wn Poe y: . er me “tus F ia iP RSS Des oe Re eee i net SA See: “4 ou Mei a @ ly A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS THE DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS OF THE CITY OF DETROIT By W. R. VALENTINER and CLYDE H. BURROUGHS MCMXXVII be PREFACE This HANDBooK oF THE MuszuM CoLLEc- TIONS 25 designed with a twofold purpose. It is hoped that it will be useful to the visitor as a museum guide, enabling him to see the museum collectzons in the most logical way and to locate the department or the objects in which he is inter- ested; it has also been our aim to make of it something of a related story of the history of art, so that the collections will break upon the con- sciousness of the average visitor in a sequential ana intelligible manner. bares SS our | pul STAGE AUDITORIUM BALCON EXHIBITION FOYER JAPAN sagan CHINA | MODERN TRANSITTON XQ Y Pr og rm Zz BO CHINA | PRIMPTIVE im, ROMAN , UD: rake ITALIAN CHRISTI ITALIANB ITALIAN vs | Ee TEMPORARY “8 MAIN EI EXHIBITIONS » ) HALL a — TEMWORARY << FPEXHIPITIONS AMERICAN ART Git pare Ca iti ENTRANCE HALL NORTHERN GOTHIC ie MAIN FLOOR PLAN EXIT LXIT EXIT Bae ont NG = STAGE AUDITORIUM lease Seen | | LT EXIT J PROMENA STORAGE AND WORK ROOMS FOUNDERS SOCIETY Er Poe Sale TEA. a ROOM” 3 mete et ie » ELEVATOR ek oa a w D v 9) (x bi t x os Vv) LECTURE ROOM EXHIBITION ial a babe HALL 2 = ts = k ul Ate! eS LIBRARY a a 10 oe he oe OE Sie CT Ton OLFTF els lee ey eee, ee PRINT iM Hy homer EW precede GROUND FLOOR PLAN Vil and holidays 2 to 6 p. m., Friday 7 to'10 p.m. iia : i i ? vu , ’ +o ft A le > i 1 5 i 4 ‘ ‘ i ay i i { i ‘ 3 Mi rae ' We) ay a CONTENTS Preface Vv Introduction xi European ArT European Art, XIX Century 13 English Art, XVIII Century 14 French Art, XVIII Century rs Dutch Art, XVII Century 16 Northern Baroque, XVII Century (Dutch, English, German) 17 Northern Baroque, XVII Century (Flemish, Dutch, German) 19 Southern Baroque, XVII Century (France, Spain, Italy) 20 Italian High Renaissance, XVI Century 22 Italian Early Renaissance, XV Century 23 Court 25 Italian Gothic Art, XIV and XV Centuries 26 Early Christian, Byzantine, and Italian Romanesque Art 29 Hall of Northern Gothic Art, a.p. 1250-1520 31 Flemish, German, and French Art, XV and XVI Centuries 34 Northern Romanesque Art, A.p.1000-1250 36 Prehistoric Art (Europe, Egypt, America) 38 Roman Art, 600 B.c.—a.p. 300 38 Greek Art, 600 B.c.—100 B.c. 40 ix CONTENTS Asiatic ART Egyptian Art, 3000-100 s.c. Near Eastern Art (Turkey and Persia) Indian and Indonesian Art Garden Court Japanese Art Chinese Art, Ming Period to Modern Times Chinese Art, Earliest Period to Yuan Dynasty Primitive American, African and Pacific Art AMERICAN ART Colonial Kitchen Mid Eighteenth Century Dining Room Whitby Hall Room of the Early Republic American Art, XIX Century Local Art American Art, Last Quarter XIX Century American Art, Last Quarter XIX Century (Continued) Modern American Art Locations 43 45 48 51 52 52 52 57 63 64 66 67 69 72 75 78 79 84 INTRODUCTION PON entering the Museum we have before us a large re- U ception hall with a garden court behind it and, follow- ing the axis of the building, at the farther end the auditorium. The collections are distributed on the main floor in the two wings at the right and left of the large hall and in the galleries adjoining the garden court: the European section in the wing to the right; the American in the wing to the left; and the Asiatic in the farther end of the building at either side of the garden. The exhibitions are arranged according to periods and countries and lead backward in chronological order from the art of the present day which is shown in the two galleries at cither side of the entrance: to the right European art, to the left American. The galleries in the European section are grouped about an open court; the corresponding space in the American wing is taken up by three galleries for temporary exhibi- tions, entered at the left of the large hall. The basement or ground floor is in the main devoted to study rooms. Whether we begin our walk at the right or left of the entrance, we are led back to the art of other ages and coun- tries in such a way that when the entire circuit is completed, we receive a clear impression of the development of the arts in the most important epochs in the history of mankind. Since the part which the different countries played in the general development differs widely in importance, and since outstanding epochs alternate with periods of low ebb, an attempt has been made to represent only the most important phases with examples of the art of the country or countries which played the leading role in these epochs. As the character of a period can be visualized only by a xi INTRODUCTION knowledge of all fields in which art expresses itself, a mixed exhibition of painting, sculpture, and decorative arts has been chosen for exhibition in the different rooms. The Guide is arranged on the assumption that the visitor will begin his walk in Gallery I of the European section and will make a complete circuit of the main floor, which will take him successively through the galleries of European, Asiatic and American art. The museum building is of moderate size and we have endeavored to present the impression of a well- selected private collection, where the different objects of one epoch are shown grouped together in a series of rooms which have more or less the atmosphere of a private home. The number of exhibited objects has been reduced to those of outstanding importance. The guide has been prepared for publication by W. R. Valentiner and Clyde H. Burroughs in collaboration with Alvan C. Eastman and Josephine Walther. Dr. Valentiner is the author of the European section and with the assist- ance of Mr. Eastman of the Asiatic section. Mr. Burroughs, with Miss Walther’s notes on the decorative arts, is the author of the American section. Miss Walther has also lent valuable assistance in editing the material. ——_ a AUNLNGA IIAX ‘LUV HSITONG EUROPEAN SECTION GALLERY 1 European Art, XIX Century Let us begin our walk at the right, entering the long gallery of European art of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. While a number of pieces of sculp- ture and decorative arts are shown in cases and on pedestals along the windows, the art of painting, which in this period passed rapidly through many stages, producing toward the end of the century an entirely new vision with the art of Impressionism, stands out preeminently. France takes the lead, no other country of Europe having produced so great a series of painters during this period. Excellent works of figure painting by two of the geniuses of the century, Drcas and Renoir, and characteristic works of landscape att by such masters of the new style as Monet, Sister, Bounin, Pissarro, Martin, and Moret, introduce us to the Impressionist School of painting. (A work by the greatest sculptor of the Impressionistic Age, Rop1n’s splendid Thinker, is shown in the reception hall.) If we go back to the middle of the nineteenth century, we find a painting by the first great realistic painter, Coursrt, his Midday Dream, an important work of his earlier period. With such masters as Troyon (two fine examples), Rousszau, Diaz, Dupre and Rosa Bonneur, we come to the Barbizon school and the period of 1830-50. The greatest representatives of the Romantic age which preceded it, DeLacrorx and GericawLt, afe missing, but we receive an idea of their tendencies through two works by a late follower, EucENs Isaney. The classical epoch, initiated by Jacquzs Louis Davip at the beginning of the nineteenth century, is given representation in three examples: two studies by this master, painted late in his career (1824), repetitions of two of the figures for one of the works upon which his early fame was built, The Rape of the Sabines, of 1799, and a charming family group (1812) by one of his pupils, Louis ANDRE Boucuer. 13 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS Among other countries of the continent we find Central Europe represented in only one work, The Last Hours of Mozart, by the outstanding Hungarian artist of the Romantic epoch, Muncasxy, while we receive an idea of the de- velopment of the decorative arts of the Scandinavian coun- tries, in a casual way, in glass, silver and enamel work from Sweden and Denmark. Of nineteenth century Dutch art, we find two paintings by its best genre painter, Josrr Israzzs, and of the Belgian art of this period three bronze statues by its most representa- tive sculptor, Constantin Meunier. Typically impression- istic also are two bronze statuettes by the Russian sculptor, Paut TROUBETZKOY. Two examples of the Pre-Raphaelites, the outstanding English school of the middle of the nineteenth century, are shown in a large tapestry after BurNE-JoNEs, woven at the Morris Looms, and a fine watercolor by Rosset: below the middle window. GALLERY 2 English Art, XVIII Century Upon entering the next gallery, the corner room, we are surrounded by English art of the eighteenth century, which had such an important influence on the modern epochs, especially in portrait painting and the art of furniture, the two fields in which this art especially excels. Among the great series of portrait painters of the second half of the eighteenth and the first decades of the nineteenth century, we find the eminent Scottish painter, RazBuRN, represented by a fascinating portrait of Sir David Erskine, and Hoppner by a portrait of Sir Thomas Hardwicke. These two artists be- longed to the younger generation of this great period. Of the three great masters of the older generation, Romney is still missing, but RzeyNotps and GarnsporouGH are shown: the first in a portrait of Sir Brooke Boothby, and a woman in blue (Mrs. Chalmers), belonging to his early period; 14 x L q 3 AUNLNADS IIIAX ‘LUV HONAW we Ts EUROPEAN SECTION GarnsporoucH, who may be said to be the greatest of all English artists, in another portrait of a woman in blue (Mrs. Mead), also of his early period and painted in a some- what tight manner, but already showing the charm of his work. Eighteenth century art before Reynolds can be studied in a portrait of Princess Amelia by the court painter, ZOFFANY, on the same wall, and on the opposite wall in paintings by Hupson, the master of Reynolds; HicumorE (portrait of a girl); and the great Hocartu, the earliest of this series, whose art shows clearly the tradition created by Van Dyck and his school. Along the walls we find examples of the art of furniture contemporary with the portraits on exhibition: on the west side examples of the Sheraton and Adam period; on the north side a mirror, card tables and chairs in the Chippendale style, and on the east, examples of the Carolean period, a lacquered cabinet and chairs; while we find the first types of the Oak Age in the rooms of seventeenth century Dutch art, with which this style is closely connected. GALLERY 3 French Art, XVIII Century The two European countries which produced the greatest art during the eighteenth century were England and France. France, which indeed led in all forms of decorative arts, is represented in an excellent manner by a paneled room from Amiens, executed in the period of Louis XVI. The consoles show in their straightened curves and classical motives the Louis XVI style of the seventies and eighties of the eight- eenth century, while the exquisite carvings on the doors and mirror frames still retain the elegant light curves of the real Rococo. With the exception of the Aubusson carpet on the floor, and the bench of the Louis XV style in the hall, the objects furnishing this room are loans. Through the windows on the right we look into a corri- 15 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS dor with garden framework, in the center of which is the excellent bronze statue of Louis XIV by Grrarpon, a small reproduction from his workshop of the destroyed life- sized statue formerly in the Place Vendéme. Only two paintings are exhibited so far in this room, an allegorical painting in the style of Francois Lz Moyne and a delicately- painted still life by Cuarprn, the greatest still life painter of France, who developed his art from the Dutch seven- teenth century painters. GALLERY 4 Dutch Art, XVII Century The next great epoch preceding this is represented by Dutch and Flemish seventeenth century art, both countries helping greatly in the building up of the French and English eighteenth century style. Examples of the art of these two countries are shown in the adjoining galleries, the door to the left leading to the Dutch rooms, the one in front to the Northern Baroque, which contains mainly Dutch and Flemish paintings. We follow the first, leading to the hall with staircase in the Dutch seventeenth century style. We enter the small gallery on the lower floor which contains a few of the Museum’s most important masterpieces of the Rem- brandt epoch. Outstanding are works by the two leading personalities in Holland in the seventeenth century, Frans Hats, born in 1584, representing the first epoch, and REMBRANDT, born in 1606, the second. Frans Hats is rep- resented by a woman’s portrait, painted in 1634, when the artist was at the height of his fame in Holland, and we are introduced to the great art of RemBranopt by a large com- position painted in his workshop in his first Amsterdam epoch (about 1635), The Death of Lucretia, and one of his masterpieces of religious subjects, The Visitation, painted in his middle period (1640), just before The Night Watch, com- bining with an exquisite execution and a fully developed 16 EUROPEAN SECTION chiaroscuro, the extraordinary expression of religious senti- ment and character for which this artist is famous. The portrait study of an old man is a characteristic work of one of the direct pupils of Rembrandt in the forties of the seven- teenth century. Besides the works connected with the two greatest mas- ters, there is a portrait of a lady by Jan De Bray, one of the Haarlem followers of Frans Hals, and a landscape by AELBERT Cuyp, the contemporary of Rembrandt, who re- flects his warm glowing light in out-of-door scenes. Before going to the next room, which leads us back to the origin of this art, the early Flemish and Dutch masters of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, we go up the staircase to study the development of Dutch art in the Rembrandt period in a number of works by the minor artists in portrait, land- scape, genre and still life. Two excellent examples of the art of still life painting, one of the fields created and developed to a high standard in Holland, are exhibited on the staircase wall: a large decora- tive painting by Jan Weenrx and a finely-executed work by Wittem Karr, who may be said to be the best still life painter of the seventeenth century. GALLERIES 5 AND 6 Northern Baroque, XVII Century (Dutch, English, German) In the two rooms upstairs the art of the same Baroque Epoch is shown in examples from different northern coun- tries: the paintings nearly all of Dutch origin, with the exception of three by Flemish artists; the furniture mostly English, with a few German pieces of the same epoch; and the silver of Danish and German workmanship. We could well imagine that such an ensemble actually existed, for instance in England, where the art of painting was not yet VW A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS on the high level that it was in the Low Countries and where paintings and other art objects were often imported from the continent. The two portraits which we observe first,—the one in the center of the large gallery, the other visible through the door of the next room,—are works by the two Amsterdam painters, Nicoxazs Extas, the artist who led in the por- traiture of this school before Rembrandt arrived, and BarTHOLOMEUs VAN Der Hexst, Rembrandt’s rival in Amsterdam during this period. We become more familiar with Dutch landscape painting through a large canal scene by Satomon RuyspazEt who, to- gether with Van Goyen, was representative of the Haarlem school of the time of Frans Hals; two moonlight scenes by Arrt Van Der Neer, of the Rembrandt epoch; and a num- ber of landscapes by artists such as Jan Boru, WitLEM Heuscu, ApRIAEN Van De Vexps, Karet DujarpiIn and Jan Wrnants, who traveled in Italy or at least adopted the scenery and the glowing atmosphere of the southern sky. Among the best genre painters we meet JAN STEEN, in a boisterous tavern scene, and in the next room Pieter Dr Hoocu, with one of his charming interiors depicting the home life of the Dutch bourgeoisie. Other genre scenes by the Leiden artists, BREKELENKAM and Gerrit LUNDENs, show other sides of the activity of the Dutch housewife. The architectural paintings show the difference in style be- tween the Flemish masters of this type, e. g. PrztreR NEErs and Henpricx SrrENwyck, who give us views hard in out- line and of cold appearance, and the Dutch masters like Jacos Bercxueype, Henprick Van Vurer and EMMANUEL Dz Wirte, with their warm, richly-colored representations of church interiors and exteriors. The English Age of Oak is represented in several types of furniture: a large table of the late Elizabethan period, and an early Jacobean buffet and side table. In the next room a Dutch oak cabinet of the Rembrandt epoch, inlaid with 18 (ANVWUED SAINVTIOY ‘FONVU,J) AUNLNAD AX ‘andOUuvVa NUFHLUON avr ! ; ! ; x EUROPEAN SECTION mahogany, holds the most important place. On top of it are a few specimens of Delft pottery. A number of tiles of this important type of faience are inlaid in the Dutch table of the same date, while the iron chest represents one of the earliest types of money coffers. The leather-covered chairs placed along the English table, and the red lacquered cabinet (an imitation of Chinese lacquer) are of seventeenth century German workmanship. The heavy forms and decoration of the silver goblets and tankards upon the table show what a close relation existed in the style of ornament during the Baroque Ageinthecountries around the Northand Baltic seas. GALLERY 7 Northern Baroque, XVII Century (Flemish, Dutch, German) We now return to the French eighteenth-century room and pass through the other doorway, which leads logically to the great Flemish master, Rusens, the origin of early eighteenth century French painting as