Giacobbe Giusti, SASSETTA: Saint Francis Abandons His Father

Giacobbe Giusti, SASSETTA: Saint Francis Abandons His Father

 

 

Giacobbe Giusti, SASSETTA

Detail of il Sassetta’s Ispirazione di San Tommaso, 1423, Museum of Art, Budapest
Born	Stefano di Giovanni di Consolo around 1392 Siena or Cortona
Died	1450 or 1451 (age 58 or 59) Siena
Nationality	Sienese
Known for	Painting

Stefano di Giovanni di Consolo, known as il Sassetta (ca.1392–1450 or 1451) was an Italian painter who is considered one of the most important representatives of Sienese Renaissance painting.^[1] While working within the Sienese tradition, he innovated the style by introducing elements derived from the decorative Gothic style and the realism of contemporary Florentine innovators as Masaccio.^[2]

Life and Works

Giacobbe Giusti, SASSETTA

The name Sassetta has been associated with him, mistakenly, only since the 18th century but is now generally used for this artist.^[2]The date and birthplace of Sassetta are not known. Some say he was born in Siena although there is also a hypothesis that he was born in Cortona. His father, Giovanni, is called da Cartona which possibly means that Cortona was the artist’s birthplace. The meaning of his nickname Sassetta is obscure and is not cited in documents of his time but appears in sources from the eighteenth century.^[1]

Sassetta was probably trained alongside artists like Benedetto di Bindo and Gregorio di Cecco but he had a style all of his own. He achieved a high level of technical refinement and was aware of artistic innovations of talented painters in Florence such as Gentile da Fabriano and Masolino. His work differs from the late Gothic style of many of his Sienese contemporaries.^[3]

His first certain work, which originally had his signature, is the Arte della Lana altarpiece, (1423–1426) fragments of which are now divided among various private and public collections.^[3]

The Madonna of the Snow altarpiece for the Siena Cathedral was a prestigious commission for Sassetta, and is considered his second major work. Not only does he excel at infusing his figures with a natural light that convincingly molds their shape, he also has an amazing handle on spatial relationships, creating cohesive and impressive work.^[3] From this point on, under Gothic influence, Sassetta’s style increases its decorative nature. The polyptych done by Sassetta in San Domenico at Cortona (around 1437) depicts scenes from the legend of St. Anthony the Abbot. He shows great skill in narration through his painting as well as combining a sophisticated color palette and rhythmic compositions.^[4]

Francesco di Giorgio e di Lorenzo, better known as Vecchietta, is said to have been his apprentice.^[4]

He died from pneumonia contracted while decorating the Assumptionfresco on the Porta Romana of Siena. The work was finished by his pupil Sano di Pietro.

Many consider Sassetta’s fusing of traditional and contemporary elements as integral to the move from the Gothic to the Renaissancestyle of painting in Siena.^[4]

A Miracle of the Eucharist

Giacobbe Giusti, SASSETTA

Miracle of the Eucharist

Sassetta was a fiercely pious man. The painting is about the “marriage of righteousness and violence” and the “consequences of sinfulness, the perils of feigning faith and the power of God.”^[5]

The figure in black in the painting is an unbeliever, who has been found out in the process of receiving Communion. The officiating priest offers him the host on a plate, which is pictured miraculously spurting blood. The unbeliever has been struck dead instantly, and the creature above his face is a tiny black devil which has swooped down to snatch away his soul to the depths of Hell. The other men pictured are Carmelite monks, caught in expressions of shock, amazement and disgust. The painting is a “carefully staged, meticulously created illusion” which commemorates the Miracle of Bolsena which is said to have taken place in 1263.^[5] Sassetta’s Altarpiece of the Eucharist was later divided between three museums (British, Hungarian and Italian), the Vatican, and a private collection.^[5]

The Borgo San Sepolcro Altarpiece

The altarpiece was originally painted in Siena, and transported to Sansepolcro for placement in the church of San Francesco. In October 1900 the Berenson family purchased three panels created by Stefano di Giovanni. The Berensons’ collection consisted of St. Francis in Glory, flanked by the standing Blessed Ranieri and St. John the Baptist, which scholars determined are only a part of a complex altar which had now become scattered among twelve collections throughout Europe and North America.^[6] It is generally accepted by the art historical community that Sassetta’s San Francesco altarpiece was one of the largest and most expensive of the Quattrocento.^[7] The fact that it was produced by a Sienese artist in Siena, and shipped to the Tiber valley town in late spring 1444 also speaks to Sassetta’s fame in his time period.

Bernard Berenson bequeathed many of Sassetta’s painting from his Florence Villa to Harvard University, in what became the Center for Italian Renaissance Studies in Florence.^[6] A 3D computer-assisted reconstruction of the altarpiece’s surviving parts is featured in Sassetta: The Borgo San Sepolcro Altarpiece, edited by Machtelt Israels and released in 2009.^[6]

Controversy

There is some contention in the historical art community over which Sienese masters were directly responsible for which paintings. Scenes from the life of St. Anthony of Egypt have been questioned as Sassetta’s own work, and critics such as Donald Bruce believe that near-equals, such as the Griselda master also deserve attention for their achievements in art of this time period.^[8]

Selected works

Giacobbe Giusti, SASSETTA

Saint Francis Abandons His Father.

Sassetta, Madonna col Bambino e quattro santi

Sassetta – The Meeting of St. Anthony and St. Paul – WGA20868

• Meeting of Saint Antonio and Saint Paul (c. 1440), tempera on wood, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., USA
• Vision of Saint Thomas of Aquino before the Cross, (1423), Pinacoteca Vaticana
• Saint Thomas inspired by the dove of the Holy Spirit, tempera on wood, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
• Madonna of the Snows Altarpiece (c. 1430–1432), Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
• A predella of three works at the Detroit Institute of Arts
• San Domenico da Cortona Polyptych (c. 1434), Diocesan Museum, Cortona, Italy
• The Journey of the Magi(1435) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
• Saint Anthony the Hermit Tortured by Devils, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
• Virgin and Child Adored by Six Angels (1437–44), Louvre Museum, Paris, France
• The Burning of a Heretic(1423), National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
• Last Supper (1423), Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena
• Ecstasy of Saint Francis(1437–44), Villa I Tatti, Settignano, Italy
• The Miracle of the Eucharist, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, United Kingdom
• Saint Francis receiving stigmata (1437–44), National Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• Mystic Marriage of St. Francis (c. 1450), Musée Condé, Chantilly, France

References

1. ^ Jump up to:^a b Judy Metro, Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. National Gallery of Art, Oxford University Press: Oxford, New York, 2003. p. 621
2. ^ Jump up to:^a b Marco Torriti. “Sassetta.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 9 Mar. 2016
3. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Miklós Boskovits; National Gallery of Art (U.S.); et al, Italian paintings of the fifteenth century (Washington: National Gallery of Art; New York, 2003), p. 623.
4. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Sassetta, Italian painter at Encyclopædia Britannica, 2012.
5. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Andrew Graham-Dixon, Paper Museum: Writings about Paintings, mostly (New York : Knopf, 1997), p. 34–35.
6. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Fabrizio Nevola. “Reviews” Renaissance Quarterly (University of Chicago Press 2010). Vol. 63, No. 2, pp. 589–591.
7. ^ Machtelt Israels, ed. Sassetta: The Borgo San Sepolcro Altarpiece. 2 vols. Florence: Villa I Tatti, 2009, p. 302.
8. ^ Donald Bruce, “Sienese Painting at the London National Gallery”. Contemporary Review; Winter2007, Vol. 289 Issue 1687, p. 481.

