Two Exciting Works at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

On my last visit to Philadelphia I found myself wandering around the great museum there (surprise surprise!). I made a quick pilgrimage to some of my old faves, but as it happens with art and museums, the more you look, the higher the chance you discover something you hadn't noticed before. Of course, I was hanging around the European art galleries mostly (although I did drop in on Joseph Cornell).

My photos couldn't capture the magic, but these paintings are worth spending a generous amount of time in front of. Both of these works are predella panels from different altarpieces. A predella is the space beneath a grand altarpiece. These spaces are usually filled with small scale narrative paintings that relate to and expand on the more well known religious events depicted in the altarpiece, which are usually something like a crucifixion scene or the annunciation. 

Agnolo Gaddi, The Legend of St. Sylvester, 1380, tempera with tooled gold, Gallery 210, European Art 1100-1500, second floor

In Gaddi's painting, Pope Sylvester I (d. 335) binds the mouth of a dragon, sealing off its poisonous breath, and revives two victims who lay prone in the foreground. The crowned observer on the right is the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (ruled 306-337), who, according to legend, had been cured of leprosy by Sylvester. 

Dragons painted in this era are always interesting subjects, formally. I especially like how this dragon is a pet sized cutie and how tenderly Sylvester seems to be interacting with it. 

Botticelli's The Last Moments of Saint Mary Magdalene, 1484, tempera

Tempera as a painting medium can be sublime. Because the artist mixes pure pigment with a binding agent, egg yolk, and water to thin, the translucency of the quick drying paint works well to create a mystical world. Very fitting for the religious paintings found here and throughout the middle ages toward the Renaissance. 

Sandro Botticelli, 1484, Gallery 212, European Art 1100-1500, second floor

Look at Magdalene, a lovely 15th century Cousin Itt. Depicted as a mass of golden hair, she's a face less apparition, a symbol floating on curls. Instead of these figures appearing fully corporeal and integrated into the architectural space, their presence hesitates, flickering as if flames of a candle. The impermanence and delicacy of life is in contrast with the strength of the Pietra Serena in this Brunelleschi-esque building.

Some art historians say that the transparency shown here is the product of a mistake or somehow unintentional. Whichever the case may be, I think it's pretty spectacular and very effective.

Chills!

Upcoming Museum Visits: February

Tomorrow is the first day of the Spring Semester here at Tufts University. Rather than think of the responsibilities that will quickly take over my life I daydream of the museums that I will soon be wandering through.

Crivelli's Dead Christ at the PMA

New York:

The Museum of Biblical Art, Manhattan
Passion in Venice: Crivelli to Tintoretto and Veronese
This new exhibition opens while I'm there and it happens to feature one of my favorite artists, Carlo Crivelli.

This painting usually hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels, 1470) and it was the subject of an in-museum presentation/final project that almost killed me. Oh, my first taste of medieval art/sweet torture with Master Bolman of Temple U!

Each student was to have selected a work in the museum and have prepared an on site formal analysis. This is not a research project, but an in depth, meaningful examination of the work of art. It is not easy and should be taken very seriously.

The presentations were not ordered, it was a matter of object placement in the museum. The entire time I never knew when I would be called to the stage. Since my work was tucked into some far off corner, I ended up being the last presenter. That meant nearly four hours with NO FOOD. I am sorry museum staff, but I ate a protein bar in the galleries (actually I had to share it with my co-presenter). It was either that or die. Post protein bar we flung our passionate selves into that presentation and jolted everyone out of museum fatigue. The decision to eat at that critical moment probably secured my future as an art historian. An early memory that I absolutely love.

And how can you not be drawn in by this psychotic painting. Zoom in and take a closer look at the left hand of Jesus...the faces of the putti...it's all so unsettling and quietly horrifying. Ah! I adore Crivelli.

Moving over to these palm trees.

The Dali Museum

Florida:
The Dali Museum, St. Augustine
I never really liked Dali or Surrealist painting, with some exceptions. I do like the concept of magic realism, "Surrealist" films and Catalonia, so maybe I will be converted. The museum recently re-opened after a two year renovation. Fun? Probably. Especially with my wacky sister along for the adventure.

The Ringling Museum

The Ringling Museum, Sarasota
In a crazy neo-Venetian building, Renaissance paintings and circus artifacts mingle. Ocean side. I'm there. Also, the major benefactor of my own university happens to be P.T. Barnum, the founder of P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome which was later purchased by the Ringling Brothers. Our mascot is Jumbo, the circus elephant (originally his stuffed hide stood on the campus, now Jumbo is carved in stone). So this is sort of a pilgrimage I suppose.

Medieval (Carolingian?) reliquary

Maryland:

The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe

Excited for this: Reliquaries of all kinds everywhere! A reliquary is a container, which became more and more ornate as the cult of the saints evolved, that is used to hold the precious relics of a saint. A relic is either a piece of the body or something closely connected to the saint, such as blood or cloth from their garment. 

Look here to see the objects in thrilling 3D.

Spring Break 2011! Art bacchanalia!