Circa 1492 • Art In The Age Of Exploration

Marking the 500th anniversary of the meeting of worlds that took place at the end of the 15th century, Circa 1492 reflects on this watershed moment, one that has been called “the most significant secular event in human history.” Informed by the lasting perspective of art and cultural achievement, this exhibition catalog assesses what we have loosely termed the “Age of Exploration.” Including more than 600 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, maps, scientific instruments, and works of decorative art from four continents—most of them created during the late 15th or early 16th century—the exhibition provides a broad, thematic survey through space rather than chronologically through time. The juxtapositions presented generate a new, keener understanding, both intellectually and affectively, of this historic era that resulted in links among continents that forever changed the character of the relationships between the world’s cultures.

 

 

Editor Jay A. Levenson (Autor)  

Greek Art of the Aegean Islands • MET

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents us with a rich sampling of the splendid cultural heritage of Greece. Not only does it emphasize the diverse geographic centers of artistic production but it also covers a broad chronological span, extending from the Early Bronze Age to the Classic Period of the fifth century B.C. Many of the objects are of particular interest in that they are recent finds, which, outside of archaeological circles, are known only to those who have actually visited the National Museum in Athens, and the many different local museums throughout the Greek islands. The loan demonstrates the significant cultural interconnections among the islands as well as the wealth and variety of materials used and the lively forms that characterize so much of Greek art.

French Gothic Ivories: Material Theologies and the Sculptor’s Craft

 

 

This volume is the first to consider the golden century of Gothic ivory sculpture (1230-1330) in its material, theological, and artistic contexts. Providing a range of new sources and interpretations, Sarah Guérin charts the progressive development and deepening of material resonances expressed in these small-scale carvings. Guérin traces the journey of ivory tusks, from the intercontinental trade routes that delivered ivory tusks to northern Europe, to the workbenches of specialist artisans in medieval Paris, and, ultimately, the altars and private chapels in which these objects were venerated. She also studies the rich social lives and uses of a diverse range of art works fashioned from ivory, including standalone statuettes, diptychs, tabernacles, and altarpieces. Offering new insights into the resonances that ivory sculpture held for their makers and viewers, Guérin's study contributes to our understanding of the history of materials, craft, and later medieval devotional practices.

 

Art: Paintings, Sculpture, Artists, Styles, Schools

 

Bernini: Sculpting in Clay

 

The brilliantly expressive clay models created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680) as "sketches" for his works in marble offer extraordinary insights into his creative imagination. Although long admired, the terracotta models have never been the subject of detailed examination. This publication presents a wealth of new discoveries (including evidence of the artist's fingerprints imprinted on the clay), resolving lingering issues of attribution while giving readers a vivid sense of how the artist and his assistants fulfilled a steady stream of monumental commissions. Essays describe Bernini's education as a modeler; his approach to preparatory drawings; his use of assistants; and the response to his models by 17th-century collectors. Extensive research by conservators and art historians explores the different types of models created in Bernini's workshop. Richly illustrated, Bernini transforms our understanding of the sculptor and his distinctive and fascinating working methods.

 

Homosexuality in Art • James Smalls

This book is not a panegyric of homosexuality. It is a scientific study led by Professor James Smalls who teaches art history at the prestigious University of Maryland, Baltimore county.

The author attempts to highlight the sensibility particular to homosexuals in creation, and abandons all classical clichés and sociological approaches.
The process of creating is examined and allows one to comprehend the contribution of homosexuality to the evolution of emotional perception.
In a time when all barriers have been broken, this analysis offers a second look and a new understanding of our civilization’s masterpieces.

Art For The Nation • National Gallery Of Art

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Fifteenth to Eighteenth Century European Drawings in the Robert Lehman Collection Central Europe

Art Of Aztec Mexico • Treasures Of Tenochtitlan

Aztec culture has been the subject of scholarly curiosity since the Spanish conquest of the New World in the 16th century. A vast body of surviving ethnohistorical records and many archaeological excavations have revealed the nature of Aztec society more clearly than that of any other pre-Columbian people. By the 20th century, interest in the Aztecs had waned, and archaeologists, anthropologists, and art historians turned their attention to other, lesser-known cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. From 1978 to 1982, however, excavations in downtown Mexico City gave new impetus to Aztec research, particularly the discovery of the ritual heart of the Aztec empire, the Templo Mayor and Tenochtitlan. This catalog documents an exhibition that accompanied a scholarly symposium at Dumbarton Oaks on the results of the Templo Mayor excavations and includes works from 23 collections.

