Exhibition | Royal Spectacle at the French Court
C.-N. Cochin père, after C.-N. Cochin fils, Décoration du Bal Masqué donné par le Roy, plate 7 of Recueil des Festes, Feux d’Artifice, et Pompes Funèbres (Paris: Ballard, 1756). National Trust / Waddesdon Manor, 3176. Photo by Mike Fear. Depiction of the ball given by Louis XV in February 1745, on the occasion of the marriage of the Dauphin to Marie Thérèse Raphaëlle of Spain. Click here for a higher resolution image.
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From Waddesdon Manor:
Royal Spectacle: Ceremonial and Festivities at the French Court
Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, 26 March — 26 October 2014
Curated by Selma Schwartz and Rachel Jacobs
This exhibition marks the publication of the Catalogue of Printed Books and Bookbinding: The James A. de Rothschild Bequest at Waddesdon Manor (2013), highlighting illustrated books published on the occasion of court festivities, celebrations and spectacles. Lavishly illustrated books, with engravings of the largest format, document the many extravagant festivities and ceremonies staged for the French court during the 17th and 18th centuries to mark the life cycle of births, marriages and deaths. Fanciful theatrical stage settings are the backdrop for richly costumed processions, equestrian tournaments, theatre performances, church ceremonies and spectacular firework displays. The books themselves are often bound in exquisite bindings intended for the royal family and aristocracy. While focusing on France, the exhibition also includes some comparative material from other European courts.
Tours of the exhibition with one of the curators will take place on Friday 30 May, 11 July and 26 September. For more information on how to book, please click here.
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Note (added 18 June 2014) — A 45-page, illustrated checklist with details on the 58 exhibited works is available for download as a PDF file at the Waddesdon website.
Exhibition | China at Versailles: Art and Diplomacy in the 18th Century
From the Château de Versailles:
China at Versailles: Art and Diplomacy in the 18th Century
Château de Versailles, 27 May — 26 October 2014
Audience granted to the King of Siam’s ambassadors, 1 September 1686, at the Palace of Versailles, Etching on copper in black and burin At Pie. Landry rue St. Jacques at St. François de Sales, Almanac for the year 1687 (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France)
The Palace of Versailles presents China at Versailles: Art and Diplomacy in the 18th Century, organised for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and China. The exhibition follows the history of political and artistic exchanges between China and France during the 18th century. The paintings, furniture, lacquerware, porcelains and tapestries exhibited bear testimony to the extreme luxury of their time and are very rare today. The approximately 150 works gathered together for the exhibition illustrate France’s taste for Chinese artistic productions and reveal the interest among Europeans for descriptions of China throughout the 18th century.
A Political and Cultural Dialogue
In 1688, Louis XIV undertook a diplomatic policy that was to lead to high-level scientific and intellectual exchanges between France and China. By sending French Jesuits to the court in Beijing, the Sun King developed privileged, lasting relations with the Kangxi Emperor, his contemporary. Correspondence and exchanges intensified under the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI. The two countries developed unique diplomatic relations. The political and intellectual ties that were forged between France and China led to a veritable golden age of diplomatic relations between the two countries up to the French Revolution.
Claude-Louis Châtelet, View of the Chinese Ring Game; drawing in black chalk, watercolour and gouache; excerpt from Recueil des vues et plans du Petit Trianon à Versailles, under the direction of Richard Miquet, 1786.
Chinese Art at Versailles
Porcelains, wallpaper, lacquerware, fabrics and silks: Chinese artistic productions aroused a great deal of interest in France starting in the 18th century. Under the reign of Louis XIV, France’s taste for ‘lachine’ or ‘lachinage’ was attributed to the gifts brought from the Far East by the King of Siam’s ambassadors in 1686. This appetite for Chinese art can also be seen in what was later to be called ‘la chinoiserie’, a trend in tastes that took on various forms:
• imitations of Chinese art,
• influence of Chinese art on French art,
• adaptation of oriental materials to French tastes,
• but also the creation of an imaginary, peaceful China.