Sources

• Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. 2003 Judy Metro, National Gallery of Art, Oxford University Press: Oxford, New York p. 621.
• Andrew Graham-Dixon, Paper Museum: Writings about Paintings, mostly (New York : Knopf, 1997), 33–36.
• Miklós Boskovits; National Gallery of Art (U.S.); et al., Italian paintings of the fifteenth century (Washington : National Gallery of Art ; New York, 2003), 621–625.
• Machtelt Israels, ed. Sassetta: The Borgo San Sepolcro Altarpiece. 2 vols. Florence: Villa I Tatti, 2009.
• Fabrizio Nevola. “Reviews” Renaissance Quarterly (University of Chicago Press 2010). Vol. 63, No. 2, p. 589–591.
• Donald Bruce, Sienese Painting at the London National Gallery. Contemporary Review; Winter2007, Vol. 289 Issue 1687, p. 481.
• Luciano Bellosi, Sassetta e i pittori toscani tra XIII e XV secolo, a cura di Luciano Bellosi e Alessandro Angelini, Studio per edizioni scelte, Firenze 1986
• B. Berenson, Sassetta, Firenze 1946
• Enzo Carli, Sassetta’s Borgo San Sepolcro Altarpiece, in: Burlington Magazine 43, 1951, ss. 145
• Enzo Carli, Sassetta e il «Maestro dell’Osservanza», Milano 1957
• Enzo Carli, I Pittori senesi, Milano 1971
• J. Pope-Hennessy, Sassetta, Londra 1939
• J. Pope-Hennessy, Rethinking Sassetta, in: Burlington Magazine 98, 1956, ss. 364
• Federico Zeri, Towards a Reconstruction of Sassetta’s Arte della Lana Triptych, in Burlington Magazine 98, 1956, ss. 36

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefano_di_Giovann

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Leonardo da Vinci, Ginevra de’ Benci, c. 1474

 

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Giorgione, Adoration of the Shepherds, c. 1500

 

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

El Greco, Saint Martin and the Beggar, c. 1597-1599^[22]

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Giorgione and Titian, Portrait of a Venetian Nobleman, c. 1507

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Mill, 1648

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Peter Paul Rubens, Germanicus and Agrippina, 1614

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Édouard Manet, The Railway, 1872

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Édouard Manet, The Plum,1878

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Claude Monet, The Artist’s Garden at Vétheuil, 188

 

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait, August 1889

 

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Paul Gauguin, Self-portrait, 1889

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Vincent van Gogh, Woman in White, 1890

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral, West Facade, Sunlight, 1894

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Édouard Manet, The Old Musician, 1862

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Henri Matisse, Open Window, Collioure, 1905

 

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Eugène Delacroix, Columbus and His Son at La Rábida, 1838

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Paul Cézanne, Boy in a Red Waistcoat, 1888–1890

 

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Pablo Picasso, Family of Saltimbanques, 1905

 

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Pablo Picasso, Still Life, 1918

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Henri Rousseau, The Equatorial Jungle, 1909

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Location in Washington, D.C. Show map of Washington, D.C.Show map of the USShow all
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
Established	1937
Location	National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20565, National Mall, Washington, D.C.
Coordinates	38.89147°N 77.02001°W
Visitors	5,232,277 (2017) – Ranked seventh globally [1]
Director	Earl A. Powell III
Public transit access	Metro: **   Red Line Judiciary Square**   Yellow Line   Green Line Archives **   Blue Line   Orange Line   Silver Line Smithsonian* Metrobus: 4th Street and 7th Street NW* DC Circulator: 4th Street and Madison Drive; 9th Street and Constitution Avenue NW
Website	www.nga.gov

The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution AvenueNW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in 1937 for the American people by a joint resolution of the United States Congress. Andrew W. Mellon donated a substantial art collection and funds for construction. The core collection includes major works of art donated by Paul Mellon, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, Lessing J. Rosenwald, Samuel Henry Kress, Rush Harrison Kress, Peter Arrell Browne Widener, Joseph E. Widener, and Chester Dale. The Gallery’s collection of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, medals, and decorative arts traces the development of Western Art from the Middle Ages to the present, including the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Americas and the largest mobile created by Alexander Calder.

The Gallery’s campus includes the original neoclassical West Building designed by John Russell Pope, which is linked underground to the modern East Building, designed by I. M. Pei, and the 6.1-acre (25,000 m²) Sculpture Garden. The Gallery often presents temporary special exhibitions spanning the world and the history of art. It is one of the largest museums in North America.

History

National Gallery of Art

Pittsburgh banker (and Treasury Secretary from 1921 until 1932) Andrew W. Mellonbegan gathering a private collection of old masterpaintings and sculptures during World War I. During the late 1920s, Mellon decided to direct his collecting efforts towards the establishment of a new national gallery for the United States.

In 1930, partly for tax reasons, Mellon formed the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, which was to be the legal owner of works intended for the gallery. In 1930–1931, the Trust made its first major acquisition, 21 paintings from the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg as part of the Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings, including such masterpieces as Raphael‘s Alba Madonna, Titian‘s Venus with a Mirror, and Jan van Eyck‘s Annunciation.

In 1929 Mellon had initiated contact with the recently appointed Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Charles Greeley Abbot. Mellon was appointed in 1931 as a Commissioner of the Institution’s National Gallery of Art. When the director of the Gallery retired, Mellon asked Abbot not to appoint a successor, as he proposed to endow a new building with funds for expansion of the collections.

However, Mellon’s trial for tax evasion, centering on the Trust and the Hermitage paintings, caused the plan to be modified. In 1935, Mellon announced in The Washington Star, his intention to establish a new gallery for old masters, separate from the Smithsonian. When asked by Abbot, he explained that the project was in the hands of the Trust and that its decisions were partly dependent on “the attitude of the Government towards the gift”.

In January 1937, Mellon formally offered to create the new Gallery. On his birthday, 24 March 1937, an Act of Congress accepted the collection and building funds (provided through the Trust), and approved the construction of a museum on the National Mall.

The new gallery was to be effectively self-governing, not controlled by the Smithsonian, but took the old name “National Gallery of Art” while the Smithsonian’s gallery would be renamed the “National Collection of Fine Arts” (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum).^[2][3][4]

Designed by architect John Russell Pope, the new structure was completed and accepted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on behalf of the American people on March 17, 1941. Neither Mellon nor Pope lived to see the museum completed; both died in late August 1937, only two months after excavation had begun. At the time of its inception it was the largest marble structure in the world. The museum stands on the former site of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroadstation, where in 1881 a disgruntled office seeker, Charles Guiteau, shot President James Garfield (see James A. Garfield assassination).^[5]

As anticipated by Mellon, the creation of the National Gallery encouraged the donation of other substantial art collections by a number of private donors. Founding benefactors included such individuals as Paul Mellon, Samuel H. Kress, Rush H. Kress, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, Chester Dale, Joseph Widener, Lessing J. Rosenwaldand Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch.

The Gallery’s East Building was constructed in the 1970s on much of the remaining land left over from the original congressional action. Andrew Mellon’s children, Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon Bruce, funded the building. Designed by architect I. M. Pei, the contemporary structure was completed in 1978 and was opened on June 1 of that year by President Jimmy Carter. The new building was built to house the Museum’s collection of modern paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints, as well as study and research centers and offices. The design received a National Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects in 1981.

The final addition to the complex is the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. Completed and opened to the public on May 23, 1999, the location provides an outdoor setting for exhibiting a number of pieces from the Museum’s contemporary sculpture collection.

Operations

National Gallery of Art logo.

The National Gallery of Art is supported through a private-public partnership. The United States federal government provides funds, through annual appropriations, to support the museum’s operations and maintenance. All artwork, as well as special programs, are provided through private donations and funds. The museum is not part of the Smithsonian Institution.

