Medieval Bones

This isn't art related so much as it's just "cool medieval stuff," but hey, it's Friday!

Workers in Gloucester, England found the skeletons of two people laid side by side in the middle of digging up a road in the city . The County Council's archaeology service has determined that the skeletons, and the remains of a coffin found nearby, are medieval.

Originally thought to be Roman, the presence of the coffin remains indicates that the skeletons are probably medieval, possibly "from the time of St. Kyneburgh," said Paul Nichols of the Gloucester archaeology service. He said: "The site of St. Kyneburgh is recorded as being at the site of the south gate but there are no exact records to say where it is because it was demolished. We're now going to send the bones to a specialist for further investigation."

As an aside, St. Kyneburgh was a 7th century abbess (find out more about her life here) who founded the abbey in the village of Castor, near Peterborough.

Original article from the Gloucestershire County Council can be found here.

New Exhibition: Demons and Devotion

I'm sure you all have your calendars marked already for the opening on Friday, January 22nd of Demons and Devotion: The Hours of Catherine of Cleves at the Morgan Library. This Dutch masterpiece, circa 1440, and its iconic Hell-mouth (which I've been seeing a lot lately) miniature is long overdue for an exhibition.

The Morgan's show will display the pages, which were cut out of the original manuscript in the 1850s, glued back together and sold as two separate books to two separate collectors, unbound. At the end of the exhibition in May, the Morgan's conservation staff will decide how to rebind the pages in a looser fashion for preservation and storage. The show will display 93 of the 157 illuminations, though a facsimile version will be available to view as well. (You can get your own, for the low low price of $15,000.) You can check out a digital facsimile for free on the Morgan's website, here.

The show will also include a selection of 18 additional manuscripts from Flanders, all contemporary to the Catherine of Cleves Hours. For a peek at some of the stylistic points the exhibition will cover, click here.

As usual, the Morgan has a series of lectures and gallery talks associated with the exhibit, all of which look extremely interesting. I'm hoping to catch "The Hours of Catherine of Cleves: What Makes a Dutch Masterpiece," a lecture by Dr. James Marrow on February 24th. A complete calendar of lectures and gallery talks can be found here .

The new Sutton-Hoo?

Cool early medieval news: An amateur treasure-hunter with a metal detector found a cache of Anglo-Saxon objects in England about two months ago. Consisting of about 1,500 objects from the 7th century, the hoard is being billed as the largest such treasure to ever be discovered. I'm most interested in the Christian objects, and it will be interesting to see what scholarship comes out of this (also, I can't believe anyone still uses the phrase "the Dark Ages" seriously).


Depressing art news: A Renee Magritte painting, Olympia, was recently stolen from a museum in Brussels.

A hilariously cliche-laden write-up about a discovery in a 17th century canvas by Poussin.

A telling interview with Thomas Campbell about his leadership style and what it means for the Met's exhibition schedule.

Art Links

Hello dear readers, I apologize for my long blogging hiatus. I was in Paris researching some manuscripts for my thesis, started a new job, and time got away from me!

Here are a few art links and updates to hold you over for the upcoming holiday weekend:

-In today's Times, an update/analysis on how galleries are faring in the continuing bad economic situation. 57th St. galleries seem to be relocating to Chelsea, where some two dozen have vacated their spaces.

-The much buzzed-about show at the Met which is centered around Vermeer's Milkmaid opens next week, on September 10th. It will also feature the Met's complete collection of (5) Vermeers, along with a selection of Dutch works (which reminds me a lot of the show they put up a few years ago which featured the entire collection of Dutch paintings). I'm interested in the Met's strategy here. Considering the Michelangelo's first painting exhibition, the Vermeer show, and the upcoming show which features a single sculpture (attributed to Michelangelo), the Met seems to be trafficking in small-scale (but big publicity) Frick Collection-style shows. Low cost and high traffic, an interesting move for the Met. MoMA is doing something similar with their exhibition on Monet's waterlilies (which I'm sure will be so packed, it will hardly be the oasis MoMA claims it will be).

