Exhibition | A Taste for the Exotic: European Silks
Press release (April 2018) from the Abegg-Stiftung:
A Taste for the Exotic: European Silks of the Eighteenth Century
Der Hang zur Exotik: Europäische Seiden des 18. Jahrhunderts
Abegg-Stiftung, Riggisberg (near Bern), 29 April — 11 November 2018
Silk weaving with exotic looking flowers; Lyon, ca. 1725–30 (Riggisberg: Abegg Stiftung, inv. no. 174).
Weird, bold, extravagant—this is how the luxury fashion fabrics of the early eighteenth century appear to us today. The intriguing patterns of these 300-year-old silks reflect a pronounced taste for the exotic. Some of the finest examples of this ‘crazy’ fashion can now be admired in the Abegg-Stiftung’s new exhibition.
Being glamorously fashionable in the eighteenth century entailed first and foremost wearing lavishly patterned silks. While the cuts of both ladies’ gowns and men’s attire scarcely changed throughout the century, new fabric pattern collections came out regularly. Several trends developed, but what all have in common is a preference for strange-looking motifs and extravagant compositions redolent of exotic worlds. Arranged more or less chronologically, the exhibition explores this development and presents a selection of the impressive pattern styles—some of them made up into garments—that were en vogue between 1690 and 1740.
Bizarre Silks
The ‘bizarre silks’ are undoubtedly one of the highlights of the show. These fabrics dating from the period 1690 to 1720 count among the most exotic creations that silk weavers ever produced. Their patterns are so fantastical and bizarre that they almost defy description. Geometrical shapes and purely imaginary figures are here combined with plants that no one has ever seen and strange-looking shadows. While the various motifs stand out clearly from each other and from their damask ground, they are not necessarily identifiable; many are no more than vaguely reminiscent of certain objects or creatures. Here, nature was not the model, it seems. Seen with today’s eyes, some objects look almost futuristic. Their bold colours and the use of gold and silver thread make these fabrics even more spectacular. It is hard to believe that ladies and gentlemen of rank wore clothes made of such brightly coloured, wildly patterned fabrics.
This stylistic phase is thought to have been inspired by Asian art forms, even if no exact models for it have been found as yet. Pattern designers simply borrowed whichever motifs took their fancy and adapted them according to their own ideas, almost certainly taking their cues from the design principles of the Far East. These included a preference for asymmetrical compositions with large, dynamic, often diagonally arranged motifs, which the Europeans then combined as desired, even without any logical or narrative thread; hence their exotic or ‘bizarre’ appearance.
‘Persiennes’ or Lace Pattern
The next fashion trend to follow the surging exuberance of the bizarre silks lasted from ca. 1720 to 1730 and pointed in the opposite direction, as it were. Now the demand was for intricately structured symmetrical patterns, whose white diapered grounds recall fine lace. Yet the models for these decorative, openwork elements are to be found less in European lace than in oriental styles of ornament. Some of the French design drawings for patterns like these are labelled ‘persienne’, which is the name used to describe them in historic sources. Not until much later did art historians, in a nod to their appearance, start referring to them as ‘lace pattern’. Many of the robes and gowns made of such lace-patterned silks were worn at official, ceremonial occasions. That they were also worn in private is evident from the pale blue and white patterned banyan with matching cap on show in the exhibition. This is the kind of outfit a fashion-conscious gentleman might have worn over his knee breeches and chemise in the privacy of his own home. The generous, kimono- or kaftan-like cut had the advantage of being at once comfortable and exotic.
Not so Natural Naturalism
The dominant style from the 1730s was Naturalism. This was identifiable by a marked preference for colourful plant motifs rendered with painterly finesse and a mastery of perspective such as had never before been produced on a loom. The consistent fall of light, abundant highlighting and shading, and fine gradations of colour lend these motifs a true-to-life, three-dimensional appearance. Interlocking, variously coloured weft threads were an important design element here since they enabled the kind of minimal variations in colour that might make even a woven motif look painted. Many of the fabric patterns in the naturalistic style likewise have an exotic quality, especially those that feature tropical fruits and plants that were all but unknown in Europe at the time. One of the silks on display in the exhibition shows pineapples and banana flowers, for example. Far more common, however, are plants, flowers and fruits of the pattern designer’s own invention. Their proportions are often perplexing and some of these flamboyantly colourful blooms seem excessively large. Rendered in a style that is at once realistic and dynamic, these curious plants still look ‘natural’—like specimens from some distant land.