Noted directors of the National Gallery have included David E. Finley, Jr. (1938-1956), John Walker (1956–1968), and J. Carter Brown(1968–1993). Earl A. “Rusty” Powell III (since 1993) is the current director.

Entry to both buildings of the National Gallery of Art is free of charge. From Monday through Saturday, the museum is open from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; it is open from 11 – 6 p.m. on Sundays. It is closed on December 25 and January 1.^[6]

Architecture

“East Building” redirects here. It is not to be confused with Eastern Building.

The East Building

Exhibitions in the West Building

Exhibitions in the East Building

Walkway to West Building and Cascade Cafe in National Gallery of Art, Washington.D.C.

The museum comprises two buildings: the West Building (1941) and the East Building (1978) linked by an underground passage. The West Building, composed of pink Tennessee marble, was designed in 1937 by architect John Russell Pope in a neoclassical style (as is Pope’s other notable Washington, D.C. building, the Jefferson Memorial). Designed in the form of an elongated H, the building is centered on a domed rotunda modeled on the interior of the Pantheon in Rome. Extending east and west from the rotunda, a pair of skylit sculpture halls provide its main circulation spine. Bright garden courts provide a counterpoint to the long main axis of the building.

Dome of West Building, an entrance to permanent Renaissance Art collections

The West Building has an extensive collection of paintings and sculptures by European masters from the medieval period through the late 19th century, as well as pre-20th century works by American artists. Highlights of the collection include many paintings by Jan Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and Leonardo da Vinci.

In contrast, the design of the East Building by architect I. M. Pei is geometrical, dividing the trapezoidal shape of the site into two triangles: one isosceles and the other a smaller right triangle. The space defined by the isosceles triangle came to house the museum’s public functions. The portion outlined by the right triangle became the study center. The triangles in turn became the building’s organized motif, echoed and repeated in every dimension.

The building’s central feature is a high atrium designed as an open interior court that is enclosed by a sculptural space spanning 16,000 square feet (1,500 m²). The atrium is centered on the same axis that forms the circulation spine for the West Building and is constructed in the same Tennessee marble.^[7]

However, in 2005 the joints attaching the marble panels to the walls began to show signs of strain, creating a risk that panels might fall onto visitors below. In 2008, NGA officials decided that it had become necessary to remove and reinstall all of the panels. The renovation was completed in 2016.^[8]

The East Building focuses on modern and contemporary art, with a collection including works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Alexander Calder, a 1977 mural by Robert Motherwell and works by many other artists. The East Building also contains the main offices of the NGA and a large research facility, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA). Among the highlights of the East Building in 2012 was an exhibition of Barnett Newman‘s The Stations of the Cross series of 14 black and white paintings (1958–66).^[9] Newman painted them after he had recovered from a heart attack; they are usually regarded as the peak of his achievement.^{[citation needed]} The series has also been seen as a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.^[10]

The two buildings are connected by a walkway beneath 4th street, called “the Concourse” on the museum’s map. In 2008, the National Gallery of Art commissioned American artist Leo Villareal to transform the Concourse into an artistic installation. Today, Multiverse is the largest and most complex light sculpture by Villareal featuring approximately 41,000 computer-programmed LED nodes that run through channels along the entire 200-foot (61 m)-long space.^[11] The concourse also includes the food court and a gift shop.

The final element of the National Gallery of Art complex, the Sculpture Garden was completed in 1999 after more than 30 years of planning. To the west of the West Building, on the opposite side of Seventh Street, the 6.1 acres (2.5 ha) Sculpture Garden was designed by landscape architect Laurie Olin^[12] as an outdoor gallery for monumental modern sculpture.

The Sculpture Garden contains plantings of Native American species of canopy and flowering trees, shrubs, ground covers, and perennials. A circular reflecting pool and fountain form the center of its design, which arching pathways of granite and crushed stone complement. (The pool becomes an ice-skating rink during the winter.) The sculptures exhibited in the surrounding landscaped area include pieces by David Smith, Mark Di Suvero, Roy Lichtenstein, Sol LeWitt, Tony Smith, Roxy Paine, Joan Miró, Louise Bourgeois, and Hector Guimard.^[13]

The lobby of National gallery of Art East Building

Taken at the exterior wall of National gallery of Art East Building

Renovations

The NGA’s West Building was renovated from 2007 to 2009. Although some galleries closed for periods of time, others remained open.^[14]

After congressional testimony that the East Building suffered from “systematic structural failures”, NGA adopted a Master Renovations Plan in 1999. This plan established the timeline for closing the building, and planned for the renovation of the electronic security systems, elevators, and HVAC.^[15] Space between the ceilings of existing galleries and the building’s skylights (which was never completed when the building was constructed in 1978)^[15] would be renovated into two, 23-foot (7.0 m) high, hexagonal Tower Galleries. The galleries would have a combined 12,260 square feet (1,139 m²) of space and will be lit by skylights. A rooftop sculpture garden would also be added. NGA officials said that the Tower Galleries would probably house modern art, and the creation of a distinct “Rothko Room” was possible.

Beginning in 2011, NGA undertook an $85 million restoration of the East Building’s façade.^[16] The East Building is clad in 3-inch (7.6 cm) thick pink marble panels. The panels are held about 2 inches (5.1 cm) away from the wall by stainless steel anchors. Gravity holds the panel in the bottom anchors (which are placed at each corner), while “button head” anchors (stainless steel posts with large, flat heads) at the top corners keep the panel upright. Mortar was used on the gravity anchors to level the stones. Joints of flexible colored neoprene were placed between the panels. This system was designed to allow each panel to hang independent of its neighbors, and NGA officials say they are not aware of any other panel system like it.

However, many panels were accidentally mortared together. Seasonal heating and cooling of the façade, infiltration of moisture, and shrinkage of the building’s structural concrete by 2 inches (5.1 cm) over time caused extensive damage to the façade. In 2005, regular maintenance showed that some panels were cracked or significantly damaged, while others leaned by more than 1 inch (2.5 cm) out from the building (threatening to fall).

The NGA hired the structural engineering firm Robert Silman Associates to determine the cause of the problem.^[17] Although the Gallery began raising private funds to fix the issue,^[17] eventually federal funding was used to repair the building.^[16] In 2012, the NGA chose a joint venture, Balfour Beatty/Smoot, to complete the repairs. Anodized aluminum anchors replaced the stainless steel ones, and the top corner anchors were moved to the center of the top edge of each stone. The neoprene joints were removed and new colored siliconegaskets installed, and leveling screws rather than mortar used to keep the panels square. Work began in November 2011,^[17] and originally was scheduled to end in 2014.^[16] By February 2012, however, the contractor said work on the façade would end in late 2013, and site restoration would take place in 2014.^[17] The East Building remained open throughout the project.^[14]

In March 2013, the National Gallery of Art announced a $68.4 million renovation to the East Building. This included $38.4 million to refurbish the interior mechanical plant of the structure,^[15] and $30 million to create new exhibition space.^[14] Because the angular interior space of the East Building made it impossible to close off galleries,^[15] the renovation required all but the atrium and offices to close by December 2013. The structure remained closed for three years. The architectural firm of Hartman-Cox oversaw both aspects of the renovation.^[15]

A group of benefactors — which included Victoria and Roger Sant, Mitchell and Emily Rales, and David Rubenstein — privately financed the renovation. The Washington Post reported that the donation was one of the largest the NGA had received in a decade.^[14] NGA staff said that they would use the closure to conserve artwork, plan purchases, and develop exhibitions. Plans for renovating conservation, construction, exhibition prep, groundskeeping, office, storage, and other internal facilities were also ready, but would not be implemented for many years.^[15][18]

