Enfilade

Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin, A Vase of Flowers, early 1760s, oil on canvas, 45 × 37 cm (Edinburgh: Scottish National Gallery, NG1883; purchased with the aid of the Cowan Smith Bequest Fund 1937).

My ‘note from the editor’ resulted in many kind words of support—in the comments section and in my inbox. Thanks so much! It also led to what I take to be a very clever idea from Joan Coutu, Professor of Art History and Visual Culture at the University of Waterloo. Observing that many of us find ourselves cut off from our regular research resources, she suggests that we might use Enfilade to identify needs, which the community might in turn be well-resourced to meet. This sort of thing happens often on Listservs, though often at the expense of annoying emails tied to a narrow, specific thread of interest. It would seem that the size and expertise of Enfilade’s readership should be well-suited to address lots of scholarly questions related to the long eighteenth century.

As a way to test the water, I would propose, using this posting as a Notes & Queries Page. Readers are welcome to send requests my way (CraigAshleyHanson@gmail.com), and I’ll add them here. If it’s a huge success, then great, and if it goes nowhere that’s fine, too. Feel free to treat it as a kind of ‘community classified page’. If you’re asking a question, please be sure to include an email address. Perhaps you’re looking for a specific article or a few pages from a book. Perhaps you have a question about online-teaching. Perhaps you’re wondering how best to contact a curator. General news items are also welcome: particularly as related to any major resources that might be foregoing their usual subscription firewalls (The Index of Medieval Art just announced that it will go open-access until 1 June 2020; here’s hoping that others follow suit). Anything that feels like it could be communicated in a sentence or two (rather than deserving its own posting) is potentially fair game. In addition to emailing me directly, you’re welcome to leave requests in the comments section; I’ll move them to to the posting, where people are more likely to notice them. Also, if you read Enfilade postings only as they’re delivered to your inbox, you’ll need to visit the website to see how this posting develops. –CH

N O T E S  &  Q U E R I E S

Requests

• Hope Saska writes (24 March): I’d love to hear from educators who have used their museums and special collections in their teaching presentations. I’m also keen to brainstorm ways we can work together to innovate in teaching from collections. Of course, nothing compares to firsthand experiences with objects, but many of us in academic art museums/special collections are eager to continue to share our collections. And many of us are eager to participate in instruction, much as we do in study room visits. I’d love feedback and can be reached at: hope.saska@colorado.edu.
Hope Saska, PhD
Curator of Collections and Exhibitions
CU Art Museum | Visual Arts Complex
University of Colorado | Boulder

Resources

• For $100 per annum, The York Society Library offers E-memberships for individuals primarily interested in taking advantage of the Library’s significant collection of electronic resources. The E-membership category provides remote and onsite access to the Library’s full array of electronic resources, including e-books, digital magazines, audiobook downloads, electronic databases, and event recordings.

• As Kee Il Choi notes (9 April): Jane Eyre, a collaboration with Bristol Old Vic, filmed by National Theatre Live at London’s National Theatre, is available via YouTube from now until 16 April. It’s followed by weekly offerings that include Treasure Island, Twelfth Night, and One Man, Two Guvnors. More information is available here.

• Open Culture, is a clearinghouse for free culture and educational media on the web with lots of audio books, online courses, MOOCs, films, etc.

• As Theresa Machemer writes in the Smithsonian Magazine (1 April 2020), “Last week, the nonprofit Internet Archive launched a National Emergency Library featuring 1.4 million digitized books from the last century, all freely available for download without the usual one-at-a-time reader restriction. Presented as a generous move in service of students and educators who no longer have access to their local libraries—many of which have closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic—the announcement was initially met with praise. But backlash from authors and publishers has since framed the collection differently, presenting it as internet piracy that violates intellectual property laws.” Jill Lepore, writing in The New Yorker (26 March 2020) was one of the early voices of praise, while The Authors Guild offered an emphatic statement condemning the NEL (27 March 2020).

