BOOK REVIEW: Longford Castle

Longford Castle: The Treasures & The Collectors

Amelia Smith

ISBN: 9781910787687

Publisher: Unicorn

£40.00

Longford full jkt draft latest.indd

I first learnt about Longford Castle and some of its treasures in an article in the 1968 Country Life Annual and have wanted to know more about it ever since. Well now both you and I can find out more in this fascinating book which is both well-written and well-illustrated.

Dating from Elizabethan times the house was acquired by the Bouverie family in 1717 and the story of how they built up the outstanding art collection which consists of Old Masters and family portraits – think Holbein, Claude, Reynolds and Gainsborough – is skilfully interwoven with the tale of the furnishings and decorations of the castle’s rooms which form the backdrop to the paintings. It really is a celebration and a history of this great collection and house and is such a delight. It is a book I will return to time and time again!

http://unicornpublishing.org/

An Artistic Friendship

Apr24

The Credit Suisse Exhibition: MICHELANGELO & SEBASTIANO, North Galleries, The National Gallery, London, until 25^th June 2017

Sebastiano del Piombo, after partial designs by Michelangelo
Lamentation over the Dead Christ (Pietà), about 1512-16
Oil on poplar
248 × 190 cm
Museo Civico, Viterbo
© Comune di Viterbo

The North Galleries of the National Gallery provide a good background for this engaging exhibition which takes us back to Rome in the High Renaissance. It was a time of war and religious conflict and against this the collaboration and friendship of Michelangelo (1475-1564) and Sebastiano del Piombo (1455-1547) is revealed.

Michelangelo
The Risen Christ, about 1532-3
Black chalk on paper
37.2 × 22.1 cm
Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017 (RCIN 912768)

The talented oil painter Sebastiano arrived in Rome in 1511 and became part of the city’s vibrant art scene and he soon met Michelangelo who was painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling. They became friends and were allies against Raphael (1483 – 1520) who had been called to Rome in 1508 by the Pope to undertake the redecoration of the papal apartments.

Sebastiano del Piombo
Letter from Sebastiano del Piombo in Rome to Michelangelo in Florence, 2 July 1518
© Casa Buonarroti, Florence (IX, 468)

Paintings, drawings, letters and sculptures are used to tell the story with some exceptional loans such as the Lamentation over the Dead Christ (c1512-16) which was the first joint collaboration of Sebastiano and Michelangelo. Another of their projects the Borgherini Chapel in S. Pietro in Montorio, Rome (1516–24) – which obviously could not be brought to London – has been realistically re-created using modern technology.

Michelangelo
The Entombment (or Christ being carried to his Tomb), about 1500-1
Oil on poplar
161.7 x 149.9 cm
© The National Gallery, London (NG790)

Lasting over twenty-five years the friendship ended when Michelangelo returned to Rome permanently to paint the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel. The reason for the falling out is thought to have been an argument over painting techniques – a difference which had brought them together but now drove them apart.

HRH The Prince of Wales viewing The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Michelangelo & Sebastiano on 13 March 2017
© The National Gallery, London

This is an exhibition that demands to be seen in the flesh and I warmly urge you to do so.

Michelangelo, finished by an unknown seventeenth century artist
The Risen Christ (‘The Giustiniani Christ’), 1514-15, finished in the early 17th century
Carrara marble
250 (201 without the cross) x 90 x 51 cm
Church of San Vincenzo Martire, Monastero dei Silvestrini, Bassano Romano (Viterbo)
© Photo Alessandro Vasari

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk

From Freud to Van Dyck

Aug8

Painters’ Paintings – From Feud to Van Dyck, Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery, London, until 4^th September 2016

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
Italian Woman, or Woman with Yellow Sleeve (L’Italienne)
about 1870
Oil on canvas
73 x 59 cm
© The National Gallery, London

It really should not come as a surprise that painters may actually collect paintings to both live with and be inspired by whether they are contemporary or not. The lynch-pin painting in this show is the strong depiction of an Italian Woman by Corot which belonged to the late, great Lucian Freud and which he left to the Nation on his death in 2011. One can certainly understand why this powerful work would have appealed to Freud.

This exciting and informative exhibition also looks at works that were owned by Matisse, Degas, Frederic, Lord Leighton, Watts, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir Anthony van Dyck and they in many ways expand our knowledge of the owners.

Titian
The Vendramin Family, venerating a Relic of the True Cross
Begun about 1540-3, completed about 1550-60
Oil on canvas
206.1 x 288.5 cm
© The National Gallery, London

George Frederic Watts
Self Portrait in a Red Robe, about 1853
Oil on canvas
154.9 × 74.9 cm
Frame: 179 × 100.5 × 9.5 cm
© Watts Gallery (COMWG2014.10)

Jacopo Tinteretto
Jupiter and Semele
about 1545
Oil on spruce
22.7 x 65.4 cm
© The National Gallery, London

The more than eighty works on show combine examples of the artists’ own work with the ones they acquired whether purchased by the artists themselves, received as gifts or bought as investments or status symbols. This is perhaps best summed up by Sir Joshua Reynolds who said – “Works of art are models you are to imitate, and at the same time rivals you are to combat”

This is an enlightening show of the painter as collector and one that really has to be seen for its message to be fully appreciated.