-For all of you medieval art dorks who've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the newly unbound Belles Heures of Jean de France at the Met, the show which was originally scheduled to open later this month has been pushed back to March. (Also opening in March is an interesting show on medieval tomb sculpture from Burgundy.)

-The Walters Art Museum has a neat-looking show on miniature books, which pulls from their permanent collection.

And now for some bad news

The art world is still suffering, bad news this week includes:

-A disappointing Impressionist and modern art sale at Christie's London, which just barely cleared the $60 million low estimate. As Souren Melikian says: The hard lesson for auction houses is that scraping the barrel to fill a catalog no longer does the trick. To do well, you need real art and there is not much left of it.

-Contemporary art galleries in Chelsea (and pretty much all galleries in New York) are in trouble this summer, and there have already been several notable closings. The notoriously slow summer season combined with a huge recession in art buying make it survival of the fittest (and best-marketed).

-More and more exhibitions are being cut from museum schedules due to financial concerns, and in most cases, a lack of funding.

-The Guggenheim and the Metropolitan Museum announced last week that both major institutions will cut more staff. The Guggenheim will cut 25 positions, or about 8% of their full time staff, while the Met laid off 74 employees and offered 95 other employees retirement packages.


But let's end on a good note!

-Most of the documents, many dating back to the Middle Ages, have been recovered from the rubble of the Cologne Archives, which collapsed back in March. The catch is that everything has to be sorted and re-cataloged, and 15% of the materials are still missing.

-Art Basel did surprisingly well, partially due to lowered prices and partially owing to the fact that most rich art collectors are still rich.

Medieval Friday

Medieval Fridays are the best kind of Fridays, right?

-The NYT review of Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the Middle Ages makes me want to go back and see it again.

-The must-see exhibit at the Morgan Library, Pages of Gold, consists entirely of "orphan" leaves--pages removed from their original manuscripts. The show looks at the market for and the individuals who collected such single leaves and (delightfully) ends with a few forgeries. The show covers not only medieval issues of illumination, but a glimpse of the unique medieval art market as well.

-St. Anthony Tormented by Demons, the so-called "first painting" of Michelangelo is now on display at the Met. The small exhibit is made up of the actual painting accompanied by the evidence for its authenticity. An interesting exercise in art historical analysis--now in exhibition form!

-Meanwhile, the Walters Art Museum has a show called Prayers in Code, which presents a selection of unusual Books of Hours and explores artistic patronage at the court of King Francis I (1494-1547). The exhibit centers around the unexpected relationship between images and text in Books of Hours at this time.

New Exhibition: Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the Middle Ages

Over the weekend I went to the Met to check out the new medieval show, Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the Middle Ages, and also caught a lecture on the topic of drawing the Middle Ages by Dr. Jonathan Alexander of the Institute of Fine Arts.

This show is one of the first of its kind to treat drawing as a separate and distinct art form in the Middle Ages. Installed in the special exhibition space in the drawings and prints department, the show features over 50 examples of medieval drawings, from line drawings done for early 9th and 10th century manuscripts similar to the Utrecht Psalter, to late 14th century pattern books, maps, and cosmological charts. Dr. Alexander spoke about the common conception of drawing as something of a lesser medium than painting, more preparatory than final, and what this show does to dispel that popular opinion.

One thing I found intriguing while looking at the various examples was the play between line and color, and the interaction of the two in extremely interesting ways. In several examples, line drawings are executed in various colored lines, creating masterful scenes evocative of fully colored manuscript miniatures, but with a special and different aesthetic. In some cases color is used to highlight only a few objects in a miniature, like the warriors shields in the example from the early 10th century Book of Maccabees from St. Gall (pictured above). In many cases, color and line work together to create extremely sophisticated compositions.