Although the French sovereigns, protectors of the arts, could not openly display their taste for China in the royal apartments, many pieces of Chinese artwork decorated their private apartments at Versailles and Trianon.
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Published by Somogy, the catalogue as described at the Château de Versailles:
Marie-Laure de Rochebrune, Anne-Cécile Sourisseau, and Vincent Bastien, eds., La Chine à Versailles: Art et Diplomatie au XVIIIe Siècle (Paris: Somogy éditions d’Art, 2014), 280 pages, ISBN: 978-2757208137, 39€.
L’exposition La Chine à Versailles: Art et diplomatie au XVIIIe siècle retrace l’histoire des échanges politiques, scientifiques et artistiques entre la France et la Chine au siècle des Lumières.
Peintures, meubles, laques, gravures, porcelaines, livres précieux, tapisseries… les chefs-d’oeuvre exposés au château de Versailles témoignent du luxe raffiné de leur époque. Ils illustrent, dès le règne de Louis XIV, le goût français pour les productions artistiques chinoises. Ils révèlent aussi l’intérêt de la cour de Versailles pour l’Extrême-Orient, suscité par les descriptions que les jésuites envoyés en Chine rédigèrent dès la fin du XVIIe siècle.
Les cent cinquante oeuvres rassemblées dans cette exposition ‘évènement’ proviennent des plus grandes institutions françaises (musée du Louvre, musée Guimet, Bibliothèque nationale, etc.) et étrangères (collections royales anglaises, musée de l’Ermitage à Saint-Pétersbourg, etc.) ainsi que de collections particulières.
More information about the catalogue (in French) is available as PDF file here»
Exhibition | Exposed: A History of Lingerie
Press release (2 April 2014) from The Museum at FIT:
Exposed: A History of Lingerie
Museum at FIT, New York, 3 June — 15 November 2014
Curated by Colleen Hill
Corset (stay), silk, silk ribbon, whalebone, ca. 1770, possibly Europe
(New York: Museum at FIT)
The Museum at FIT presents Exposed: A History of Lingerie, an exhibition that traces developments in intimate apparel from the 18th century to the present. Exposed features over 70 of the most delicate, luxurious, and immaculately crafted objects from the museum’s permanent collection, many of which have never before been shown. Each piece illustrates key developments in fashion, such as changes in silhouette, shifting ideals of propriety, and advancements in technology.
The concept of underwear-as-outerwear is most commonly associated with the 1980s, but the look of lingerie has long served as inspiration for fashion garments. Exposed opens with several pairings of objects that underscore that connection. For example, a 1950s nylon nightgown, made by the upscale lingerie label Iris, is shown alongside an evening gown by Claire McCardell, also a 1950s garment, created in a similar fabric and silhouette. McCardell was one of the first designers to use nylon—a material typically marketed for lingerie—for eveningwear. A 2007 evening dress by Peter Soronen features a corset bodice, the construction of which is highlighted with bright blue topstitching. It is flanked by two 19th-century corsets, one made from bright red silk, the other from peacock blue silk.
The exhibition then continues chronologically. The earliest object on view is a sleeved corset (then called stays), circa 1770, made from sky-blue silk with decorative ivory ribbons that crisscross over the stomach. Stiffened with whalebone, 18th-century corsets straightened the back and enhanced the breasts by pushing them up and together. While they were essential to maintaining both a woman’s figure and her modesty, corsets also held an erotic allure.
Women’s undergarments were generally modest in the first half of the 19th century. This is exemplified by a dressing gown from circa 1840, made from white cotton. Although the dressing gown was simply designed and meant to be worn within the privacy of a woman’s boudoir, its full sleeves and smocked, pointed waistline mimic fashionable dress styles of the era. (more…)
Exhibition | Ai Weiwei in the Chapel
Ai Weiwei, Iron Tree, 2013, click here to enlarge.
