Enfilade

On this day (16 April) in 1746, the armies of Charles Edward Stuart were defeated at Culloden. From the Scottish National Portrait Gallery:

Allan Ramsay, Portrait of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, 1745 (Scottish National Portrait Gallery)

A hugely significant portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie by the greatest Scottish portrait painter of the eighteenth century has been acquired by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery thanks to the AIL (Acceptance in Lieu of Tax) Scheme.

Prince Charles Edward Stuart (1720–1788), later known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, was the Jacobite hero who sought to re-capture the British throne for the House of Stuart during the ill-fated Rising of 1745. He landed in Scotland on the 23rd of July, and marched to Edinburgh, defeating a government army at the Battle of Prestonpans. Charles then travelled south as far as Derbyshire, before returning to Scotland; his army was eventually crushed at the Battle of Culloden on the 16th of April 1746. The Jacobite cause was lost and he fled to exile.

This portrait is thought to have been created at Holyrood in Edinburgh during Bonnie Prince Charlie’s short time in the city at the height of the Rising, by the most accomplished Scottish portrait painter of the period, Allan Ramsay (1713–1784). Ramsay was born in Edinburgh, the son of a poet of the same name, and studied in London, Rome and Naples, before returning to Scotland in 1738. He worked for the grandest patrons both north and south of the border, creating a reputation for displaying great sensitivity to the characters of his sitters and masterly renderings of their clothes and poses in his paintings.

His portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie is an accomplished early work, created when the sitter was 25 and the artist 32. Charles is depicted in half-length format, turning to confront the viewer directly. He wears a powdered wig, has a velvet robe fringed with ermine, and the blue riband and star of the Order of the Garter. The portrait was used as a prototype for painted and engraved versions, which were employed to promote the Jacobite cause.

Since the eighteenth century, the painting has formed part of a collection outside Edinburgh; it has come from the Wemyss Heirlooms Trust and was last exhibited in the city in 1946. Recently attention was drawn to its status by a BBC 2 Culture Show Special, presented by Dr. Bendor Grosvenor (22 February 2014). The painting will be displayed in Gallery 4 of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery as a centrepiece to the Gallery’s outstanding collection of Jacobite art which is one of the great strengths of the collection. The National Galleries of Scotland houses an unsurpassed collection of Ramsay’s drawings and paintings. The amount of tax settled by the acceptance of the portrait through the AIL system is £1,122,838.33.

Christopher Baker, Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, commented “This meticulous and dashing portrait is a work of great historical resonance, which in a real sense has now come home, as it will be celebrated as a key work in the nation’s Jacobite collection and as such become widely accessible. We are immensely grateful to everyone who has made its transference to public ownership, through the AIL scheme, possible.”

Edward Harley, the Acceptance in Lieu Panel Chairman, noted “The Acceptance in Lieu Panel is pleased to have helped this iconic image of Bonnie Prince Charlie return to the city in which it was painted 270 years ago. It now takes its fitting place as one of the highlights of the great collection of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery where it can be enjoyed by all. This is indeed a unique moment in Scottish history.”

Press Release (24 March 2016) from The Huntington:

Portrait of a Woman with a Bowl of Cherries, ca. 1770–80, oil on panel, 28 × 23 × 2 1/2 in. (San Marino: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens; Jonathan and Karin Fielding Collection; photo by Fredrik Nilsen)

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California announced today that its new 8,600 square-foot addition to the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art will open on October 22. Named after the lead donors for the $10.3 million building project, the Jonathan and Karin Fielding Wing includes 5,000 square feet of gallery space with an inaugural exhibition of more than 200 works from the Fieldings’ esteemed collection of 18th- and early19th-century American works—including paintings, furniture, and related decorative art—some of which are promised gifts to The Huntington. The exhibition will offer important insights into the world of American art practice and culture of the time.

“The collection, display, and contextualization of historical American art is among our chief priorities,” said Laura Skandera Trombley, president of The Huntington. “And the educational and inspirational value of the new wing is immeasurable. It will bring to light unforgettable works made with American originality, and is sure to delight and surprise visitors of all ages. We are profoundly grateful to Jonathan and Karin Fielding for their vision and generosity.”

