Palazzo Farnese

Rome, Italy - Now through April 27, 2011, the Palazzo Farnese will be open to the public for an exceptional exhibit entitled, “Palazzo Farnese – From the Renaissance to the French Embassy.”

Annibale Carracci Gallery

A collection of over 150 pieces (drawings, sculptures, paintings, objets d’art) will bring to life five centuries of Palace history - from the Farnese family fasts in the 16^th century, to the last 35 years when the Palace served as the French Embassy in Italy and the École Française de Rome. An incredible selection of works from the Farnese family collection has been reunited and returned to the site for the first time in centuries thanks to the generosity and passion of the Farnese family.

Annibale Carracci Gallery

The brainchild of Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, French Ambassador to Italy, this exhibit was produced in collaboration with the Minister of Italian Culture of Italy, and curated by Francesco Buranelli and Roberto Cecchi.

Interior Court of Palazzo Farnese

During the exhibit, the 16^th century Palace will open its doors, by appointment only, and welcome the return of the “Museum Farnesianum” where the exquisite “Emporer” and “Philosopher” rooms have been recreated with much fanfare. In addition, thanks to new technology, the court will be virtually repopulated with imposing silhouettes of the Farnese Atlas, the latin Hercules and the Farnese Bull.

Farnese Bull

Generous loans from the National Archeological Museum in Naples have facilitated the reunion of these works. Among the most important pieces of antique furniture is the Farnese cabinet from the Ecouen Museum, a precious piece designed to display the coin and cameo collections of the Farnese family. Tapestries from Quirinal, on loan from the Italian Presidency as well as the Chambord castle, will retake their places in the salons on the piano nobile, as well as the ceramics of the Renaissance.

Farnese Cabinet

Pope Paul III by Titien

The portrait of Pope Paul III by Titien, the Christ painted by Annibale Carracci for the private chapel of Cardinal Odoardo, works by Sebastiano del Piombo, and Le Greco are all testament to the richness of the painting collection, now displayed in the North-East gallery. The collection of sketches and drawings by Annibale Carracci (mostly on loan from the Louvre) and the frescoes of the Palais Fava de Bologne illustrate the design of the famous Carracci galleries.

Detail of the Carracci Gallery

Relive the intertwined histories of the popes, cardinals, kings, ambassadors, and artists, who, during five centuries lived and worked in the Palazzo Farnese, indirectly making this site exceptional and alive.

French Embassy in Italy
Palais Farnèse
Via Giulia 186
Rome
39 06 32 810

Piet Mondrian and De Stijl

This winter the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France, opened an exhibition exploring the works of Piet Mondrian and De Stijl. Piet Mondrian was a Dutch painter and a key contributor to the De Stijl Movement of the early 20th century. He coined the term "Neo-Plasticism" to describe this style characterized by rigid lines and primary colors.

De Stijl, or "The Style," was a group of Dutch artists and well as a journal they published from 1917 until 1931. They sought to express a utopian ideal through abstraction, a fundamental reality rather than emotions. They simplified shape and color to their most basic, clearly defined forms. They worked with planes on a white background, adding only primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. Symmetry was avoided; balance and harmony were achieved through opposition. 

Neoplasticism did not end with painting, but naturally flowed into furniture, interior design, and architecture. Straight lines and primary colors were used to achieve three-dimensional works of art. The Red Blue Chair was designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1917. Originally painted in the "non-colors" of De Stijl (black, gray, and white), it was repainted in 1923 to match the primary colors being used by Mondrian.

The Schröder House, also designed by Rietveld, was built in Utrecht in 1924 and is the best example of De Stijl architecture. Its facade is composed of intersecting, rectilinear planes in black, gray, and white, with primary colored accents. It has an open floor plan; in place of walls the house has rotating and sliding panels that can partition off space as needed by the residents.

De Stijl influenced fine arts, music, typography, furniture design, fashion, and architecture the world over. It proposed using geometry, asymmetry, and abstraction to express beauty. It had profound impact on the art and architecture to come in the Bauhaus, International Style, and Modern movements, and we can still see its effects today.

Dress designed by Yves Sant Laurent

Piet Mondrian, "composition en rouge, bleu et blanc II", 1937
© Mondrian / Holtzman trust, coll. Centre Pompidou, RMN

Mondrian / De Stijl
December 1, 2010 - March 11, 2011
Place Georges Pompidou
75004 ParisGeneral phoneline : +33 (0)1 44 78 12 33

Now Showing…

The Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin presents Turner to Monet: Masterpieces from The Walters Art Museum, showing now through January 2, 2011. This selection of 40 nineteenth-century paintings includes works from Impressionist artists Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Édouard Manet and Edgar Degas, as well as British and American masters J.M.W. Turner, Gilbert Stuart and Asher B. Durand, among others.

Selected by former Walters curator Eik Kahng for their art historical significance and fine quality, these paintings provide examples of the various artistic schools and movements of nineteenth-century painting in Western Europe and the United States.  Highlights include J.A.D. Ingres’ neoclassical rendering of Oedipus and the Sphinx (1864) and Eugène Delacroix’s Christ on the Sea of Galilee (1854), as well as Monet’s Springtime (1872) and Manet’s fascinating Café-Concert (1879).