Photo by Jonty Wilde, courtesy of Yorkshire Sculpture Park
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Press release (17 April 2014) from Yorkshire Sculpture Park:
Ai Weiwei in the Chapel
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, West Yorkshire, 24 May — 2 November 2014
Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is proud to announce an exhibition by Ai Weiwei, opening in the Park’s newly refurbished 18th-century chapel following a £500,000 restoration. The project, the first by Ai Weiwei in a British public gallery since Sunflower Seeds at Tate Modern in 2010, will be accompanied by poetry readings from the works of celebrated poet Ai Qing, Ai Weiwei’s father. Ai Weiwei in the Chapel opens to the public on Saturday 24 May 2014.
Iron Tree, 2013, a majestic six-metre high sculpture is presented in the chapel courtyard, while the installation Fairytale-1001 Chairs, 2007–14, is presented inside the chapel with three other works: the porcelain Ruyi, 2012; the marble Lantern 2014; and Map of China, 2009. The sculptures shown within the chapel relate to ideas about freedom and to the individual within society, whilst also connecting with the history and character of the building.
Iron Tree is the largest and most complex sculpture to date in the artist’s tree series, which he began in 2009. Inspired by the wood sold by street vendors in Jingdezhen, southern China, Ai’s trees are constructed from branches, roots and trunks from different trees. Although like a living tree in form, the sculptures are obviously pieced and joined together, being all the more poignant for their lack of life. Iron Tree comprises 99 elements cast in iron from parts of trees, and interlocked using a classic—and here exaggerated—Chinese method of joining, with prominent nuts and screws. Combining both the natural and crafted, the sculpture will rust over time and its installation in the secluded chapel garden makes a meditative space that gives pause for thought and is a powerful reminder of the cycles of nature.
Ai Weiwei, Fairytale-1001 Chairs, 2007, click here to enlarge.
Photo by Jonty Wilde.
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The second part of the exhibition, Fairytale-1001 Chairs, extends Ai’s major project for Documenta 12 in Kassel in 2007, for which he brought 1,001 Chinese citizens to Kassel for 20 days, representing each person with an antique chair. This transformational experience highlighted the complications of travel for ordinary Chinese citizens. Since his arrest in 2011, Ai’s own travel has been strictly limited and his passport is currently confiscated.
Unable to travel to Yorkshire, and working from plans and photographs of YSP’s chapel, Ai has selected 45 Fairytale-1001 Chairs and has conceived an installation of nine rows of five chairs in the nave. Spaced so that each chair is solitary, they give heightened awareness of the collective and the individual. The chairs date from the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) and in this context challenge the class and ritual functions of such furniture, which originally was the preserve of privilege. In the stillness of the chapel, visitors are invited to take a seat and consider freedom, refuge, sanctuary and their antonyms, and to reflect on who may have sat before them, both on the chairs in China and within the 270-year-old Bretton Estate chapel. Through this simple act of participation, histories and cultures meet in a contemplative environment. As the artist has said, “those chairs are part of the fairytale—a symbolic gesture about memory and our past.”
Ai has selected two other works for the chapel. Ruyi translates to “as one wishes” and so alludes to wish-fulfilment. Sitting somewhere between fungal organic form and human internal organs, this lividly-coloured porcelain sculpture is one of a number of Ruyi made by Ai Weiwei that take the traditional Chinese sceptre of the same name, used by nobles, monks and scholars for around 2,000 years. Like talking sticks in other cultures, ruyi denoted authority and granted individuals the right to speak and be heard, so enabling orderly and democratic discourse.