expressed in the art of Watteau, for example. In this room of the Northern Baroque, we find combined the works of the Flemish seventeenth century school and a few masterpieces of Dutch landscape art. The room itself, with its recessed windows, reminds us of the rooms in the Flemish baroque style that we find, for instance, in the Musée Plantin in Antwerp. In the windows are late sixteenth and seventeenth century stained glass panels from Germany and Switzerland. A large Biblical composition, Abigail Meeting David with Presents, introduces us to the great pompous art of Rubens. It is executed in the free style of his later period, by his own hand, not as in so many other works under his name, by pupils after his sketches. We encounter his brilliant art of portraiture in the portrait of his brother Philip, a work of his early period. His influence upon his great pupil Van Dycx is recognized in studying the two portraits by Van Dyck’s hand: one a portrait of a fellow student in Rubens’s atelier, Jan Wildens, 19 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS and his wife, painted when Van Dyck was still connected with Rubens, the other a portrait of the Marchesa Spinola, belonging to his Italian period, just before he reached the height of the aristocratic portrait art in which he became the innovator and leader in the following century. The other painters in Flanders in the seventeenth century cannot be compared with these two outstanding figures, although Corneuis De Vos, with his more bourgeois-like types, is not without interest, while among the genre painters, Davin TeN1ERs Tue YounceER holds a somewhat exaggerated traditional reputation. In contrast to the rather conventional and often superficial style of Flemish landscape painting, as exemplified by Teniers’s small outdoor scene, we observe the solidity and seriousness of Dutch landscape art in three examples on the main wall opposite the Rubens paintings. The Cemetery by Jacos Van Ruispazt, in the center, the largest painting known by this artist, is a most carefully-planned and in- tensely-felt composition of his best period, the sixties of the seventeenth century, and is a work revealing the artist's accurate observation of nature and masterly though un- obtrusive technique. The small landscape to the left is by his great pupil Hossema. While in no way an outstanding work by this master, it is interesting as his earliest dated picture (1658), painted when the artist was but twenty years of age. The Calm Sea, to the right, is by Simon DE VureGeEr and shows this excellent marine painter at his best. It is interesting to compare it with the fine little sea paint- ing in Gallery 4 by his famous pupil, Wittem Van DE VeLDE the younger. GALLERY 8 Southen Baroque, XVII Century (France, Spain, Italy) The main wall exemplifies Spanish religious art of the epoch of the Counter-Reformation and Jesuit influence, in 20 EUROPEAN SECTION The Assumption of the Virgin, by Muritxo, a pleasing example in soft tones of the art of this popular master. While works by the greatest Spanish painter, Velasquez, are still missing, we receive an impression of the chiaroscuro painting of the two masters of this century who rank in importance next to him: ZurBaRAN, with a realistic portrait of a girl in red; and Ripera, with a strong head of a bearded man, remind- ing us that we are in the Rembrandt epoch. The same strong contrast of light and shadow which was character- istic of the Baroque Age throughout Europe, we find in The Last Supper by Pousstn, the famous classicist of France, painted in his late years (dated 1661), and in GuErciNno’s Christ and the Woman of Samaria, a work under the influence of Caravaggio, the great Italian painter who was first to introduce the strongly-expressed chiaroscuro style. Italy was the country in which baroque painting was first developed and where it lingered longest. With Tizpoxo, the great Venetian master, the last genius Italy has produced since the Renaissance, we are already in the eighteenth century. The color scheme in Alexander and the Family of Darius, a most brilliant example of his brush, has become light and shadowless, like eighteenth-century art, but his forms, compared with contemporary French paintings, are still typically Italian baroque. The derivation of his art is obvious in the fascinating little sketch by his master, SEBASTIANO Ricci, whose art, as shown in this instance, connects Paolo Veronese with Tiepolo. How early baroque art in sculpture started in Italy, may be seen in the Madonna in terracotta by the Venetian, Jacoro SANsovino, and the bronze group, The Rape of the Sabines, by GiovaNNI DA Botoena, both masters strongly influenced by Michelangelo, the actual creator of the baroque style in sculpture and architecture in the second half of the sixteenth century. 21 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS GALLERY 9 Italian High Renaissance, XVI Century We pass on now to the corner room, the first of the three Italian galleries, which are devoted chiefly to the great art of the Italian Renaissance, with its optimism and light and bright worldliness, its awakened sense of individuality, and its new desire for luxury, expressed in church decoration as well as in the interiors of palaces. In the present gallery we find works of the High Renaissance (sixteenth century), especially of Venice. The ceiling contains one of those magnificent palace decorations for which TiNToRETTO, one of the greatest wall decorators of all times, is famous. The painting, originally in the Palazzo Barbo a San Pantaleone in Venice, represents, according to a contemporary descrip- tion, ‘‘a heaven with gods and symbols of the things about which the minds of men dream during sleep’’ (fame, love and wealth). In his endeavor to combine the style of Michelangelo with that of Titian,— the form of the one with the color of the other,—he may be said to express the last triumph of Renaissance art. In the paintings around the walls we find some of the best-known names of the North Italian High Renaissance: CorreGcio, SEBASTIANO DEL Piomso, Parma Veccuio, Tit1AN, and even RAPHAEL, to whose earliest period the two small predelle with scenes from the life of St. Nicolas of Tolentino may be attributed. Correceio's Marriage of St. Catherine is a work of the earlier period of this master, but one that shows him already in his full power in a composition of an extraordinary rhythmical swing and beautifully-arranged light and shadow scheme. A remarkable creation of the first decade of the Venetian High Renaissance is the three-figure painting, a combined work of Titian, Giorgione and Sebastiano del Piombo. In this painting the woman at the left shows the charac- teristics of Titian’s early style, while in the superb portrait, Man with a Flute, painted nearly half a century later, the 22 (ATVI ‘NIVdSs “AONV UL ) AUNLNAS LAX SANOOUVA NUAHLNAOS EUROPEAN SECTION master’s consummate artistry is revealed at its height. Palma Vecchio, the co-disciple of Titian in Bellini’s work- shop, is represented in two biblical compositions with charming landscape background, showing his derivation from Giorgione, while Titian’s voluptuous and brilliant style lives in the two works of his followers, Satyr and Nymph, and the half-length figure of a Venetian beauty at- tributed to Paris Borponz. The marble statue representing a boy holding a goose is a charming example from the school of Michelangelo, prob- ably by Domenico Pocern1, and reminds us of this master’s fountain sculptures in the Giardino Boboli at Florence. Of the great MicueLaNceto himself we are able to show at least a drawing (below window), a powerful study for some of the figures on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel. GALLERY 10 Italian Early Renaissance The wall decoration in this gallery and the different types of furniture (wall paneling, chests, choir stalls, benches and chairs) suggest the surroundings among which flourished the finest flowering of the culture of this period, the painters and sculptors of Venice and Florence. In the center of the wall through which we entered, we observe five excellent examples of the colorful Venetian painting of this period, connecting this part of the collection with the High Renaissance room in which the later Venetian art played so important a part. Giovanni Bellini, the master of Giorgione and Titian, is not yet represented, but in the Madonnas by Cima and Previraui and the two brilliantly-colored panels with saints, ascribed to CuristorFANO Case of Parma, we find an expression of his art in works by masters directly in- fluenced by him, while in the Pieta by Canto CrivELLI we meet with an artist of considerable originality in a composition of unusual dramatic force and extraordinarily precise and 23 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS plastic design. The art of the neighboring city of Venice, Verona, is represented on the other walls by two Madonnas, showing the characteristic manner of this school, one an early example, a painting by the Mazrstro pret GAROFANI (master of the pinks), the other in the developed style of GIovANNI Francesco Carotto. Adjacent to the choir stalls will be found a charming example of the best Bolognese artist of the epoch, the goldsmith-painter, Francesco Francia. While the importance of Umbria in the art move- ment of central Italy is only touched upon in a stone relief from the palace at Urbino representing the Duke Federigo and his son Guidobaldo—the one the patron of Piero della Francesca, the other of Raphael—we find a more adequate representation of north Italian sculpture in the works of such excellent Paduan masters as BELLANo (a marble relief of the Madonna), and Minetx (the terra cotta statue of St. John the Baptist), and of the best Milanese sculptor of the time, AMapbEo (a marble relief of two saints), all of these artists reflecting clearly the influence of the greatest sculptor of the fifteenth century, Donatello. With Donatello we are led to Florence, the center of early Italian Renais- sance art, where we feel his influence in the great series of important sculptors of the second half of the fifteenth century. But while in northern Italian sculpture the severeand hard style of his late Paduan epoch was adopted by his followers, in the atmosphere of Florence the charm of his earlier works was more in accord with the brilliant culture of that city. The Christchild (above the choirstalls), a stucco replica of the marble statue from the tabernacle in San Lorenzo, gives only a slight idea of the delicate art of DestpER10 DA SETTIGNANO. BENEDETTO DA Mayano is characteristically represented in the expressive terra cotta bust of St. John the Baptist, and a delightful marble composition of two angels holding the coat of arms of the Minerbetti family (below 24 EUROPEAN SECTION altar in next room). Of the great portrait art of Mrno pa FIEsoLEe we receive a splendid impression in the marble bust of a young Florentine lady. The Museum owns so far only a few examples of Florentine painting (on the wall opposite and to right of our entrance), giving only a vague idea of this wonderful art. While two Madonna paintings of the school of Fra Filippo, by Tue Master OF THE SAN MiniatTo Atrarpiece and Pier Fran- cEsco FiorENTINO, reflect his naive and cheerful style, we see in the Resurrected Christ one of the intensely-felt compositions of Borricett1 from the beginning of his mature period, and in a vividly expressed scene, St. Michael Combating the Devils, a predella from the altarpiece in the Uffizi by the gteat narrator and portrait painter of the end of the Quat- trocento, Domenico GHIRLANDAIO. Court A door on the west wall of this gallery opens to the court, and before going on we step outside for a moment to ob- tain an impression of the exterior architectural disposition of the different period rooms surrounding the court. Op- posite to us are the Dutch rooms, in two storeys, with win- dows ending in flat baroque curves; to the left a balcony with the heavy mouldings of the Flemish baroque .The windows on the side on which we are standing, round- arched and of classical treatment, characterize the Italian Renaissance, as does also the staircase which leads into the court, reminding us of the famous staircase in the Bargello (Museo Nazionale) in Florence. To the right are the three high double windows of the Gothic hall, with the original Gothic chapel of the fifteenth century in the right corner. We should not fail to observe the coats of arms built into the walls of the court on all four sides, especially on the side of the Italian Renaissance, most of them coming from Italy and belonging to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Sev- 25 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS eral are of finest Renaissance design and execution, the work of Tuscan, especially Florentine, sculptors of the epoch of Donatello, such as the large shield with the rampant griffin of the Martelli above the coat of arms of the Medici with its six balls and that of the Rucellai family. Among the columns placed about the edge of the garden and along the walls are several of Venetian Gothic style, and to this type belong also the two well-heads in the center of the garden and on the north wall, as well as the marble window built into the wall at the foot of the staircase which frames a French Gothic Madonna of the fifteenth century, showing that in Venice the Gothic style was of longer duration than in other parts of Italy. The two columns of green granite at either side of the garden bearing Roman busts and the two of red granite under the stairway at either side of the Roman sarcophagus, belong to the Roman classical epoch, the one bearing a mar- ble figure of a child holding a puppy coming from Pompeii. Gaxuery lI Italian Gothic Art, XIV and XV Centuries Usually only the fourteenth century is regarded as the epoch of Gothic art in Italy, but in countries apart from the leading art centers, and even there with certain con- servative personalities, we find the Gothic feeling prevailing far into the fifteenth century. A characteristic example of this retardative art in Florence is the altar by Nert v1 Biccr occupying the center space on the main wall. Al- though it was executed as late as 1470, at the time of Botti- celli and the young Leonardo, it retains still the medieval style of composition, with its brilliantly-colored decorative planes, its large masses of gold and its relief-like, flat ar- rangement of the figures. The altar once adorned the chapel of the Palla, one of the rich banker families of the early 26 (saais LSVa AGNV HLNOS ) ONIM NVAdOUNA NI LYNOD EUROPEAN SECTION Renaissance, in the church of Santo Spirito in Florence, and its theme, the young Tobias protected on his wonder journey by the three archangels, may have reference to the departure of one of the young members of the family, an event which was frequently the occasion for ordering such a painting. The Madonna painting on the left is by the con- servative Florentine painter, Marrorro pi Narp1, who far into the fifteenth century still worked in the Trecento style. Even so early a style as that of Giotto, the master who with his powerful personality reigned throughout the fourteenth century, is perceivable in this work, but is far better pre- served in the small triptych in the style of BERNARDO Dapp1 and Tappro Gapnt, the earliest pupils of Giotto. The next phase in the development of Florentine painting, dominated by the great personality of Masaccio, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, is represented in our col- lection by the impressive painting which centers the south wall, a Trinity by Masoutno, the master of Masaccio and one of the leading artists of the transitional epoch from the Gothic to the Renaissance. In surveying the paintings on the different walls, we find that the gold ground and the pleasure in flat ornamental composition prevails all through the room. This is particu- larly noticeable in the paintings by the Sienese painters of the fifteenth century, the most conservative school in Tus- cany, preserving as it did the medieval character with an expression of tender piety and great beauty of decorative pattern. Several Madonnas of charming lyrical quality show the style of some of the best masters of this city: ANDREA DI Bartoto, SANO pi Pietro, Matteo pi Giovanni, and Benvenuto pi Giovanni, while the poetical Sasszrra is represented in a composition from the Passion of Christ, full of rhythmical swing and exquisite color combinations. The Umbrian school of the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- turies, with its lyrical tendencies, may be compared with 27 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS the contemporary Sienese school, and is represented in the beautifully-executed triptych by AtteGreTro Nuz1, of the fourteenth century, and two panels by ANTONIAzzoO RoMANO, of the fifteenth century. The sculpture shown in this room gives a splendid idea of the art of the two cities, Pisa and Siena, which led in the field of sculpture in the fourteenth century. Of the school of the Pisani, Nino Pisano, the creator of the most beauti- ful of the Gothic Madonnas produced in Italy, is represented with a remarkable example of this type, astatue ofexception- al beauty and charm, combining with French graciousness typical Italian solidity and dignity of form. In Nino’s man- ner is also the marble relief, an expressive representation of Christ in the tomb. Of the work of the most important sculptor of Siena in the fourteenth century, Trno pa Ca- MAINO, we find examples in the altar frontal of his Pisan period, and the delicately-modeled Madonna statuette of his late Neapolitan style, when he executed the tombs of the Angevine kings. The relief of the Madonna and two Angels by Giovanni pi AGosTINo, the sculptor who was espe- cially engaged for the facade of the new cathedral in Siena, belongs to the same period. The sculptors as well as the painters of Siena worked in the Gothic style well on into the fifteenth century, as will be seen in the Madonna statue by GIOVANNI TuRINI, which centers the north wall or even the holy water basin on the west wall near the exit by ANTONIO Fepericui, the strongest personality in Sienese sculpture. Among the decorative arts shown in this room, the most important objects are the pieces of majolica of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, showing the development of this art from its beginning under Spanish-Moorish influence, and the large stained glass window representing St. John the Baptist, from Venice, where we find glass manufacture more highly developed than anywhere else in Italy. 