Buildings

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

• 

  The West Building soon after construction, looking northwest from the National Mall

• 

  North face of the West Building, with the west side of the East Building and the United States Capitol in background

• 

  South face of the West Building (2014)

• 

  Rotunda of the West Building beneath dome (2004)

• 

  Oculus of the West Building dome (2008)

• 

  West Building sculpture gallery (2007)

   

Giacobbe Giusti, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

• 

  West Building garden court (2010)

• 

  Satellite image of National Gallery of Art grounds and surrounding streets (2002)

• 

  Moving walkway and light sculpture in concourse beneath 4th Street connecting East and West Buildings (2016)

• 

  Center of West Building plaza, looking west towards West Building (2010)

• 

  Fountain in West Building plaza (2010)

• 

  View of fountain from concourse beneath West Building plaza (2013)

• 

  Center of West Building plaza, looking east towards entrance of East Building (2000)

• 

  South face of East Building, looking northwest from southeast corner (2010)

• 

  Southwest corner of East Building, looking east (2007)

• 

  Southwest corner of East Building during renovation, looking northeast (2014)

• 

  East Building atrium (2007)

• 

  East Building atrium (2007)

Collection

 List of painters in the National Gallery of Art and National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden

Gerard van Honthorst‘s monumental masterwork, The Concert, was acquired by the NGA in 2013 and went on display for the first time in 218 years.

The NGA’s collection galleries and Sculpture Garden display European and American paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, and decorative arts. The permanent collection of paintings extends from the Middle Ages to the present day. The Italian Renaissance collection includes two panels from Duccio‘s Maesta, the tondo of the Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi, a Botticelli work on the same subject, Giorgione‘s Allendale Nativity, Giovanni Bellini‘s The Feast of the Gods, Ginevra de’ Benci (the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Americas) and groups of works by Titian and Raphael.

Other European collections include examples of the work of many of the masters of western painting, including a version of Saint Martin and the Beggar, by El Greco, and works by Matthias Grünewald, Cranach the Elder, Rogier van der Weyden, Albrecht Dürer, Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Johannes Vermeer, Francisco Goya, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, and Eugène Delacroix, among others. The collection of sculpture and decorative arts includes such works as the Chalice of Abbot Suger of St-Denis and a collection of work by Auguste Rodin and Edgar Degas. Other highlights of the permanent collection include the second of the two original sets of Thomas Cole‘s series of paintings titled The Voyage of Life, (the first set is at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, New York) and the original version of Watson and the Shark by John Singleton Copley(two other versions are in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Detroit Institute of Arts).

The National Gallery’s print collection comprises 75,000 prints, in addition to rare illustrated books. It includes collections of works by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, William Blake, Mary Cassatt, Edvard Munch, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg. The collection began with 400 prints donated by five collectors in 1941. In 1942, Joseph E. Widener donated his entire collection of nearly 2,000 works. In 1943, Lessing Rosenwald donated his collection of 8,000 old master and modern prints; between 1943 and 1979, he donated almost 14,000 more works. In 2008, Dave and Reba White Williams donated their collection of more than 5,200 American prints.^[19]

In 2013, the NGA purchased from a private French collection Gerard van Honthorst‘s 1623 painting, The Concert, which had not been publicly viewed since 1795. After initially displaying the 1.23-by-2.06-metre (4.0 by 6.8 ft) The Concert in a special installation in the West Building, the NGA moved the painting to a permanent display in the museum’s Dutch and Flemish galleries.^[20] Although the NGA did not reveal the amount that it had paid for The Concert, art experts estimated the sale price at $20 million.^[21]

Highlights of the collection

Leonardo da Vinci, Ginevra de’ Benci, c. 1474

El Greco, Saint Martin and the Beggar, c. 1597-1599^[22]

Peter Paul Rubens, Germanicus and Agrippina, 1614

Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon in His Study, 1812

Édouard Manet, The Railway, 1872

• 

  Rogier van der Weyden, Portrait of a Lady, c. 1460

• 

  Giorgione, Adoration of the Shepherds, c. 1500

• 

  Raphael, Cowper Madonna, 1504–5

• 

  Giorgione and Titian, Portrait of a Venetian Nobleman, c. 1507

• 

  Giovanni Bellini and Titian, The Feast of the Gods, c. 1514

• 

  El Greco, Laocoön, 1604–16

• 

  Nicolas Poussin, The Assumption of the Virgin, c. 1626

• 

  Rembrandt van Rijn, The Mill, 1648

• 

  Rembrandt van Rijn, Self Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar, 1659

• 

  Johannes Vermeer, A Lady Writing a Letter, 1665-1666

• 

  Jean-Honoré Fragonard, A Young Girl Reading, c. 1776

• 

  Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Marcotte d’Argenteuil, 1810

• 

  Eugène Delacroix, Columbus and His Son at La Rábida, 1838

• 

  Édouard Manet, The Old Musician, 1862

• 

  Édouard Manet, The Plum,1878

• 

  Claude Monet, The Artist’s Garden at Vétheuil, 1880

• 

  Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait, August 1889

• 

  Paul Gauguin, Self-portrait,1889

• 

  Paul Cézanne, Boy in a Red Waistcoat, 1888–1890

• 

  Vincent van Gogh, Woman in White, 1890

• 

  Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral, West Facade, Sunlight, 1894

• 

  Henri Matisse, Open Window, Collioure, 1905

• 

  Pablo Picasso, Family of Saltimbanques, 1905

• 

  Henri Rousseau, The Equatorial Jungle, 1909

• 

  Francis Picabia, The Procession, Seville, 1912

• 

  Albert Gleizes, Les Joueurs de football (Football Players), 1912–13

• 

  Pablo Picasso, Still Life, 1918

Selected highlights from the American collection

Benjamin West, Portrait of Colonel Guy Johnson, 1775

James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl, 1862

George Bellows, New York, 1911

• 

  John Singleton Copley, Watson and the Shark,(original version), 1778

• 

  Gilbert Stuart, The Skater, 1782

• 

  Edward Savage, The Washington Family 1789-96

• 

  Edward Hicks, Peaceable Kingdom, c. 1834

• 

  Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life: Childhood

• 

  Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life: Youth

• 

  Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life: Manhood

• 

  Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life: Old Age

• 

  Thomas Cole, A View of the Mountain Pass Called the Notch of the White Mountains (Crawford Notch), 1839

• 

  George Inness, The Lackawanna Valley, 1855

• 

  Thomas Eakins, The Biglin Brothers Racing, 1873

• 

  Winslow Homer, Breezing Up (A Fair Wind), 1873–76

• 

  Frederic Edwin Church, Morning in The Tropics, (1877)

• 

  Mary Cassatt, The Loge,1882

• 

  John Singer Sargent, Street in Venice, 1889

• 

  Albert Pinkham Ryder, Siegfried and the Rhine Maidens, 1888-1891

• 

  William Merritt Chase, A Friendly Call, 1895

• 

  Robert Henri, Snow in New York, 1902

• 

  George Bellows, Both Members of This Club 1909

• 

  Childe Hassam, Allies Day, May 1917, 1917

• List of most visited art museums
• Collections of the National Gallery of Art
• Micro Gallery, installed in 1995.
• Head of a Catalan Peasant and The Farm, both made by Joan Miró and preserved at the NGA.
• The Voyage of Life by Thomas Cole