In related news, the original portion of the Scott Galleries, which has been undergoing reconfiguration and reinstallation, will reopen on June 18. It will feature a new room highlighting works from the Gail-Oxford Collection, a recent bequest to The Huntington of 18th-century works of American decorative art; a redesigned Dorothy Collis Brown Wing displaying works by Arts and Crafts architects Charles and Henry Greene; sweeping, long sightlines across galleries; and improved visitor flow. Also opening in the original portion of the building on June 18 is a focused loan exhibition, Yasuhiro Ishimoto: Bilingual Photography and the Architecture of Greene & Greene in the Susan and Stephen Chandler Wing (on view through October 3).

Designed by Frederick Fisher and Partners, who also designed the Lois and Robert F. Erburu Gallery (a 2005 addition to the same building), the new Fielding Wing features eight new rooms for art display as well as a stately glass entrance and lobby on the south side of the building that mirrors those on the north side. The entrance, along with a reconfiguration of some of the rooms of the existing building, will improve visitor flow and make entering the galleries (that will total 26,000 square feet of display space) more inviting and intuitive. The new entry will draw visitors to the galleries naturally, with the glass lobby serving as a beacon from a popular path that leads through the Shakespeare Garden from the Huntington Art Gallery, where the renowned European art collection is displayed. In addition, the entry allows easy access to and from the historic Rose Garden Tea Room and Café. Frederick Fisher and Partners also are designing the inaugural exhibition. With this expansion of the Scott Galleries (the third since 2009), The Huntington will be the home of one of the largest displays of historic American art in the Western United States.

“While the Fieldings have been collecting American art for a relatively short time, they have developed a focused and important body of historical works,” said Kevin Salatino, Hannah and Russel Kully Director of the Art Collections at The Huntington. “We plan to highlight these in a creative installation that enhances their educational content as well as their powerful aesthetic qualities.”

With more than 700 examples of American painting, sculpture, furniture, ceramics, metal, needlework, and other related decorative arts, the Fieldings’ collection is widely regarded as one of the most significant of its kind in the United Sates. The initial display of works will be grouped variously by the function of the objects, the materials from which they are made, and through the themes that they embody.

In its rich diversity, the Fielding Collection offers a rare opportunity to explore early American history through objects made for daily use and through images of the everyday people who used them. Highlights of the collection include a rare painting on panel made about 1834 by Sheldon Peck (1797–1868) portraying Samuel and Eunice Judkins, residents of Ulster County, New York; a striking portrait of a woman with a bowl of cherries, painted on panel about 1770 to 1780; a high chest of drawers made about 1774 by the Connecticut-based Eliphalet Chapin (1741–1807); a Windsor low-back settee with distinctive steam-bent arm rail made in Lancaster County, Pa., between 1760 and 1780; a rare pair of needlework pockets from about 1775, used by a woman to carry sewing implements and other items; and a Connecticut tall-case clock, with richly painted decoration and wooden works, signed by Riley Whiting (1785–1835) and made in Windsor, Conn., between 1819 and about 1828.

Begun in earnest in 1979, when the Virginia Steele Scott Foundation of Pasadena made a major gift to The Huntington in memory of art collector, patron, and philanthropist Virginia Steele Scott (1905-1975), The Huntington’s collection of American art has grown from an initial 50 paintings to nearly 13,000 objects. Recent acquisitions include works by Milton Avery (1885-1965), Richard Estes (b. 1932), Sargent Claude Johnson (1888–1967), and Helen Lundeberg (1908–1999), as well as the Gail-Oxford Collection of 18th-century decorative art.

First opened in 1984 with 6,800 square feet of gallery space, the Scott Galleries were expanded to 16,300 square feet with the addition of the Lois and Robert F. Erburu Gallery and completely reinstalled in 2009 to cover the history of art in the United States from the colonial period to the mid-20th century. In July of 2014, The Huntington expanded the display of American art further by opening more than 5,000 feet of gallery space focusing on works of 20th-century art in an area previously used for storage.