Ai Weiwei, Lantern, 2014. Photo by Jonty Wilde, courtesy Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
For some years the Chinese authorities have surrounded Ai’s home with surveillance cameras and every step he takes outside is recorded and monitored, resulting in 2010 with the series of works, Marble Surveillance Cameras. At around the same time, in a humorous gesture of mockery and defiance, he decorated the real CCTV cameras with red Chinese lanterns. For the chapel, Ai builds on this series and premieres the marble Lantern, carved in stone from the same quarries used by emperors to build the Forbidden City, and more recent rulers to build Mao’s tomb. Map of China, formed from iron wood reclaimed from Qing dynasty temples, shows China as an isolated land.
With the artist’s consent, we also present readings of works by Ai’s father, Ai Qing (1910–1996). Considered one of the most important 20th century Chinese poets, Ai Qing initially supported Mao Sedong. However, in 1958, he was found guilty of ‘rightism’ and with his family, including the baby Ai Weiwei, was sent to a labour camp and then exiled until Mao’s death, after which the family was able to return to Beijing. Readings will be made from across Ai Qing’s oeuvre, starting in 1932, and including important poems such as Snow Falls on China’s Land, My Wet-Nurse, and Wall. They demonstrate Ai Qing’s extraordinary ability to convey the strength of nature and the human spirit, even in adversity, and so connect with Ai Weiwei’s own life and this exhibition in particular.
About the Chapel
Built in 1744 by Sir William Wentworth, the Georgian sandstone chapel is historically important within YSP’s Bretton Estate. Nestled within the deer park, the Grade II* listed building was a part of the life on the estate during the 18th and 19th centuries, although it wasn’t until its acquisition by YSP in 2001 that it became more generally accessible. Artists shown here prior to restoration include James Lee Byars, Shirin Neshat and Jem Finer.
Restoration work carried out over the last nine months has transformed the gallery into a unique and versatile gallery space. Outside the building, work has included the renewal of the roof, repairs to eliminate water ingress and damp, and the renovation of external stonework. Inside the chapel, repairs have been made to the floor and internal timbers, while climactic conditions have been enhanced with the introduction of new lighting, heating and ventilation systems, and an environmentally friendly air source heat pump. Visitors to the Park will now enjoy improved access to the chapel with a new pathway from the visitor centre, wheelchair access into the building and an accessible toilet.
The £500,000 restoration of the chapel was supported by: English Heritage, Country Houses Foundation, The Wolfson Foundation, The Headley Trust, The Pilgrim Trust, the Holbeck Charitable Trust, The Leche Trust, The John S Cohen Foundation, Sir George Martin Trust, Kenneth Hargreaves Charitable Trust, Linden Charitable Trust, Jill Franklin Trust, and generous visitor donations. The lead professional advisor on the project was W. R. Dunn & Co Architects (RICS Conservation accredited building surveyor) and the appointed main contractor was William Anelay.
Exhibition | Paintings from the Society of Antiquaries of London
The summer kicks off the first of what’s planned as a regular feature of annual temporary exhibitions at the Society of Antiquaries of London:
Portraying the Past: Paintings from the Society of Antiquaries of London
Burlington House, Society of Antiquaries of London, 30 June — 1 August 2014
An exhibition of the Society’s collection of paintings including portraits of eighteenth-century antiquaries and rare fifteenth- and sixteenth-century portraits of medieval and Tudor monarchs and rulers of early modern Europe. These include the outstanding group of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century panel paintings bequeathed to the Society in 1828 by Thomas Kerrich, FSA, including portraits of Richard III, Henry VII and Henry VIII, as well as such works of international importance as the portraits of Jan van Scorel, by Antonis Mor, and of Mary I, by Hans Eworth.
Exhibition | Coypel’s Don Quixote Tapestries
Next February at The Frick:
Coypel’s Don Quixote Tapestries: Illustrating a Spanish Novel in Eighteenth-Century France
The Frick Collection, New York, 24 February — 17 May 2015
Curated by Charlotte Vignon
Peter Van den Hecke, The Arrival of Dancers at the Wedding of Camacho (detail), Brussels, ca. 1730s–40s. Tapestry,
123 x 219 inches (New York: The Frick Collection).
