Enfilade

Press release (via Art Daily) for the exhibition:

‘To Arm Against an Enemy’: Weapons of the Revolutionary War
DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, Colonial Williamsburg, 20 April 2019 — 2 January 2023

Silver hilted smallsword (detail), 1765–70; blade: 33 inches long, hilt: 7 inches long; silver, iron/steel, wood, enamel, and traces of gilding (Colonial Williamsburg).

Warfare is complex and sophisticated today, but in the 1700s, during the French and Indian and Revolutionary wars, weaponry and combat was far less so. The arms used by the combatants on all sides of these North American conflicts were an international jumble of firearms and bladed weapons. In ‘To Arm Against an Enemy’: Weapons of the Revolutionary War, opening on April 20, at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, one of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, visitors will gain a deeper understanding of these instruments of war as the weapons take center stage. The exhibition, which will remain on view until January 2, 2023, will feature approximately 70 muskets, carbines and rifles, bayonets, pistols, and swords as used by Loyalists, American patriots, Hessians, and British ‘red coats’ in battles on land and at sea.

‘To Arm Against an Enemy’ opens to coincide with the anniversary of the Gunpowder Incident in which Virginia’s last royal governor, Lord Dunmore, gave orders on April 20, 1775, to remove 15 barrels of gunpowder from Williamsburg’s Magazine. Conducted under the cover of darkness, the mission was successful, outraging the residents of the city and adding fuel to the rapidly intensifying revolutionary fire. The exhibition will be complimented by two satellite exhibitions opening in 2021. The first of these will tell the story of arms in Williamsburg from 1699 to 1780, and the other will discuss artillery, ammunition and military accouterments of the period.

“At the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, every exhibition helps to further the foundation’s mission of authentically telling America’s story,” said Ghislain d’Humières, executive director and senior vice president, core operations. “Its extensive collection of early weapons offers visitors an opportunity to learn more about an aspect of life in the colonies that is often overlooked. ’To Arm Against an Enemy’ promises to be illuminating.”

Prior to the French and Indian War (1754–63), when red-coated soldiers came across the Atlantic by the thousands and brought the first major influx of British military weaponry into the American colonies, the arms of the colonists were a mix of the obsolete, the old and the odd. Most firearms were privately owned and suited more for shooting game than for combat, while others were outdated foreign pieces captured in previous conflicts. A fresh wave of cutting-edge military arms arrived with the Revolutionary War, adding to the assortment of weapon types already in America.

“Over the last ninety years, Colonial Williamsburg has assembled one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of Revolutionary-era weaponry,” said Ronald Hurst, the foundation’s Carlisle H. Humelsine chief curator and vice president for collections, conservation and museums. “That gives us the rare opportunity to explore this subject in an unbiased fashion, from every partisan perspective: American, French, British, and Hessian.”

Among the highlights of the exhibition is an English silver hilted smallsword that was presented to Major General Nathanael Greene in 1781 by an unknown party, perhaps at the time he received command of the Southern Department of the Continental Army. Beginning as a private soldier in 1775, Greene had been promoted to major general in the Continental Army by the New York campaign of 1776 and became known as one of Washington’s best and brightest. Of classic smallsword form for the period (this example was made ca. 1765–70), all its elements are cast, chased and pierced. Decorative motifs include openwork scrolls, foliage, shells, lions, eagles, trophies and gorgon heads. At some point in the early to mid-19th century, this sword was memorialized by the addition of two plaquettes set onto the grip at the midpoint. Both are surrounded by an identical reeded bezel, the first of which frames a miniature enameled portrait of General Greene done after Charles Willson Peale’s famous likeness. The other appliqué is of engraved silver and bears the date and presentation to General Greene.

“More than just showcasing the weaponry of the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars, “To Arm Against an Enemy” speaks to the progression of military technology and the tools that were used to secure American independence,” said Erik Goldstein, Colonial Williamsburg’s senior curator of mechanical arts and numismatics, who curated the exhibition.

Another featured weapon to be on view in ‘To Arm Against an Enemy’ is a British Pattern 1769 Land Service musket known as a ‘Brown Bess’. Few such muskets in Colonial Williamsburg’s collection show as much wear as this example. New at the onset of the war, it was originally issued to the freshly raised 71st Regiment of Foot, also known as Fraser’s Highlanders. This unit was two battalions strong and fought in almost every campaign of the Revolutionary War after arriving from Scotland in 1776. Part of the regiment disembarked in Savannah in late 1778, kicking off an extended period of extremely hard service in the South that culminated in defeat at Yorktown in 1781 and disbandment a few years later. This musket ended up in American hands after the war, further contributing to its worn condition over the ensuing decades.