Other interesting objects include early maps, medical treatises, teaching scrolls, constellation charts and cosmological texts, genealogical charts, and of course the familiar psalters and Books of Hours (the lovely Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux are also included). Many of the books' pages will be turned periodically at the beginning of each month until the show closes in August, offering an ever-changing variety of images.

Overall the show offers a glimpse into a little-studied field, and presents objects from some of the most famous libraries (including the Vatican Library) around the world. Many of these texts will probably not be seen again soon in any exhibition, so I suggest you get to the Met and see them before they get locked away again, only to be seen by the most intrepid (and persistent) scholars of the book arts.

Quick note: The Met is doing a new thing where each exhibition has its own blog, where visitors can participate in the discussion. Check out the blog for the Pen and Parchment show here, where you can find information on the show, medieval drawing techniques, and read commentary from the show's curators.

Met News

-The Met has secured a loan from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam of Vermeer's Milkmaid for their fall show of Dutch art that will feature all 5 of the Vermeers from the Met's permanent collection, as well as other 17th century Dutch works.

-A very unique show on medieval drawings entitled Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the Middle Ages opens next week, June 2nd. I've been looking forward to this for months, so stay tuned for a review.

-Things to see now include the opening of the new American wing period rooms, and Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion at the Costume Institute if you just can't get enough of Kate Moss.

New Exhibition: Pen to Press, Paint to Print

Yesterday I went to see a lovely little show at C.G. Boerner Gallery here in New York (23 E. 73rd St, between Madison and 5th Avenues) by visiting gallerist Sandra Hindman, of Les Enluminures.

Les Enluminures, which is based in Paris, are known for their medieval manuscript, in particular their richly illuminated Books of Hours. This exhibit, entitled Pen to Press, Paint to Print explores the transitional period of the late 15th through the 16th century when books went from being copied and decorated by hand to printed on the newly invented presses of Gutenberg. This topic unfortunately has not been given much attention, but this exhibit presents a fantastic selection of prayer books, Books of Hours, individual printed leaves produced by nuns, coffers (boxes) decorated with medieval prints on the inside, and 16th century woodblocks used to created printed Books of Hours.

One of the most interesting changes is the switch from books strictly in Latin to those written in a combination of Latin and the vernacular of the area for which the book was printed. For example, in Latin with Middle Dutch or High German additions.

Pen to Press, Paint to Print is open only until May 9th, but is open on Saturdays, 10am-6pm, so be sure to check it out. The exhibit is also accompanied by an illustrated, full-color catalogue of all the items presented in the show, with lots of unique and helpful (if you study Books of Hours!) information.

Art Links

I'll be on blog-hiatus for the next 2 weeks or so, as I'll be on a fabulous Australian vacation. Here are some links to tide you over:

-Some sad news today: in addition to the loss of human life in the recent earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy, it also caused "significant" damage to historic buildings and works of art. Among the damages include portions of medieval towns, Santa Maria di Collemaggio (Romanesque, but heavily restored in the 20th century), and parts of the National Museum of Abruzzo.

-Pack the Bronze Duckling, previously stolen from his installation behind Mrs. Mallard at a Boston public garden, has been recovered.

-Art Dubai is getting better, but selling less.

-The Newark Museum celebrates its 100th anniversary with a new exhibition featuring work by living artists acquired in the last 15 years called Unbounded: New Art for a New Century.

-John D. Rockefeller's bedroom furniture from his west 54th St. townhouse are being relocated to some even fancier digs.

-The Michelle Obama/Carla Bruni Sarkozy/omg-what-are-they-wearing-today analysis is getting serious. Ladies and gentlement, the end of "wife wear."

-In especially cool medieval news, experts are close to archiving and translating all 10,000 of the inscriptions on the walls of Al Hambra palace in Spain.

Art Links

-The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine here in New York recently put two of their twelve Barberini tapestries on display for Easter. Tapestries depicting "The Crucifixion" and "Agony in the Garden" are being used during Easter season "as this art is intended," to help teach and visualize liturgical events to the congregation.