Photo by Michael Bodycomb.
A masterpiece of comic fiction, Cervantes’s Don Quixote (fully titled The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha) enjoyed great popularity from the moment it was published, in two volumes, in 1605 and 1615, respectively. Reprints and translations spread across Europe, captivating the continental imagination with the escapades of the knight Don Quixote and his companion, Sancho Panza. The novel’s most celebrated episodes inspired a multitude of paintings, prints, and interiors. Most notably, Charles-Antoine Coypel (1694–1752), painter to Louis XV, created a series of twenty-eight cartoons to be produced by the Gobelins tapestry manufactory in Paris. Twenty-seven were painted between 1714 and 1734, with the last scene realized just before Coypel’s death in 1751. In 2015 (the four-hundredth anniversary of the publication of the second volume of Don Quixote), the Frick will bring together a complete series of Coypel’s scenes, which will be shown in the Frick’s Oval Room and East Gallery. The exhibition with include the Frick’s two large tapestries inspired by Coypel—which have not been shown for more than ten years—and twenty-five other eighteenth-century paintings, prints, and tapestries from Coypel’s designs.
The accompanying publication will explore Coypel’s role in illustrating Don Quixote and the circumstances of his designs becoming the most renowned pictorial interpretations of the novel. It will also map the production of Coypel’s Don Quixote tapestries, from cartoons and engravings to looms in Paris and Brussels. The Frick will offer rich education programs that will include a series of lectures on eighteenth-century French and Flemish tapestries and on the illustration of Don Quixote over the centuries. Further programs will explore the history of the novel and its influence on artists working in a variety of media, including film, ballet, and opera. The exhibition is organized by the Frick’s Associate Curator of Decorative Arts, Charlotte Vignon.
Exhibition | Treasures from the Royal Archives
Press release (16 May 2014) for the exhibition:
Treasures from the Royal Archives
Windsor Castle, 17 May 2014 — 28 January 2015
From the title deed of Buckingham Palace to George III’s reflections on the loss of America, the Royal Archives contains an unparalleled collection of documents that capture key moments in the history of the British Monarchy. To mark the centenary of the establishment of a permanent home for the Archives in the Round Tower at Windsor Castle, more than 100 documents from the private archive of the Royal Family are published in a new book, Treasures from the Royal Archives, and 25 of the most fascinating items go on display at the Castle from Saturday, 17 May, many for the first time.
In the exhibition, and among the documents on display for the first time, is the title deed for Buckingham Palace. Dated 20 April 1763 and bearing George III’s wax seal, it records the purchase of Buckingham House from Sir Charles Sheffield for the sum of £28,000 (over £2,000,000 today). Named after its previous owner, the sixth Duke of Buckingham, the property was bought by the King for his wife, Queen Charlotte, to accommodate their growing family—they had 15 children.
Often remembered as the monarch who lost the American colonies, George III wrote his personal reflections on Britain’s relationship with America following the end of the War of Independence in 1783. The Crown and Government received much public criticism for the manner in which the conflict was handled; however the King’s essay takes a surprisingly sanguine approach to the defeat. Opening with the words “America is lost!,” it assesses the impact of the independence of America on the wealth of Britain, concluding with the King’s hope that “we shall reap more advantages from their trade as friends than ever we could derive from them as Colonies…”
The Royal Archives includes thousands of papers relating to the exiled Stuarts. The documents not only reflect the continuing Jacobite efforts to reclaim the throne for the Stuart royal line, but also shed light on the private lives of the Stuart family. A letter written in 1728 by the seven-year-old Bonnie Prince Charlie will go on display in the exhibition for the first time. Written to his father, Prince James Francis Edward Stuart, from Palazzo Muti, the Stuart residence in Rome, it appears to be the young boy’s response to a reprimand for upsetting his mother. The Prince writes, “Dear Papa, I thank you mightily for your kind letter. I shall strive to obey you in all things. I will be very Dutifull to Mamma, and not jump too near her…”
Also on display for the first time is Major John Chard’s account of the Defence of Rorke’s Drift. Written at the request of Queen Victoria, it describes with the help of sketches and plans the unlikely victory of British troops on the night of 22 January 1879, when Chard’s men successfully defended the field station at Rorke’s Drift from Zulu attack, despite being heavily outnumbered. Chard recalls the moment when they ‘saw them, apparently 500 or 600 in number, come around the hill to our south and advance at a run’ and describes how “many of the men behaved with great gallantry.” Upon his return to England, Chard, along with Lieutenant Bromhead and other officers, was summoned to Balmoral to recount the battle to the Queen, who had followed the progress of the Anglo-Zulu War with great interest.