Press release (24 March 2016) from The Frick:

The Frick Collection’s Fifth Avenue garden and facade, looking toward 70th St. (Photo: Galen Lee, The Frick Collection)

The Frick Collection announced that it is entering into the next phase of planning for the upgrade and enhancement of its facility, which encompasses a constellation of buildings, wings, and additions constructed between 1914 and 2011. Following the withdrawal of the 2014 design proposal and a subsequent period of extensive study, Frick leadership has developed a new approach to upgrading and expanding its facilities that enhances opportunities for intimate engagement with great works of art and preserves the Frick’s gardens. The ongoing planning includes the creation of new exhibition, programming, and conservation spaces within the institution’s built footprint.

As the next step in this process, the Frick is issuing a request for qualifications (RFQ) to select architectural firms, which are being invited to submit their credentials based on their relevant experience and expertise. The institution is planning to announce a finalist later this year and will work together with the selected architect to further define the expansion program, with initial designs expected to be unveiled in 2017.

Home to one of the world’s leading collections of fine and decorative arts, The Frick Collection is noted for the contemplative atmosphere of its galleries, which were previously the principal rooms of the private residence of Henry Clay Frick. It also houses the Frick Art Reference Library, one of the top five art historical research centers in the world. Although its collections, attendance, and public programs have grown significantly over the past decades, the Frick’s facilities have not undergone a significant upgrade since the 1970s. Many of the Frick’s critical functions are currently constrained—from the presentation, care, and conservation of its collections, to education programs and basic visitor services—having been retrofitted into spaces in and adjacent to the former residence.

The project will open to the public—for the first time—new areas of the historic Frick home, reorganize and upgrade existing spaces in the Frick’s buildings, and renovate underground facilities. It will create a more natural flow for visitors throughout the buildings, while enhancing and upgrading the behind-the scenes facilities to enable professional staff to work more efficiently and effectively. At the same time, the expansion will preserve the distinctively residential character and intimate scale of the house and its gardens, both those original to the residence and in more recent additions.

“We enter the next phase of our expansion process energized by the promise of an enhanced facility that will address the Frick’s urgent programmatic and museological needs, while ensuring that the institution will continue to do what it does best—provide intimate encounters with exceptional artworks in spaces designed for tranquil contemplation,” said Dr. Ian Wardropper, Director of The Frick Collection. “We look forward to developing a design that advances these goals and reflects our passion for preserving the unique character and qualities that define the Frick experience.”

The project will include:
• The opening to the public—for the first time—of a suite of rooms on the second floor of the historic house for use as exhibition galleries. Originally the private living quarters of the Frick family, these rooms will retain their residential scale and are uniquely suited to the presentation of small-scale objects from the Frick’s permanent collection.
• The creation of a new gallery within the 1935 building for the presentation of special exhibitions. This new space, contiguous to the permanent collection galleries on the main floor, will help to facilitate a dialogue between the Frick’s holdings and works in loan shows, and will enable the Frick to keep more of its permanent collection on view throughout the year.
• The creation of dedicated, purpose-built spaces to accommodate the Frick’s roster of educational and public programming, scaled to the institution’s programs and mission.
• The reconfiguration of existing visitor amenities to create more streamlined circulation, offer a clearer public connection between the museum and Frick Art Reference Library, and ensuring easy access for the Frick’s audiences, including those with disabilities.
• The establishment of state-of-the-art conservation spaces to ensure that the former house and the Frick’s esteemed art and research collections will continue to receive the highest caliber of professional care.

Further details on the enhancement and expansion plan, including square footage and project cost, will be determined together with the architectural team that is selected.

Originally constructed in 1913–14 by Carrère and Hastings, the Frick house has been expanded several times in response to the growth of its collections and the needs of the public. In the 1930s, architect John Russell Pope undertook the conversion of the family home into a public museum, nearly doubling its original size, and demolishing the adjoining library building that had been added in 1924 in order to construct a larger library to accommodate its growing collections. An additional expansion occurred in 1977, which included the creation of the 70th Street Garden. In 2011, the Portico Gallery was created by enclosing an existing loggia.