Notes

1. Jump up^ The Art Newspaper Review, April 2018
2. Jump up^ Fink, Lois Marie “A History of the Smithsonian American Art Museum”, University of Massachusetts Press (2007) ISBN 978-1-55849-616-3, chapter 3
3. Jump up^ National Gallery of Art website: general introduction ArchivedDecember 8, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
4. Jump up^ National Gallery of Art website: chronology Archived April 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
5. Jump up^ “National Gallery of Art, West Building”. American Architecture. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 2 October2011.
6. Jump up^ “National Gallery of Art”. Maps and Hours. 2016-01-12. Archivedfrom the original on 2016-01-03.
7. Jump up^ NGA.gov Archived October 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
8. Jump up^ Leigh, Catesby (December 8, 2009). “An Ultramodern Building Shows Signs of Age”. The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016.
9. Jump up^ “In The Tower: Barnett Newman”. http://www.nga.gov. Archived from the original on 1 February 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
10. Jump up^ Menachem Wecker (August 1, 2012). “His Cross To Bear. Barnett Newman Dealt With Suffering in ‘Zips‘“. The Jewish Daily Forward. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved August 8,2012.
11. Jump up^ “Leo Villareal: Multiverse”. http://www.nga.gov. Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
12. Jump up^ “About the Gallery”. http://www.nga.gov. Archived from the original on 22 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
13. Jump up^ “Visit: Sculpture Garden”. http://www.nga.gov. Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
14. ^ Jump up to:^a b c d Boyle, Katherine and Parker, Lonnae O’Neal. “National Gallery of Art Announces $30 Million Renovation to East Building.” Washington Post. March 12, 2013. Archived April 21, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 2013-03-13.
15. ^ Jump up to:^{a b c d e f} Boyle, Katherine. “National Gallery Sees Long-Term Benefit in Long Closing of East Building.” Washington Post. March 13, 2013.Archived January 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 2013-03-22.
16. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Kelly, John. “Why National Gallery’s East Building Shed Its Pink Marble Skin.” Washington Post. February 21, 2012. ArchivedJanuary 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 2013-03-13.
17. ^ Jump up to:^a b c d Dietsch, Deborah K. “National Gallery of Art’s Famed East Building Gets a Facelift.” Washington Business Journal. February 3, 2012. Archived October 18, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 2013-03-13.
18. Jump up^ “The CIVITAS Chronicles”. traditional-building.com. Archivedfrom the original on 2015-03-23.
19. Jump up^ “Prints”. Nga.gov. 2013-06-19. Archived from the original on 2013-12-21. Retrieved 2013-12-22.
20. Jump up^ Boyle, Katherine. “National Gallery Acquires ‘The Concert’ by Dutch Golden Age Painter Honthorst.” Washington Post. November 22, 2013. Archived August 29, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 2013-11-22.
21. Jump up^ Vogel, Carol. “National Gallery Acquires a van Honthorst Masterwork.” New York Times. November 21, 2013. ArchivedFebruary 24, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 2013-11-22.
22. Jump up^ “Provenance”. Nga.gov. Archived from the original on 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2013-12-22.

Further reading

• David Cannadine, Mellon: An American Life, Knopf, 2006, ISBN 0-679-45032-7
• Neil Harris, Capital Culture: J. Carter Brown, the National Gallery of Art, and the Reinvention of the Museum Experience, University of Chicago Press, 2013, ISBN 9780226067704
• Andrew Kelly, Kentucky by Design: The Decorative Arts, American Culture, and the Index of American Design, University Press of Kentucky, 2015. ISBN 978-0-8131-5567-8
• “The National Gallery of Art, Washington”, special number of Connaissance des Arts, Société Français de Promotion Artistique (2000) ISSN 1242-9198

National Gallery of Art.

• Official website 
• Online Gallery of Artwork in the NGA
• Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gallery_of_Art

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World

Giacobbe Giusti: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World

 

by Mike Boehm Los Angeles Times

Here’s a paradox: Today’s art lovers would recoil at the thought of travel disasters, building collapses or volcanic eruptions afflicting their own communities. But over the next three months, visitors to the Getty Museum can enjoy a unique display of bronze statuary that was saved for posterity precisely because such calamities befell its ancient owners.

The show is “Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World,” running Tuesday to Nov. 1 at the Getty Center in Brentwood — an atypical venue for an ancient-art show, which normally would be seen at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades.

ADVERTISEMENT
The two Getty curators who spent seven years organizing “Power and Pathos” say the 46 rare bronzes in the show needed to be seen in the best light and from all angles. The special exhibitions galleries in Brentwood afford space and natural lighting that the Villa lacks.

Essential Arts & Culture: A curated look at SoCal’s wonderfully vast and complex arts world

Having spent up to 2,300 years buried far below the ground or sunken in ocean beds of the Mediterranean Sea, this is art that deserves a deluxe presentation, given all it has been through.

What’s most special about the exhibition, curators Jens Daehner and Kenneth Lapatin say, is that it’s the first to bring together so many prized and exceedingly rare works of its period and kind.

lFull Coverage

Gallery and museum reviews: Full coverage

Gallery and museum reviews: Full coverage

For scholars it’s an unprecedented opportunity to eyeball one-fourth of the world’s known Hellenistic bronzes in one place, comparing and contrasting and perhaps leading to new understanding of how these works were created and what they meant to their ancient public.

For museum-goers, “Power and Pathos” is a chance to get a good sense of the complex currents that influenced creativity between the golden age of Greece, which historians call the “classical” period, and the dawn of the Roman Empire. The seeds of today’s conceptions about what art is for were planted in the Hellenistic world, as a burgeoning nonroyal upper class formed history’s first art market and began to commission works reflecting themselves rather than their rulers and their gods.

“All of what we have survived by chance, and we’re lucky to have it. How many more statues are under the sea bed or underground waiting to be pulled up, we don’t know.
— Kenneth Lapatin, curator

 

The Hellenistic period spans nearly 300 years, from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC to Augustus Caesar’s triumph over Cleopatra and Mark Antony in 31 BC. The Egyptian queen was the last descendant of Ptolemy, one of the generals who had divided Alexander’s empire, which sprawled from Greece to what’s now Pakistan.

With a few exceptions, the statues on display were lost for centuries. Some were excavated starting in the 1700s from sites such as Herculaneum in Italy, which perished along with Pompeii in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Many were pulled from coastal waters off Italy, Greece, Croatia, Tunisia and Turkey, where ancient cargo ships had been scuttled by pirates or wrecked by storms. One star attraction, a bronze sculpture of a seated boxer with bandaged hands and a battered, broken-nosed face and cauliflower ears, was placed in a deep pit at the bottom of an ancient wall in Rome for reasons that remain a mystery.

“All of what we have survived by chance, and we’re lucky to have it,” said Lapatin, whose vertical shock of hair makes him the Lyle Lovett of antiquarians. “How many more statues are under the sea bed or underground waiting to be pulled up, we don’t know. They were ubiquitous in antiquity, but they are rare today.”

Bronze was valuable and easily repurposed for myriad practical uses, so statues made of the metal became antiquity’s equivalent of the passenger pigeon — except for about 200 known exceptions. “You also had ideological reasons” for their wholesale destruction, Lapatin said. “Early Christians weren’t interested in preserving nude statues of pagan gods, and this was ready cash.”

That disaster kept a precious few bronzes from destruction “is the utter paradox” that underlies the show, said Daehner, an affable, soft-spoken German. “You could call it the paradox of archaeology in general, but for bronze it’s particularly true and poignant.”

Silver lining

The show is itself a silver lining of sorts. It had its genesis in the 2007 settlement of the Italian government’s grievances over looted ancient artworks the Getty had acquired, in which the museum returned 40 suspect pieces to Italy, including some of its most prized holdings. But with the return of comity and cooperation, Getty curators could now approach the great museums of Italy with ideas for art loans and collaboration on exhibitions. In 2008 the Getty entered a pact for art exchanges with the National Archaeological Museum in Florence.

