programme for the Safeguarding of Venice. Venetian Heritage supports cultural initiatives through restoration projects, exhibitions, publications, lectures, studies, and research programmes aimed at raising global awareness of the rich cultural heritage of the Veneto region in Italy and areas once belonging to the Republic of Venice, known as La Serenissima.

Catalogue: Agnes Husslein-Arco and Georg Muzicant, Treasures of the Jewish Ghetto of Venice (Vienna: Belvedere, 2014), 104 pages, ISBN 978-3902805454 (German/English/Italian), €19.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Jeroboam Sacrificing to the Idols,
48 x 62 inches, 1752 (École des Beaux-Arts, Paris)

From the American Federation of Arts:

Gods and Heroes: Masterpieces from the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris
Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 19 June — 14 September 2014
Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, 12 October 2014 — 4 January 2015
The Baker Museum, Naples, Florida, 19 February — 17 May 2015
Portland Art Museum, 13 June — 13 September 2015

This rich overview of masterpieces from the École des Beaux-Arts—the original school of fine arts in Paris and a repository for work by Europe’s most renowned artists since the seventeenth century—will include approximately 140 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper dating from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. The focus will be on epic themes such as courage, sacrifice, and death, as well as the ways that changing political and philosophical systems affected the choice and execution of these subjects. Among the featured works will be paintings by Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Anne-Louis Girodet, and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres; sculpture by Antoine-Louis Barye, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Jean-Antoine Houdon, and François Rude; drawings by François Boucher, Leonardo da Vinci, Nicolas Poussin, Titian, and Jean-Antoine Watteau; and prints by Albrecht Dürer and Rembrandt van Rijn.

The epic deeds of gods and heroes, enshrined in the Bible and the works of Homer, were the primary narratives from which both aspiring and established academicians drew their inspiration.  Their ideology was rooted in the study of the idealized human form as envisioned in classical art. At the École, learning how to construct persuasive and powerful paintings from carefully delineated anatomy, expressive faces, and convincing architectural and landscape settings was understood by aspiring artists to be the route to success and recognition.

Gods and Heroes will offer unique insight into the development of an aesthetic ideology that fostered some of western art’s most magnificent achievements. Among the  masterworks included will be Fragonard’s Jeroboam Sacrificing to the Idols; Joseph-Marie Vien’s David Resigns Himself to the Will of the Lord, Who Struck His Kingdom of the Plague (1743); Jacques-Louis David’s Erasistratus Discovers the Cause of Antiochus’s Disease (1774); and Jean-Auguste-Dominque Ingres’s Achilles Receiving the Ambassadors of Agamemnon (1801).

Jean Auguste-Dominique Ingres, The Ambassadors to Agamemnon Visiting Achilles,
45 x 58 inches, 1801 (École des Beaux-Arts, Paris)

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From Giles:

Emmanuel Schwartz, Emmanuelle Brugerolles, and Patricia Mainardi, Gods and Heroes: Masterpieces from the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris (London: D. Giles Limited, 2014), 240 pages, ISBN: 978-1907804120, £40 / $60.

Gods and Heroes: Masterpieces from the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris will be published by D Giles Limited, in association with the American Federation of Arts in June 2014. This fully illustrated volume examines the pivotal role of the École des Beaux-Arts in influencing so much of the history, content and style of late- 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century European art

Not only did the École train generations of artists, but it also served as a repository for work by the most renowned artists in Europe. In three essays, as well as in over 200 catalogue entries and colour plates, the volume tells a fascinating, multi-layered story. On one level it is a study of the role of the epic deeds of classical and biblical gods and heroes in the work of generations of artists in France and beyond. On another level, it explores the impact of the École des Beaux-Arts’ curriculum on Western visual culture, and the persistence of the classical tradition.

From the late 17th through to the mid-19th century, the École was a highly competitive, government school that rigorously trained artists to fulfill the needs of royal, state, and church patrons. In so doing, the École created a particular ‘way of seeing’ that created the established aesthetic and ideological norms in French artistic production right through to the First World War, and provided the backdrop against which the modernist ‘revolution’ from the mid-19th century emerged and developed.

Gods and Heroes features 208 extraordinary art works from the collection of the École, dating from the 17th to the 19th century, including important works by such masters as Antoine- Louis Barye, François Boucher, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Jacques-Louis David, Leonardo da Vinci, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Jean-Auguste- Dominique Ingres, Charles Le Brun, Charles Natoire, Nicolas Poussin, Carle Van Loo, and Jean-Antoine Watteau

Emmanuel Schwartz is Chief Curator of Heritage at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris and the author of The Legacy of Homer: Four Centuries of Art from the École Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris (2005). Emmanuelle Brugerolles is Chief Curator of Drawings at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris. Her most recent publication is The Male Nude: Eighteenth-Century Drawings from the Paris Academy (2013). Patricia Mainardi is Professor Emerita, Doctoral Program in Art History, The Graduate Center of the City University of New York and the author of Husbands, Wives and Lovers: Marriage and Its Discontents in Nineteenth-Century France (2003).