Among the recent acquisitions at the Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame:

Michel Garnier, Portrait of Josephine de Beauharnais, 1790, oil on mahogany panel, 12.75 x 10.5 inches (Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame; gift of Michael and Susie McLoughlin, 2015.079)

This unusual portrait of Josephine de Beauharnais (1763–1814), the future wife of Napoleon Bonaparte and empress of France, joins depictions of other political figures in the Snite Museum’s collections. This may be the earliest known portrait of the young socialite, probably commissioned by her first husband Alexandre de Beauharnais.

Josephine was born to a plantation owner on the island of Martinique and married the governor’s son, who served as an officer in both the American Revolution and the French Revolutionary Army, in 1779. Running afoul of Robespierre, both Alexandre and Josephine were imprisoned during the Reign of Terror; Josephine alone escaped the guillotine. The widow with two children married Napoleon in 1796 but bore him no children. Concerned for the succession of the throne, Napoleon divorced her in 1809.

Painted on the occasion of the Fête de la Federation (the anniversary of the fall of the Bastille on July 14), the artist shows Josephine in an oval, à l’antique (in profile) against a fairly simple background dressed in a fashionable red, white, and blue ensemble that suggests her solidarity with the revolutionaries. During the festivities, she and her husband represented the Island of Martinique, signaled by her exotic headgear described as à la créole. Seventy years later this work served as a model for another painting made by the artist Hector Viger who used it as a source for his fictionalized scene of Josephine and their two children visiting Alexandre in the Luxembourg prison.

Press release, via Art Daily, for the exhibition now on view at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery:

Scots in Italy: Artists and Adventurers
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, 5 March 2016 — 3 March 2019

Curated by Lucinda Lax

An enthralling new exhibition set to open at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery this spring will highlight Scotland’s fascination with Italy during the eighteenth century. Featuring a selection of stunning works from across the National Galleries of Scotland’s collection, Scots in Italy: Artists and Adventurers will bring to life the experiences of the numerous individuals who travelled in pursuit of the unique cultural and professional opportunities that the experience of Italian life and art offered over this period. A series of paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints will show the impact the journey made on scores of Scots, documenting their experiences and charting their influence, both in Italy and in Scotland.

Gavin Hamilton, Portrait of Douglas Hamilton, 8th Duke of Hamilton and 5th Duke of Brandon, with Dr John Moore and Sir John Moore as a Young Boy, 1775–77 (Edinburgh: Scottish National Portrait Gallery)

Celebrated as the centre of classical and modern European civilisation, Italy’s matchless heritage made it the foremost destination for lovers of art and architecture, history and literature. Artists and architects came to hone their skills in the studios and academies of Rome, Florence and Naples. Wealthy young aristocrats refined their manners and broadened their minds in the hope of preparing themselves for life in high society and government. Adventurers and loyalists—intent upon seeing a Jacobite restoration—flocked to the court of the exiled Stuart monarchy in Rome. Dealers and entrepreneurs, meanwhile, exploited a seemingly endless supply of artistic treasures.

Scots in Italy will focus on the striking Scottish personalities who played a key role in the cultural life of the two countries, and especially on their activities in the great cities of Rome and Naples. They included the painter Gavin Hamilton (1730–1803), who helped launch a revolutionary new artistic style, neo-classicism, that would soon spread across Europe; James Byres (1733–1817) of Tonley, who became the leading expert on the art and antiquities of Rome; Sir William Hamilton (1730–1803), a diplomat, collector and patron of the arts who was a central figure in the social and cultural life of Naples; and Robert Adam (1728–92), the leading Scottish architect, whose experience of ancient Roman architecture would help him transform the appearance of the Scottish capital.