Medieval Ornament

Liechtenstein The Princely Collections

For successive generations the Princes of Liechtenstein have been devoted collectors of art. The result of this tradition is a collection of masterpieces that in its depth and breadth mirrors more than four hundred years of European history and ranks among the world's greatest private collections. The paintings, sculpture, firearms, porcelain, and other works of art exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and richly illustrated and discussed in this book were acquired or commissioned by the Princes of the House of Liechtenstein to decorate their magnificent palaces, to display their status and wealth, to make know their distinction as great collectors, and to satisfy their princely sense of noblesse oblige.
Of the many memorable masterpieces that make up the Princely Collections perhaps the most notable is the great cycle of eight canvases by Peter Paul Rubens—the history of Decius Mus, the Roman consul—the only complete ensemble of this type now in private hands. Other works by Rubens in the collection include the beguiling portrait of the artist's daughter Clara Serena and the Assumption of the Virgin, a monumental work of Rubens's maturity.
The catalogue conveys the continuum of the Princes' collecting by means of a series of high points revolving around specific moments in the history of the House of Liechtenstein. The paintings by Marcantonio Franceschini that once decorated the Liechtenstein Garden Palace in Vienna, for example, evoke the splendor of the Princes' numerous residences throughout Austria, Moravia, Bohemia, and Silesia; the magnificent pietre dure tables call to mind the close ties that the Princes of Liechtenstein had with the court of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague; and a wealth of elaborately decorated firearms dating from the late sixteenth through the eighteenth century recalls the role of the Princes not only as aristocratic huntsmen but also as great military leaders in the service of the Holy Roman Empire. The Liechtensteins' unflagging sense of service to the Emperors and their courtly taste are well symbolized by the spectacular Golden Carriage, a Rococo masterpiece of French carriage building that served Prince Joseph Wenzel von Liechtenstein in his ceremonial entry into Paris as imperial ambassador in 1738.
The superb and diverse panoply of works amassed by the Princes of the House of Liechtenstein not only represents the paradigm of a great European princely collection but also bears the distinction of being the private collection of the only surviving monarchy of the Holy Roman Empire, a princely house that traces its distinguished lineage back to the twelfth century. The exhibition of these esteemed works at The Metropolitan Museum of Art marks two modern highlights in the history of the Princely Collections, for never before have these works been on view in the New World, nor have the full depth and range of the Princely Collections been shown publicly to such advantage anywhere in the world for over thirty years.

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Traducción Automática:

Durante generaciones sucesivas, los Príncipes de Liechtenstein han sido devotos coleccionistas de arte. El resultado de esta tradición es una colección de obras maestras que en su profundidad y amplitud refleja más de cuatrocientos años de historia europea y se encuentra entre las colecciones privadas más grandes del mundo. Las pinturas, esculturas, armas de fuego, porcelana y otras obras de arte expuestas en el Museo Metropolitano de Arte y ricamente ilustradas y discutidas en este libro fueron adquiridas o encargadas por los Príncipes de la Casa de Liechtenstein para decorar sus magníficos palacios, para mostrar sus El estado y la riqueza, para hacer conocer su distinción como grandes coleccionistas, y para satisfacer su sentido principesco de nobleza.

De las muchas obras maestras memorables que componen las Colecciones Principales, quizás la más notable sea el gran ciclo de ocho lienzos de Peter Paul Rubens, la historia de Decius Mus, el cónsul romano, el único conjunto completo de este tipo ahora en manos privadas. Otras obras de Rubens en la colección incluyen el retrato seductor de la hija de la artista Clara Serena y la Asunción de la Virgen, una obra monumental de la madurez de Rubens.

El catálogo transmite el continuo de la recopilación de los Príncipes mediante una serie de puntos importantes que giran en torno a momentos específicos de la historia de la Casa de Liechtenstein. Las pinturas de Marcantonio Franceschini que una vez decoraron el Liechtenstein Garden Palace en Viena, por ejemplo, evocan el esplendor de las numerosas residencias de los Príncipes en Austria, Moravia, Bohemia y Silesia; las magníficas mesas de pietre dure recuerdan los estrechos vínculos que los príncipes de Liechtenstein tenían con la corte del emperador Rudolf II en Praga; y una gran cantidad de armas de fuego elaboradamente decoradas que datan de finales del siglo XVI hasta el siglo XVIII recuerdan el papel de los Príncipes no solo como cazadores aristocráticos sino también como grandes líderes militares al servicio del Sacro Imperio Romano. El sentido incansable del servicio de los Liechtensteins a los Emperadores y su gusto cortés están bien simbolizados por el espectacular Golden Carriage, una obra maestra rococó del edificio francés de carruajes que sirvió al príncipe Joseph Wenzel von Liechtenstein en su entrada ceremonial a París como embajador imperial en 1738.