28 EUROPEAN SECTION GaALLery 12 Early Christian, Byzantine, and Italian Romanesque Art A. D. 300—1300 We now approach an epoch which is less known and less popular, but which deserves a careful study since the founda- tion for all Christian art was laid at this time. The early Christian art of the first centuries may be characterized as late Roman art adapted to the new themes provided by the Christian religion. The sarcophagus on the south wall, of the fourth century, has Roman shape and ornaments, but the figures represent Christian personalities: the Adorante (later the Virgin), the Pedagogus (apostle), and to the right Christ as the Good Shepherd (the bearded Apollo type). In the small mosaic in front of the altar representing the fish as the symbol of Christ, and in the bronze crosses, lamps, and other ornaments (in the niche) we also find Roman design and technic, but motifs expressive of Christiansymbolism. Of special interest are the textiles on the east wall, found in Egypt in tombs of the Christian Copts, representing as they do Roman heathen motifs mixed with Christian subjects and showing for the first time in Western art the technic of tapestry weaving from which the art of Gothic tapestries developed. | After the fall of the Roman Empire, and during the epoch of the invasion of the barbaric races, the creative power in Italy was exhausted for almost a millenium—from the fifth to the twelfth century—and influences from two outside sources made themselves strongly felt, one from the East, especially from Byzantium, where the late Roman emperors had founded a new empire, the other from the Germanic North, where the power of the newly-developing races con- centrated in the empire of Charlemagne. In the Byzantine empire, at its height from the fifth to the eleventh century, a highly aristocratic style was created by a fusion of Oriental 29 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS and Western ideas, a style based upon an abstract linear sys- tem, especially successful in flat decoration, as in mosaics and ivory carvings and in stone reliefs. In its early stage Byzantine art found its way into Italy for the most part by way of Ravenna, the seat of the exarchate of Constantinople, and in its later stages through Venice and south Italy. Two examples of Italian sculpture under Byzantine influence are found in the marble basin in the south wall, of the fifth or sixth century, said to have come from Ravenna, and the twelfth century relief of a fantastic animal, of south Italian provenance, both of these sculptures characterized by a more refined execution of ornamental details, in contrast to the crude workmanship in the reliefs under northern in- fluence. The Byzantine art of ivory carving, decisive in the de- velopment of this important art in Europe during the Middle Ages, is represented in the eleventh century box from Con- stantinople with motives of fighting animals (niche), and a small placque of later date,—thirteenth or fourteenth cen- tury,—showing how long the Byzantine style lasted in eastern Europe (in the Balkans and Russia until the seven- teenth and eighteenth centuries). Even more obvious than in the field of the decorative arts is the influence of the Byzantine style upon the art of paint- ing in Italy, where this art was revived after the religious revolution initiated by St. Francis of Assisi. Italian painting began in the thirteenth century with a very slow separation from Byzantine ideals, which are still the fundamental ele- ments in the art of Cimabue and Duccio, the first great painters in Tuscany. The leader of the school of Siena, Duccio, was preceded by Gurpo pa S1ena, possibly his mas- ter, with whose style we become acquainted in the Madonna (above the sarcophagus), a work of finest color gradation, while Duccio’s style is well preserved in the fascinating Madonna by his best follower, Szcna, and in the charming Nativity in the style of Segna (both above the altar). How 30 EARLY CHRISTIAN, BYZANTINE, AND ITALIAN ROMANESQUE ART A.D. 300—1300 “ EUROPEAN SECTION long the Byzantine style lasted in Venice may be seen in the small composition of St. John the Baptist Preaching of Christ, in the style of Lorenzo Veneziano, one of the originators of the Venetian school. In contrast to the Byzantine style of Romanesque sculp- ture from the southern part of Italy is that of North Italy, which shows a relation with the Romanesque art north of the Alps. The interlaced ribbon motif found especially in Lombard art, is characteristic of the early Germanic style and is illustrated in the three transennas of the eighth or ninth century forming part of the altar. The two lions and the lunette representing Christ with the four Evangelists, of the twelfth century, show the powerful but crude forms of the northern style. The new art movement in Florence begins in the art of sculpture with ARNoLFo pi CamBio, a contemporary of Giotto, and the builder of the Florentine cathedral. He may be said to still belong to the Romanesque age, although his style has the individuality characteristic of the beginning of Tuscan art. The marble angel placed above the door leading into the Italian Gothic room is an unquestioned work by this artist and comes from the old, unfinished facade of the cathedral at Florence; the Christchild on the altar is prob- ably a part of one of his Madonna statues in wood. The crucifix (high above the altar) is the only object of some- what later date and belongs to the Gothic epoch. GALLERY 13 Hall of Northern Gothic Art (A. D. 1250—1f20) The hall itself, with its timbered ceiling and three double windows with pointed arches, is designed in the English Tudor style. While the ceiling and the angels at the end of the arches are modern, the end beams placed below the mouldings of the ceiling are of fifteenth century French 31 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS origin and show in their varied design of grotesque animals holding shields, the inventive spirit of the late Gothic wood carvers. An important architectural feature is the small Gothic chapel on the south wall, transported from the Chateau de Lannoy at Herbéviller, Lorraine, where it was executed in the last decade of the fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century. With the changing traceries of its arched windows, the stained glass panels, the original stone altar, the holy-water basin and the niche for a reliquary surmounted by a tablet with early Renaissance motives, it is a typical example of the latest phase of Gothic architecture in France. Most prominent in the decoration of the hall are the fine Gothic tapestries on the main wall, representing a field of decorative art which replaced the frescoes of the South in the less sunny climate of the Northern countries, where the increase in the number of windows left little space for wall paintings. Flanders, with its great wool trade, led in the art of tapestry weaving, producing during the fifteenth century, particularly in the last decades, an enormous quantity of the finest type of Gothic tapestries. The set of four tapestries representing the story of Helen of Troy belong to this type— a type which the best modern weavers, such as William Morris, have used as their models. They were executed at Brussels about 1480 and later adorned the castle Cany-Bar- ville (Normandy) in the possession of Count Felix D’Hunol- stein. The experiences of Helen of Troy are depicted in eight Scenes, not according to Homer, but after the delightful composition in French verse by Benoit de Sainte More (twelfth century). The first tapestry represents the arrival of Paris and Helen at the court of Priam, King of Troy, the second the marriage of Paris and Helen, the third the embassy of Ulysses and Diomedes from the Greeks to the Trojans, and the fourth Helen asking forgiveness from Menelaus, her former husband, after the war is over. 32 EUROPEAN SECTION In the art of stone sculpture, still closely connected with architecture, France was the leader, although in England, Germany and other countries of the continent, original works of importance were produced. Our earliest Gothic stone sculpture is the little, damaged figure of Christ in the blue lunette on the west wall, of about 1300, showing the beginning of swinging curves, more apparent in the draperies than in the figure itself. A highly important example of the fully-developed Gothic rhythm in sculpture is the four- teenth century Madonna and Child from the Ile de France in the center of the hall, with the slight S-curve of the figure and the draperies swinging in the same direction. The other French statues belong to the fifteenth century and show a more realistic treatment in their straight, firmly-standing figures with more individualistic features and with the crowded folds of the garments treated independently of the body. Of this movement, which started in Burgundy, characteristic examples are the Madonna with Donor at the end of the south wall, S+. Paul, at the left of the altar, and the small figure of a female saint placed in the niche of the chapel. In England during the fifteenth century, workshops of the Nottingham school produced alabaster reliefs which were exported to all parts of the continent, from Scandinavia to Spain and Italy. The relief representing the scourging of Christ and the single figure of an apostle in a relief-like style, at the left of the Gothic chapel, belong to this school. A few examples of the art of wood carving, in which Germany excelled during this epoch, are shown on the side walls and on the end wall above the winding staircase: a shrine from Thuringia, with Madonna and saints, a flat relief of St. Michael, a Seated Madonna from Nuremberg, and an expressive statue of S+. John, part of a Crucifixion group, in the restless but intense Bavarian style; while the two groups of the Pieta, both belonging to the end of the fifteenth century and the first decade of the sixteenth, when oa A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS Gothic art still prevailed in the North, show a theme typical of the south-German artists but employed as far south as northern Italy, either by Italian artists under Tyrolean influence or by northern artists under Italian in- fluence. Of Bavarian origin is also the large painting of the Crucifixion above the altar, attributed to Rurtanp Fruzavur, showing in the prevalence of vertical lines, the large color planes and the flat pattern, the characteristic Gothic idea of wall decoration. GALLERY 14 Flemish, German and French Art (XV—XVI Centuries) The art of late Gothic painting of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the Renaissance in the first half of the sixteenth, in the northern countries, is represented in the small room adjoining the Gothic hall. The series of paint- ings give an adequate idea of the importance of early Flemish art, which started with the great art of the Van Eycks and lasted throughout the fifteenth century until, in- fluenced by the Italians, the Renaissance style was adopted in the twenties and thirties of the sixteenth century. While Jan van Eyck is not represented, a minutely-executed work by his pupil, Perrus Curisrus, St. Jerome in his Study, 1s entirely in his style, so much so that we can trace by means of this picture the original by Jan van Eyck, which must have been seen in Italy, where it influenced some of the great Florentine masters in similar compositions. The com- pact composition of The Descent from the Cross, existing in several replicas, of which this seems to be the best, gives an idea of the powerful and dramatic art of the great master from Tournai, Rogier Van Der WEyYDEN, the contemporary of Petrus Christus. With the charming composition of The Marriage of St. Catherine, reminding us of the mille flewrs tapestries, we return 34 HALL OF NORTHERN GOTHIC ART A.D. 1250—1520 EUROPEAN SECTION to the Bruges school, in the period of Memling, about 1470, where this Master or THE Lucia Leczenp worked as his pupil. The greatest Bruges master of the period of transition to the sixteenth century, Gerarp Davin, is shown at his best in the charming Annunciation, a work of fine lyrical quality and exquisite color patterns. His contemporary and follower, JAN Provost, represented by The Last Judgment, although active until 1529, continues the types and intense color of the Bruges tradition of the fifteenth century, while the great Antwerpian master, QuENTIN Massys, who may be called the predecessor of Rubens, already shows an Italian in- fluence in his Madonna, in the cooling off of the colors in the interest of a greater plasticity in the figures. The art of the Brussels court painter, VAN Oruzy, the pupil of Raphael and the artist who more than any other was. responsible for the introduction of the Renaissance style into the Netherlands, is exemplified by a Crucifixion of the artist's more pleasant early style, when he still preserved the rich- mess of color for which the early Flemish masters are so renowned. Interspersed with the paintings, we encounter an addi- tional series of several examples of the excellent art of the German wood carvers of the late Gothic and early Renais- sance epoch, the finest among them the monumental Madonna by the best Augsburg artist, Grecor Eruarpt, and a smaller Madonna with its original polychrome surface by the Suabian artist, CuristraNn Maucu. In France during this epoch, we find the art of ivory carv- ing more highly developed than in any other country, as can be seen by the small selection of fourteenth and fif- teenth century single placques and diptychs with reliefs of sacred and profane subjects, in the small table case between the windows. With the large painting by Lucas CraNnacu THE Exper, above this case, and the miniature-like painting in the round by Hans Hoisern THE YOUNGER, we come to the 35 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS threshold of the German Reformation, Cranach being the friend of Luther, while Holbein worked in Basel, the city of the followers of Calvin, and later in London, another center of protestantism. The Madonna by Cranach shows the fine decorative sense of this master who combined with naiveté a strong sense of humor (expressed in the angel and Christ Child), while Holbein shows himself an extra- ordinary master of portraiture, developed during his stay in England where he became the founder of the English school of portraiture. Closely connected with Holbein’s art is the art of the Clouets, the best Renaissance painters in France, an example of whose art we can show in the portrait of a young man by Jean Crouet, the earliest member of the family and the one whose works are the rarest. The enamel-like quality of the painting shows the close connection between the art of these painters and that of the enamels of Limoges, of which a series in the small case on the Gothic chest, representing scenes from the Passion, give some idea. GALLERY 15 Northern Romanesque Art (A. D. 1000—12f0) The winding staircase at the end of the south hall leads to a lower hall which somewhat resembles a crypt below a Gothic church and represents the stage of art preced- ing that of the hall at the upper level, namely, Roman- esque art of the countries north of the Alps from a.p. 1000 to 1250. Only a few objects of this important style, mostly from France, can so far be shown: columns, capitals, and a few figure pieces, all proving that at no other period was sculpture so closely bound by architectural laws. In the two types of capitals, the three of tufa on the south side, from the Pyrenees, the two in limestone on the north side, from the Loire country, we find the two systems of decoration 36 EUROPEAN SECTION characteristic of the twelfth century, the first covering the entire surface with ornaments (the motives here being griffins and leaves between intertwined scrolls), the second applying spotted ornaments of branches and figures on large empty spaces of background. But in both systems the orna- mentation follows closely the simple geometric form of the dice-shaped capitals characteristic of the Romanesque style. The fine Enthroned Madonna and Child belongs to the de- veloped type of French Romanesque art and is from the Ile de France, where this art attained its most refined ex- pression. While the conventionalized costume of parallel lines and the aged expression of the Christchild remind us of Eastern and Byzantine traditions, in the type of the Virgin, especially when seen in profile, we find the beginning of the expression of grace for which French art became famous in Gothic times. In the large crucifix, beautifully carved from wood in most severe forms (central France), we see the first trace of the restlessness of line which came into Romanesque art at the end of the twelth century. It is one of the earliest types of the suffering Christ, which replaced the triumphant Christ of the early Middle Ages. The Head of a Saint on the pillar on the west wall, from one of the Spanish cathedrals of the early thirteenth century, shows a faint indication of the softness of outline which is to develop a little later into the full Gothic rhythm. The stone font in the center of the hall, large enough for immersion, dates back to the time of the introduction of Christianity in the North, the Carlovingian epoch, and shows in its interchanging bands and rosettes, and its bar- baric representation of the four evangelists on the cornets, the curious mixture of Christian and heathen motifs which obtained during this period. The fifteenth century Gothic font is placed for comparison at the doorway leading into the court. 