Enfilade

George Stubbs, Mares and Foals Belonging to the 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, ca. 1761–62, oil on canvas, 99 × 187 cm
(Fort Worth: Kimbell Art Museum, acquired in memory of Ben J. Fortson)

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From the press release (28 June 2024), as noted at Art History News:

The Kimbell Art Museum today announced the acquisition of George Stubbs’s Mares and Foals Belonging to the 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, painted between about 1761 and 1762. Widely regarded as the finest painter of animals in the history of European art, Stubbs is best known for his paintings of horses, which transcend historical genres to achieve rare pictorial refinement and emotional resonance. The painting entering the Kimbell’s collection is one of the principal, and likely earliest, in a celebrated, innovative series that has been called the artist’s crowning achievement: paintings depicting friezes of brood mares and their offspring. The acquisition, along with that of Thomas Gainsborough’s painting Going to Market, Early Morning (ca. 1773), purchased by the Kimbell in 2023, significantly elevates the Kimbell’s holdings of eighteenth-century British paintings, which Velma and Kay Kimbell favored when initially building their collection. The painting will be on view in the Kimbell’s Louis I. Kahn Building beginning 28 June 2024.

“With a mandate to collect only works of major historical and aesthetic importance, the Kimbell is the natural home for this masterpiece,” said Eric Lee, director of the Kimbell Art Museum. “I am sure that it will become an audience favorite. Visitors to the museum will relish the multidimensional depiction of mares and foals—alive with subtle drama, imbued with tenderness, and fascinating in its expression of the individual personalities of each horse.”

In this picture, which is slightly more than six feet long by three feet tall, a mature bay mare commands the center of a group of two other mares and three foals, who nuzzle close to their mothers. The composition is set within a springtime landscape at what is probably the viscount’s family estate of Lydiard Tregoze, Wiltshire, now Borough of Swindon, with verdant green parkland, cloudy sky, and a broad, dark gray stretch of water providing spatial interest beyond the long, slender legs of the horses. Highly naturalistic, the horses are lifelike in their anatomical forms and poses. While the overall mood is tranquil and domestic as the horses gently commune with each other, the cloudy sky and the wide, sparkling eyes of the mares add an element of drama and nobility to the composition.

The titular 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, Frederick St. John (1732–1787), was one of Stubbs’s most important early patrons. The Kimbell painting seems to be the earliest commission of this virtually unprecedented subject; it is probably the work that Stubbs exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1762. Soon, other members of Bolingbroke’s circle of aristocratic horse enthusiasts and fellow statesmen of the Whig political party commissioned similar compositions on the theme of brood mares and their offspring, many doubtless depicting the patrons’ own horses. Stubbs’s equestrian paintings—along with his portrayals of rural life and of other animals—were an especially delightful and sophisticated expression of the pastimes of the British nobility and landed gentry. Patrons could hang such works alongside fashionable portraits and Old Master paintings in their town or country houses, where vast fields, parklands, stables, and studs reflected their love of hunting and sporting life.

Stubbs was then, and is today, recognized for his unrivaled understanding of equine anatomy and unsurpassed ability to record not only the appearance of individual animals but also their temperaments. His genius in understanding the horse arose from anatomical study and from his apparent empathy for the character of each horse and his ability to express its exquisite beauty. His skill extended to landscapes that enhanced the mood, composition, and legibility of the animal subjects.

Mares and Foals Belonging to the 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke remained in the family collection at Lydiard Tregoze until it was sold at auction in 1943 and shortly thereafter entered the collection of Mrs. John Arthur Dewar, of the whisky distillery family, who also owned Henry Raeburn’s Allen Brothers (Portrait of James and John Lee Allen), which entered the Kimbell collection in 2002. The Kimbell acquired Mares and Foals Belonging to the 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke from a private collection through London-based art dealers Simon C. Dickinson Ltd. At the museum, the painting joins Stubbs’s Lord Grosvenor’s Arabian Stallion with a Groom, a work acquired by the Kimbell in 1981. Mares and Foals Belonging to the 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke was previously on view at the Kimbell in 2004–05, when it was on loan to the exhibition Stubbs and the Horse.