La soberbia y diversa panoplia de obras acumuladas por los Príncipes de la Casa de Liechtenstein no solo representa el paradigma de una gran colección principesca europea, sino que también tiene la distinción de ser la colección privada de la única monarquía superviviente del Sacro Imperio Romano, una Casa que remonta su distinguido linaje hasta el siglo XII. La exposición de estas estimadas obras en el Museo Metropolitano de Arte marca dos aspectos modernos en la historia de las Colecciones Principales, ya que nunca antes se han visto estas obras en el Nuevo Mundo, ni se ha explorado la profundidad y alcance de las Principales Colecciones. mostrado públicamente con tal ventaja en cualquier parte del mundo por más de treinta años.

The Lure of the Exotic Gauguin in New York Collections

Mirror of the Medieval World • MET

Art Of The Pacific Islands • National Gallery of Art

Peter Gathercole, Adrienne L. Kaeppler, and Douglas Newton

Published 1979

366 pages

In spite of the wealth it has to offer, the art of the Pacific Islands remains perhaps the least known of the world’s art to the modern audience. Throughout this mass of islands there existed hundreds of cultures, many of them sustained by only a few hundred people. The cultures developed into richly disparate modes with elaborate social systems and highly refined systems of intellectual and religious life. Most striking of all, however, is that these cultures created an extraordinary range of art styles to express and serve their beliefs. The aim of the exhibition this catalog accompanied was to highlight objects that were made before or collected at the earliest contact by Westerners, and which therefore reflect the most pristine state of the cultures. Many of the works included had never before been published or exhibited.

Light on Stone Greek and Roman Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art a Photographic Essay

In 1999, the Metropolitan Museum’s renowned collection of ancient Greek sculpture was reinstalled in dramatic new galleries. This book features specially commissioned photographs of these monumental marble sculptures in their new setting, which is beautifully enhanced by natural light.

An informative essay serves as an introduction to the Greek sculpture collection and complements these exquisite photographs, which feature details as well as overall views of sculptural groups. The images are in black and white, sepia, and color. An illustrated checklist provides informative descriptions of the sculptures from the author’s personal perspective.

Liechtenstein Palaces in Vienna from the Age of the Baroque

It is astonishing that the impressive artistic development of the imperial city of Vienna after its liberation from the Turkish menace in 1683 was stimulated and supported more vigorously by the leading families of the aristocracy that it was by the Hapsburg rulers. Although the military success of the Hapsburgs provides the historical and economic as well as the psychological background for the flowering of "Vienna gloriosa," the imperial court did not function as an important patron of the arts until relatively late, during the reign of Charles VI (1711–40). Until then it was the great aristocratic families of the empire who, in the years around 1700, turned Vienna into a Baroque city and a European art center.

Because of its high social standing, the House of Liechtenstein was obliged to play a leading role in this process; not only were the Liechtensteins one of the most ancient noble families in the realm, but they had been richly rewarded, after the Catholic victory in the Battle of the White Mountain (1620), with extensive properties in Austria, Bohemia, and Moravia in recompense for their fidelity to the Emperor. Prince Johann Adam Andreas (1657–1712) became regent of the house of Liechtenstein in 1684, improving the economic management of his debt-encumbered estates. Because of the resulting fiscal prosperity of the house of Liechtenstein, Johann Adam may have been the only one of his contemporaries who was in a position to patronize the arts purely on the basis of personal taste and rigorous artistics standards. He gleaned broad first-hand artistic knowledge from his grand "gentlemen's tour" of Europe, focusing particularly on Italian art, and his continual contact with the great art dealers of Europe and any great artist that visited Vienna. This book illustrates and analyzes in detail the art, architecture, and sculpture of the Garden Palace and the City Palace, both monuments in Vienna of which Johann Adam of the house of Liechtenstein was patron.

Medieval church architecture by Jon Cannon

 

 

Britain is a treasure trove of medieval architecture. Almost every village and town in the land has a church that was built during the period, whose history is legible – to those who know how to look – in every arch, capital, roof vault, and detail of window tracery. By learning how to identify the stylistic phases that resulted from shifts in architectural fashion, it is possible to date each part of a church to within a decade or two; this book introduces all the key features of each succeeding style, from Anglo-Saxon and Norman through to the three great gothic styles, Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular. It will be indispensable to anyone who enjoys exploring medieval churches, and who wants to understand and appreciate their beauty more deeply.