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Angelica saved by Ruggiero
1819-39
Oil on canvas
47.6 x 39.4 cm
© The National Gallery, London

Raphael
An Allegory (‘Vision of a Knight’)
about 1504
Oil on poplar
17.1 x 17.3 cm
© The National Gallery, London

Paul Gauguin
Young Man with a Flower behind his Ear, 1891
Oil on canvas
45.7 × 33.3 cm
Property from a distinguished Private Collection, courtesy of Christie’s
Photo © Christie’s Images / Bridgeman Images

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk

Rembrandt
Lamentation over the Dead Christ, about 1634-1635
Pen and brown ink and brown wash, with red and perhaps some black chalk, reworked in oils ‘en grisaille’; framing lines in thin black oil paint; on paper
21.6 × 25.4 cm
© The British Museum, London (Oo,9.103)

Sublime Gardens

Jul18

Painting Paradise: The Art of the Garden, The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London SW1, until11th October 2015

Marco Ricci, A View of the Cascade, Bushy Park Water Gardens, c.1715.
Royal Collection Trust / copyright Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014

This is a great exhibition which celebrates the idea of the garden through paintings, drawings, books and the decorative arts from the 16^th to the early 20^th century.

Mir ‘Ali Sir Nava’l, Seven Couples in a Garden, c. 1510.
Royal Collection Trust / copyright Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014

We see a Persian garden depicted in an Islamic manuscript, the gardens of Versailles and Hampton Court, Kew, Windsor and Osborne House. Works by Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, Jan Brueghel the Elder as well as late 19^thand early 20^th century watercolours and a Fantin-Latour painting.

Jan Brueghel the Elder, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, 1615.
Royal Collection Trust / copyright Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014

There is a wonderful selection of floral decoration on Bow, Chelsea, Meissen and Sèvres porcelains, textiles, furniture, silver, fans and jewellery, including pieces commissioned by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria and of course works by Carl Fabergé.

Workshop of Carl Faberge, Bleeding Heart, c.1900.
Royal Collection Trust / copyright Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014

This engaging exhibition appeals to most tastes as it reveals the garden as a place of beauty, a place for research and science, a place to relax and enjoy and a place to wonder at the glories of nature.

Thomas Tompion, one of a pair of sundials, 17th century.
Royal Collection Trust / copyright Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2014

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk

Moroni at the RA

Dec18

Giovanni Battista Moroni (c.1520-1579), The Sackler Wing, Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1, until 25th January 2015

Giovanni Battista Moroni
Gian Girolamo Albani, c.1570
Oil on canvas, 107 x 75 cm
Private Collection
Photo: Private collection

This is the first UK exhibition devoted to this talented 16th century Italian painter and while one can ask “why?” one acknowledges that it was certainly worth the wait. His portraits have a realness that underlines the character, appearance and almost the soul of the sitter. It would not surprise me greatly if one of his subjects started talking to me because they give that sense of engagement and realism.

Giovanni Battista Moroni
Young Lady, c.1560-65
Oil on canvas, 51 x 42 cm
Private collection
Photo: Private collection

While usually associated with the city of Bergamo, which was part of the Venetian Republic, he is also known to have worked in Brescia, Albino and Trent which are close by. It is most likely as there was no ducal or noble court in Bergamo this meant that many of Moroni’s subjects are drawn from the professional and intellectual classes as well as artisans. His very well-known portrait of The Tailor is the first known portrait of a man depicted doing manual labour.

Giovanni Battista Moroni
The Tailor, c. 1570
Oil on canvas, 99.5 x 77 cm
The National Gallery, London
Photo c. The National Gallery, London

He was also a painter of religious subjects which reflect the principles of the Counter-Reformation and he produced works for both public devotion in churches as well as for more private devotion. All in all this really is an eye-opening and rewarding experience.

Giovanni Battista Moroni
A Gentleman in Adoration before the Baptism of Christ, c.1555-60
Oil on canvas, 112.8 x 104 cm
Gerolamo and Roberta Etro
Photo: Gerolamo and Roberta Etro

royalacademy.org.uk

Giovanni Battista Moroni
Gian Gerolamo Grumelli, c. 1560
Oil on canvas, 216 x 123 cm
Fondazione Museo di Palazzo Moroni – Lucretia Moroni Collection, Bergamo.
Photo Fondazione Museo di Palazzo Moroni – Lucretia Moroni Collection, Bergamo. Photography: Marco Mazzoleni.

Giovanni Battista Moroni
Isotta Brembati, c.1555
Oil on canvas, 160 x 115 cm
Fondazione Museo di Palazzo Moroni – Lucretia Moroni Collection, Bergamo.
Photo Fondazione Museo di Palazzo Moroni – Lucretia Moroni Collection, Bergamo. Photography: Marco Mazzoleni.

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