Chinoiseries
A rather more romantic, almost fairy-tale-like style to feature in the eclectic silk pattern catalogues of the early eighteenth century were chinoiseries. Here, the exotic influences are very clearly in evidence as Chinese porcelain, Far Eastern pagodas, Asiatic-looking figures, and ideograms are playfully combined and artfully arranged to produce picturesque scenes and attractive pattern repeats. The aim was not so much to produce naturalistic depictions of Asian plants and animals as to give free rein to European fantasies of life in faraway countries, their inhabitants, and their way of life. The results of such flights of fancy are sometimes very odd indeed, as is borne out by a Dutch silk showing Chinese figures sporting Ottoman turbans. Chinoiseries were en vogue from ca. 1720 to 1740.
Inspiration from Afar
But how did these fabrics come to be patterned with such extraordinary designs? Where did the textile designers of the age draw inspiration? The general fascination with the wares and works of art from the Near and Far East that had been arriving in Europe ever since overseas trade began in earnest in the seventeenth century was undoubtedly a crucial factor here. The ships of the British and Dutch East India Companies brought back not just tea and spices from their voyages to Asia, but also porcelain, wallpaper, lacquer work and textiles. These must have fired the imaginations of Europe’s pattern designers, much as did the many illustrated accounts of journeys to faraway places published at around the same time. One famous example of such a travelogue on show in the exhibition is Johan Nieuhof’s description of his journey to China with a delegation of the Dutch East India Company, published in 1665. Nieuhof accompanied the expedition and wrote a lavishly illustrated account of both the land and its inhabitants. His illustrations in particular proved to be a rich source of inspiration for those European artists who wanted to surprise their noble clientele with ever new motifs from the big wide world.
But the textiles on show in this exhibition are impressive for reasons that go beyond their fantastical patterns alone. Even just the materials out of which they are made—silk, gold, and silver thread—tell us that these were luxury products that very few could afford. Their manufacture, too, was time-consuming and expensive, and the weaving presupposed a very high level of technical accomplishment. To be able to weave fabrics with patterns as wild or intricate as these, the loom first had to be set up or ‘programmed’. Thus a highly specialised line of business emerged, whose primary purpose was to satisfy the exacting demands of aristocrats and the wealthy bourgeoisie. The textiles on show here thus represent a union of exquisite materials, astonishing creativity and craftsmanship. It is a fascinating combination, and one that for several decades held sway over genteel society’s fashion tastes.
Exhibition | Humphry Repton at Woburn Abbey
Now on view at Woburn Abbey:
Humphry Repton: Art & Nature for the Duke of Bedford
Woburn Abbey, 23 March — 28 October 2018
Curated by Matthew Hirst and Victoria Poulton
When the 6th Duke of Bedford inherited Woburn in 1802, he commissioned the famous landscape gardener, Humphry Repton (1752–1818), to create designs to enhance the gardens and parkland. 2018 celebrates the bicentenary of Humphry Repton.
Recognised as the first person to invent and use the title ‘landscape gardener’, Humphry Repton regarded himself as the rightful successor to Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. Repton produced over 400 designs and schemes for gardens great and small, but of these, he stated, “none were more fully realised than at Woburn Abbey.” He published his theories in two influential books, Observations on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1803), and Fragments on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1816). In these, he promotes his style and references his important work for the Duke of Bedford.
With the Duke being Repton’s most important client, at a time of declining commissions, the Woburn Red Book is one of his largest works. It contains Repton’s most ambitious and detailed designs covering the approaches to the Abbey, the lakes and plantings in the surrounding parkland, and the formal Pleasure Grounds.
The Rockery and Chinese Pavilion at Woburn Abbey; the pavilion was constructed in 2011.