The Kimbell Art Foundation acquired Mares and Foals Belonging to the 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke in memory of Ben J. Fortson (1932–2024), who passed away in May and whose leadership was instrumental in the Kimbell’s growth. Mr. Fortson served on the Board of Directors of the Kimbell Art Foundation from 1964 until his death and was the Foundation’s longtime Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He will be forever remembered for stewarding the Kimbell’s investments and finances and for being the driving force behind the building of the museum’s Renzo Piano Pavilion, which opened in 2013 and houses the museum’s temporary exhibitions and permanent collections of Asian, African, and ancient American art.

Press release (26 March) from the Museum of the American Revolution, with coverage appearing in The Washington Post over the weekend (14 April 2024) . . .

Attributed to Pierre Eugène du Simitière, Soldiers and Camp Followers of the Continental Army’s North Carolina Brigade Marching through Philadelphia on 25 August 1777, pen and ink on paper (Philadelphia: Museum of the American Revolution).

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An eyewitness pen-and-ink sketch depicting Continental Army soldiers and camp followers marching through Philadelphia on 25 August 1777, which has never been documented or published by historians, has been donated to the Museum of the American Revolution. This sketch is the first wartime depiction of North Carolina troops ­known to exist, and only the second-known depiction of female camp followers of the Continental Army drawn by an eyewitness.

“This sketch is extremely important to our understanding of the daily operations of the Continental Army,” said Matthew Skic, Curator of Exhibitions at the Museum, who worked to authenticate the sketch and identify its creator after discovering it in a private collection. “It helps us visualize the everyday lives of these troops—the joyous, the difficult, and the mundane.”

This discovery brings to light a lively scene that newspaper accounts confirm occurred the morning of 25 August 1777, as the North Carolina Brigade and its commander, Brigadier General Francis Nash, marched to join the rest of General George Washington’s army before seeing action in both the Battle of Brandywine (11 September 1777) and the Battle of Germantown (4 October 1777).

The drawing shows two soldiers marching alongside an open-sided wagon, as well as a commissioned officer and a wagon driver mounted on horseback. Inside the wagon sit two women, one holding an infant, amongst various equipment and baggage of the brigade. Two men are also depicted riding on the back of the wagon. The inclusion of female camp followers—who shared life on campaign with enlisted husbands and fathers and supported the troops by sewing, doing laundry, and selling food—exemplifies a direct defiance of known regulations at the time about how women following the army could use wagons. Earlier in August, before the march depicted in the sketch took place, Washington himself brought up issues of women and children slowing down his troops, calling them “a clog upon every movement.”

Reverse side of the sketch of the North Carolina Brigade showing five male figure studies.

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On the reverse of the North Carolina Brigade sketch are five studies of two male figures, one brandishing a sword and the other engaged in a fist fight. Artists frequently sketched studies like these when they were working on larger works, as it allowed them to try out different poses or details and to get a sense of the scale of the larger drawing or painting.

The sketch was acquired by Judith Hernstadt, a Manhattan-based urban and regional planner and former television executive, in the late 1970s from a New York City antiques dealer. Hernstadt donated the sketch to the Museum in 2023, but at the time, the identity of the artist who drew it was still unknown. An ink inscription below the vignette of the North Carolina Brigade reads, “an exact representation of a waggon belonging to the north carolina brigade of continental troops which passed thro Philadelphia august done by …” with the rest of the lettering cut away due to an old paper repair.

After detailed research, handwriting analysis, and comparison to similar sketches, Skic identified the sketch’s creator as Switzerland-born artist and collector Pierre Eugène du Simitière (1737–1784), who settled in Philadelphia in about 1774 and is now known for documenting the rising American Revolution as it happened. Du Simitière went on to create from-life profile portraits of prominent Revolutionary leaders including Washington and he suggested the motto “E Pluribus Unum” through his rejected design for the Great Seal of the United States in 1776. In 1782, he founded the first museum in the United States that was open to the public.

Many of Du Simitière’s significant manuscripts and drawings still exist and are available for researchers to study at both The Library Company of Philadelphia and the Library of Congress. It is yet to be determined if either sketch relates to another work by du Simitière, but research is ongoing.