A sword made between 1778 and 1780 at James Hunter’s Rappahannock Forge in Falmouth, Virginia, is another featured weapon in the exhibition with a fascinating history. By 1778, there was an explosion in the number of cavalry units fighting on both sides of the Revolutionary War. While the Loyalist light dragoons were largely equipped with swords made by James Potter of New York City, the Continental Army was left scrambling to arm their mounted troops. To fill the void, they turned to Hunter, whose industrial complex was capable of manufacturing these indispensable cavalry swords. While additional research is needed to determine which blades were actually forged at Hunter’s works, it seems that he used whatever blades he could obtain to fulfill his orders. For this sword, Hunter used a common three-fullered blade of European manufacture and mounted it with a hilt marked with an ‘H’, struck into the outside of the knucklebow. In addition to this stamp are the engraved marks ‘1 T PL D N 22’, meaning the weapon was number 22 in the first troop of Pulaski’s Light (or ‘Legion’ of) Dragoons. As part of the armament of Pulaski’s Legion in the Continental Army, this saber likely saw action at Savannah (1779) and the Siege of Charleston (1780). In addition, it may also have been used at Camden, Guilford Court House and the Siege of Yorktown after Pulaski’s unit was incorporated into Armand’s Legion under the command of French Colonel Charles Armand Tuffin.

Now on view at The Fitzwilliam:

Fans Unfolded: Conserving the Lennox-Boyd Collection
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 5 March 2019 — 12 January 2020

Showcasing rare and exquisitely decorated fans from the collection of the Hon. Christopher Lennox Boyd, allocated to the Museum by H.M. Government in lieu of inheritance tax in 2015, this display reveals the techniques behind the making, investigation, and conservation of fans.

The collection of over 600 objects ranges in date from the 18th to the 20th centuries and in type from bejewelled and hand-painted court and wedding fans, to printed mass-produced advertising fans, aide-memoire fans, mourning fans and children’s fans. A conservation project generously funded by the Marlay group has allowed the museum to display a selection of these fragile but extraordinary objects for the first time.

Barthel Bruyn the Younger, Portrait of a Gentleman and Portrait of a Lady, ca. 1555–65, oil on panel (Salt Lake City: Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah).

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Opening in July at UMFA:

Power Couples: The Pendant Format in Art
Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 11 July — 8 December 2019

Curated by Leslie Anderson

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Begun in 1721, Hubertusburg Palace—named for the patron saint of hunting—was the site of the signing of the 1763 Treaty of Hubertusburg that ended the Seven Years’ War. From the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden:

Frederick Augustus and Maria Josepha: The Wedding of the Century and Saxony’s Lost Rococo
Es war die Hochzeit des Jahrhunderts – Das verlorene sächsische Rokoko
Schloss Hubertusburg, Wermsdorf, 28 April — 6 October 2019

Outstanding rococo art and a glittering wedding of the century: two special exhibitions at Schloss Hubertusburg, one of Europe’s largest hunting palaces, invite you on a journey through time. When Elector Frederick Augustus (Friedrich August), the son of Augustus the Strong, married the emperor’s daughter Maria Josepha in Dresden in September 1719, the people of Europe were treated to the sight of operas, parades, masquerades, and all the other trappings of a late baroque festival.

In the first part of this exhibition, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden invite visitors to rediscover the royal couple’s court and Saxony’s Lost Rococo. The exhibition rooms in the palace’s old piano nobile hold over 100 high-profile works of art and precious examples of Saxon rococo that transport visitors back in time to the everyday courtly life of this royal couple who left a deep mark on the style of their times with their passion for music, art, and culture.

In the second part of the exhibition, which addresses the couple’s wedding, Schlösserland Sachsen breathes new life into now unadorned rooms of the palace which have been opened to the public for the first time. Video installations and a rotating 360° video screen return sections of the building to their former glory, allowing visitors to see them as they were once imagined and designed by Maria Josepha and Frederick Augustus II and invites guests to join in the grandiose celebrations at The Wedding of the Century.

A New Royal Couple for Saxony and Poland
The wedding of Frederick Augustus II and Maria Josepha was a one-month spectacle of late baroque festivities. With operas, parades and masquerades, the young royals knew how to put on an impressive show and establish Saxony and Poland’s joint position among the other European powers.

Louis de Silvestre and workshop, Elector Frederick Augustus, ca. 1730 (Rüstkammer/Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, photo by Elke Estel and Hans Peter Klut).