Open to the public between 23rd March and 28th October 2018, the new exhibition explores the fascinating relationship between Repton and one of his greatest clients. On public display for visitors to see for the first time will be his most elaborate and comprehensive Red Book. In addition, the exhibition will give visitors the opportunity to discover Repton’s other works for the family including at the picturesque Devon estate of Endsleigh, Oakley House, and Russell Square in London. Never before seen unexecuted designs will feature alongside works of art and archival treasures, which bring to life the creative legacy of Repton. There will also be Repton-related family trails, activities, and events throughout the year.
Having explored the Repton’s legacy in the exhibition, visitors need only step outside to discover Repton’s beautiful landscape designs. Since 2004 the present Duke and Duchess of Bedford have been restoring many of Repton’s features in the Woburn Abbey Gardens. These include the folly grotto, the Cone House, the menagerie, and the striking Chinese-style pavilion, which was completed in 2011 and went on to win a Hudson’s Heritage Award. In 2013, Woburn’s project to restore the 19th-century Humphry Repton landscape won the ‘Best Restoration of a Georgian Garden’ at the Georgian Group Architectural Awards. Other Repton features in the Woburn landscape include the Aviary, set to be further restored in 2018, and the Doric Temple.
Exhibition | Lost Treasures of Strawberry Hill
Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of the Ladies Waldegrave, 1780-81, oil on canvas, 143 × 168 cm (Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland, purchased with the aid of The Cowan Smith Bequest and the Art Fund 1952).
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This fall at Strawberry Hill:
Lost Treasures of Strawberry Hill
Strawberry Hill House & Garden, Twickenham, 20 October 2018 — 24 February 2019
Curated by Silvia Davoli and Michael Snodin
This exhibition brings back to Strawberry Hill some of the most important masterpieces in Horace Walpole’s famous and unique collection for a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition. Horace Walpole’s collection was one of the most important of the 18th century. It was dispersed in a great sale in 1842. For the first time in over 170 years, Strawberry Hill can be seen as Walpole conceived it, with the collection in the interiors as he designed it, shown in their original positions.
Strawberry Hill was filled with a celebrated collection of paintings, furniture, sculptures, and curiosities: great portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Peter Lely, Allan Ramsay, Rubens, Van Dyck, Hans Holbein, and Clouet; miniature portraits by Isaac and Peter Oliver, Hilliard and Petitot, a carved Roman eagle from the 1st century AD; fine furniture including a Boulle cabinet, fabulous Sèvres pieces as well as some oddities such as a lime-wood cravat, carved by Grinling Gibbons, a lock of Mary Tudor’s hair and a ‘magic mirror’ (an obsidian disc) which Dr Dee, Queen Elizabeth I’s necromancer, had used for conjuring up the spirits.
In 1842, the collection was dispersed worldwide in a 28-day ‘sale of the century’. From the 1920s to the ‘70s, Walpole scholar and consummate collector Wilmarth S. Lewis, who edited and published with Yale University Press the 48-volume Yale Edition of Horace Walpole’s Correspondence (New Haven, 1937–83), assembled the largest private collection of Walpoliana, including many pieces from Strawberry Hill, which he and his wife bequeathed to Yale University in 1980 as the Lewis Walpole Library, with whose help the Strawberry Hill Trust is delighted to be mounting this exhibition.
Walpole left detailed descriptions of the displays in each of the main rooms of his villa, so that nearly all the works can be shown in their original positions. In The Great Parlour, a display of portraits of Walpole’s family includes the famous Reynolds’s painting of Walpole’s nieces, The Ladies Waldegrave, (now in the National Gallery of Scotland). The Tribune will house the famous rosewood cabinet designed by Walpole, owned by the V&A, together with a display of exquisite portrait miniatures. Walpole’s gilded, crimson Gallery will be once again house the impressive Roman sculpture of an eagle and be hung with life-size portraits, including The Family of Catherine de Medici by Clouet.
Silvia Davoli, Lost Treasures of Strawberry Hill: Masterpieces from Horace Walpole’s Collection (London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers, 2018), ISBN: 9781785511806, £15.
Print Quarterly, June 2018
The eighteenth century in the current issue of Print Quarterly:
Print Quarterly 35.2 (June 2018):
Juan Camarón, Robinson in his Llama Skin Habit and Parasol, 1788–89, brush and grey wash, 110 × 65 mm (London, British Library).