37 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS GALLERY 16 Prehistoric Art (Europe, Egypt, America) The adjoining gallery leads us back to the beginning of the arts in Europe in prehistoric times. In the first flat case a small collection of bronze placques.and implements is shown, beginning with a few silver inlaid fibulae of Mero- vingian origin and going back, in other ornamental objects, to the so-called ‘‘Hallstatt’’ and ‘‘La Téne’’ periods, and to the Bronze Age (1500 3.c.). The corresponding wall case contains examples of Merovingian pottery and of ~ the earliest Germanic ceramics of the bronze period, from a cemetery in Silesia, some of their outlines, even at this early period, showing an imitation of bronze vessels. In the next flat cases we find an excellent selection of stone implements of the Neolithic and Paleolithic epochs, especially those from Scandinavia, while the wall cases show for comparison prehistoric Greek and Egyptian pot- tery. The cases at the end contain prehistoric American pottery and implements, with an especially fine collection of flint arrowheads, showing the close relationship which exists in primitive art in the most widely separated parts of the world. After viewing the court again we return to the early Christian room by way of the main (not the winding) stair- case, through the large central hall, entering the second door on the right. We now pass through the eastern door of this room and are thus led back to the art from which early Christian art was derived, Roman art from 600 B.c. to A.D. 300. Gatiery 17 Roman Art (600 B. C.—A. D. 300) The room itself has a barrel-vaulted ceiling, the type of vaulting most characteristic of Roman architecture, and a 38 SHIUNLNAD AX GNV AIX ‘LUV OIHLOD NVITIVLI EUROPEAN SECTION wall cover of Pompeiian red. That the Roman sculptors de- serve their fame as masters of portraiture we will at once perceive from the three busts of Roman emperors on the east wall. They represent emperors of the three first cen- turies of our era at Rome: Augustus, 63 B.c. to a.p. 14, Septimius Severus, a.p. 146 to 211, and Philippus Arabs, emperor a.D. 244-249, and show the development of style during this epoch as well as the different types of men who ruled the Roman world. The clear-eyed and cultured states- man, Augustus, is represented beardless in a more than life size bust of fine atmospheric surface treatment. Septimius Severus, of African origin, the first emperor to give all official positions at Rome to foreigners, thus undermining the purely Roman character of the Empire, is shown with a beard, introduced since Hadrian’s reign, the head with its curved nose and curly hair being treated in a more pictorial manner, with strong contrast of light and shadow in the execution of the hair. Philippus Arabs, one of the last emperors before Constantine, the first Christian emperor, is one of the brutal types of the decadence. The treatment of this head with its hard outlines and staring eyes, marked by a plastic execution of the iris and pupil, is characteristic of the last phase of Roman art. The fourth bust, on the opposite wall, shows the severer and more lineal style of the last era of the Republic, in a personality of marked features characterized by splendidly- simplified, clear outlines. The Augustinian epoch was especially noted for its de- velopment of a more refined, decorative style in sculpture, which we may observe in the portion of a marble throne, and the beautifully executed large sarcophagus of this or the following period, a type showing ornaments most frequently imitated by the Renaissance artists. While this sarcophagus gives us one type of the burial methods of the Romans, the small marble case (at the left of the glass case) shows the other type, the cinerary urn. The Roman custom of burning 39 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS their dead was inherited from the Etruscans, as may be seen from the small marble sarcophagus on the other side of the glass case, a work of the third or fourth century B.c. In composition and style it shows the close relationship be- tween Etruscan and Greek art, and proves that in all their idealistic compositions the artists of Italy were dependent upon their great predecessors in Greece. The vase with a fine rhythmic design of winged death deities shows the earliest Etruscan style, corresponding to the Greek archaic style of the sixth century B.c. In the wall and table cases we find various objects of decorative arts: glass,—one of the most important products of Roman craftsmen,—coins, terra cotta vases, and bronze implements. GALLERY 18 Greek Art (600—z00 B. C.) In entering the next room we must bear in mind that like most collections of classical sculpture, only an extremely limited number are of original Greek execution, most of them being more or less exact copies of Roman workman- ship. The Roman sculptors, great as they were as portrait- ists, but lacking in inventive genius so far as idealistic themes were concerned, were able to copy the Greek orig- inals to such a degree of perfection that the differentiation between Greek originals and Roman copies still remains among the most difficult problems of art criticism. The periods in which Greek art reached its greatest heights are the sixth century s.c. with its archaic style; the fifth century s.c., the age of Phidias and Polykleitos; and the fourth century, the time of Praxiteles. While an original of the Cypriote style, the head of a bearded man, with its conventionalized features and slanting, almond- shaped eyes and curious smile, gives an idea of the archaic sculpture of the sixth century, the art of the fifth century 40 EUROPEAN SECTION is shown in a statue of a kneeling girl, its drapery remind- ing us of some of the Olympian sculpture (c. 460 B.c.), and in a fine portrait bust, whose original must have sug- gested in workmanship the famous bust of Pericles, an Athenian work of about 450 s.c. The age of Praxiteles, the middle of the fourth century, is represented by an exceptionally beautiful torso, a replica of the Venus de Medici, or, according to others, the Venus of Cnidos, and a male torso, possibly representing Apollo. The draped figure of a standing woman, with its easy and natural pose, goes back to a remarkably fine work of the Hellenistic period, the late third or fourth century, possibly originally a statue of Fortuna, the original of which, to judge from the many replicas in existence, must have been very famous. Even without its head and limbs, the move- ment of the body beneath the drapery is clearly revealed, a characteristic of nearly all Greek sculpture. In the original tomb relief of the fourth century, the left side of a votive scene is preserved, showing Apollo sitting on the omphalos, holding the sacred laurel tree and phial. The small collection of vases shows clearly the develop- ment from the archaic style of the seventh century (the Corinthian style, with long-drawn-out animals of Oriental character), and the sixth century (black-figured vases, second shelf and wall case, and two free-standing cases with warrior scenes), to the height in the fifth century (red-figured vases and white lecythoi) and the beginning of the decadence in the third and fourth centuries (the vases with designs in yellow-brownish tones with white lights on black ground). Of special note are the two large vases at either side of the wall case, of fifth century Athenian workmanship, one a krater or jar for mixing wine and water, with a representation on one side of Helios, the god of the sun, driving his chariot of winged horses over the purple sea, and on the reverse, three youths in rhythmic poses; the 41 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS other a stamnos, showing on one side Hermes escorting Hera and Aphrodite to Paris the son of Priam; on the other, three women,—the scenes on both vases beautifully-com- posed and finely adapted to the form of the vase. The well-preserved Corinthian helmet of the fifth cen- tury, and the bronze pitcher with snake handle, both cov- ered with a fine green patina, show that the Greek sense of beauty in simplified outlines extended to this material also. 42 LUV ACHAO ASIATIC SECTION GALLERY 19 Egyptian Art c. 3000—r00 B.C. Egyptian art can be included in the Asiatic section, as it is Closely related to Asiatic art,—so much so that at one time the theory was advanced that Egyptian art was derived from Babylonian art. It follows logically in the arrange- ment of the collections between Greek art and the art of the Near East, for Egyptian art is not so much an art of Africa as it is a part of the culture of the eastern Mediterranean. On one side it is related to the earliest Greek art at the period when that art showed a connection with the Oriental style and Greek influence reached islands like Crete and Cyprus not far north of Egypt; on the other it shows a kinship with the art of Mesopotamia, possibly the center of the earliest development of art in the history of mankind (see examples of Babylonian writing of the third millenium B.c., and the fragment of a Chaldean stone jar in the table case to the left). Although we find a relation with the European art of Greece in the early period and of Rome in the late period, the character of Egyptian art is entirely different from and even opposed to the style of the close, if idealistic, imitation of nature which we observe in the classical art of Europe. Egyptian art is consciously conventionalized and abstract in the sense of all Asiatic art, preferring the flat system of decoration in two dimensions to the expression of the three- dimensional, plastic movement of European art. We find its highest development, therefore, in sculptured reliefs and relief-like, free-standing figures ; in the most diverse types of flat ornamentation in the decorative arts, in utensils, re- ligious symbols, jewelry, etc. The Egyptians reckoned history according tothedynasties of their kings. Modern scholars have grouped the most prominent dynasties together, and divided the history of Egypt into the periods of the Old Empire (3000—2500 z.c.), 43 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS the Middle Empire (2200—1700 3.c.), and the New Em- pire (1600—1100 B.c.). The final epoch lasted until 525 B.c., when Cambyses, the King of the Persians, conquered Egypt. In 332 n.c. Alexander the Great became ruler in Egypt, and was succeeded by his general, Ptolemy, who, with his followers, ruled Egypt until it became a Roman province in the year 30 B.c. The Museum does not as yet own any original works of the great art epochs of the Old or Middle Empire. Its earli- est work is a relief representing mourning women, of the time of Amenophis IV, the religious reformer of the New Empire, c. 1400 3.c. Nearly all the other objects belong to the Ptolemaic and Roman epochs. Practically all that we know of the life and culture of old Egypt has been derived from excavations of tombs. These discoveries teach us that art developed in close connection with religion, especially with the belief that the dead could not live in another world if their bodies were not well preserved and nourished. Thus they were mum- mified and placed in carefully protected sarcophagi of wood or stone, while portrait statues were often placed in the tombs, and portraits in plaster or on wood panels cov- ered the heads of the mummies, the idea being that the spirit should be enabled to live in a form as much like real life as possible. Offerings of food were brought to the tombs for the nourishment of the dead, and symbolic figures, writings, amulets of all kinds, and household utensils were added for their entertainment. In the large case at the end wall we find exhibited two covers from wooden sarcophagi, and a mummy whose head is covered with a gilt mask, all three of the Ptolemaic epoch. The large stone head on the right wall is also part of a sarcophagus cover of the same period. The three realistically-painted plaster heads, at the end of the same wall, dating from the Middle Empire, and the portrait panel from the Fayum, of the Roman epoch, show the naturalistic tendencies which invaded Egyptian 44 ASIATIC SECTION art at this time, the painted portrait head of a young woman being an especially fine achievement of realistic portraiture. The minor objects in the center case and some of the small wall cases give an idea of the inventive spirit of the Egyptian artists in the creation of ornaments of the most diverse ma- terials,—faience, stone, wood, terra cotta, and glass,—orna- ments which show an extraordinary adaptation of the dif- ferent forms of Egyptian flowers, plants and animals (palm- ette, rosette, cat, snake, scarab, etc.) to the conventional style of their art. GALLERY 20 Near Eastern Art (Turkey and Persia) The art represented in this gallery is usually termed Muhammadan art, and comprises the period from about the eighth or ninth century to the eighteenth century. It orig- inated from three main sources: the art of the precursors of the Persians in the pre-Christian era (the Babylonian and Assyrians); that of their successors, the Sassanians; Byzan- tine art and the Coptic art of Egypt. Through the latter cultures Muhammadan art is connected with Greek and Roman art. In spite of these varied influences, the style of Muhammadan art developed an entirely original character, based upon the Asiatic origin of its creators as well as upon the forms of the Muhammadan religion. What the West calls form painting—its delight in pro- ducing the illusion of reality—is unknown in the art of Turkey and Persia, where flat surfaces alone form the con- vention, and where linear design and color are sufficient. It is this sense of rhythmic movement in flat decoration that Muhammadan art has in common with Egyptian art. But while the Egyptian artists practised a sculpture in relief style, with figural motives, the Muhammadan artists have neither much interest in sculpture nor in figural subjects, the latter being to some degree forbidden by their religion. 45 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS The painted plaster figure of a court official, in the center of the right wall, is a rare specimen of thirteenth century Persian sculpture, showing the lack of individuality in type and the inclination to reduce plastic form to a two- dimensional representation. The influence of the Muhammadan religion, which teaches quietness of mind and fatalistic resignation, is obvious also in the calmness and lyrical sentiment of its art expression. In the most important types of Persian and Turkish art we find that the individual character of the artist as well as any kind of dramatic feeling is entirely suppressed. Those fields of art which in the West lend themselves to personal characterization, such as sculpture or paintings of large size, are less developed in the Near East. On the other hand, what in Europe are called the minor arts become high arts in Turkey and Persia, such as the arts of rug weaving, ceramics and miniature painting. The rug weaving of the Near East, where its development started and reached its highest point, goes back to the earli- est times, though nothing is preserved of this art before the fifteenth century (with two possible exceptions of the fourteenth century), the great epoch being the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The differences between Turkish (Asia Minor and Armenia) rugs and Persian rugs can be easily observed even in the few examples in our collection. The Turkish rugs shown on the left side of the room have a geometric style and a harder color scheme, while the Persian rugs, such as the silk animal rug on the end wall and the Ispahan on the right side of the room, have a more refined color combination and are nearer to nature in their design of growing flowets or animals in vivid action. The silk animal carpet is a magnificent example of those types of court rugs woven in the reign of Shah Abbas the First (1587-1629), most of which are treasures in the collections of European museums, representing as they do the highest type of rug weaving of all epochs. Our carpet is of excep- 46 (VIsudd GANV ATAUAL) LUavy NYALSVA UVAN N ASIATIC SECTION tional weaving, having six hundred and fifty knots to the square inch, and is superb in the richness and purity of tone of its glowing colors and in their arrangement in a pattern. The center field illustrates animal groups, some of fabulous origin, fighting pairs interspersed with single animals, as we see them in the contemporary miniature paintings. The border of pheasants and lotus flowers shows Chinese in- fluence, which was especially strong in the sixteenth century under the Safavids. The various merits and characteristics of Persian ceramics can be studied in the examples shown in the small collection in the wall cases, containing types which range in date from the ninth to the eighteenth century. The earliest is the so- called Guebrie ware, a type of mezzo-majolica attributed to the tenth or eleventh century. Two of the finest among them are a bowl with a dove motif incised in ivory-colored glaze, and one with an incised drawing of a cat. The famous classic pottery of Rhages and Sultanabad dates in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, during the Mongol dynasty, one ex- ample of early light-brown lustre with a drawing of much vitality being possibly earlier, of the tenth century. Worthy of special mention are a turquoise-blue ewer from Sultana- bad, with a running frieze of animals modelled in relief around the shoulder; a copper lustre bow] from Rhages with a seated figure of Mongol type; and a bowl with radiating bands of blue, from the same city. Other objects in the collection of special interest are a large fifteenth century candlestick in bronze; two doors, one of the eleventh century in flat carving, the other of the sixteenth century in lacquer; and a fine Persian lacquer mirror case dating in the period of Shah Abbas, with a miniature painting by the court painter, Riza Abbasi. Its idyllic theme, showing a courtier and princess Visiting in a garden, strongly reminds one of Omar's much-quoted quatrain. In the same desk case are examples of Persian tooled and 47 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS gilded book covers, with an illuminated chapter in Arabic from the Koran, the cover dating in the sixteenth century, and early examples of Persian and Syrian jewelry, the Islamic gold bracelet, dating in the eleventh century, being espe- cially noteworthy. So far the collection has but one Persian miniature, with a characteristic hunting scene and rocky landscape, a good example of the Safavid period, dating about 1600, somewhat in the style of Behzad, the greatest Persian miniature painter. GALLERY 21 Indian and Indonesian Art Indian art is not an art of representation, but in the main an art of philosophical ideas expressed in concrete symbols, based for the most part upon “‘canonical prescription” in- stead of direct observation. As an art of ideas “‘it cannot,”’ in explanation of much which appears at first strange to western eyes, ‘‘be judged by standards of verisimilitude; it must be approached as expression. There is no such thing as ‘accurate drawing,’ but that drawing is best (as Leonardo says) which best expresses the passion that animates the figure. We must look for truth of feeling and movement rather than for scientific knowledge of perspective and anatomy."’ In subject, Indian art ‘“‘embraces the distinct traditions of Hinduism (Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jaina) and of Islam.”’ With the exception of the Buddhist and Brahmanical cave frescoes at Ajanta, dating from the second to the seventh century A.p., and their descendants in the portfolio paint- ings of the Rajputana School from the sixteenth to the nine- teenth century, and Jaina painting, Indian art consists for the most part of sculpture, both stone and bronze. The former dates, in so far as it concerns Buddhism, as early as the fourth century s.c., the latter mainly from the twelfth century a.p., although a bronze is extant dating in the third century a.p. 48 ASIATIC SECTION Buddhism is dominant in Indian art from the Andhra period (220 B.c.) through the Gupta period (650 a.p.), when it reaches its climax. For the rest, from the seventh century to the present day, with the exception of Indonesian art such as that of Java, Cambodia, Siam, etc., it is largely Brahmanical in subject. The earliest example of Indian art in the collection is a fine stone stele of the Indo-Hellenistic school, the base of a stupa or tomb, representing scenes from the life of Buddha, dating probably in the first century a.p., or the early Kus- ana period. The adaptation of the Greek style to Indian and Buddhist requirements is apparent in the composition as a whole and in the seated and reclining figures of the Buddha, with Greek conventions persisting in the standing poses, in the folds of the drapery, the hair, and to some ex- tent the expression. Greek craftsmen, it should be remarked, were imported to Gandhara (northwest India) in the first and second centuries after Christ, in the interest of Buddh- ism, to erect shrines and images to Gautama. There is also in the collection an example of the Mathura school of sculpture of the Gupta period, a head of a wor- shipper or saint in red sandstone, dating probably in the fifth century. In the Gupta period India was unified under the rulers of that dynasty and her art became Indian in the pure sense without external influences; nor did Buddhist art again reach the high standard it attained in this dynasty, except in the colonies. Our example, in its simple contours and serene expression, is illustrative of Buddhist art when it reached its climax in India proper. The remaining sculpture in the collection illustrates the Colonial schools of Cambodia and Siam, the outstanding example being a head of Buddha in red sandstone from Khmer, Cambodia. The central idea of the ‘‘One who has attained perfect wisdom’”’ is conveyed by suggestion through the broad, simple planes of the modelling, the dignity of the head as a whole, the elusive smile and the contemplative 49 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS expression indicated by the closed eyelids. This example illustrates the great school of Khmer art as it existed in the twelfth century, when it also reached its apex. The other example of Khmer art represents the bodhisattva Siddhartha (crowned with a diadem) who became Buddha, sheltered by a serpent king at a time when legend records that he re- ceived his first bath as a child at the hands of these fabulous rulers. This example dates about the thirteenth or early fourteenth century. The expressive head of the Buddha in light sandstone, dating possibly in the twelfth century, and the bronze head of Gautama, of the fourteenth century, are from Siam. The collection also includes a group of Indian paintings of the Rajput and Kangra schools, from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, and two leaves from the Jaina sacred manuscript of the fifteenth century, the latter illustrating scenes from the life of Mahavira, the divinity of the Jaina, who in many respects corresponds to the Buddha. The paintings of the Rajput school, descendants of the Ajanta frescoes, though small in size, exhibit a breadth of scale characteristic of mural painting. They have for the most part little modelling and are done in tempera technique on paper. The colors are strong and intense if somewhat sombre in the earlier examples. The subjects of Rajput painting are in the main drawn from epic and popular poetry and from Brahmanical theology. One of the most recurrent themes is the cult of Radha and Krishna from the Ramayana, where “‘human love in all its phases is interpreted as an image of the history of the soul of man (typified in Radha and the other milkmaids of an Indian Arcadia) pursued by the divine lover Krishna, herdsman and avatar of Vishnu.”’ Our painting of Krishna with the Gopis and Radha in the forest of Brindabran illustrates very beautifully an incident in this theme as treated by the Kangra school of the eighteenth century. The style of this valley school is somewhat more lyrical though 50 ALSVNAG NVOA OL GOIMMAd LSAITUVA ‘LUV ASANIHO ASIATIC SECTION less bold than the Rajput hill school. The hill school is illustrated by two ‘‘musical modes’’ of a Ragmala series, a ‘‘musical mode’’ being a portrayal in painting of a situation appropriate to the various moods expressed by a “‘mode,’’ a musical term equivalent to our note or series of notes in a scale. A relation between music and painting obtains in India as it does in no other country. The subject of one of the modes represents a Ragini—a heroine—with a vina, a stringed instrument, playing to peacocks in the trees, during a shower. The style is highly conventionalized, abstract, strong and emotional. A tender phase of Indian painting is represented by a lovely drawing of the Kangra school dating in the eighteenth century, from the popular Nala-Damayanti theme, representing lovers on a terrace of a palace. Two examples of the Indo-Persian or Mughal school complete the small group of Indian paintings. A fragment of a beautifully-colored rug of the seventeenth century shows the difference between these carpets of Northern India and the Persian ones from which they were derived: the characteristic dark wine-red ground, the sym- metrical arrangement of flowers in framework and the extra- ordinarily fine weaving which gives it such a velvet-like surface. Garden Court We now pass through the garden court, which is designed in the Italian baroque style of the seventeenth century, with a large fountain in the center. The most important decora- tions on the walls are two Flemish tapestries of the middle of the sixteenth century™. They represent the best type of northern Renaissance tapestries, and were designed under Italian influence by Pieter Coeck van Alst (1502-1550), a pupil of Bernard van Orley (see gallery 14), the original sketch for one of them being in the Albertina collection at Vienna. They were woven in Brussels, possibly in the best’ atelier of the period, that of Willem de Pannemaker, and show different scenes from the life of St. Paul. 51 *& Since the above was written, these tapestries have been removed to the central hall adjoining the court. A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS Turning to the left, past the door of the auditorium, we continue the circuit by entering the series of rooms devoted to Far Eastern Art. GALLERIES 22 and 23 Japanese Art Since the Museum is not yet in possession of Japanese works of art worthy of exhibiting, a loan exhibition is shown in these galleries for the time being. Different types of paintings, bronzes, and ceramics, give an idea of the de- velopment of Japanese art from the Fujiwara period (a.p. 900-1180) to the Tokugawa period (a.p. 1603-1867). GALLERY 24 Chinese Art Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), to Modern Times The objects placed on exhibition in this gallery, also, —porcelains of various types, chiefly of the K’ang Hsi and Ch’ien Lung periods, antique jades, and a rare bronze sac- rificial vessel of the early Chou dynasty, tenth or eleventh century B. C.—are loans, temporarily filling the gaps in the Museum’s collection. GALLERY 25 Chinese Art Earliest Periods to Yuan Dynasty (1280-1368) The great early periods of Chinese history, the Han dynasty (206 B. c.-221 a. p.), the Wei dynasty (a. p. 386-550), the T’ang dynasty (618-906), and the Sung dy- nasty (960-1280), are represented in this gallery by a small number of important pieces belonging to the permanent ‘collection of the Museum. The most prominent of these objects are all related to Buddhism, the great religion of the Far East that had its 52 ASIATIC SECTION origin in India and spread eastward into China at the be- ginning of the Christian era. The arts of the painter, the sculptor, the potter and the bronze-founder had already attained a high development in China, so that it was not until the fifth century that the new religion made itself seriously felt in the arts, and then its contribution was chiefly one of new subject matter. The art most affected was sculpture, and so earnest were the Buddhists in embodying their teachings in images, that from the time of its first serious influence in the cave temples of Yun Kang in northern Shansi, by far the largest part of sculpture in China is Buddhist. From the caves in the north, where temples and images of monumental stature were hewn from the living rock of the cliffs by the river side, Buddhist stone sculpture spread and developed in other parts of China. Independent images of stone, wood, bronze, clay, pottery and lacquer were fashioned for temples and shrines, and this type of sculpture was continued after the cutting of the rock temples had ceased. The most important activ- ity in stone sculpture was from the fifth to the ninth century. From the middle of this period when, on the whole, the best work was produced in stone, is the full-length Buddhistic figure in grey limestone, dated a. p. 581, of Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy or Compassion. It is a dedicatory statue to the divinity, the gift of a noble family in memory of their departed, and probably formed one of a group of Buddhistic deities in a rock cave temple. (As the Goddess of Mercy, Kuan Yin remains in the world as the saviour of mankind. Her attributes, as in our statue, are the Amrita vase containing the miraculous potion of the nectar of life, and the willow branch. She may also carry the lotus flower. When her mission of salvation is com- pleted, she will be reborn as a Buddha.) Stylistically, the figure belongs to the Wei dynasty. The broad planes of the face with its benign, contemplative expression, the smile 53 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS suggesting attainment of bliss and peace, the quiet dignity and grace of the figure, are characteristic of this distin- guished period of Buddhistic sculpture. Of a later and more urbane period but in the same Buddhist tradition is the large and majestic head of a Bodhisattva in wood, which stands in the middle of the room. The original coating of gesso and gilt has almost entirely disappeared, but the fine modelling of features has not suffered during the long lapse of time since the tenth century, when, in all probability, the figure of which this head was a part was carved and installed in some now van- ished temple. Old figures were often restored and retouched by later generations, and the present headdress may be re- garded as such a restoration. Calligraphy has always been considered by the Chinese to be the supreme art, and next to writing, painting. Their paintings were of two types: frescoes upon wall surfaces of palaces and cave temples, and paintings upon paper and silk in long horizontal scrolls (makemono), and vertical hanging form (kakemono). Chinese, so-called India ink, was the most common pigment, augmented by vegetable and mineral colors prepared with glue and used as watercolors. The golden age of Chinese painting as we know it, was the T’ang and Sung dynasties. In these periods the Chinese masters achieved their greatest distinction and are compar- able with the greatest masters of Europe. As in sculpture, so in painting, Buddhism provided an abundance of material for the hand of the artist, and many of the greatest painters of the golden age are reported to have left religious, as well as secular masterpieces, while during such periods of political unrest as the Southern Sung dynasty, men’s minds were turned inward and practically all painting was in- fluenced by the contemplative attitude of the Ch’an, or Zen, school. The Chinese divide paintings into four classes, of which the chief is landscape. Buddhist paintings are usually regarded as a sub-class in the group designated as 54 SHIUNLNAD IAX GNV AX ‘LUV HONAW ANV NYWUED SHSINATA ASIATIC SECTION ‘“‘Men and Objects.’’ The Museum possesses no Chinese paintings of a secular character, but the fresco of the Goddess Kuan Yin is a worthy example of Buddhist paint- ing. Though the Tung Yen temple in the province of Shansi, from which this painting came, was erected in the T'ang dynasty, the picture itself probably dates from the closing years of the Sung. The goddess stands upon lotus flowers resting in the clouds. In her left hand she carries the lotus, the emblem of purity. She is crowned and jeweled as a Bodhisattva, who in this particular incarnation is always represented as of royal lineage. The vitality of drawing, rhythmical organization of line, and beauty of fresh, har- monious color which characterise the best painting of this type, are well exhibited in this picture. The other Buddhist picture, on the wall opposite the fresco, is a Korean temple painting done in the Korai per- iod (928-1392 a.p.) It represents the Buddha seated in con- templation upon a lotus throne, among a hierarchy of royal personages, saints, deities, and bodhisattvas—the latter standing in the last row under the clouds—numbering in all thirty figures. In his hand the Buddha holds the jewel of perfection, and the halo of wisdom surrounds his head, the exterior halo symbolizing the all-pervading wisdom in which he is immersed. The composition, the certainty and fine- ness of line, the distinguished color scheme, and the serene dignity of the composition as a whole, all combine to express high standards of art and the philosophic aims of the Buddhistic religion. Non-Buddhistic, and associated with the ancient Chinese rites connected with ancestor worship and the burial of the dead, are those other figures in this room which fall within both the sculptor’s and the potter’s realms. Espec- ially noteworthy is the prancing steed hanging to the right of the fresco, a polychrome clay bas-relief from a tomb in the province of Honan. Though probably of the third century A. D., the style of the horse recalls vividly the 35 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS sculptured bas-reliefs of the Wu Liang T’zu, most famous of the pictorial stones of the Han dynasty. The horse, which was cut in the gray tiles and then pigmented, was probably part of a frieze illustrating a martial exploit or an imperial scene. In spirited outline and in movement it is characteristic of the best work of its period. Closely akin to this horse in intention and use, if not in form, are the various small funerary figures done in the round in clay and either pigmented or glazed, that occupy places in the cases. For realism of form and movement no sculpture in China ever surpassed in modelling the best of the tomb figures of the T’ang dynasty. Pottery, which is best identified as ‘‘clay ware of more or less porous body, opaque and varying from soft friability to the hardness of porcelain,’’ was made in China in the pre- historic era. As the art developed, the pottery was glazed, making it impervious to water;'this can be traced to the second century, in the Han dynasty. The aesthetic quality of Chinese pottery from earliest times until its decline, consists in its form, its incised and modelled decoration and its glaze. Most of the vessels of the Han dynasty have a simple grandeur of form, and are made in reddish clay or in stoneware, and may be covered with a thin glaze, varying from light to dark green, and sometimes black. In the suc- ceeding dynasties and particularly in the T’ang and Sung periods, new glazes of various shades including white, blue, gteen, celadon, red, and yellow were invented and attained a beauty and fineness which have remained unexcelled. In this period, motifs which had been used since the earliest times, modelled or moulded in low relief or incised in the clay, were continued. An innovation of the period which came into vogue was the use of the fired polychrome glaze, by which T'ang pottery is principally known. The examples in the two wall cases illustrate by several types the development of pottery from the Han dynasty through the T’ang and Sung dynasties: a very interesting 56 ASIATIC SECTION series of grave potteries and incense burners called marbled pottery, fashioned of two and three kinds of colored clays, some of them glazed; a semi-porcelain bowl with incised lotus; and two shallow dishes of semi-eggshell texture with scroll patterns. GALLERY 26 Primitive American, African, and Pacific Art This room connects the Asiatic section with the American wing. Its contents show on one side the beginning of Ameri- can culture and on the other its link with the culture of the Pacific and the nations bordering it on the opposite side of the ocean, with which it is possible that it had some artistic con- nection. Primitive American art is represented by examples of (1) Mexican antiquities, (2) Peruvian antiquities, (3) the art of the American Indians, especially those of the north- western and the southwestern