The article in the NYT has a great slide show and some tidbits about how the tapestry collection at St. John's is preserved.

-On the other end of the art spectrum, the WSJ has a review of Synthetic, a new show open at the Whitney that explores the use of synthetic art materials during the 1960s. As the critic, James Gardner, points out, the show is composed of only 18 works, but attempts to answer large questions of criticism and art history. The works analyze the question "Did synthetic materials lead to the rise of synthetic art?"

Being the medievalist I am, I can't answer that question, though this review sort of makes me want to go see the show and find out. Synthetic is open until April 19th.

The St. John's Bible, continued

I posted recently about the St. John's Bible, a manuscript currently on view at The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. It's in the process of being completed by a group of modern-day monks using medieval calligraphy methods, but with modern touches, like that it's completely in English instead of Latin. I sort of had no idea what to expect from it, image-wise, so I'd like to share a few pictures of it. It's a rather brilliant synthesis of medieval illumination traditions and modern aesthetics.

The Curious Case of the Kaaba Key

Sotheby's canceled the record £9.2m sale of a 12th century iron Kaaba key (originally sold in April of 2008) after the key's authenticity was disputed. Art historians at the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Oxford were consulted in the matter, their expertise eventually resulting the annulment of the sale.
The Art Newspaper reports that only 17 medieval Kaaba keys are known to exist (though there are 58 that exist total, from any period), and because of their extreme rarity, the likelihood that the Sotheby's key was a fake was extremely high. Indeed, there were many doubts regarding the key's authenticity leading up to the sale. The key was the most expensive Islamic work ever to be sold at auction.

Art history is sort of like detective work, isn't it? It gets especially exciting when 18 million hangs in the balance.

New Exhibition: Medievalism, Fashion's Romance with the Middle Ages

I love the idea for this exhibition because it brings together two of my very favorite things: fashion and the middle ages.

The Kelly Ellman Fashion Design Gallery and Orme Lewis Gallery at the Phoenix Museum of Art will open the show Medievalism: Fashion's Romance with the Middle Ages on February 21st. The show will feature over 40 ensembles as well as accessories and books that evoke the textures and lines of the medieval, or "Gothic" style associated with the Middle Ages.

While the premise of the show seems somewhat romantic at first glance, it will also treat the history of the revival of Gothic style in the mid-19th century, and how the medieval aesthetic affects today's fashion and media as well.

Murals based on the 15th-century Unicorn tapestries in the collection of the Musée National du Moyen Age, Paris, and a painted stained glass window created by set designer Michael Sims will provide the appropriately medieval backdrop for the show.

New Exhibition: From Hestia’s Sacred Fire to Christ’s Eternal Light

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon will show an exhibition of ancient and medieval lamps beginning March 14 and running through May 17.

Unfortunately I don't think I'm going to get to make it to Salem, Oregon, but this is an interesting idea for a show that involves the oft-forgotten decorative arts (or "material culture") of ancient and medieval society.

The show will feature about 84 oil lamps, some functional and some with mythological and religious relief scenes, all from the Bogue Collection at Portland State University. The lamps represent a wide range of materials and cultures, dated from as early as 3,000 BCE and continuing through the medieval period.

New Exhibition: Heaven on Earth: Manuscript Illuminations from the National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., is showing examples from their collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the upcoming exhibition, Heaven on Earth.

The exhibition will feature about 50 decorated leaves and four bound volumes from the museum's permanent collection, primarily drawn from the religious texts in the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection and from all over western Europe, including some examples from less-common manuscript producing areas like Austria and Bohemia. The show covers manuscripts from the 12th to the 16th century. (Opens March 1, 2009 until August 2, 2009)

The National Gallery also has an interesting show on Dutch cityscapes on now through May 3rd, and a show on the intriguing Judith Leyster opening in June.

Art Links (and a Castle!)