A report prepared for King George V by the Prime Minister, James Ramsay MacDonald, records a turning point in British politics—the first sitting of the House of Commons under the first Labour Government on 13 February 1924. Describing the occasion as “unique and historical in the annals of the British parliament,” MacDonald concludes that, although it was a “difficult and trying ordeal,” “on the whole it was a very encouraging start.” The report is just one of many examples of correspondence, both formal and private, between monarchs and political leaders held in the Royal Archives, including letters from the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and British Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Benjamin Disraeli.
Exhibition curator Lauren Porter of Royal Collection Trust said, “The 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle provides a wonderful opportunity to explore and exhibit some of the greatest treasures in the collection of documents. The wide variety of material held in the Royal Archives—from private correspondence and diaries to official papers—provides a fascinating insight into the history of the British Monarchy, often from a very personal perspective.”
Pamela Clark, Julie Crocker, Allison Derrett, Laura Hobbs and Jill Kelsey, Treasures from the Royal Archives (London: Royal Collection, 2014), 240 pages, ISBN: 978-1909741041, £30.
Since 1914, the famous ‘Round Tower’ of Windsor Castle has been the secure and honoured home to the Royal Archives—an extraordinary collection of many thousands of documents and records dating back to the reign of Elizabeth I. This publication showcases, for the very first time, the treasures of this fascinating and internationally significant collection, ranging from records of affairs of state to personal letters, diaries and domestic jottings, recounting the stories of kings and queens, politicians, rebels, soldiers and artists in their own words—and painting a remarkable portrait of history through the passions, dilemmas and life-changing moments of the people who shaped it.
Exhibition | The New Georgians
Now on at Orleans House Gallery in Twickenham, just outside of London:
The New Georgians
Orleans House Gallery, Twickenham, 3 May — 27 July 2014
Valena Tzvetanska (Valena Lova) Mademoiselle Cuckó
The New Georgians celebrates the tercentenary of the Hanoverian accession. This exhibition, part of the Richmond upon Thames Georgian Festival, commemorates this historical event through a display exploring the life and local links of Queen Caroline of Ansbach (1683–1737), wife of King George II. Caroline lavishly dined in the Octagon Room on a visit here in 1729. Her husband’s mistress, Henrietta Howard, lived at the nearby Marble Hill House.
The focus of the exhibition is contemporary artwork from across the UK submitted via open submission. Artists explore the impact and relevance of 18th-century history, society, ideas, culture, and styles in the 21st century. Alongside reverent homages and playful pastiches are genres and media revolutionised and popularised in the 18th century, including botanical art, landscapes, portraits, prints and ceramics. Costume, accessories, and the representation and roles of women are also popular themes—fitting as the exhibition honours Queen Caroline, who possessed great intellect, culture, personal charm, and political influence. In her husband’s absences, she acted as Regent or Protector of the Realm.