parts of North America. The art objects of the American Indians are of comparatively recent date (eighteenth and early nineteenth century) but show in their conventionalized style very old traditions and are remarkably expressive in the motifs of floral and animal designs as well as in their religious symbolism. In the case below the window are excellent types of the pottery of the Hopi (Pueblo) Indians of Arizona and New Mexico, and in the second case to the left carvings in wood and slate of the Haida and Wakash Indians (Northwest coast of the United States and Canada). This collection is supplemented by a gallery of aboriginal American art on the ground floor adjoining the Prehistoric Gallery. The Mexican and Peruvian antiquities (cases opposite en- trance and on wall opposite window) represent the in- digenous art of America, the origin of which very likely goes as far back as several centuries before Christ and lasts until the fifteenth century. In certain fields, such as architec- ture, ceramics, and textiles, the art of the early Peruvians 57 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS and Mayas can take its place beside that of highly-developed cultures of Asia and Europe. The theory that we find in these ancient American peoples only an arrested develop- ment of art, and that this development was stopped by the conquest of the Spaniards, cannot be substantiated. It seems altogether probable that this ancient art had a long and quiet development for centuries, less interrupted and less disturbed by outside influences than, for instance, any of the art centers of Europe, and that when the Spaniards came, its height had long since been passed. As has been true in the development of other cultures, we find that the conquerors coming from outside did not arrive until the older culture had begun to weaken, thus inciting the invaders to the idea of con- quest. The destroyers of the artistic culture of ancient America were not the European conquerors of Mexico, Central Amer- ica and Peru in the second and third decades of the sixteenth century, but military nations near them who had found out long before the beginning decadence of their artistic neigh- bors. Events in Mexico and Peru seem to have been similar in this respect. In both countries new neighbors arose in the highlands in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries: in Mexico the Aztecs, in Peru the Incas, both nations of despotic tendencies. They conquered the valleys along the coast where the artistic races lived: in Central America the Zapotecs and Maya Indians; in Peru the Chimus and the in- habitants of the coast region as far down as Nazca. Like all more politically-inclined nations, neither the Aztecs nor the Incas were artistically highly productive. The great achieve- ments in the field of art lay before their time. Those who are convinced that there are certain analogous developments all over the earth in a given period of human history, developments based upon rhythmic movements, possibly in connection with the earth’s revolutions, have always been of the opinion that the height of Mayan archi- tecture is contemporaneous with the art of India and the Near East from the ninth to the thirteenth century and with 58 LUV O1d1IOVd GNV NVOIMAV SNVOIMAWV AALLINIWd —— ASIATIC SECTION the Romanesque period in Europe: that there is the same pleasure in abstract, geometric ornaments formed from com- binations of human, animal and vegetable motives; the same inclination toward flat relief bound by two parallel planes; the same content of interchanging religious and demonic motives; the same broadness and heaviness of architectural forms. The dating of the Mayan monuments, which is now possible through the reading of the hieroglyphs, has proved the correctness of this view and the error of those who found similarity to early Egyptian architecture and sculpture—a similarity which exists more in the size than in the style of the monuments. No dating is known as yet for the Peruvian objects, but we know now that their style, in so far as it is abstract and conventionalized and represents demonic types, has been in- fluenced by, or is at any rate related to, the style of the ancient Central Americans. Another factor seems to point to the last centuries of the first millenium a.p. for the textiles of the more highly developed technique. It has often been said that the tapestry and kelim technique of the early Peruvians is curiously similar to the technique of the Coptic weavings found in late Egyptian tombs from about the period of the fourth to the ninth century a. p. It seems indeed improbable that such a difficult technique (see gallery 12) should have been discovered independently even in so widely-separated parts of the world. Trade travels enormous distances. We know that certain motives in Chinese art of the Han and T’ang periods were derived from the late Greek art, and that the Byzantine weavers learned silk fabrication from China, examples of which are also found in Coptic tombs. We find in Japan Gin Nara, in the ninth century) fragments of Sassanian silks and tapestry “weaving whose technique must have traveled there from Egypt or Byzantium, where weavings in the Coptic style were also executed. For the remaining part of the journey we can refer to the plausible theory of the connection of the art 59 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS of the border races of the Pacific, which explains also the similarity of certain geometric ornaments and convention- alized animal motives found on some of the bronze vessels of eatly medieval Chinese art to those on Mexican monuments. Altogether we may say that the ancient Peruvian art of the most highly developed style, as well as that of ancient Mexico, belongs to the early Middle Ages. How far the pre- historic art of these countries (see gallery 16) goes back (possibly a few centuries before Christ) is of less importance to us, for its artistic value is not so great. The most important fields in the early Peruvian culture are those of ceramics and textiles. Of the ceramics, types are exhibited from the most creative parts of the country—Valle de Chicama in the north and Nazca in the south—and from less important centers like Pachacamac and Chancay. The northern part, representing the Chimu culture, created pottery of splendid plastic effects, but with less-pronounced color schemes. Usually we find in the early types only parts of a creamy white color applied to the warm terra cotta of the clay from which the pottery is modelled. In Nazca the pottery seldom has relief modelling but has always simple Shapes of pure and beautiful outlines and of a rich surface color. Among the former are two of the famous portrait jats, which may be said to represent the highest type of Peruvian pottery. With their extraordinary characteriza- tion, they most likely represent individual portraits of the deceased in whose tombs they were found. A few other jars of the same technique and with stirrup handles show curiously-well-observed sitting figures: two of them sleeping old men; one a woman lost in thought, smiling peacefully; while other jars are in the shape of realistically-rendered animals and birds, such as a parrot, a frog, and a monkey listening to the sound of a bottle which he holds to his ear. Still better represented is the black ware of the late Chimu culture, with flat reliefs of geometric ornaments or scenes of human figures or landscapes. There are several examples of 60 ASIATIC SECTION the characteristic twin whistling jars which produce a whistling sound by blowing into the small ear hole, the same effect being obtained by pouring water down the spout. Other jars are in the shape of ducks and monkeys, and one of a well-represented seal. In other instances human figures are adapted to the shape of the vessels, the head being used for the forming of the spout, while the short arms rest upon the enormous belly of the jar. Of great charm are the clay vessels from Nazca, with their rich color scheme—beautiful shades of red, brown and orange—and their broadly conceived, conventionalized de- sign. The forms, all modeled by hand, are exceptionally even and of beautiful outline, while the colors are usually applied upon a creamy white or reddish background and, it would seem, covered after the firing with a thin varnish which in the well-preserved examples gives a dull shine to the surface. In some instances the design is still quite nat- uralistic, as in the fine saucer with a representation of a bird, very likely a condor, catching a fish. Others, of richer pattern, have strongly-conventionalized types of demonic figures derived from birds or wildcats. Whatever may be their interpretation, it is quite certain that none of the ab- stract designs applied to these funerary vessels are meaning- less, but express either prayers in favor of the deceased, in allegorical form, or charms to ward off the evil influence of the demons. The art of the early Mexicans is more difficult to represent in a museum, as its most important creations are in architec- ture. Of the three most characteristic cultures of ancient Mexico—that of the Mayas, the Zapoteks, and the Aztecs— a few examples representing the art of the Aztecs are shown: a stone god, a silver mask, a few gold ornaments, and four of those stone masks which show their extraordinary skill in the treatment of hard surfaces by means of stone implements; 61 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS for although the ancient Mexicans understood the use of gold, silver and copper, there is nothing to show that they were familiar with iron implements. Of special importance is the series of funerary urns of Zapotecan origin. This culture, whose most important ruins ate those at Monte Alban and Mitla, resembles that of the Mayan civilization of Yucatan more closely than that of the Aztecs—a resemblance which is also found in the re- ligion and in the hieroglyphic system which, however, has not yet been deciphered. This country was conquered by the Aztecs in the second half of the fifteenth century, and after the Spanish conquest Cortez established his residence in the valley of Oaxaca. Among the most characteristic produc- tions of the Zapotecan area are the funerary urns, some in gray, others in brown clay. They represent sitting figures of a god wearing an immense ornate mask and head-dress. The receptacle behind probably carried food or drink for the deceased. The illustrious Zapotecan dead were buried in gtaves composed of sculptured stone slabs in the center of a mound of earth. Funerary urns, usually in groups of five, were placed in rows near the entrance of the sepulchre. They resemble the large sculptures with which some of the walls of the temples and palaces of ancient Mexico are covered, and in modeling as well as in their characterization are not less forceful than those found on the architectural monu- ments. The first case to the left contains a few examples of the primitive art of Africa: wood and ivory carvings and bronzes, the mask and the ivory case coming from south- east Africa, the bronzes rare objects from the city of Benin in British Nigeria, the capital of a negro kingdom of con- siderable importance before its discovery by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century. They were probably executed in the seventeenth century and represent the head of a chief and small figures of warriors. 62 LUnNOS NAGUVS JO MAIA AMERICAN SECTION GALLERY 27 Colonial Kitchen The step that we must now take, from primitive American att as represented in Mexican and Peruvian antiquities and in the art of the American Indians, to that of seventeenth and eighteenth century Colonial art, is a difficult one, as we do not have here the logical sequence which has obtained elsewhere throughout the building. It will be necessary to recall to mind, rather, the rooms of baroque art in the European section of the building and the two rooms of English and French art of the eighteenth century, for it is with the European art of these periods—particularly that of Holland and England—that American Colonial art has its closest affiliations. It must indeed be considered as part of the general art movement of the corresponding periods in these countries, subject of course to the modifications which the differences in environment and living conditions imposed upon it. The early American department of the Museum is in the first stages of its development. It will be found, therefore, that many of the objects in the Colonial rooms are on loan. The first room which we enter, a room only temporarily installed, will give some idea of a seventeenth century Colonial kitchen. The houses of this period, which falls roughly between the years 1630 and 1725, were built in the tradition of middle-class Elizabethan England, with steep gables, high pitched roofs, and overhanging upper stories. The interiors were simple and crude, the primitive con- ditions imposed upon the early settlers and the simple taste of the Puritans rendering utility rather than luxury of first importance. The floor plan of one or two rooms centered about the great chimney, whose enormous fireplace dom- inated one wall of each room. The wood sheathing or panel- ing, joined by simple mouldings, gives some degree of en- richment to these kitchens, which in most instances served 63 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS as living rooms and even sleeping rooms as well. The fur- niture, of which the Museum is able to show only a few types, consisted for the most part of chests, cupboards, desk- boxes, settles, chairs, stools and tables, of rectangular con- struction and comparatively large in scale, considering the small size of most of the rooms of the period. Some attempt at color and comfort was made by the use of bright-colored fabrics: Indian printed and painted calico (see two examples on walls); gay chintzes and Turkey-work, even velvets, damasks and plushes, for hangings and for cushions and coverings for chairs, tables and cupboards. GALLERY 28 Mid Eighteenth Century Dining-Room The room adjacent to the kitchen, a paneled dining-room of mid eighteenth century style, shows the marked change which came into Colonial architecture after the first quarter of the eighteenth century. The first struggle for existence was over, and with the growing wealth and increasing ease of communication with England, the influences of the late Renaissance and baroque epochs began to make themselves felt in America, and the early simplicity gives way to stile and rail paneling, bolection mouldings, ornamental cornices, a free use of carving in mantlepieces, and a general greater sophistication of treatment. The fireplace has become smaller and as in this reproduction was often framed by an elab- orately-carved composition moulding and frieze. The dentic- ulated cornice running about the top of the room is one of the many forms typical of the period. The furniture, too, has undergone a complete change, the rectangular construction of the earlier period having given way to the curved lines and carving of the rococo style of this century, which had developed in Europe following the Baroque Age and to which we have already been introduced in the eighteenth century French and English rooms in the European section. 64 AMERICAN SECTION The furniture in a room of this type was usually of ma- hogany, a wood which made its first appearance in America about 1720,—earlier perhaps than in any other country,— and increased in popularity during the remainder of the century, being in particular favor with the great English cabinet makers, Chippendale, Sheraton, and Hepplewhite, whose styles dominated the furniture made during the latter half of the century, both in England and America. The silver exhibited in this room is of late seventeenth and eighteenth century origin, and shows the degree of per- fection attained by the Colonial silversmiths. In general the shapes are simple and the workmanship of superior quality. The Winslow sweetmeat box and the Paul Revere pieces are notable examples of a slightly more elaborate type. Here will be found a portrait of John Adams, a merchant of Boston, painted in 1750 by Joseph Badger, a painter born in Charleston who after a humble beginning as house painter and glazier, enjoyed a considerable local reputation as a portrait painter in and about Boston between 1725 and 1775. The other paintings, which are loans to the Museum, are of the same period. Another American painter of about the same period is John Woolaston, who is admirably represented in a pair of portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Allen, of Clairmont, Virginia. Woolaston was an English painter of some note, who came out to the colonies to take advantage of the lucrative portrait practice that sprang up as the colonists became affluent. He worked jrom about 1750 to 1767, mostly in Philadelphia and Virginia. Copley, who in pre-Revolutionary times was closely identified with New England, painting portraits of many prominent people about Boston, is represented by a portrait of a lady, signed and dated 1779. About the time of the Boston Tea Party, Copley went to Rome, and from there to London, where he remained until his death in 1815. This 65 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS portrait, painted soon after he settled in England, is in the grand manner that was then current in English portraiture, and in its greater freedom of handling over his Colonial portraits shows the influence which he had encountered in Rome and England. GALLERY 29 Whitby Hall The Museum has been fortunate enough to secure for its early American section the original interior of Whitby Hall, a famous colonial mansion built in Philadelphia in 1754 by Colonel James Coultas, a merchant and ship, farm and mill owner of Philadelphia, whither he had come from Whitby in Yorkshire, England, giving the name of his ancestral home to his new one in the Colonies. The windows and shutters are the only remaining parts of the original fagade, which was built of stone enriched with brick pilasters and arches, but the interior woodwork of the two ground floor rooms and the handsome hallway and staircase, is just as it was when the hall was built, in 1754. The arrangement of the house, a central