- Questionable art history at the Prado surrounding the recent attribution of The Colossus, previously attributed to Goya, to an assistant of his named Asencio Julia. A report explaining the reasons for the demotion of the Colossus has recently been released by the curator of 18th century paintings at the Prado, Manuela Mena.
Principal among these reasons are an x-ray scan of the painting reveals the initials "A.J." in the corner and evidence of pentimenti in the underpainting. These reasons being not all that convincing, we are left with the question of "stylistic evidence," that oh-so-slippery, and ultimately 100% subjective, method of attribution. Any Goya specialists out there willing to hazard an opinion on this?

-Not news, exactly, but a great little article about Pieter Bruegel the Elder's masterpiece, "The Triumph of Death." The painting, "not for the squeamish," is one of my favorite pieces of art in the whole world and a masterful rendering of the idea that death is inevitable, following a long medieval tradition of such themes.
I do disagree with the author of the article here, Mr. Woodward, when he says that his secular reading of the painting as a "nightmarish icon" that seems to anticipate the horrors of wars that came after it isn't "responsible art history." There is something to be said about a painting that speaks to audiences through time and isn't only applicable to its specific historical moment.

-For your reading pleasure, a short piece about a medieval Crusader castle, the Crac des Chevaliers, in Syria. A rather grand piece of architecture that brilliantly encapsulates the give and take between Western Crusaders and their Eastern foes (which, interestingly enough, this article doesn't mention that Muslim armies eventually captured the Crac and drove the Hospitallers out in a spectacular defeat, simply that the Mamelukes "took" the fortress). The Crac really highlights a lot of the issues surrounding the idea of a specifically "Crusader" art while also being just an incredible piece of architecture.
Some parting words from one of the Crac's lintel inscriptions: "Grace, wisdom and beauty you may enjoy, but beware pride, which alone can tarnish all the rest."

Art Links (and a Watermill!)

-China agrees to lend art from its National Palace Museum to Taiwan's National Palace Museum in Taipei next fall for an exhibition that will bring together a part of China's imperial collection. The disagreement between the two countries, whether or not China's claim to full ownership of the imperial collection is valid, will not be addressed.

-An interesting article in the Times about the flagging contemporary art market, a short history of the market's relationship to art schools, and an innovative (?) suggestion to open up the now very narrow curriculum in studio-based programs. Should art schools institute a more interdisciplinary approach? Would it change the landscape of the contemporary art market?

-Archaeologists are unearthing a 12th century watermill at Greenwich Wharf in England. Timbers are currently being excavated and sent in for conservation.

New Exhibition: The St. John's Bible

Opening at the Walters Art Museum, an exhibition featuring the "10-year effort to create the first handwritten, illuminated Bible to be commissioned by a Benedictine monastery since the advent of the printing press."

The project was launched 9 years ago by monks from St. John's Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota, using medieval illumination methods like quills made from turkey, swan and goose feathers, and natural paints and inks, all on calfskin vellum, though the text is from the New Revised Standard version of the Bible, and in modern English. Interestingly, the images are also inspired by modern circumstances and events. The modern manuscript will be displayed along with medieval manuscripts from the Walters's collection. More information about the exhibit can be found here.

The Saint John's Bible: a Modern Vision through Medieval Methods is on through May 24, 2009.

New Exhibition: Medieval Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art

If you're around Nashville's Frist Center for the Visual Arts, check out the new exhibition there, Medieval Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. It looks pretty spectacular, with objects ranging from Early Medieval, to Byzantine, to the arts of medieval Italy and Germany.

The Frist Center will also sponsor a ton of programs related to the exhibit, including lectures by curators, gallery talks, and workshops on illuminated manuscripts.

Press release:
NASHVILLE, TENN.—(Jan. 23, 2009)—The Frist Center for the Visual Arts will open Medieval Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art Friday, Feb. 13, 2009. The traveling exhibition provides an extraordinary opportunity to see more than 100 rare works of art from the Middle Ages. The wide array of objects includes ivories, enamels, metalwork, jewelry, sculptures, paintings and illuminated manuscripts produced in Europe and the Mediterranean basin. The Cleveland Museum of Art (Ohio) possesses one of the finest collections of Early Christian, Byzantine, and European Medieval art in the United States. Medieval Treasures will be on view through Sunday, June 7, 2009.