A R T I C L E S
• Benito Navarrete Prieto and Alejandro Martínez Pérez, “Drawings for the Spanish Robinson Crusoe by José Juan Camarón and Rafael Ximeno,” pp. 160–72.
The article addresses newly identified drawings by José Camarón and Rafael Ximeno for the seminal Spanish edition of Robinson Crusoe by Tomás de Iriarte, published in Madrid in 1789. The presence of the drawing for the map and the narrative illustrations among Iriarte’s papers underscore the poet’s close involvement with the book’s production and illustration.
• Kate Heard, “The Royal Collection of Satirical Prints in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries,” pp. 173–82.
In describing the the history of the collection of satirical prints in Britain’s royal collection before their sale in 1921 to the Library of Congress, the article explains the origins of the collection under George III, its development most famously under George IV, its continued growth under Queen Victoria and Prince Albert—when Georgian works entered the collection that would not have been acquired earlier, including prints that were critical of the royal family—and finally the disfavor the collection solicited during the reign of George V from the royal librarian John Fortescue, who brokered the 1921 sale.
N O T E S A N D R E V I E W S
• Celina Fox, Review of Bernard Nurse, London: Prints and Drawings before 1800 (Bodleian Library, 2017), pp. 198–200.
• Susan Sloman, Review of Ann Gunn, The Prints of Paul Sandby (1731–1809): A Catalogue Raisonné (Brepols and Harvey Miller Publishers, 2016), pp. 200–03.
• Flavia Pesci, Review of the exhibition catalogue Nicholas Stanley Price, At the Foot of the Pyramid: 300 Years of the Cemetery for Foreigners in Rome (Casa di Goethe Museum, 2016), pp. 203–04.
• Mark McDonald, Review of the catalogue Peter Raissis, Prints and Drawings: Europe 1500–1900 from the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2014), pp. 204–06.
• Charles Newton, Review of Elisabeth Fraser, Mediterranean Encounters: Artists between Europe and the Ottoman Empire, 1774–1839 (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2017), pp. 206–09.
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Note (added 6 June 2018) — The original posting did not include descriptions for the two articles.
The Burlington Magazine, May 2018
The eighteenth century in The Burlington:
The Burlington Magazine 160 (May 2018)
Agostino Cornacchini, Charlemagne, 1725, marble (St Peter’s Basilica).
A R T I C L E S
• Gloria Martínez Leiva, “Art as Diplomacy: John Closterman’s Portraits of Carlos II of Spain and His Wife Queen Maria Anna of Neuburg,” pp. 381–86.
• Teresa Leonor M. Vale, “Art and Festivities in Eighteenth-Century Rome: Letters from a Portuguese Priest, 1721–22,” pp. 387–93.
R E V I E W S
• Christopher Rowell, Review of the exhibition Thomas Chippendale: A Celebration of Craftsmanship and Design, 1718–2018 (Leeds City Museum, 2018), pp. 414–16.
• Charles Darwent, Review of the exhibition The Dutch in Paris, 1789–1914 (Paris: Petit Palais, 2018), pp. 420–21.
• Stéphane Loire, Review of Giancarlo Sestieri, Il capriccio architettonico in Italia nel XVII e XVIII secolo (Etgraphiae editoriale, 2015), p. 432.
• Andrew McClellan, Review of Geneviève Bresc-Bautier and Béatrice de Chancel-Bardelot, eds., Un musée révolutionaire: Le Musée des Monuments français d’Alexandre Lenoir (Musée du Louvre, 2016), pp. 432–33.
Exhibition | Canaletto, 1697–1768
Now on view at the Museo di Roma:
Canaletto, 1697–1768
Museo di Roma, Palazzo Braschi, Rome, 11 April — 19 August 2018
Curated by Bożena Anna Kowalczyk
Italy’s capital celebrates Canaletto (1697–1768) by bringing together works from some of the most important museums and galleries in the world. On display, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the artist’s death, is the largest collection of his works ever exhibited in Italy: 67 paintings, drawings, and documents. Outstanding among the masterpieces are two works from the Pinacoteca del Lingotto Giovanni e Marella Agnelli in Turin, The Grand Canal from the North, towards the Rialto Bridge and The Grand Canal with Santa Maria della Carità, on display for the first time together with the manuscript from the Biblioteca statale di Lucca. Also for the first time, the two parts of a single large canvas cut before 1802, depicting Chelsea from Battersea Reach, are brought together. The left part comes from the National Trust property Blickling Hall in the UK; the right part, from the Museo Nacional De Bellas Artes de la Hanana, has been loaned for the first time by the government of Cuba.