Looking for intersections between the collections, curators noted that each sported magnificent Hellenistic bronzes — among them the “Getty Bronze,” a famous statue of a young athlete that was netted from the Aegean Sea by Italian fisherman, and the “Herm of Dionysos,” a Getty-owned example of one of the quirkiest forms of ancient art.

From there, they approached dozens of other museums, landing loans from 30 institutions in 12 countries — among them the Metropolitan Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, British Museum, the Prado and the Louvre.

“Many are national treasures or highlights of a museum,” Lapatin said. That so many pitched in — often with works never seen before in the United States — shows how strong the exhibition’s allure has been for scholars of ancient art. “It’s a testament to bringing them out of splendid isolation to [the Getty], where they’re talking to each other. No one has ever done this before.”

Today’s international politics kept a few desired sculptures out of reach. “There are pieces in Baghdad and Tehran that would have been very interesting to have in the show,” Daehner said. “In 2008 the world looked very different than it is now,” and getting them momentarily had seemed possible.

The display of the Getty’s two prime Hellenistic bronzes embodies the quest for consonance, comparison and contrast that Daehner and Lapatin were after. Viewers will get a simultaneous glimpse of the life-size “Getty Bronze,” which usually occupies a room of its own at the Villa, alongside similar works from the British Museum and the Museum of Underwater Antiquities in Athens. Together, Daehner said, they reflect the Hellenistic convention of idealizing the human body, yet making it more accessibly natural than would have been the case in the 400s BC and earlier.

Herms were boundary markers with a sculpted head at the top of a narrow pedestal and male genitalia poking out farther down. The genre gets its name from the god Hermes, whose head frequently topped the markers. The Getty’s herm shows a head of the god Dionysos, its hat and beard calling to mind portraits of the English King Henry VIII. To its right stands a near doppelganger fetched from coastal waters of Tunisia.

Were they made by the same sculptor or workshop? If so, why is the coloration so different, and why does the Tunisian herm have subtle, intricate touches — such as a fully detailed head of hair on the back of his scalp — that the Getty version is missing?

ADVERTISEMENT
The word “pathos” in the show’s title reflects the objects’ lost-and-found history of past tragedy as well as Hellenistic sculptors’ key aesthetic breakthrough — using bronze, which is more pliable than marble, to register in acute detail the often careworn lives of mere mortals after centuries in which the main purpose of statuary was to capture the otherworldly majesty of gods and heroes.

A gallery devoted to depictions of ordinary humans rather than gods or rulers shows how Hellenistic sculptors began to embody common feelings. The face of a large “Portrait Statue of a Boy,” dug from the sands on the island of Crete, wears a look that projects sneering disgust mixed with an aching throb of sadness. The angsty defiance of adolescents apparently predates Holden Caulfield and Kurt Cobain by two millennia.

“Our modern idea of capturing character or personality is something that happens in the Hellenistic age that isn’t there before,” Daehner said. “Expression, emotion and a certain psychological realism get into a portrait.”

The Hellenistic period was the era when Greece had ceased being a great power in the Mediterranean world, yet it triumphed culturally by spreading its styles and ideas far beyond the reaches of the Athenian empire at its height in the 400s BC.

Alexander, the Macedonian king whose father had conquered Greece, carried his sword — and Greek notions about art and philosophy that he’d learned from his teacher, Aristotle — through most of the world known to ancient Europeans.

Lapatin said that one way to understand what was happening in bronze sculpture during the era is to follow the money.

“It’s an economic development,” he said. “In the classical period if you were wealthy you made a donation to the sanctuary” and commissioned a statue of a god. “In Hellenistic times, you could decorate your villa. The wealthy had more options, and a lot was about displaying statues and showing you were wealthy and cultured.” The vast sacked riches of Persia, Alexander’s key conquest, contributed mightily to enlarging this new class of private art consumers, Lapatin said.

The show that brings together so much begins with nothing at all: an empty, broken stone pedestal that, like many others across the landscape from the eastern Mediterranean to central Asia, sports an inscription but no statue.

“It’s signed by Lysippos, the favorite sculptor of Alexander the Great,” Lapatin said. Lysippos was credited in ancient times with having created more than 1,500 bronze statues, “none of which survives,” he said, except via copies made by others.

While Hellenistic artists and their public responded to new cultural currents, they did not turn their backs on tradition. A bust of a man, signed by the Greek sculptor Apollonios, is a blatant knockoff of a famous full-length statue of a spear-carrier by Polykleitos, who’d lived 400 years earlier.

“The original is famous, but it’s a good copy, so he signs it,” Lapatin said. “It’s got the cachet of an old master.” As a business move, that seems downright contemporary.

Although it is organized by the two Getty curators, “Power and Pathos” first was seen at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. Its last stop, after the Getty, is the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

mes.com/entertainment/arts/la-ca-cm-getty-hellenistic-bronze-20150726-story.html
http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti: Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World

Giacobbe Giusti:  Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World

 

Rare Bronze Sculptures from Hellenistic Period on View at National Gallery of Art, Washington, December 13, 2015–March 20, 2016

Unknown Artist (Hellenistic Bronze)
Athlete “Ephesian Apoxyomenos”, AD 1- 90
bronze and copper
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Antikensammlung, Vienna

Washington, DC—An unprecedented exhibition of some 50 rare bronze sculptures and related works from the Hellenistic period will be on view at the National Gallery of Art from December 13, 2015, through March 20, 2016. Previously at the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, and the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World showcases bronze sculptures that are remarkably lifelike, often enhanced by copper eyelashes and lips and colored glass or stone eyes. Of the many thousands of bronze statues created in the Hellenistic period, only a small fraction is preserved. This exhibition is the first to gather together so many of the finest surviving bronzes from museums in Europe, North Africa, and the United States.

“We are delighted to present visitors with this rare opportunity to see these dazzling works up close,” said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art, Washington. “We are grateful to the lenders—museums in Austria, Denmark, France, Georgia, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Spain, Tunisia, the United States, and the Vatican—as well as Bank of America for their generous support.”

During the Hellenistic period—generally from the late fourth century BC to the first century AD—the art and culture of Greece spread throughout the Mediterranean and lands once conquered by Alexander the Great. Through the medium of bronze, artists were able to capture the dynamic realism, expression, and detail that characterize the new artistic goals of the era.

“The works from the Power and Pathos exhibition represent a turning point in artistic innovation during one of the most culturally vibrant periods in world history,” said Rena De Sisto, global arts and culture executive, Bank of America. “We’re thrilled to be the National Tour Sponsor and to help bring this important collection to D.C. in hopes to inspire curiosity and wonder.”

Exhibition Organization and Support

The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; and the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, in collaboration with the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana.

Bank of America is the national sponsor of this touring exhibition.

The exhibition is also made possible through a generous gift from an anonymous donor. The Marshall B. Coyne Foundation has provided additional support through the Fund for the International Exchange of Art. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Exhibition Highlights

Power and Pathos brings together the most significant examples of Hellenistic bronze sculpture to highlight their varying styles, techniques, contexts, functions, and histories. The conquests of Alexander the Great (ruled 336–323 BC) created one of the largest empires in history and ushered in the Hellenistic period, which ended with the rise of the Roman Empire. For some 300 years after Alexander’s death, the medium of bronze drove artistic experimentation and innovation. Bronze—surpassing marble with its tensile strength, reflective surface, and ability to hold the finest detail—was used for dynamic poses, dazzling displays of the nude body, and vivid expressions of age and character.