Also on display are works created for the exhibition by the gallery’s artist in residence Michael Coldman. His constructions made from found, recycled and second hand objects are transformed into three dimensional scenes examining Georgian life and Queen Caroline and her Court. These often humorous works are complemented by a choice selection of 18th-century caricatures by British artists Hogarth, Smith, and Gillray from the Richmond Borough Art Collection.
The Richmond upon Thames Georgian Festival brochure is available as a PDF file here»
Exhibition | Catching Sight: The World of the British Sporting Print
From the VMFA:
Catching Sight: The World of the British Sporting Print
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 31 August 2013 — 13 July 2014
This exhibition sheds new light on a common, but often overlooked aspect of British art: the British sporting print. Highly sought after during the 18th and 19th centuries, these prints endure as symbols of English culture. Featuring more than 100 prints, Catching Sight demonstrates the aesthetic sophistication and accomplishments of the genre. The exhibition takes an innovative approach, examining these works of art from an art historical perspective rather than simply as documents of the history of sport and rural culture. Catching Sight demonstrates the qualities of directness, vividness, and even wit for which the genre was prized by both the larger public and artists such as Degas and Géricault, who borrowed extensively from its artistic vocabulary.
Mitchell Merling, with Malcolm Cormack and Corey Piper, Catching Sight: The World of the British Sporting Print (Richmond: Virginia Museum of Fine
Arts, 2013), 112 pages, ISBN: 978-1934351031, $36.
The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue by Mitchell Merling, Paul Mellon Curator, with contributions from Malcolm Cormack, Paul Mellon Curator Emeritus, and Corey Piper, former Curatorial Associate for the Mellon Collection.
Catalogue cover: Isaac Cruikshank, London Sportsmen Shooting Flying [from a set of four], ca. 1800, hand-colored etching (VMFA: Paul Mellon Collection, 85.1282.2)
Exhibition | Magna Carta: Cornerstone of Liberty
On the eve of the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. . . From the MFA press release (7 March 2014). . .
Magna Carta: Cornerstone of Liberty
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2 July — 1 September 2014
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 6 September — 2 November 2014
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 6 November 2014 — 19 January 2015
British Library, London, 13 March — 1 September 2015
One of only four surviving copies of the original Magna Carta—a document written in 1215 that subsequently served as a symbol for liberty around the world—travels to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), this summer for a special exhibition of approximately 20 works in the Museum’s Art of the Americas Wing. An inspiration for the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, the exemplar owned by the UK’s Lincoln Cathedral and typically housed in Lincoln Castle will be on view in the exhibition, Magna Carta: Cornerstone of Liberty, from July 2–September 1, 2014. In partnership with the Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) and the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Magna Carta will join historical loans as well as portraits and works of art from the Museum’s collection. The MFA’s Sons of Liberty Bowl (1768) by Paul Revere—which is engraved with the words “Magna/Charta” and “Bill of/Rights”—will be among the works that help tell the story of patriots and revolutionaries who fought for freedom in the face of tyranny across the centuries. Founding Fathers, presidents and abolitionists, inspired by the liberties enshrined in Magna Carta, will be represented in the exhibition through portraits, marble busts and historical documents that celebrate their commitment to civil rights and equal representation under the law.
“Our state’s rich history and preeminent cultural institutions provide a wonderful showcase for Magna Carta,” House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said. “Massachusetts’ tourism industry is booming and the House of Representatives is proud to provide substantial support for the arts, travel and tourism. Last month we extended this commitment by allocating sizeable funding to bring Magna Carta to Massachusetts. Thank you to the Museum of Fine Arts and my colleagues in the Legislature for their work in securing this momentous historic treasure.”
State Representative Cory Atkins (D-Concord), House Chair of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts, and Cultural Development, and Alice Richmond, Deputy Chair of the Magna Carta 800th Anniversary 2015 Committee, worked with the MFA and Lincoln Cathedral to secure the loan of Magna Carta. After being shown in the MFA’s Edward and Nancy Roberts Family Gallery, Magna Carta travels to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, before returning to London for an exhibition celebrating the charter’s 800th anniversary. All four of the original surviving 1215 Magna Carta manuscripts will be brought together for the first time in history at a three-day event at the British Library February 2–4, 2015.