Bozena Anna Kowalczyk, Canaletto, 1697–1768 (Milan: Silvana, 2018), 256 pages, ISBN: 978-8836639328 (English edition), €34 / $55.
New Book | A Princely Pursuit
Part of a promised gift to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, approximately 100 works from the Malcolm D. Gutter porcelain collection were exhibited at the Legion of Honor in 2015 and 2016. Published by Hirmer and distributed by The University of Chicago Press, the catalogue of the collection is now available.
Maria Santangelo, ed., A Princely Pursuit: The Malcolm D. Gutter Collection of Early Meissen Porcelain (Munich: Hirmer Publishers, 2018), 256 pages, ISBN: 978-3777429847, $65.
Through tremendous grit and research, Malcolm D. Gutter has been forming a remarkable porcelain collection over several decades, primarily on a professor’s salary. A Princely Pursuit presents more than one hundred significant pieces from the collection, which focuses primarily on early Meissen, particularly the royal collection that Augustus II (1670–1733) commissioned for the Japanisches Palais, his pleasure palace in Dresden, and the porcelain works he had imported from China and Japan. In addition to reproducing many documented pieces from the royal collection, this volume includes numerous ‘collector’s stories’ which capture, in Gutter’s own voice, his determined and painstaking hunt for Meissen porcelain around the world, as well as the legendary figures he has met and worked with along the way. Pairing Meissen history with exemplary objects from the German manufactory, A Princely Pursuit makes an essential contribution to the field of decorative arts.
Maria Santangelo is curator of fine arts for Ann and Gordon Getty.
Exhibition | Canova’s George Washington
In February, we noted the exhibition (which opened at The Frick Collection yesterday), but the original posting did not include details for the catalogue, which is now available from Giles Ltd and Artbooks.com:
Xavier Salomon with Guido Beltramini and Mario Guderzo, Canova’s George Washington (London: Giles, 2018), 188 pages, ISBN: 9781911282174, $45.
In 1816, the North Carolina State House in Raleigh commissioned a full-length statue of George Washington to stand in the hall of the State Senate. Thomas Jefferson, believing that no American sculptor was up to the task, recommended Antonio Canova (1757–1822), then one of Europe’s most celebrated artists. The first and only work Canova created for America, the statue depicted the nation’s first president in ancient Roman garb, per Jefferson’s urging, drafting his farewell address to the states. It was unveiled to great acclaim in 1821, and people traveled from far and wide to see it. Tragically, only a decade later, a fire swept through the State House, reducing the statue to just a few charred fragments.
Canova’s George Washington examines the history of the artist’s lost masterpiece, probably the least well known of his public monuments. It brings together for the first time Canova’s full-sized preparatory plaster model (which has never left Italy), four preparatory sketches for the sculpture, and related engravings and drawings. The exhibition also includes Thomas Lawrence’s 1816 oil portrait of Canova, which, like the model and several sketches, will be on loan from the Gypsotheca e Museo Antonio Canova in Possagno, Italy, the birthplace of the artist.
C O N T E N T S
Ian Wardropper, Director’s Foreword
Preface and Acknowledgments
Xavier F. Salomon, ‘The Boast and Pride of North America’: Antonio Canova’s George Washington
Mario Guderzo, The Classical Conception of Antonio Canova
Guido Beltramini, Jefferson, Italy, and Palladio
Appendix
Bibliography
Index
Photography Credits
Note (added 29 May 2018) — The original posting did not included the contents.