Nathaniel Dance, Portrait of Angelica Kauffmann, watercolour, ca. 1764–66 (Edinburgh: Scottish National Portrait Gallery)

In addition, it reveals the close social, personal and professional networks that emerged around these key figures. Bonded by common loyalties, experiences and family connections, the Scots who travelled to Italy in this period formed a remarkably tight-knit and supportive group. Among the highlights of the exhibition will be some of the most stylish and striking images from the National Galleries’ rich collections of eighteenth-century paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings. Key examples include Gavin Hamilton’s outstanding portrait of Douglas Hamilton, 8th Duke of Hamilton and 5th Duke of Brandon with his tutor, Dr John Moore, and Moore’s son. Painted in Rome in 1775–77, it is one of the artist’s most important works. Brilliantly evoking its three sitters and their shared interest in the classical past, it shows the elegantly poised young duke at its centre, while Dr Moore gestures to the ancient ruins of the Roman Forum and the Temple of Concord. The duke, the artist implies, is not simply in Rome for pleasure, but to learn the lessons of history.

Also on show will be Pompeo Batoni’s magnificent full-length portrait of the 4th Duke of Gordon. Commissioned by the sitter during his visit to Rome of 1762–63, it is one of the finest portraits commissioned by a Scottish traveller from an Italian painter of the period. Other major works on display include Andrea Soldi’s depiction of the great Italian-trained Scottish architect, James Gibbs, standing before his most important commission, the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford; Franciszek Smuglevicz’s portrait of James Byres and his family, painted in Rome in the late 1770s; Domenico Corvi’s portrait of Scottish artist David Allan, who is shown painting from a cast of the Borghese Gladiator; and Paolo Monaldi’s spectacular view of the Palazzo del Re and the celebrations held to mark Henry Benedict’s appointment as a cardinal deacon in July 1747.

The exhibition has been curated by Dr Lucinda Lax, Senior Curator of Eighteenth-Century Collections at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, where she is responsible for researching and presenting the Gallery’s outstanding collection of portraits between 1700 and 1830.

Press release (2 March 2016) from the DIA:

Eve Straussman-Pflanzer © E. Rothstein.

The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) has hired Eve Straussman-Pflanzer as head of the European art department and Elizabeth and Allan Shelden curator of European paintings. Straussman-Pflanzer comes to the DIA from Wellesley College, where she is assistant director of curatorial affairs and senior curator of collections at Wellesley’s Davis Museum. She begins at the DIA on May 2, 2016.

“Eve brings exceptional connoisseurship, scholarship and administrative skills to our curatorial team,” said Salvador Salort-Pons, DIA director. “Her leadership, community engagement and highly collaborative abilities will bring our prestigious European art department and collection to the next level of accomplishment and accessibility. Eve’s expertise includes southern Baroque art and women artists and patrons. Her interest in gender studies will provide a fresh perspective to learning more about our world-class collection, acquiring new works and creating innovative exhibitions in conjunction with our Learning and Interpretation department.”

Straussman-Pflanzer previously held positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC), where she researched and published on European painting and sculpture from the Renaissance to the 18th century. At the AIC, she curated the exhibition Violence and Virtue: Artemisia Gentileschi’s ‘Judith Slaying Holofernes’ as well as installations on Ludovico Carracci and Picasso’s relationship to Spanish Golden Age painting. She contributed to the exhibition catalogues Kings, Queens and Courtiers: Art in Early Renaissance France and Capturing the Sublime: Five Centuries of Italian Drawing. Straussman-Pflanzer also taught courses on early modern art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago.

At the Davis Museum, Straussman-Pflanzer led the curatorial team and organized special exhibitions, including Figment of the Past: Venetian Works on Paper, Hanging with the Old Masters, and Warhol@Wellesley. She also shepherded the reinstallation of the permanent collection and is curating the first monographic exhibition in America on the Florentine 17th-century painter Carlo Dolci to open at the Davis on February 8, 2017 with a second venue at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, later that year.

Straussman-Pflanzer earned her BA from Smith College and her MA and PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Her dissertation focused on the art patronage of Grand Duchess Vittoria della Rovere, an illustrious member of the Medici family. Eve is a native New Yorker, an avid walker and an aficionado of all things edible.