“Massachusetts is a fitting place to learn about the founding of this great nation and the development of civil rights and liberties both here and abroad. I am incredibly proud to bring Magna Carta to Boston, where it inspired so many Sons of Liberty and Founding Fathers to action, and am grateful to the Lincoln Cathedral for this extraordinary loan,” said Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director at the MFA. “This foundational document will hold a place of honor among American masterpieces and colonial treasures that bring some of the Commonwealth’s most famous patriots to life.”
For centuries, Magna Carta—Latin for “Great Charter”—has had symbolic influence on politicians, judges and revolutionaries who were inspired by its protections against tyranny and arbitrary rule. Written in Latin, the document laid the foundation for modern concepts of justice, due process, trial by jury and civil rights, and was reissued multiple times in the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, its influence was revived during the English Civil War. The concepts enshrined in the document also had a profound influence on the American Colonies, where it influenced the Declaration of Independence and later the US Constitution—particularly the Bill of Rights.
Massachusetts Historical Society President Dennis Fiori added, “This exhibition will be a terrific experience for anyone with an interest in the people and events that shaped our country. In partnering with the MFA, the MHS is pleased to loan a number of documents and artifacts that define our nation’s history. It will be quite something to see the nearly 800-year-old Magna Carta together with important US documents—such as handwritten drafts of the Declaration of Independence and an annotated copy of the Constitution—that were inspired by it. I am sure the Founding Fathers would be pleased.”
Paul Revere, Sons of Liberty Bowl, 1768 (Boston: MFA).
The exhibition at the MFA will focus on Massachusetts’ and America’s ongoing relationship with Magna Carta—highlighting early presidents, Founding Fathers and patriots whose ideals and philosophies have shaped our nation. Iconic works of art, loans and manuscript material from the MHS and other lenders will tell the story of these remarkable men and women, and the revolutionary acts inspired by Magna Carta. The MFA’s silver Sons of Liberty Bowl, a highlight of the Museum’s renowned collection of art and objects from Revolutionary Boston, honors 92 members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives who refused to rescind a letter protesting the Townshend Acts (1767), which taxed tea, paper, glass and other commodities. This act of civil disobedience by the ‘Glorious Ninety-Two’ was a major step leading to the American Revolution, and demonstrates the legacy and influence of Magna Carta more than 500 years after it was first issued.
“Since the 17th century, Magna Carta has served as a potent symbol for all Americans seeking protection against ‘the insolent menaces of villains in power,’ as the inscription on the Liberty Bowl states,” said Gerald W. R. Ward, New Hampshire State Representative (D-Portsmouth) and the MFA’s Senior Consulting Curator and Katharine Lane Weems Senior Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture Emeritus. “This exhibition offers the rare opportunity, in this digital age, to see the nearly 800-year-old ‘real thing’ that is the ancient underpinning for so many freedoms and rights that we cherish today.”
A number of items from the Museum’s collection will be paired with loans from the MHS. Two manuscript copies of the Declaration of Independence, originally penned by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, will be accompanied by the MFA’s marble busts of the two Founding Fathers. The MFA’s painting of lawyer Theodore Sedgwick (about 1808) by Gilbert Stuart complements a miniature portrait from the MHS of Elizabeth Freeman (“Mumbet”) (1811), a woman who was enslaved in Massachusetts and was represented by Sedgwick when she successfully sued for her freedom—a case which abolished slavery in the Commonwealth. Other loans from the MHS include a portrait of former Massachusetts Governor and US Vice President Elbridge Gerry and his annotated copy of the US Constitution, as well as two Paul Revere Sword in Hand Notes (currency)—one of which depicts the words “Magna Carta.” (more…)
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