Exhibition | The Art of Iron
Florist’s Sign and Bracket, 18th century, France, wrought iron and rolled iron, cut, polychromed, and gilded; fastened with rivets and rings. Sign: 28 × 21 × 5 inches (71.5 × 52.6 × 12.5 cm), bracket: 33 × 52 × 2 inches (84 × 132.5 × 6 cm) (Rouen: Musée Le Secq des Tournelles, inv. LS 2011.0.199)
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Some of the objects included in the exhibition opening soon at The Clark were also included in the 2015 exhibition at The Barnes Foundation. From the press release (8 May 2018). . .
The Art of Iron: Objects from the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles, Rouen, Normandy
The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, 9 June — 16 September 2018
Curated by Kathleen Morris
The Clark Art Institute is the exclusive venue for the exhibition The Art of Iron: Objects from the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles, Rouen, Normandy. The exhibition presents thirty-six historic objects in an installation celebrating the craft and beauty of wrought iron. Salvaged by the founders of the Musée Le Secq during the second half of the nineteenth century, when wrought iron was being rapidly discarded and replaced with modern materials, these pieces tell stories of preindustrial times.
The Musée Le Secq des Tournelles’s celebrated collection originated with Jean-Louis-Henri Le Secq Destournelles (1818–1882), a painter who studied in Paris and Rome and became one of the first photographers in France. In the 1850s while photographically documenting various French monuments for a government project, he developed an appreciation for the ironwork adorning towns and ancient cathedrals. This inspired him to begin his own collection, much of which contained objects he salvaged as buildings were renovated or torn down. His son Henri (1854–1925, who changed the spelling of his last name to des Tournelles), continued to add to the collection, and in 1900 he loaned nearly a thousand objects to the Paris Universal Exhibition before donating the collection to the city of Rouen.
“We are so pleased to bring this wonderful collection of decorative arts to the Clark,” said Olivier Meslay, the Felda and Dena Hardymon Director of the Clark. “While wrought iron has long been an intrinsic part of the architecture of most European capitals, the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles collection encourages us to consider this work for its beauty—and to appreciate the exceptional ingenuity of the blacksmiths and ironworkers who took a humble material and elevated it to an art form. The Musée Le Secq is a colleague museum in the French American Museum Exchange (FRAME), a consortium of thirty-one major museums in France and North America that promotes cultural exchange through museum collaborations, and we are eager to share this wonderful collection with our visitors.”
The Art of Iron features a myriad of signs, masterful locks and lockboxes, a variety of utilitarian household objects, and architectural grilles, gates, and balcony railings. The objects are at once strange and familiar, inviting the viewer to marvel at the creative inventiveness and technical skill of their makers as well as reflect on earlier ways of life.
The works included in the exhibition represent a variety of the methods used in creating objects from iron. Much of the work is the result of a blacksmith working at his forge to bend, twist, and hammer rods of wrought iron into shape. Sheets of rolled iron were cut to shape and could be decorated by embossing designs from the back and by chiseling on the surface. Small objects might have been hammered or cast in molds and then welded into place. Many objects incorporate all of these techniques.
“The first time I visited the Musée Le Secq, the collection and its display took my breath away,” said Kathleen Morris, the Sylvia and Leonard Marx Director of Exhibitions and Curator of Decorative Arts at the Clark. “The opportunity to work with this collection has been incredible, compelling me to look closely at the extraordinary craftsmanship and design of these handmade creations. The sophistication and skill on display in these objects is phenomenal—and our dynamic installation will both captivate and delight our visitors.”
Signs
Shop, inn, and tavern signs make up an important part of the collection of the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles. Prior to widespread literacy, in an era before buildings were given numbered addresses, businesses depended on pictorial signs for identification and advertising. The Art of Iron contains fifteen signs representing a variety of business from taverns and inns to drapers, florists, and fishmongers. In many cases these signs hung on equally elaborate and well-crafted wrought iron brackets, which are also included in the exhibition.
Henri Le Secq des Tournelles salvaged many such signs, but he was more concerned with preserving them than with documenting their original locations. However, the location of some shops, such as one advertising a draper, is known. A sign known as “The Dry Tree” once stood on the Parisian street that still carries the name of its shop, rue de l’Arbre-Sec (Street of the Dry Tree). Drapers, or cloth merchants, often used the tree as a symbol of their business, evoking legends from the ancient Near East, a source of luxury fabrics. “The Dry Tree” refers to a specific tree that stood alone in a vast desert and was said to grow on the exact spot where Alexander the Great and Darius fought a great battle in the fourth century BCE. Marco Polo reported having seen this legendary tree during his travels.