We were thrilled to piece together the many illuminating and significant parts of this sketch’s history through our unparalleled scholarship here at the Museum of the American Revolution,” said Dr. R. Scott Stephenson, President and CEO of the Museum. “As we round out our celebration of Women’s History Month, we revel in the discovery of this new depiction of female camp followers as highlighting the lesser-known stories and critical roles of women throughout the American Revolution are at the heart of the Museum’s offerings.”

The sketch was conserved due to generous contributions from the North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati, which is comprised of descendants of officers of the North Carolina Continental Line.

“The North Carolina Society of Cincinnati is proud to support the conservation and framing of this important discovery, which serves as an important reminder that the intricate history of both our state and our nation is still unfolding,” said Society President George Lennon.

From the press release (via Art Daily) . . .

Carlo Maratti, The Birth of the Virgin, ca. 1684, oil on canvas, 254 × 159 cm (South Bend: Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, Notre Dame: On loan from the Cummins Collection L2024.001).

The Raclin Murphy Museum of Art announced the arrival and installation of a major altarpiece, The Birth of the Virgin, by the Italian Baroque painter Carlo Maratti. The painting is a long-term loan from the Cummins family.

Originally commissioned in 1681 or 1682 by the canons of the Church of Santa Maria dell’Anima in Rome, the painting shows attendants caring for the newborn Mary, who turns to look at us. In the background, Anne rests in bed, her husband Joachim at her side, his hands clasped in prayer. The church for which it was commissioned is and remains the German parish in Rome.

“Impressive for both its masterful execution and grand scale, Carlo Maratti’s Birth of the Virgin adds significantly to the collection of sacred art featured at the Raclin Murphy Museum,” said Cheryl Snay, curator of European and American Art before 1900. “Seventeenth-century patrons admired the baroque artist’s sensitive handling of this favorite subject matter, making him one of the leading painters in Rome. We are fortunate to be able to present such a coveted example to our community.”

Maratti is often seen as the last major artist of the classical tradition in Rome, which originated with Raphael and Michelangelo. From his studio in Rome, he executed numerous international commissions. In 1664, he became the director of the Accademia di San Luca, Rome.

The altarpiece hung in the church until 1685, when the canons decided to decline the commission as too costly. Maratti then sold the painting to Count Friedrich Christian von Schaumburg-Lippe, who moved it to his home in Germany. Numerous preparatory sketches for the altarpiece survive in Madrid, Windsor, and Düsseldorf.

“This extraordinary work of art by one of the great masters of the late Roman Baroque is an exquisite opportunity for all visiting the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art,” shares Museum Director Joseph Antenucci Becherer. “The generosity of the Cummins family celebrates the newly opened Museum and the ever-increasing role of the life of the arts at the University of Notre Dame and the entire region.”

The monumental altarpiece is installed on the balcony flanked by the entrances to the Gallery of European Art before 1700 and the Mary, Queen of Families Chapel. Although the origins of a museum collection at the University date to 1875 and include many liturgical images, the scale and grandeur of this altarpiece is an exceptional addition.

Maria Cosway, A Religious Allegory on the Death of a Young Woman, painted in Paris 1801–02, oil on panel, 46 × 51 cm
(Kansas City: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2023.45)

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From the press release:

A major painting by an esteemed 18th-century female artist was gifted to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Realized in 1801–02, A Religious Allegory on the Death of a Young Woman is the last known work by celebrated painter Maria Cosway (1759–1838) and the second known work by the artist in a North American public collection. It is the gift of longtime museum supporters Virginia and James Moffett.

“This singularly important work is the last painting ever completed by Maria Cosway,” said Julián Zugazagoitia, Director & CEO of the Nelson-Atkins. “This, along with the Rachel Ruysch painting given by the Moffetts several years ago, has significantly enriched the diversity of our European collection, and we are most grateful to them. Thanks to their extraordinary generosity, we can provide visitors and scholars with a much deeper insight into the lives of two immensely significant women artists. Their inclusion in the collection enables us to explore their history more extensively and present a more comprehensive picture of European Art.”