Courtly Culture and Splendour
The reign of Frederick Augustus and Maria Josepha was marked by their great passion for culture, art and music. Thanks to their patronage and collecting, the Kingdom of Saxony and Poland developed into a thriving cultural landscape.

Operas and Music at the Court
Frederick Augustus and Maria Josepha transformed the Saxon court into a European centre for music, and especially operas. Soon, everyone was talking about the performances at Schloss Hubertusburg, with their high-profile casts and elaborate costumes.

A Passion for Collecting and Hunting
Frederick Augustus and Maria Josepha shared a keen enthusiasm for hunting, a courtly pleasure combining sociable entertainment and princely splendour. The extensive royal collection of hunting weapons—hunting knives, rifles, and pistols—includes some masterpieces of rococo art.

Rococo Palace and Hunting Lodge
Augustus the Strong—Frederick Augustus’s father—commissioned the building of Schloss Hubertusburg for the young royal couple in 1721. The building complex, with its magnificent grounds, is one of the largest hunting palaces in Europe.

Family and Dynasty
Masterpieces of portraiture depict the great family of Frederick Augustus II and Maria Josepha. The princes and princesses established important diplomatic networks by marrying strategically within Europe.

Opening this fall at The Prado:

Solo la voluntad me sobra: Dibujos de Goya
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 19 November 2019 — 16 February 2020

Curated by José Manuel Matilla and Manuela Mena

This exhibition is the result of the research undertaken for the publication of a new catalogue raisonné of Goya’s drawings, as a result of the collaboration agreement signed in 2014 between the Fundación Botín and the Museo del Prado. Since the publication of Gassier’s catalogue in 1973 the number of drawings attributed to Goya has changed, giving rise to the need for a new catalogue raisonné which updates the enormous body of information accumulated over the course of two centuries of literature on this subject.

The exhibition will bring together more than 100 drawings by Goya from the Prado’s own collections and from public and private ones around the world. It will be presented as a chronological survey of his work that includes drawings from throughout his career, ranging from the Italian Sketchbook to the Bordeaux Albums. It will also offer an up-to-date vision of the ideas that recurrently appear in Goya’s work, revealing the ongoing and long-lasting relevance of his thinking. The exhibition is curated by José Manuel Matilla (Museo Nacional del Prado Senior Curator Drawings and Prints) and Manuela Mena (Museo del Prado Senior Curator Eighteenth-Century Painting).

Opening this fall at The Prado:

The Master of Paper: Spanish Drawing Books of the 17th and 18th Centuries
El maestro de papel: Cartillas españolas para aprender a dibujar de los siglos XVII y XVIII
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 15 October 2019 — 2 February 2020

Curated by José Manuel Matilla and María Luisa Cuenca

Opening in a few weeks at Waddesdon Manor:

Madame de Pompadour in the Frame
Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, 23 May – 27 Octotber 2019

This exhibition will shine a spotlight on how technology is being used to enhance our understanding of art history, enabling masterpieces which have been victims of circumstance or history to be seen as they were once intended.

François Boucher’s famous portrait of Madame de Pompadour (1756) is today one of the most prized paintings on display at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich*, yet this monumental portrait was once owned by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild. Ferdinand had acquired it in 1887, and displayed it in his London house, 143 Piccadilly. Either before, or shortly after he acquired it, the portrait was re-framed. When he died, Ferdinand bequeathed the painting to his brother Nathaniel, but while the canvas eventually found its way to Germany, the impressive 18th-century frame was retained and ended up at Waddesdon Manor.

Now, thanks to a collaboration with Factum Foundation, specialists in high-resolution digital scanning technology, and with the support of the Alte Pinakothek, this new exhibition will recreate the masterpiece as it would have been known in the 19th century by Baron Ferdinand. In a marriage of traditional conservation and restoration techniques with the most advanced 3D digital reproduction technology, it will place a facsimile of the portrait back in Baron Ferdinand’s frame, which has been conserved especially for the show. Visitors will be able to explore for themselves other digital and 3D reproductions in touch displays, and a film will illustrate Factum Foundation’s process of re-creating Madame de Pompadour.

The exhibition will also explore the historical connection between the Madame de Pompadour painting and frame and Waddesdon and the Rothschild family. A particular highlight will be a 1757 Charles-Germain de Saint-Aubin caricature from a unique book of satirical cartoons, which is seldom on display.

* François Boucher’s Madame de Pompadour (1756) is on display at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (on permanent loan from the HypoVereinsbank, Member of UniCredit).