A lighted bat-shaped sign that once hung outside the entrance to a cabaret or tavern is a remarkable example of nineteenth-century French ironwork. The bat is a clever reference to the nocturnal nature of this business and suggests a dim and mildly dangerous atmosphere within. The light cavity was later fitted with a lightbulb and electrical wiring—probably in the early twentieth century.
Grilles, Gates, and Balconies
Ironsmiths did not necessarily design the objects they created. In particular, wrought-iron grilles, gates, and railings for buildings were often conceived by architects, and in many cases the smith was probably working from a pre-existing drawing. This in no way diminishes the technical and creative skill of ironsmiths, who often infused their works with individual flourishes. The contrast between the strength of the material and the airy, often delicate lines and scrolls that form the composition gives these objects a presence that hovers between the sculptural and the graphic.
The Art of Iron contains many examples of these architectural elements that served a multitude of practical purposes. Window and transom (over-door) grilles, as well as door and balcony railings, allow light and air circulation while offering security against intrusion or protection from falls. An eighteenth-century Italian grille is one of many objects in the exhibition that includes this elaborate scrollwork.
A magnificent eighteenth-century French round grille, finished on both sides, features the symmetrical monogram GBM surrounded by an elaborate array of scrolls and volutes. It was originally installed in a building on the rue des Vergeaux in Amiens, France, perhaps to echo the spectacular rose windows of a nearby cathedral.
Locks and Lockboxes
Before the advent of banks, personal wealth was largely represented by items such as jewels, property deeds, and objects made of silver or gold. Safekeeping these items with locks or lockboxes was essential to financial security. These utilitarian objects, as well as their keys, were often highly decorated.
An eighteenth-century German strongbox and key is a spectacular example of the locksmith’s skill. The keyhole on the front of this chest is a decoy. The real keyhole is on the top of the box, concealed under the body of the double-headed eagle. Pushing on the eagle’s right talon releases a hinge and reveals the keyhole. The locking mechanism is visible on the underside of the box’s lid. The lock’s functional parts, including eighteen sliding bolts, are embellished with decorative flowers, leaves, and scrolls.
A French safe door (1823), signed by a maker named Poifol, is fitted with a complicated mechanism made of wrought iron and brass, including a mounted English pistol by the manufacturer Wilson. Attempts to tamper with the lock caused the gun to discharge, acting as an alarm system.
Household Objects
The durability of wrought iron made it a common material for many household objects, from cooking and kitchen utensils to wares for the bedroom and garden.
Before the invention of modern stoves, food was prepared over open fires in large kitchen fireplaces using cooking pots and pothooks. The ratchets on the pothook could be adjusted to hold the pot nearer to or further from the flame. Cast-iron pots were essential items in any kitchen and were often given as wedding gifts.
In contrast to the unadorned cooking pot, coffee and spice mills were specialty items sometimes elaborately decorated. The Musée Le Secq des Tournelles has extensive holdings of early spice and coffee grinders, including an eighteenth-century mill crafted by Benoit Tivelier the Elder included in the exhibition. The mill was made in the city of Saint-Étienne, France, a center of production for grinders.
The Art of Iron is co-organized by the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, and the Réunion des Musées Métropolitains, Rouen, Normandy. Generous contributors to the exhibition include Sylvia and Leonard Marx and the Selz Foundation, with additional support from Richard and Carol Seltzer.
Kathleen Morris, with contributions by Alexandra Bosc and Anne-Charlotte Cathelineau, The Art of Iron: Objects from the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles, Rouen, Normandy (Williamstown: The Clark Art Institute, 2018), 112 pages, ISBN: 978-0300237047, $35.
Published by the Clark and distributed by Yale University Press, the catalogue for the exhibition combines stunning photography with fresh and engaging scholarship. An essay by Kathleen M. Morris offers a contemporary perspective on these extraordinary works of art, while current and former curators of the Musée Le Secq provide fascinating insights into the magnificent holdings of the museum’s renowned collection.