"Oedipus and the Sphinx" 1864, Ingres.

This is not an Impressionist exhibit, nor what the press would call a “blockbuster” exhibit, given the high profile names and of the artists and their masterpieces. Rather, this 40-piece collection from Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum offers an intimate glimpse at the trends of 19th century European and American painting, from neoclassicism and romanticism to landscape painting and finally to impressionism.

"Cafe Concert", 1879, Manet.

In any case, this is a rare opportunity for Austinites to get a very close look at some of the world’s finest examples of 19th century art. You won’t want to miss it!

The Blanton Museum of Art

The University of Texas at Austin

200 East Martin Luther King 
Austin, Texas 78701
Tel: (512) 471-7324
www.blantonmuseum.org

The Palais Lascaris

Testimony to Genovese baroque architecture, the aristocratic Palais Lascaris in Nice, France was built in the mid-17th century for the Counts Lascaris-Vintimille, under whose tutelage it belonged until 1802.  The City of Nice purchased it in 1942 in very poor condition and in 1946 designated the building an Historical Monument. It has since been transformed into a museum well worth visiting should you find yourself on the French Riviera.

Bed chamber ceiling fresco - The Abduction of Psyche.

Nestled in the heart of Nice’s Old Town on Rue Droite, the Palais Lascaris is home to the municipal museum of “popular art and traditions”. Although its architects are unknown, its style is Genovese baroque. Major renovations did not begin until 1963 but were completed in 1970 when it was officially opened to the public.

Foyer staircase of the Palais Lascaris.

Ceiling fresco of Venus and Adonis

Its opulent façade, large windows and balconies with marble balusters draw you into a foyer where a monumental staircase winds upward, surrounded by frescoes and luxuriously decorated salons on each floor. Flemish tapestries, statues, furniture dating from the 17th and 18th centuries as well as faiences from the same era embellish the residence. The third, “noble” floor, so-called due to the apartments situated there, boasts its original ceiling frescoes dating from the 17th century. The statues and the rococo décor of the salons were added in the 18th century.

Bed chamber on the "noble" floor of the Palais.

17th century painted doors and tile floors.

18th century furniture.

"Le Banquet" Flemish tapestry.

Chapel ceiling fresco - Wisdom defies Time and Death.

The Palais is also home to a beautiful collection of antique musical instruments, some of which are on permanent display.  In 2009, the Groupe Axa presented the Palais Lascaris with an exceptional gift – the Gaveau-Erard-Pleyel foundation. The elements of this foundation, put together by three of the biggest names in European musical instrument manufacturing, consist of instruments, books, letters, engravings, tools, illustration, photos and more, all of which tell an elaborate story of the history of the piano and the harp from the 18th century until the mid 20th century in France and all of Europe.

Naderman harp, c. 1780.

The exhibit will be on display in the Palais Lascaris from October 20, 2010 to April 2011.

The Louvre During the War

by Lauren Stewart-Ebert

The Venus de Milo is prepared for transport

The Louvre in Paris is one of the most cherished museums in the world. In 1939, when the threat of war with Germany was becoming apparent, some 400,000 artifacts and pieces of art were moved in a remarkable feat of organization and speed.

This event was documented in candid shots by several photographers, chief among them Pierre Jahan. The Louvre is currently exhibiting a collection of these pictures, many which have never been on public display before.

Pierre Jahan

The most striking of the photographs show the museum as few have ever seen it: vacant. The Grande Galerie extends devoid of its floor to ceiling paintings, left with only empty frames.

The Grande Galerie

A photograph from 1942 shows a gallery previously filled with the works of Rembrandt. The walls are bare but for the names of the paintings which hung there, written in chalk where the artwork once was.

A photograph taken in June of 1945 shows the unwrapping of the museum's most famous holding, the Mona Lisa.

On August 28, 1939 the Mona Lisa had been carefully wrapped in layers of waterproof paper, crated, and taken to the French countryside where it would be safe from the bombings Paris would have to endure. On September 3, France declared war on Germany.

Troops marching in front of the Louvre

Of course, not all of the museum's holdings could be so easily packed and moved.

Moving the Winged Victory of Samothrace

The Winged Victory of Samothrace was painstakingly removed from her pedestal with a series of ropes and pullies then wheeled out of the museum on a specially installed ramp. One she was packed into a crate, the arduous task of moving her to the French countryside began.

A crate is prepared for The Winged Victory

But she was not alone, as the citizens of Paris fled the city, so too did thousands of crated statues and artifacts.

When the war was over, these pieces were gradually returned to the Louvre. A photo taken in June 1945 shows Eugene Delacroix’s "Liberty Leading the People", as it is carried back into the gallery. The return of this iconic piece, captured on film, communicates the emotional connection between people and art.

"Liberty Leading the People" by Eugene Delacroix, 1830

The Louvre during the War - Photographs 1938-1947 runs through August 31st.
For more information visit the Louvre's website.