In a New Light: Bellini's St. Francis in the Desert
May 22, 2011, through August 28, 2011
One of the most familiar and beloved paintings at The Frick Collection, Giovanni Bellini’s St. Francis in the Desert (c. 1480), is also deeply enigmatic. The artist has imagined this medieval saint alone in a stony wilderness, stepping forward from his simple shelter into a golden light that seems to transfigure him spiritually. For centuries, viewers of this masterpiece have puzzled over the meaning of Bellini’s composition and have sought explanations in a variety of pictorial and textual sources. Until recently, however, the artist’s practical conception and realization of this extraordinary vision have remained largely unexplored.
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Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430–1516), St. Francis in the Desert, c. 1480, oil on poplar panel, 49 x 55 7⁄8 inches, The Frick Collection, New York |
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In March 2010, St. Francis was sent to The Metropolitan Museum of Art for an unprecedented technical examination by a team of specialists led by Paintings Conservator Charlotte Hale. They employed infrared reflectography to create the first complete image of the underdrawing that guided the artist’s hand as he painted, and microscopy to study his exquisite manipulation of the oil medium. During a collaboration initiated by the Frick’s curator Denise Allen, an international group of conservators, curators, educators, and art historians assembled to interpret the results of the investigation and to address their implications for the painting’s meaning. These collective findings will be presented in the Frick’s upcoming dossier exhibition, which opens on May 22. The exhibition is organized by Susannah Rutherglen, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow, The Frick Collection.
The exhibition is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Turkish Taste at the Court of Marie-Antoinette
June 8, 2011, through September 11, 2011
France has long been fascinated by the Ottoman Empire, and for hundreds of years the taste for turquerie was evident in French fashion, literature, theater and opera, painting, architecture, and interior decoration. Turquerie, a term that came into use in the early nineteenth century, referred to essentially anything produced in the West that evoked or imitated Turkish culture. It was during the late eighteenth century at the court of Marie-Antoinette that the Turkish style reached new heights, inspiring some of the period’s most original creations, namely boudoirs or cabinets decorated entirely in the Turkish manner.
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French, eighteenth century, Small Console Table with Supporting Figures of Nubians (one of a pair), c.1780, gilded and painted wood and marble slab, 34 1/8 x 34 3/4 inches, The Frick Collection, New York; photo: Michael Bodycomb |
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In 1776 and 1777, several operas and plays with Turkish themes were performed at the French court, increasing the nobility’s interest in Turkish style. Soon thereafter, three interiors à la turque were created for the comte d’Artois, Louis XVI’s younger brother, and Marie-Antoinette commissioned boudoirs turcs for her apartments at Versailles and Fontainebleau. Since these retreats were intended for private entertaining, interior decorators were allowed more freedom than was permitted for the official, more public apartments at court. The highly theatrical rooms featured furniture and wall panels decorated with turbaned figures, camels, palm trees, and other Turkish motifs, but their form and function remained essentially French. Created for the royal family and wealthy aristocrats, the objects were always of the highest quality, made by the best artists and craftsmen of the day.
This summer, The Frick Collection will present a dossier exhibition featuring several pieces made in the Turkish manner for members of the French court, including a pair of console tables acquired by Henry Clay Frick in 1914, that illustrate a particularly inventive aspect of French eighteenth-century decorative style. The exhibition is organized by Charlotte Vignon, Associate Curator of Decorative Arts, The Frick Collection.
Permanent Collection
The Frick Collection includes some of the best-known paintings by the greatest European artists, major works of sculpture (among them one of the finest groups of small bronzes in the world), superb eighteenth-century French furniture and porcelains, Limoges enamels, Oriental rugs, and other works of remarkable quality.
Several special exhibitions are scheduled annually. Use the following links, or use the links at left, to see our featured or current exhibitions and installations, or future exhibitions. You may also visit previous exhibitions and installations or purchase catalogues of past shows from our Museum Shop.
We are pleased to announce a searchable database of works of art in the permanent collection, available at collections.frick.org. You may bookmark the following link "Search Our Collections," which is also available on each page on this Web site.
You are also invited to investigate our permanent collections area by visiting the virtual tour section, available from the Virtual Tour, on each page of this Web site. This section contains information about the history of The Frick Collection, the galleries used for displaying our permanent collection, and includes a virtual tour and audio files. For questions about visiting The Frick Collection, see Visitor Information.
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