• Kee IL Choi writes (28 March): The New York Public Library has opened up a lot of its databases, including JStor (NYPL cards required for full access).

• We’re now in the second week (25 March) of The Metropolitan Opera’s free encore presentations from the company’s Live in HD series; eighteenth-century works were last week; this week is Wagner. From the Met’s website: “each performance [is] available for a period of 23 hours, from 7:30pm EDT until 6:30pm the following day. The schedule will include outstanding complete performances from the past 14 years of cinema transmissions, starring all of opera’s greatest singers.” -Craig Hanson

• Cristina Sofia Martinez writes: I have been compiling a number of free online resources for my students that others may also find useful. Very best, and keep safe! -Cristina

Libraries/Research/Books free resources on Muse during Covid-19.

Open-Access JSTOR Materials accessible to the public.

Le Guggenheim offre ses livres d’art, as noted at Vice.

La BnF choisit de rendre accessible gratuitement à tous l’ensemble de l’offre de son site de presse, RetroNews. Grace à toutes les ressources de presse que le site propose, vous pouvez à la fois relire l’histoire et la faire découvrir à vos enfants ou vos élèves. Tous les articles, vidéos, documents audio produits par les équipes de journalistes, chercheurs et universitaires sont consultables gratuitement pendant le confinement. Ils retracent et analysent les événements de la petite et de la grande histoire couverts par la presse de l’époque. Pour y accéder, il suffit de se créer un compte personnel. Toutes les données seront supprimées à l’issue de l’abonnement gratuit.

The Czech National Library has made its 206,000-title archive available online for free.

Virtual Tours of Twelve Famous Museums, via Travel + Leisure.

Nine Dazzling Art Experiences You Can Have From the Comfort of Your Home, via Artnet News.

A Five-Hour, One-Take Cinematic Tour of Russia’s Hermitage Museum, via Open Culture.

Watch Free IDFA Movies (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam).

4200 Rare Feature Films to Watch for Free and Legally at APAR.

‘Quarantine Soirees’: Classical Music and Opera to Stream at Home, via The Guardian.

Philharmonie de Paris, an exclusive concert each evening at 20:30.

Completed Requests (archive)

• Sharon Goodman writes (27 March): Would anyone be able to scan me a copy of plate 77 of C.H. Tatham’s Etchings, Representing the Best Examples of Ancient Ornamental Architecture; Drawn from The Originals In Rome, And Other Parts of Italy, During The Years 1794, 1795, And 1796 please? Unfortunately, this publication is not online to my knowledge. My email is: sgoodman@christies.com.

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Note (29 March 2020) — The original version of this posting appeared 25 March 2020; it’s updated based on incoming requests.

To date, we’ve not done a lot of inquiry-oriented things here at Enfilade, but I’ve long thought it could be a useful forum for certain kinds of notes and queries. Here’s a question from Susan Dixon:

The La Salle University Art Museum in Philadelphia recently acquired a painting attributed to Benjamin Haydon (1786–1846). The staff have some cause to believe it’s a portrait of the Stanhope family. Charles Stanhope, the 3rd Earl Stanhope (1753–1816), invented a type of printing press that bears his name. He had three sons and a few daughters.

Might anyone be conducting research relevant to the painting?

Feel free to respond with a comment below or email Susan directly, dixons@lasalle.edu. –CH

Yesterday, Arlene Leis posted a question to C18-L regarding this print. Since, however, the list (like most listservs) doesn’t allow for attachments, I thought it might be useful to include the query here. -CH

This small picture (10 x 12 cm)  is from a lady’s pocket book, circa 1780. Tents are set-up around the garden wall, but in the middle are rows of tiny triangles. Does anyone know what these might be? Also, I would appreciate any information pertaining to the camp set up in the museum’s garden.

Thanks,
Arlene Leis

Please feel free to respond with comments below.