“Realistic portraiture as we know it today, with an emphasis on individuality and expression, originated in the Hellenistic period,” said exhibition curator Kenneth Lapatin.  Jens M. Daehner, co-curator, added, “Along with images of gods, heroes, and athletes, sculptors introduced new subjects and portrayed people at all stages of life, from infancy to old age.” Both Daehner and Lapatin are associate curators in the department of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

A widespread ancient phenomenon, Hellenistic art is found not only throughout the Mediterranean, but also in regions far away, such as Thrace in the Balkans, ancient Colchis (in the Republic of Georgia), and the southern Arabian Peninsula. Through several thematic sections, the exhibition emphasizes the unique role of bronze both as a medium of prestige and artistic innovation and as a material exceptionally suited for reproduction. The exhibition is divided into sections as follows:

Introduction: The Rarity of Bronzes: Large-scale bronze statues have rarely survived from antiquity, as most were melted down so that their valuable metal could be reused. Rows of empty stone pedestals can still be seen at ancient sites. Lysippos of Sikyon (c. 390–305 BC), the favorite sculptor of Alexander the Great, created 1,500 works in bronze, according to Pliny the Elder. None survive; their existence is known partly from later copies and statue bases inscribed with the artist’s name, such as the one on view at the beginning of the exhibition. Many bronzes known today have been preserved only because they were accidentally buried or lost at sea, then recovered centuries later by archaeologists, divers, and fishermen.

Alexander and His Successors: Lysippos is credited with creating the image of Alexander the Great that artists have perpetuated through the centuries: a man of vigor, fit and lithe, clean-shaven, with long, windswept hair. The statuette Alexander the Great on Horseback, in bronze with silver and copper inlays, may be a small-scale version of a lost monumental sculpture that Lysippos created to commemorate Alexander’s victory over the Persians in 334 BC. Portraits of Alexander provided the models that his successors would emulate, resulting in the distinctive genre of ruler portraiture that emerged in the Hellenistic period.

Rulers and Citizens/Likeness and Expression: Realistic features and depictions of emotional states are hallmarks of Hellenistic sculpture. Individualized portraits superseded the largely idealized types of earlier periods. Hellenistic portraits emphasize pathos—lived experience—appealing to viewers’ emotions by conveying an individual’s state of mind or experience of life through facial expression or gestures. Citizens and benefactors honored with statues were shown clothed, while rulers were portrayed nude or in armor, sometimes on horseback. Nudity, traditionally reserved for images of athletes, heroes, and gods, became an artistic attribute of Hellenistic rulers or military leaders.

Bodies Real and Ideal: Hellenistic sculptors continued to create idealized figures, but with a new interest in realistic detail and movement, as seen in the Boy Runner, a statue of a boy athlete shown only at the National Gallery of Art.  Many artists took inspiration from Lysippos, often considered the most important artist of the Hellenistic period. He specialized in athletic figures in their prime, emphasizing their muscles and rendering their hair disheveled from sweat and exercise. Lysippos also introduced new, elongated proportions and smaller heads, making his figures appear taller and more graceful than those of the Classical period.

Apoxyomenos and the Art of Replication: The process of casting bronze statues in reusable molds encouraged the production of multiple copies of the same statue. The image of an athlete known as an Apoxyomenos (“scraper”) appears in two bronze versions: a full-length statue excavated at Ephesos in present-day Turkey (on loan from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria) and a bronze head known since the 16th century (now in Fort Worth, Texas), which once formed part of a comparable statue. Athletes competed nude, their bodies coated in oil; after exercising, they scraped themselves clean with a strigil, a curved implement that removed the oil and accumulated dust and grime.

Images of the Divine: The expressive capabilities of bronze and the dynamic styles of Hellenistic sculpture were adapted to representations of divine beings. Their images became less ideal and more realistic or “human.” The statuette Weary Herakles, for example, shows the hero fatigued rather than triumphant after completing the labors that earned him immortality. The love-god Eros, formerly shown as an elegant adolescent, is transformed into a pudgy baby, inspiring Roman images of the god Cupid and putti of the Italian Renaissance. In the Hellenistic era, deities became more accessible, now thought of as living beings with changing physical and emotional states.

Styles of the Past/Roman Collectors and Greek Art: A high regard for history characterizes the Hellenistic period. Artists created statues and statuettes in styles from both the recent and distant past. Statues of Apollo on view echo the stiff frontal figures of youths known as kouroi that were dedicated in Greek sanctuaries and cemeteries throughout the sixth century BC. In contrast, a bust of the Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) copies a work by Polykleitos, one of the most famous classical sculptors of the fifth century BC.  Most of the sculptures in this section adorned the villas and gardens of prominent Romans who eagerly collected Greek works of art, including the famouse statuette known as the Dancing Faun (Pan), found in the atrium of the House of the Faun in Pompeii, another work shown only in Washington.

From the Hellenistic to the Augustan Era: The Augustan era saw a renewed interest in the idealized styles of Classical Greece. Augustus, the first Roman emperor (ruled 27 BC–AD 14), favored the Classical style for much of his official art to associate his reign with the golden age of fifth-century Athens under Pericles. The sculpture of a boy wearing a himation, a large rectangle of cloth wrapped around the waist, and the nude statue of a youth known as the Idolino (“little idol”), exemplify this trend.

Film and Audio Tour

A film produced by the Gallery in conjunction with the exhibition and made possible by the HRH Foundation provides an overview of art of the Hellenistic period. Narrated by actor Liev Schreiber, the film includes new footage of the ancient sites of Delphi, Corinth, and Olympia, which once were crowded with bronze statues.

For the first time, the Gallery is offering a free audio tour that visitors can download to their mobile devices. Narrated by Earl A. Powell III, the tour includes commentary from exhibition curators Jens M. Daehner and Kenneth Lapatin, and bronze specialist Carol C. Mattusch of George Mason University.

Curators and Catalog

The exhibition curators are Jens M. Daehner and Kenneth Lapatin, both associate curators in the department of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Susan M. Arensberg, head of the department of exhibition programs, is the coordinating curator for the National Gallery of Art.

Published by the J. Paul Getty Museum, the fully illustrated scholarly catalog is the first comprehensive volume on Hellenistic bronze statuary. It includes groundbreaking archaeological, art-historical, and scientific essays offering new approaches to understanding ancient production of these remarkable works of art. The 368-page hardcover catalog is currently available. To order, please visit http://shop.nga.gov/; call (800) 697-9350 or (202) 842-6002; fax (202) 789-3047; or e-mail mailorder@nga.gov.

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. With the exception of the atrium and library, the galleries in the East Building will remain closed until late fall 2016 for Master Facilities Plan and renovations. For information call (202) 737-4215 or visit the Gallery’s Web site at www.nga.gov. Follow the Gallery on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NationalGalleryofArt, Twitter at www.twitter.com/ngadc, and Instagram at http://instagram.com/ngadc.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor’s back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 by 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:
Department of Communications
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353
e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

Anabeth Guthrie
Chief of Communications – Converged Media
(202) 842-6804
a-guthrie@nga.gov

http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/press/exh/3633.html

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Roman statues of runners found at Herculaneum

Giacobbe Giusti, Roman statues of runners found at Herculaneum

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_dei_Papiri
http://www.GiacobbeGiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Power and Pathos at the Getty Museum

Giacobbe Giusti, Power and Pathos at the Getty Museum

http://www.artribune.com/2015/08/scultura-classica-e-poesia-italiane-si-incontrano-a-los-angeles-gabriele-tinti-protagonista-al-getty-museum-e-allistituto-italiano-di-cultura-ecco-le-immagini/il-pugile-a-riposo-esposto-nella-mostra-power-and-pathos-al-getty-museum/
http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World

 

The J. Paul Getty Museum

Giacobbe Giusti,  Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World

Boy Removing a Thorn from His Foot, “The Spinario,” about 50 B.C., bronze and copper. Musei Capitolini, Rome, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Sala dei Trionfi – foto Zeno Colantoni

July 28–November 1, 2015, Getty Center

During the Hellenistic period from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. until the establishment of the Roman Empire in 31 B.C., the medium of bronze drove artistic innovation. Sculptors moved beyond Classical norms, supplementing traditional subjects and idealized forms with realistic renderings of physical and emotional states. Bronze—surpassing marble with its tensile strength, reflective effects, and ability to hold fine detail—was employed for dynamic compositions, dazzling displays of the nude body, and graphic expressions of age and character.