hallway with rooms opening off it on either side, with evenly-spaced windows, is the typical one of the period. Of particular beauty and architectural interest is the staircase, over four feet wide, which springs from a newel of characteristic spiral form, enclosing a fluted pilaster whose summit is three and one-half feet from the floor. This handsome spiral starting of the balustrade, consisting of three convolutions, with the unusual diameter of twenty inches, gives to the stair of Whitby Hall an outstanding distinction, making it rank with the finest types of the century. The scheme is completed by substantial balusters crowned by a mahogany hand-rail worked into ramps at the top and bottom of each flight. On the stair landing is a fine round-headed window. In the original house there was a stair tower,and high upin this a square window that illuminated the attic hall, just 66 TIVH AGLIHM AO WOOU ONIMVAUG a . a & . AMERICAN SECTION below a bulls-eye opening, the case of which once formed the frame of a port-hole of one of Colonel Coultas’s favorite ships. In the drawing-room, at the right, interest centers in the imposing fireplace, faced with grey and white Scottish marble, with fine panel work above it. Upon each side is a semicircular cupboard with gracefully-outlined shelves, the tops beautifully-wrought of plaster into hemispherical shape and decorated in adaptations of the shell motif. The room on the other side of the hall, of the same size as the drawing room, has a simpler fireplace, framed with Dutch tiles, a type of faience which came into use in America toward the end of the first quarter of the eighteenth century and continued in popularity throughout this period. They were often decorated with Scriptural scenes and texts and served as illustration for many a Bible lesson taught about the hearth. In this room are a number of pieces of maple and other soft-wood furniture of Queen Anne and transitional types. The bedrooms on the second floor, reproductions of rooms of the period, are furnished in eighteenth century style, the one on the right with furniture of the second half of the century, that on the left with the earlier types of the first half. GALLERY 30 Room of the Early Republic Wereturn to the lower floor and proceeding along the facade of the house, enter through an original doorway from anearly nineteenth century house, a corner octagonal room simulat- ing a room of the early days of the Republic—the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century. The years of war had interrupted both the influx of new ideas from abroad and the growth of wealth. When the country, now an independent nation, began to think of building again, the taste of Europe had changed and the changed 67 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS influence was felt in the new republic. It consisted mainly of an increased attenuation and refinement in line, proportion and detail, introduced into England by the young Scotch architect, Robert Adam, who had brought back from his Italian visit a rejuvenation of the late Roman motifs which had come to light in the recent excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum. The effect of these discoveries had given impetus to a new classical revival felt all through Europe and influencing all the arts: painting, sculpture, architec- ture, furniture, ceramics and textiles. In architecture the effect was first apparent in a greater self-consciousness of de- sign, a more studied disposition of the space relation of rooms one to another and in their variety of shape—circular, octag- onal (like our room), and oval, as well as rectangular. Anew use of classic motifs—swags and paterae, ribbons and flow- ers, leaf mouldings and the Greek key—appeared, much of the new decoration being made of a hard composition attached to the wood, permitting an elaborate repetition of designs, well illustrated in the ceiling, cornice and frieze of our room. The new treatment extended also to furniture, the cabriole leg giving way completely to the straight or reversed-curve type, and the proportion and arrangement of parts conform- ing to the classic ideals, illustrated in the Duncan Phyfe and early Empire pieces found in this room. The paintings follow in general style the English portraits of the same period. All of these artists, BENJAMIN WEsT, Joun SINGLETON CoPLey, GILBERT Stuart and Tuomas SuLLy, though born in America, received their art training in London, where much of their work was done. Benjamin West, though born in Pennsylvania, was indeed so closely affiliated with the English school that he became president of the Royal Academy upon the death of Sir Joshua Reynolds and received the order of Knighthood from King George III. In this gallery will be found two characteristic examples of West’s historical subjects, Queen Philippa Interceding for the Burghers of Calais and Belisarius and the Boy. 68 AMERICAN SECTION There are three examples of Gilbert Stuart, who also went to England where, in spite of the competition which he had with Reynolds, Gainsborough, Romney, Hoppner, and other English portraitists, attained an enviable position as a fashionable portrait painter. The large painting, The Todd Family, the earliest of the three, was probably painted between 1780 and 1790, during the first flush of the artist’s success. He returned to America in 1793 and for the next thirty-five years was America’s foremost painter. The two men’s portraits are of this later American period. Another painter represented in this room is Thomas Sully who, though serving a brief apprenticeship in London, soon returned to Philadelphia where he led a tranquil life and enjoyed the reputation of being one of America’s leading portrait painters. The pair of portraits of Dr. and Mrs. Edward Hudson hanging in this room show to excellent advantage the quality of his painting. Here, too, is to be found a fine example of Chester Harding (1792-1866), who arose from a sign painter to a career as a fashionable portrait painter, living at various times in St. Louis, Philadelphia and Boston. The sitter, Dr. Samuel A. Bemis, practiced dentistry in Boston and contributed much to the knowledge of this profession. This portrait by Harding dates from about 1830. In the two wall cases will be found a selected portion of the Mrs. Arthur W. Soper collection of historical Stafford- shire china, made in Staffordshire, England, for the Ameri- can trade. Some of the most famous pieces of this series are shown in this collection. Gatuery 31 American Art, XIX Century After the second war with England (1812-1814), the re- action against the mother country gave impetus to the growth of our national spirit. The new nation gradually took on a self-reliance in government, in industry, and in 69 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS economics, and this reaction, extending also to the fields of literature and art, gave birth to a movement in landscape painting quite independent of foreign influences. A large number of painters known as the Hudson River School, because they worked in the neighborhood of the Hudson River, approached the beauties of their native landscape with a reverent attitude, and despite their lack of technical ability and the over-abundance of detail in their topo- graphical works, the paintings of this early period possess a serious feeling for nature. The example of Sonnrac in this gallery suggests the range and limitations of these eatly landscape painters, among whom were Thomas Doughty, Ashur B. Durand and J. F. Kensett. A little later, as the country was developed and the won- ders of the Rocky Mountains became known, painters turned from the simple eastern landscape toward the grander and more impressive manifestations of nature. Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, F. E. Church and Thomas Hill were of the group who sought their subject matter in the high peaks of the Rockies, the deep abysses of the Grand Canyon, the wonders of the Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks, or themes of similar grandeur. Tuomas Hitu’s The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and F. E. Cuurcu’s Syria by the Sea are typical examples of these spectacular themes painted on large Canvases to convey an impression of the immensity of their subjects. (These paintings may be seen in our study rooms. ) GeorceE Inngss, the first landscape painter to get away from the panoramic or topographic type of picture, gaveim- petus to that fine portrayal of the mood of American land- scape which gives the work of our native painters a stand- ing comparable to that of any other nation. Inness was somewhat influenced by the Barbizon men; the spirit under- lying their work is found in his, but his interpretation is always essentially American. The two examples of his work in this gallery show different stages of his progress in the interpretation of American landscape, one The Hudson River 70 AUYUNLNASD ITIAX ‘LUV HSITONGA AMERICAN SECTION Valley, of his middle period, shows how he has grown be- yond the aims of the Hudson River School while still adher- ing somewhat to its forms; the other, The Apple Orchard, is a late example of his work in which his composition be- comes simplified, and the exactness of the scene gives way to a rendering of the color and romance of a particular American day. ALExANDER H. Wyant, who also had his beginnings in the Hudson River School but who became one of America’s most lyrical landscape painters, is represented by a small example of his work that still shows his early tendencies. After the middle of the nineteenth century most of the American art students felt the need of contact with the culture of Europe and the technical training to be had there. At first, it became the fashion for art students to go to Dusseldorf or Munich, as they were the art schools most in vogue in the middle of the nineteenth century. Frank Duven- eck, William M. Chase, Walter Shirlaw, Julius Rolshoven, John W. Alexander, to mention but a few, received their training in the Bavarian art schools, bringing back to Amer- ica the impetus that finds expression in that fine painters’ quality discernible in the work of so many of our American artists. In the two examples of WatTER SuiRLAw, the three paintings by Wittam M. Cuase and the small Head of a Man by Franx Duveneck, one can discern the brilliant technique and spirited modelling of this group of painters. Other painters, like Witt1am M. Hunt, Jonn Sincer SARGENT, JAMEs McNertt Wuistter, and Gari MELcHERs, received their training in Paris, which since the eighties has been the mecca of American art students. In the Ball Players will be found a typical example of Hunt. The Portrait of Robert Barr by Whistler, while only a sketch, shows this artist’s sensitiveness to delicate tonalities; the landscape, Home Fields, by John Singer Sargent, is a brilliant perform- ance in the presence of a subject that is particularly con- genial to him. 71 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS In this room will also be found Reading the Story of Oenone, a typical genre subject by Francis Davis Mixer, and the first picture owned by this Museum, and The Fog, an allegor- ical picture in delicate tones, by F. S. Church. One will also find in The Missing Vessel by Franx K. M. Renn, a marine which has been in the possession of the Museum since 1886, having been purchased from the proceeds of an exhibition held in Merrill Hall during that year. GALLERY 32 Local Art In the gallery of local art one will find represented some twenty local painters whose works have been acquired for the permanent collection of the Art Institute. While the col- lection in this room is far from complete in its representa- tion, it will serve to suggest the artistic resources of this locality. Beginning on the east wall one finds an example of Witu1aM B. Coney, (1832-1913). Mr. Conely, havingchosen painting as a profession, studied at the Academy in New York and then returned to Detroit where he remained until his death. He opened the first art school in Detroit and because of his undraped models, an idea still new to the Middle West, suffered persecution at the hands of the prominent ministers and the police of this city. His work is varied but he excelled in still life and portraiture. Another portrait painter of this early period was Lewis T. Ives. Mr. Ives, a lawyer by profession, was assiduous in his devotion to painting, eventually giving his whole time to that art. He was regarded as the best portrait painter of his time in Detroit and received many commissions from lead- ing citizens. His portrait of William H. Brearley, through whose initiative the Detroit Museum of Art received its first impetus, hangs in this room. On the opposite wall will be seen a self-portrait of Percy Ivzs, the son of Lewis T. Ives, who also chose painting as a profession, studying abroad at 72 AMERICAN SECTION the Julien Academy and at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He has painted many portraits of prominent public men in this state. An example of Roserr Hopxin (1832-1909), a marine painter who enjoyed a wide popularity among Detroit collectors, is to be found. One can see in the Graveyard by the Sea that this native of Scotland who came to Detroit as a child by way of the slow sailing vessel, combines the quali- ties of a vigorous painter with a poetic outlook toward his favorite theme. He is almost entirely self taught, and in the painting of figures his lack of academic training is apparent. A Portrait of Robert Hopkin by Joserpu W. Gres, another long- time resident painter, hangs to the left of this picture. On the east wall is an example of Jutrus RotsHoven, The Refectory of San Damiano, Assisi. Mr. Rolshoven, born in Detroit in 1858, was one of that group of American painters who had their training in Munich, of which Frank Du- veneck and William M. Chase were the leading spirits. One will find here also The Vespers by Gart Metcuers which identifies this noted American artist with Detroit. Mr. Melchers was born in this city in 1860 and this example of his work, painted in 1888, showsto what degree of excellence he had attained even as a youth. Francis Petrus Pautus, born here in 1862, is represented by one of his market scenes of Bruges for which he is widely known. Lenpatu Pitts, whose mountain scene, Source of the Romanche, is also to be found here, is from one of Detroit’s old families and has devoted his life to painting and etching. He has long been a resident of Paris. Of a more recent time one will find a decorative figure piece and a still life subject by Roman Kryzanowskxy. Born in Russia in 1885, of a noble family, he came to Detroit as a mere youth. His early art training was received here, after which he studied abroad at Paris. He is particularly adept in the rendering of still life and in the decorative arrange- ment of his themes. Ernest Harrison Barnes, born in 73 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS Portland, New York, in 1873, was for many years a resident of Ann Arbor, where he taught painting at the University of Michigan. His picture, A Shady Street, with its sunlight and shadow, is typical of the mood of American landscape to be found in all his works. Wr1t~t1am Greason, born in St Mary’s, in 1884, is apresent-day landscape painter of this city who enjoys a considerable reputation. As a variation from his landscape work he painted the metropolitan scene, D. A.C. at Twilight, with its interesting color and roof-line. Roy C. Gamsrz, whose picture, Freckles, is shown here, was born in Detroit in 1887 and has spent his whole life in this locality except for the years spent abroad in study. He enjoys a substantial portrait practice. Mrs. Iris ANDREWs MiLzER, whose Senorita Do-Do hangs on the west wall, studied under William M. Chase and became an illustrator of much promise. After her marriage, with the family cares it in- volved, she laid aside her painting for a number of years, only resuming the practice of her profession in recent times. She has also received many portrait commissions in this locality. Myron Bartow, born here in 1873, is one of that group of American artists living abroad of which Frederick C. Frieseke and Richard Miller are prominent. He developed a flat decorative style, dealing sympathetically with the in- cidents of peasant life and is known both in Europe and America for the style of picture which is here represented. CHARLES WALTENSPERGER, born here and for many years a resident painter, studied at the Detroit Museum of Art School, where he won the James E. Scripps Travelling Schol- atship for study abroad. His later work deals with genre sub- jects much in the style of the contemporary Dutch painters. KaTHERINE McEwen, proficient in the medium of water color, is represented by a vigorous Yukon Sunset. GLEN Tracy, represented by three vigorous water colors, was born in Detroit but now makes his home in Cincinnati. His pilgrimages in the interest of painting and drawing have taken him to many picturesque spots in his native land. 74 MODERN AMERICAN ART AMERICAN SECTION Examples of the work of some of the more progressive local men will be found in the galleries of modern art on the second floor,—John P. Wicker, Harry Smith, Jay Boorsma, Roger Davis (painters) and Samuel Cashwan (sculptor). The pottery in the case in the center of the room was made at the Pewabic Pottery and is a Detroit craft of which the city can well be proud. Begun more than twenty years ago by Mary Cask Perry (now Mrs. William B. Stratton), associated with the late Horace J. Caulkins, it has made remarkable progress both in regard to quality and quantity. There has always been about Mrs. Stratton’s work a definiteness of aim, a sure artistry and freedom of treat- ment that places her pottery with the finest America has produced. She has been most successful, perhaps, in the color, variety and beauty of her glazes. Besides her work in pottery proper, Mrs. Stratton has produced during the past few yeats a large output of glazed tile and ceramic decora- tions which, under commissions from leading architects, can be found in many churches and other public buildings throughout the United States, including our present build- ing, where her tile forms part of the decoration of a number of rooms: the two