“Every object in Medieval Treasures is exquisite and is indicative of the extraordinary quality of the collection assembled by the Cleveland Museum of Art throughout the course of the past century,” says Trinita Kennedy, associate curator at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. “The exhibition takes us back to a time and place when religious faith inspired artists to create objects of awe-inspiring beauty.”

Early Christian and Byzantine Treasures: Art and Empire
The exhibition begins with a group of rare early Christian sculptures. Marble statuettes of Christ as the Good Shepherd and the Old Testament prophet Jonah most likely date to 280–90, that is, several decades before Constantine the Great declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in 330. These sculptures eloquently express Christian beliefs in salvation and resurrection. Visitors will also see the Octagonal Pendant, one of the finest pieces of gold jewelry to survive from the reign of Constantine. Its center is mounted with a double solidus (gold coin) representing Constantine crowned as emperor. Important examples of Byzantine art will be on view, such as The Icon of the Virgin and Child (second half of the 10th or early 11th century), one of the most superb ivories to survive the Middle Byzantine period.

The exhibition features an entire gallery dedicated to the personal and portable art of the Migration period (approximately 300 to 900). In addition to silver, gold and bronze jewelry studded with garnets and pearls, there is a rare Celtic head made of sandstone intended for ritual veneration.

Early Medieval Treasures: Splendor and Devotion
During the 9th century, the Christianization of Celtic and Germanic tribes resulted in an increased demand for churches, monasteries, liturgical objects and illuminated manuscripts throughout Europe, but especially in Germany.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is renowned for its objects from the Guelph Treasure, one of the most important church treasuries to have survived from medieval Germany. The museum acquired these sacred objects in 1930. Included in the exhibition is one of the earliest and most sumptuous works from the treasure, the Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude, ca. 1045. Made of gold, cloisonné enamel, gems, pearls, oak and other materials, the altar is a masterpiece of early medieval goldsmith work.

High Gothic Treasures: Court and Cloister
Throughout the 11th and 12th centuries, powerful and wealthy monasteries emerged as Europe’s preeminent centers of artistic production and display. A selection of reliquaries, crosses, and large-scale sculptures in the exhibition were made for monasteries located in France and Germany. Major monasteries formed workshops of their own and created lavish manuscripts and illuminations using gold and other fine materials.

Late Medieval Treasures: Toward a New Expression
The exhibition concludes with four galleries filled with exquisite works from late medieval France, Burgundy, Italy, and Germany. French artisans (ca. 1130–1300) created illuminated books of hours, ivory reliefs and metalwork suited to the royal court’s need for extraordinarily refined luxury goods.

The dukes of Burgundy (1364–1477) sought to enhance their status with displays of wealth and taste, and became brilliant patrons of art. The exhibition features three alabaster sculptures of mourners, made between 1406 and 1410, for the tomb of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy—one of the most celebrated funerary monuments of the Middle Ages. Also on view is a magnificent Table Fountain (ca. 1320–40), an object of great ingenuity intended to entertain the dinner guests of the Burgundian dukes.

The great mercantile centers of medieval Italy—namely, Siena, Florence, Bologna and Venice—were home to brilliant craftsmen who produced gold ground panel paintings and sculpted reliefs of the Madonna and Child and the saints. Most extraordinary is a large altarpiece from a Franciscan church that survives intact—one of only a few now in the United States.

The sculptors of late medieval Germany brought woodcarving to a high degree of sophistication,
and the Cleveland Museum of Art possesses one of the largest collections of their work outside Europe. Examples in the exhibition range from a nearly life-sized Saint John Resting on the Bosom of Christ of polychrome oak by an anonymous artist to a small-scale mourning Virgin made of pear wood by Viet Stoss.