The nocturnal scene portrays a young woman in white on her deathbed surrounded by three mourners and one angel at her head, who leans forward with her arms extended toward the light. Three additional figures appear at her feet representing Charity, Faith, and Hope. Influenced by neoclassicism, Cosway’s composition resonates with the works of her contemporaries Jacques-Louis David, John Flaxman, William Blake, and Antonio Canova.

“This final painting illustrates the summation of Cosway’s artistic journey, religious fervor, and the profound loss of her only child,” said Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Louis L. and Adelaide C. Ward Senior Curator, European Arts.

“It is a major statement in Cosway’s career, embodying her intense Catholicism and personal grief,” added Stephen Lloyd, curator of the Derby Collection at Knowsley Hall, England, a specialist in Cosway’s work.

It is also the only known composition to have survived that Cosway realized in multiple media: painting, drawing, and etching.

Born in Italy in 1759, Maria Cosway exhibited artistic talents from an early age. Her multifaceted career included exhibiting at the Royal Academy in London and opening an art academy for women. This composition stands as her sole known painting executed in Paris.

This is the second major European gift to the Nelson-Atkins from the Moffett collection. Their painting Still Life of Exotic Flowers on a Marble Ledge by late 17th/early 18th-century Dutch artist Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750) hung in the museum’s European galleries, on loan, for 20 years. Virginia and her husband James Moffett came to the museum every Sunday afternoon during those two decades to visit the painting, and they were struck by the affection with which museum visitors admired the delicate work. They decided to make the loan a gift in 2017, and it became the first example by Ruysch to enter the collection. A mature work featuring many exotic flowers from India, Peru, South Africa, and North America, it remained in the artist’s immediate family for at least 10 years, leading scholars to speculate that the painting held special meaning for her.

The Cosway and Ruysch paintings greatly enrich the European collection and join significant works by fellow 18th-century women artists Elisabeth Louise-Vigée LeBrun, Maria Luigia Raggi, and Adélaïde Labille-Guiard. The Moffetts have been similarly generous with gifts to the museum’s American collection.

From the press release, via Art Daily:

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut has named Dr. Philippe Halbert as Richard Koopman Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts. A graduate of the College of William and Mary and the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, Halbert earned his PhD in the history of art from Yale University, where he studied the intersections of art, empire, race, and self-fashioning in the Atlantic world. His academic work centers American decorative arts and material culture broadly, from its Indigenous roots to interconnected phenomena of diaspora, creolization, and settler-colonialism. Halbert has served as Interim Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Wadsworth since November 2022.

“I am committed to telling dynamic, object-centered stories of people and place that transcend geographic, ethnic, linguistic, and temporal bounds,” Halbert said, explaining that his academic interdisciplinary research and professional endeavors are grounded in a desire to encourage appreciation of American decorative arts by specialists and general audiences of all ages.

Proficient in French and Spanish, Halbert has been involved in the development of numerous exhibitions and special installations at the Wadsworth. Oversight responsibilities include over 3,000 decorative arts objects (circa 1650–2020) at the Wadsworth, with duties ranging from daily care of the collection and related research to overseeing rotations in the permanent collection galleries, developing special exhibits, volunteer training, and building partnerships with other institutions and constituents in Hartford and beyond.

Special projects underway and upcoming include New Nation, Many Hands, a special exhibition of federal-era decorative arts and material culture drawn from the permanent collection (on view from June 2023 until September 2024); reinterpretation of the Wetmore parlor, a painted and paneled room from a circa 1746 Middletown, Connecticut, house; and reevaluation of the Wadsworth’s American decorative arts holdings in anticipation of their reinstallation in 2025.

“Philippe is an outstanding scholar and curator of the Atlantic world, especially the interaction between France and North America. His passion for the material culture of vast early America is infectious and his love of curatorial work, breadth of knowledge, and extensive scholarship are incredible assets for the Wadsworth,” said Matthew Hargraves, Director of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. “We are delighted that he has assumed this new role and look forward to his continued stewardship of our remarkable American Decorative Arts collection.”

Previously in his career, Halbert served as a curatorial intern at various museums, including at the Yale University Art Gallery, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Colonial Williamsburg. He has earned numerous awards and fellowships and been an adjunct lecturer and consultant for various institutions, including at the Embassy of the United States in Paris. He is a resident of West Hartford, CT.