beautiful glazed tile niches at the entrance to the large temporary exhibition gallery, the tile decoration in the fountain in the garden court, and the risers of the stairs in the main auditorium being instances of her use of faience to a decorative end. GALLERY 33 American Art, Last Quarter of XIX Century Galleries 33 and 34, devoted to American art of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, show to what degree American art has kept pace with the art of Europe. During this period American artists have turned largely to Paris for their training and inspiration. The romantic painting of the Barbizon school, therealismof Courbetand his followers, the splendid portraiture of Carolus Duran, Leon Bonnat and 75 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS others, Impressionism with its heightened palette and its scientific knowledge of pure color, and Post-Impressionism as exemplified in Cezanne and his followers, all find a per- ceptible reaction in American painting. This does not mean, however, that the American painters are merely imitators of their French contemporaries. On the contrary, American art, in spite of the cosmopolitan age in which we live, when all world knowledge is available to all peoples, has developed a fine national spirit. Our painters have profited by the technical methods of their French brethren but their motifs and their point of view are singularly American. Many American painters during this period, feeling that all great aft is a native or inherent manifestation, have refused to pay homage to European culture and have worked out their salvation at home, feeling that in New York, Chicago and other large art centers, we now have academic instruction quite adequate to their needs. Beginning with Gallery 33, let us review the work of this recent period. Joun SinGER SARGENT, a cosmopolite who spent many of his years abroad but who retained his citizenship and American point of view, is a realist not only preeminent among the painters of the western world, but an artist who has inspired a number of his American contemporaries. In addition to the landscape, Home Fields, already referred to in Gallery 31, one of those spontaneous emanations from the brush of a man who has tasted all the success of achieve- ment in this field and has then turned to nature in holiday mood, will be found in gallery 34 a portrait of Mrs. Colin Hunter, a characteristic example of Sargent’s portraiture, signed and dated 1896. In the self portrait of ALBERT SmrrH, one can see this emulation of the spontaneity and the smart brush work of Sargent who was trained in the studios of Carolus Duran and whose style is founded on that of the great masters Frans Hals and Velasquez. Works in similar vein but somewhat less spectacular in performance are The 76 AMERICAN SECTION Milliner by Avpert Rosentuat, Crosslights by WiLLiaM SERGEANT Kenai, The Old Fashioned Gown and Afternoon Reflections by Ivan OLINsKY. Giovanni B. Troccoxi’s Lady with a White Lace Cap is a most pleasing interpretation of old age. There is so much character in this gentle woman who is quietly resting and dreaming of other days as the artist skillfully perpetuates her likeness on canvas. In Brrcr Harrison's Fifth Avenue at Twilight we have an example of American landscape painting dealing with the more sensitive and transitory facts of nature. The avenue of a great city is seen in the witching hour of twilight. Birge Harrison carries on to its ultimate the tradition which George Inness began, of portraying the tender and romantic moods of nature. How different the aim in Jonas Lin's Culebra Cut! Here is a realistic portrayal of one of the great American feats, in which this epicof American achievement is set forth with bald reality. Hzten M. Turner's The Flower Girl is a work that exemplifies impressionism as applied by one of our more prominent American women painters. With its broken color and heightened palette it shows how brilliant a picture of the last decade may become. Freperick C. FRIEsEKE’s The Blue Gown is impressionism used in a decorative manner quite his own. Plum Island by WautER Suirtaw is a good example of the water color medium, and The Almond Tree by Dopcr Mac- Knienr is a picture in full sunlight in which water color and pastel are brilliantly wedded. There are also two water colors by Cuartes H. Woopsury, the one of Mount Pelee in eruption being especially worthy of note. Three decorative sculptures adorn this room, two of which, Centaur and Dryad and Dancers and Gazelles ate by Pau Mansur and show the resourcefulness of this sculptor in the decorative use of sculpture. The panels and borders on the base of the Centaur and Dryad particularly exemplify 17 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS the possibilities of low-relief decoration. Three other small bronzes by Paul Manship are to be found in Gallery 35. Vis-a-vis with the Dancer and Gazelles is Brsstz PoTTER Vonnon’s Allegresse, a bronze scuplture which also shows the grace and rhythm of the plastic arts used as decoration. GALLERY 34 American Art, Last Quarter XIX Century (Continued) In Gallery 34 are to be found J. Francis Murpny'’s Autumn, a picture which has much the same attitude toward nature as Corot, Daubigny or Dupré. Dwicut W. Trron’s Before Sunrise, June, and two other landscapes splendidly illustrate the quality of mood which Inness in an earlier day tried to attain. We turn from this with equal delight to the Unfolding Buds or The White Veil by Wittarp Met- caLF which, despite the high key and the material meth- ods of the impressionist, contain the same romantic out- look, the same love of nature in her more tender moods. Tuomas W. Dewi1ne’s The Recitation, showing two figures in a garden at twilight, and another similar picture near it has something of the same impulse of catching the more delicate and sensitive moods of nature and moulding them into a decorative theme. J. ALDEN Weir was invariably inspired by a strong aesthetic impulse, and A Follower of Grolier by this artist reveals his poignant search for artistic expression. Cuartes W. Hawtuorne’s Refining Oil, a combination of realism and decoration, shows fine character study in the old man and the head of the little boy. It has the fine painter’s quality of Chase with the addition of an arrangement of the color areas into a rhyth- mical decorative scheme. Garr Metcuers, of Detroit Nativity, is represented in our collection by six examples of his work. One in this room, The Wedding, is a work of his middle period; the other, Child with an Orange, is a recent work. Melchers is a profound thinker who always 78 (sddIs LSva UNV HIYON) LUNOO JO MIA AMERICAN SECTION seems to see through the soul of his sitters. His works are conceived in a vigorous way and his knowledge of his craft is always delightfully evidenced. Artuour B. Davizs is an independent artist who, living and working largely in retirement, has created a beautiful decorative style pregnant with mystery and significance. He is represented by Vision Antique, a classical landscape in tender green and blue tones peopled with ethereal nudes, a picture which shows his sensitiveness to pattern and delicacy of color. Robert SpENcER’s picture, On the Canal, New Hope, is an exceedingly interesting interpretation of an American theme. The squalid bit of life showing dilapidated houses bordering on a once active canal, becomes transformed through the temperament of the painter into a motif of splendor in which color and pattern play an important part, without losing its semblance of reality. Interesting figure subjects in high key by Ricnarp E. Mitier and Rosert Rer will also be found here. There are two bronze sculptures by Aucustus Sarnt- Gaupens: Amor Caritas, an adaptation of one of the ideal figures of the Morgan Tomb at Hartford, in high relief, the other in low relief, Homer Schiff Saint-Gaudens as a baby. The latter is a particularly fine example of the bas-relief work of this noted American master. GALLERY 35 Modern American Art Entering Gallery 35 we find a combination of paintings, sculpture and the arts and crafts of our own day and it is here that the individuality of the artist and the independent spirit of American art are shown to the best advantage. Here will be found such landscapes as TwacHTMAN’s Pool, a picture fine in color and technically superb, possess- ing the spirit of a summer scene in a realistic yet subtle way; Surf and Rocks by Cuttpe Hassam, distinguished for its beautiful color, and an earlier example of his brush, 79 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS Place Centrale and Fort Cabanas, Havana, painted in 1895; Danret Garser’s Vine Clad Trees, still another instance of an American painter who uses landscape as a decorative theme yet is keenly alive to the moods of nature; Epwarp W. ReprieLp’s Grey Days and Meadow Brook and Ernest Law- son’s Winter, which approach nature from the standpoint of the realist, giving vigorous pictures of American winter; Aesop's Garden by Kart ANDERSON, an idealized interpreta- tion of a garden theme; Girrorp Bzat’s Horse Mackerel, an incident of the sea which by its thoughtful design and simplicity and directness of narration reveals the restless forces of the ocean and those whose lives are shaped by close association with it; and Mauricz PRENDERGAST’S Landscape with Figures with its rhythmic grouping of women and children in a seaside park, and its interweaving of brilliant hues. Here, too, one will find figure painters of extraordinary ability. In the Fencing Master by Gart Metcuers we have the finest possible example of the sturdy art of this native son, while the nearby portraits of Mrs. Melchers, and Ik Marvel give an opportunity for further acquaintance with his work. Max Boum, who died in 1923, was among the foremost painters of his generation. Through the heavy impasto of his color and a technique that is ofttimes halting, the sheer force of his vision drove him on to successful achievement. Sea Babies is a monumental example of the artist in his happiest vein. The noble theme of mother- hood is here augmented by nobility of composition in which the large and simplified forms play an important part. Leorotp Sryrrert’s self portrait, not unlike the realism of Sargent, has a sure and spontaneous touch and is most interestingly composed. Frank W. Benson’s portrait of his daughter Elizabeth in a delightful summer setting out of doors, is chiefly concerned, as were the impression- ists, with the study of light; no dark shadows here, but a play of beautiful color throughout. Two examples of 80 AMERICAN SECTION “Mary Cassatt, both of them dealing with her favorite theme, motherhood, are to be found here, one of them a pastel, Femmes et Enfant, the other an oil, In the Garden. Rosert Henrr, represented by the Beach Hat, The Young Girl and Boy with the Plaid Scarf, is a painter who catches the character of his sitters and sets it down with a sureness which many painters emulate. Much of the pleasure in his works is in the brilliant color and in the sureness of his observation in catching the momentary aspects of his sitters. In The Forest Ranger by Ranpatt Davey we have a work similarly conceived, a work which catches character and sets it forth in a truthful manner, in this instance portraying a truly American type. Grorce Brttows’s A Day in June, awarded the Temple Gold Medal at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, is a fine example of this eminent American painter. Bellows saw beauty in all the things about him. His everyday contacts furnished the themes for his brush as for his lithographs. His works, finely conceived and technically skillful, are always a commentary on our time which should give him a preeminent position among American painters as time goes on. Leon Krotz, one of the ablest of the younger men, is represented by a landscape with figures, In the Country, which affords an opportunity for the display of much brilliant color and interesting areas which fit together in a satisfying whole. It is a landscape of real distinction and one of the most stimulating pictures in our collection. An example of Gzorcz Luxs, The Three Top Sergeants, with its fervid and realistic portrayal of three amateur musicians, has about it a delightful spon- taneity and exuberance of life. If American art of our time has a parallel to the able gente painters of the seventeenth century or to Daumier of the century just past, it is in the work of JoHN SLoan, who puts his finger on the heart throbs of humanity in the highways and byways of a metropolitan city. McSorley’ s 81 A GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS Bar, peopled by a few well chosen habitués, is such a picture. One can see the gentle wit with which the artist portrays his characters of common humanity. Among the sculptures in this gallery are such idealized works as The Genius of Immortality by IsaporE Konrt1, The Spartan Mother by Suerry E. Fry, The Cup Bearer by F. Tottzs CHAMBERLAIN, Aspiration by AtBIN Po.asex, Motherhood by Bzsstzr PotrerR Vonnou, and the Manships already referred to, which draw their inspiration from the traditions of the past. There are also a number of works by sculptors of strong individuality who, like the painters of our day, draw their inspiration from the life about them. Such a sculptor was Soton H. Borcium, who perpetuates the cowboy days of the Middle West in six bronzes in our collection. His study of the horse is particularly fine. His brother, Gutzon Boreivum, is also represented by three works: Ruskin, The Wonder of Motherhood, and The Wooing of the Centaur, all of them vigorous works. The Rigger, by Manonri YOuNG, shows the dignity and force of manual labor. Freprricx G. Rots has given us a life-like interpretation of polar bears. In the center of room 35 is the End of the Trail, a bronze sculpture by James Earre Fraser suggesting a dramatic incident of Indian life. In the cases will be found a few delightful interpretations of the dance in Matvina Horrman’s Pavlowa and Russian Dancers, in TrousetzKoy’s Lady Constance Richardson and . in ABASTENIA St. Leczr Exserwe’s Ragtime. One will also find in the animal sculptures, Colt, Fighting Goats, and Napoli, good examples of ANNA Hyatt Huntineton, who has made a real name for herself among American sculp- tors. Hunt Drepericn’s Cats and Jacos Epstrein’s Female Head represent sculptured works of more recent tendencies. In the cases below the windows are exhibited a number of objects of decorative arts by contemporary craftsmen; silver, enamels, pottery and porcelains, all fields in which 82 AMERICAN SECTION present-day American craftsmen take high rank. The Museum has felt that the finest work of our craftsmen should be given a place in the collections in the same manner as that of ancient times, and that one of the surest means of stimulating fine work in the liberal arts is to give it a place in museums. In these cases, therefore, will be found a selection of representative pieces by some of our best silver and enamel workers, and several groups of outstanding pottery and porcelain. Even from Colonial times the work of American silver- smiths has been able to hold its own with that of European countries,—as has been seen from the exhibition in the Colonial dining room,—and at the present day our silver craft is on a similar high level. Such pieces as the handsome pierced plate by Mary C. Knicur, the silver alms basin by Gzorce E. Germer, the baptismal font, a piece made in collaboration by James T. Wooxzy, ExizasetH CopELAND, I. KircuMayer, and the architects Cram and Fercuson, the fine vase by Artuur J. Stone, and the silver and enamel ink stand by Louis C. Tirrany, bear eloquent witness to this fact. An enamel placque by Epwarp F. CatpweE z is a particu- larly decorative bit of ornament, and with the silver and enamel box by Exizasrrn CopeLanp, gives an excellent idea of what our modern craftsmen are doing in this medium. The pottery in the case at the east end of the room is from the Durant kilns, established in 1911 at Bedford, New York, by Jeanne Durant Rice and Leon Volkmar. These kilns have been especially successful in the colors they have been able to secure, some of the best of which are Persian blue, aubergine, and Chinese yellow. The Rosineau porcelain in the case at the other end of the room is quite another type of the potter’s art. These exquisite vases, many of them of the most diminutive size, are made of native materials, glazed with mat, semi-mat or crystalline glazes and fired at 2400 degrees Fahrenheit. 83 LOCATIONS GALLERIES oF Mopsrn Art, on the second floor, can be reached by the stairway at the end of the garden court or by the stairway adjacent to Gallery 17. These galleries contain paintings, sculpture and decorative arts representative of the most modern movements in art from various countries: America, France, England, Germany, Russia, etc. Trxtite Coxection, the large north gallery at the front of the building on the ground floor (use stairway at the left of main entrance), contains exhibits of textiles, em- broideries and laces. Here framed textiles are accessible to students. Print CoLLECTION, containing engravings, wood cuts, etchings and drawings of all periods will be found in the south end of the building on the ground floor (use stair- way at the right of main entrance), by way of the Roman- esque Hall and the Prehistoric Gallery. Tue Lisrary, on the ground floor (use staircase at the right of main entrance), containing reference books on the fine atts, sales catalogues, publications of the leading art museums, periodicals, photographs and lantern slides, is available for study purposes during the museum’s regular hours. * * * Srupy Rooms (in pteparation) of metal work, furniture and ceramics, available for research purposes, will be found on the ground floor in five galleries adjacent to the Print Room and the Northern Romanesque Hall. These are for the special use of students and designers and are accessible during the museum’s regular hours upon application at the information desk. 84 LOCATIONS Tur Trea Room, adjacent to the Romanesque Hall (use staircase at the right of entrance), will be open regularly from 12 to 2 p. m. The tea room service will also be available to study clubs or other groups for special service upon application. 85 TT