Exhibition | Dibujos de Luis Luis Paret (1746–1799)
Opening this week at the National Library of Spain:
Dibujos de Luis Paret (1746–1799)
Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid, 25 May — 16 September 2018
Curated by Alejandro Martínez Pérez
Luis Paret, Thalia, 1794, pencil, pen and ink, with white highlights and golden pigment (Madrid: BNE).
Luis Paret y Alcázar was one of the most important Spanish artists of the eighteenth century. This exhibition shows his numerous drawings, prints, and paintings. Known as the ‘Spanish Watteau’, Paret was isolated from the academic art theory after an unfortunate incident with the Prince don Luis. This event led him to exile, and many historians judge that this was the reason why he was distanced from the Spanish art of his time. His nonconformity with other artists of his time is most likely the result of his culture and great humanistic education. Paret has been recognized as the best representation of Spanish Rococo and the second most important Spanish painter of the eighteenth century, after Goya. The exhibition focuses on the multidisciplinary character of the artist including his drawings, paintings, prints, but also showing him as a great translator and calligrapher.
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Luis Paret y Alcázar es una de las figuras más interesantes del arte español del siglo XVIII. Artista erudito de azarosa biografía, ha sido aislado del discurso teórico del arte español de su tiempo debido a un eslogan —el «Watteau espagnol»— que se repite constantemente y le señala como el más genuino representante del rococó en España, y segundo pintor más importante del siglo XVIII… después de Goya, ¡claro está!
El episodio que le llevó al exilio, consecuencia directa de su relación con el infante don Luis, ha servido como causa en las consideraciones de muchos historiadores sobre la distancia de Paret con respecto al arte español de su tiempo. La expulsión de la patria, y el consiguiente distanciamiento de la corte, justificarían la pérdida de la oportunidad de hacer carrera al servicio del rey y de triunfar en la Academia de San Fernando, donde se había formado. Sin embargo, su heterodoxia respecto a otros artistas contemporáneos se debe a su formación y cultura.
La imagen, proyectada por Ceán Bermúdez, de un artista con una gran formación humanística ayudó a trazar ese halo de heterodoxia que le rodea. Por ello, para comprender mejor su singularidad, conocer sus modelos y desentrañar cómo se fraguó su personalidad artística, hemos querido adentrarnos en el corpus de dibujos de Luis Paret y analizar el contenido de su biblioteca, con el fin de averiguar el porqué de ese distanciamiento del arte académico.
Con este telón de fondo historiográfico planteamos la exposición, un repaso completo a su trayectoria a través de dibujos y estampas, pinturas y libros, prestando atención a las múltiples facetas de dibujante, pintor, grabador, traductor, calígrafo, etcétera, en las que se manifestó su creatividad e ingenio.
Alejandro Martínez Pérez se doctoró en Historia del Arte por la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid con una tesis dedicada a la cultura artística de Luis Paret y Alcázar. Recientemente ha publicado los libros Historia de las Artes entre los Antiguos de J. J. Winckelmann (2014), a partir del manuscrito de Diego Antonio Rejón de Silva de 1784, y Patrimonio en conflicto. Memoria del botín napoleónico recuperado (1815–1819) (con Esperanza Navarrete, 2015). Es autor además de diversos artículos en revistas especializadas y estudios sobre el arte y la historia cultural española de la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII.
An accompanying catalogue raisonné is published by CEEH:
Alejandro Martinez Perez, Dibujos de Luis Paret (1746–1799) (Madrid: Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica, 2018), 352 pages, ISBN: 9788415245773, 38€ / $68.
Este catálogo razonado reúne un corpus de 165 dibujos ordenados cronológicamente que permiten conocer tanto los procesos creativos de Paret como los temas y motivaciones que le animaron a lo largo de su carrera. Se incluyen también como anexos la identificación del contenido de la biblioteca del artista, una relación de estampas autógrafas y otra de obras desaparecidas sólo conocidas a partir de grabados. Este volumen constituye además el catálogo de la exposición del mismo título celebrada en la Biblioteca Nacional de España.
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