Cast from alloys of copper, tin, lead, and other elements, bronze statues were produced in the thousands: honorific portraits of rulers and citizens populated city squares, and images of gods, heroes, and mortals crowded sanctuaries. Few, however, survive. This unprecedented exhibition unites fifty significant bronzes of the Hellenistic age. New discoveries appear with works known for centuries, and several closely related statues are presented side by side for the first time.

This exhibition was organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, with the participation of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana. It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Bank of America is the National Sponsor of this touring exhibition. The Los Angeles presentation is also supported by the Getty Museum’s Villa Council, Vera R. Campbell Foundation, and the A. G. Leventis Foundation.

http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/power_pathos/

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Etruscan Warrior, known as Marte of Todi

Giacobbe Giusti, Etruscan Warrior, known as Marte of Todi

 

 

V secolo a.C.

Musei Vaticani, Roma

It is a bronze statue, discovered in 1835, buried next to the walls of the Convent of Montesanto, very close to the Umbrian town of Todi, in the province of Perugia. The area was an ancient Etruscan settlement.

Like many Etruscan sculpture, we don’t know the author of the work. From the dedicatory inscription it is known that it was donated to the temple dedicated to Mars (god greek-Etruscan) by National Etruscan Tahal Trutitis.

The statue was found buried under slabs of travertine, and was probably achieved by a sunbeam, which revealed the presence.

It is currently displaied at the Vatican Museums in Rome (exactly in the Gregorian Etruscan Museum). The iron lance that no longer exists and the cup that the warrior wore originally exhibited separately.
http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Ancient bronze sculptures comes to Getty Museum

Giacobbe Giusti, Ancient bronze sculptures comes to  Getty Museum

The Pompeii Apollo”

 

 

Kenneth Lapatin, associate curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum, gestures toward a sculpture which is part of the “Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of Hellenistic World” exhibit in Los Angeles, Monday, July 27, 2015. (AP / Nick Ut)

John Rogers, The Associated Press
Published Tuesday, July 28, 2015 9:35AM EDT

LOS ANGELES — It’s almost as if the dozens of exquisitely detailed, often perfectly intact bronze sculptures on display at the J. Paul Getty Museum disappeared into an ancient witness-protection program — and decided to stay there for thousands of years.

“Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World,” which opened at the museum Tuesday, brings together more than 50 bronzes from the Hellenistic period that extended from about 323 to 31 B.C.

Many of them, like the life-size figure of an exhausted boxer, his hands still bandaged from a match, brow cut and bruised, are stunning in their detail. So is the “The Medici Riccardi Horse,” a horse’s head complete with flaring nostrils and a detailed mane. “Sleeping Eros” shows an infant sprawled out sound asleep on a pedestal. One arm is draped across the child’s chest, his tousled hair in gentle repose.

Perhaps even more stunning, however, is the fact that any of these things survived.

Thousands of such beautifully detailed bronzes were created during the Hellenistic Age. Larger works were assembled piece-by-piece and welded together by artisans working in almost assembly line fashion and displayed in both public places and the homes of the well to do.

But most, say the exhibition’s co-curators, Kenneth Lapatin and Jens Daehner, were eventually melted down and turned into something else like coins.

“We know Lysippos made 1,500 bronzes in his lifetime, but not one survives,” Lapatin said of the artist said to be Alexander the Great’s favourite sculptor. “They’ve all been melted down.”

To this day, roads, fields and other public places across Greece and much of the rest of the Mediterranean are dotted with empty stone bases where bronze statues once stood, added Daehner during a walk-through of the stunning, hilltop museum ahead of the exhibition’s opening.

Which is why you rarely see more than one or two when you visit most any museum, said J. Paul Getty Director Timothy Potts.

The nearly 60 that will be on display at the J. Paul Getty until Nov. 1 are believed to represent the largest such collection ever assembled. They have been contributed by 32 lenders from 14 countries on four continents.

“Many of these are national treasures,” Potts said. “They are the greatest works of ancient art that these nations possess. So it’s been an extraordinary act of generosity for them to be lent to us.”

Many are completely intact, so much so that several still have their eyes, made of tin and glass. The result, they can stare right back in eerie fashion at museum visitors who go to check them out.

That they survived was in most cases the result of simple good fortune on their part, if not their owners’.

“It’s only through shipwrecks, through being buried in the foundations of buildings, being buried by a volcano at Pompeii or landslides that most of these pieces have survived,” said Lapatin.

“Herm of Dionysus,” for example, was believed to have been commissioned by a wealthy Roman homeowner. The detailed work of a bearded man with hat and animated eyes was found in a shipwreck off the coast of Tunisia in 1907.

The sculpture of an athlete raising an arm in victory was uncovered in the Adriatic Sea by Italian fishermen in the 1960s.

“The Pompeii Apollo” was discovered in 1977 in the dining room of a house in Pompeii that had been buried by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.

It is believed to have been used, in a very ungodlike fashion, to hold the room’s lights. That’s something that inspired Lapatin to refer to it as the equivalent of a modern-day lawn jockey.

The exhibition featuring it and the other pieces was organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. It opened at the Palazzo Strozzi earlier this year. After it leaves the Getty, will go on display Dec. 6 at the National Gallery of Art.

It will also be the subject of study when the 19th International Congress on Ancient Bronzes convenes in Los Angeles in October.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/ancient-bronze-sculptures-comes-to-l-a-s-getty-museum-1.2490939

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Power and Pathos at the Getty Museum

Giacobbe Giusti, Power and Pathos at the Getty Museum

 

The New York Times

In ‘Power and Pathos,’ Faces Frozen in Time and Bronze at the Getty Museum

JULY 29, 2015

Photo

A head of Seuthes III is among more than 50 ancient bronzes at the Getty Museum. Credit Krasimir Georgiev, via National Institute of Archaeology with Museum, Bulgaria

Art

By KEN JOHNSON

More than 2,000 years ago, artists of ancient Greece and Rome created sculptural representations of human beings that remain as striking for their anatomical and psychological realism as anything produced by Western artists since. The public does not often get to see many masterpieces of that time and place together, so “Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World” at the J. Paul Getty Museum (and traveling to the National Gallery of Art in December) will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for comparing and contrasting. The exhibition convenes more than 50 ancient bronzes from the Mediterranean region dating from the fourth century B.C. to the first century A.D. Among them is the famous “Terme Boxer” from the National Roman Museum, a nearly life-size representation of a muscular, bearded athlete seated in a state of exhaustion, his face bruised and bloody, his head turned to his right as if to ask his coach for advice or to plead with the gods for relief from his barbaric plight. (310-440-7300; getty.edu)

Photo

Four of the more than 50 ancient bronzes at the Getty Museum. Credit Clockwise from top left: Marie Mauzy/Art Resource, NY; The Trustees of The British Museum; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worh, via Scala, Firenze; Archaeological Museum of Calymnos and Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, via Archaeological Receipts Fund

A version of this article appears in print on August 2, 2015, on page AR2 of the New York edition with the headline: Faces Frozen In Bronze . Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com