MAIN FLOOR PLAN
I OS ANQELES
STATE NORMAL SCHOOf
MA IX FLOOR
From the Huntingdon Avenue entrance the stairway leads
to the chief galleries of all the departments except that of
Prints. The galleries of Prints occupy the eastern half of the
ground floor of the Evans Building, entered also from the
Fenway.
On the main floor the galleries of Chinese and Japanese Art
and of Western Art are reaehed directly from the Rotunda on
either hand. The galleries of Paintings are reaehed through
the Tapestry Gallery, opening opposite the stairs. The galleries
of Egyptian Art and Classical Art open from the end of the
right-hand (Coptic) corridor. In all these departments the
exhibits are arranged chronologically as far as practicable.
The Library is over the main entrance. In re-cognition of
the gift of its fittings in memory of the late William Morris
Hunt, it lias received the name of the William Morris Hunt
Memorial Library. The books are not from Mr. Hunt's library.
but are the collection gathered by the Museum during the
past forty years. The pictures and tapestries on the walls are
also from the Museum collections. The Library stack is not
open to visitors.
The William Morris Hunt Memorial Gallery, containing
paintings and drawings by Mr. Hunt, is over the Library, and
is reached by the elevator at the right of the entrance hall
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AT LOS ANGELES
HANDBOOK
OF
THE MUSEUM OF
FINE ARTS
BOSTON
THE FENWAY
HUNTINGTON AVENUE
Twelfth Edition
1916
The present Handbook de-
scribes and illustrates the
collections without regard
to changes of exhibition
Library
The Museum is open every day in the year, excepting the
Fourth of July, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas; on week- r\ *^ ^
days, 9 A.M. to 5 P. M. (Saturdays, 6 P. M. ; other week-days,
November 1 to March 1, 4 P.M.); Sundays, 1 to 6 P. M. I *$ \(^
Admission is free on every Saturday and Sunday and on public
holidays. On other days the entrance fee is twenty-five cents.
Children under fourteen years of age are not admitted unless
accompanied by an adult.
The doorkeeper will receive the entrance fee and will check
canes and umbrellas, also when possible cloaks and packages,
without charge.
The public lavatories are reached from the transverse corridor
back of the main stairs (women to the right, men to the left).
At the Sales Office, to the right after passing the turnstile,
the publications of the Museum and photographs of objects
may be purchased. A Visitors' Book for the entering of
names will be found on the desk. Comments and suggestions
will be gladly received from visitors. The use of a wheel
chair in the galleries may be obtained without charge on
application here; with an attendant the charge is $1.00 per
hour. Apply here also to see any officer of the Museum. A
public telephone will be found here, and the City Directory
and Railway Guide may be consulted.
At the branch telephone exchange at the end of the corridor
to the left from the entrance hall stamps may be obtained and
letters posted.
The Restaurant in the basement of the Japanese wing,
reached by the corridor to the left from the main entrance,
is open to visitors from noon until 4 P. M. (a hot lunch from
noon to 2 P. M.) daily, excepting Sunday.
All articles are received at the business entrance, reached
from Huntington Avenue by the pathway west of the Museum
building or by the driveway beyond the School building.
DOCENT SERVICE
Week Days. For appointments apply at the office of the
Administration.
Sundays. For lectures and conferences see Bulletin Board
at the entrances. For special guidance apply at the desk.
171318
C O N T E N T S
EGVITIAX ART PAGE
INTRODUCTION 3
PHEDYNASTIC 9
OLD EMPIRE 11
MIDDLE EMPIRE 35
NEW EMPIRE 38
PTOLEMAIC 52
ROMAN AND COPTIC 54
SEMITIC ART 56
CLASSICAL ART
INTRODUCTION 61
ARCHAIC ROOM 67
Firm CENTUM v ROOM 79
FIRST MARBLE ROOM 95
SECOND MARBLE ROOM 99
FOURTH CENTURY ROOM 102
LATE GREEK ROOM 109
GRAECO-ROMAN GALLERY 120
GREEK VASE ROOMS 122
COINS 125
PICTURES
INTRODUCTION: WESTERN ART TO THE END OF THE
RENAISSANCE, 1600 135
ITALIAN 142
GERMAN 150
SPANISH 154
DUTCH 162
FLEMISH 168
FRENCH 171
ENGLISH 185
AMERICAN 190
viii CONTENTS
WESTERN ART PAGE
MOHAMMEDAN 213
EUROPEAN -2M!)
CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
INTRODUCTION 275
SCULPTURE
PAINTINGS 3(X)
PRINTS ;{-.?!
MINOR ARTS: INTRODUCTION 3'M
CHINESE BRONZE MM2
SWORD FURNITURE MM?
LACQUER MM!)
CHINESE POTTERY Mil
CHINESE PORCELAIN Ml.;
CHINESE TAPESTRY Mis
MORSE COLLECTION OF JAPANESE POTTERY :U!>
COLLECTION or PRINTS M,j?
LIBRARY AND COLLECTION OK PHOTOGRAPHS M7.J
COLLECTION OK CASTS
GREEK AND ROMAN SCULPTURE MSI
ITALIAN RENAISSANCE SCULPTURE Ms I
SYNOPTICAL TABLE OK THE HISTORY OK ART :IS?
THE MUSEUM AND ITS HISTORY 'Ml
EGYPTIAN ART
MAIN" FLOOR
GROUND FLOOR
E inilirates the office of the Department
EGYPTIAN ART
THE collections of the Egyptian Department offer
to the visitor ample opportunities for the study
and enjoyment of Egyptian Art. The nucleus
of the collection is the portion known, from its donor,
as the C. Granville Way Collection, which was pre-
sented to the Museum in 1872. Liberal gifts from
private individuals, the returns from contributions to
the Egypt Exploration Fund and the Egyptian Re-
search Account, and the "finds" of the several suc-
cessful expeditions which the Museum has sent into the
field, have since then greatly increased the collection.
Egyptian art is, through its long course of nearly
five thousand years, the continuous expression of the
creative spirit of a single race. This race, homogene-
ous and strongly individual, both in its physical char-
acteristics and its culture, gained during the first of
those five millenniums a perfect mastery over the hard
materials of the earth, and worked out thereafter one
of the two great civilizations of the ancient world.
Egypt in the south and Babylonia in the east, power-
ful in their influence on the classical world, represent
the sources of our modern culture.
Handicraft is but one phase of culture. Its products,
the only tangible remains of the early life of the
Egyptians, embody for us the characteristics of the race
and the culture. It is from these products of the
handicrafts that we must build up not merely our
knowledge of the technical methods of the Egyptians,
but also the interpretation of their intentions and of
their appreciation of those objects which appeal to oui
4 EGYPTIAN ART
taste as masterpieces of art ; for it is to be distinctly
borne in mind that the study of Egyptian art must be
approached from a strictly historical standpoint unham-
pered by modern ideals. So only can it be fully under-
stood and appreciated.
The land of Egypt is a long, narrow valley of extra-
ordinary fertility, lying between two rocky deserts.
The valley owes its life to the Nile annually bringing
down from Central Africa and the Abyssinian hills a
rich silt, and saturating the soil with moisture. The
climate is that of the dry desert. But neither climate
nor landscape is so monotonous as seems at first sight.
The desert is not a waste of sand, but a high plateau
of rock broken by hills and ravines, and crossed by the
fiercest of wind storms. The seasonal changes are
marked. The effect of climate and landscape on the
character of a race is an intangible thing, difficult to
estimate and easy to exaggerate. But the effect of the
conditions of life forced on the inhabitants by the
physical character of a country is a thing which may
be calculated with a certain amount of precision. In
Egypt agriculture, cattle raising, and shipping are all
predetermined as the earliest elements of life. So also
the architecture was dependent on the simple necessi-
ties of the climate and the available materials reeds,
wood, mud-brick, and stone. The other natural re-
sources, hard stones, metals, and other minerals, are
bound in turn to stimulate the growth of technical
skill and to influence the conditions under which the
culture develops. The river furnishes the constant
easy means of communication which always permitted
the distribution of products and of knowledge, and
maintained the homogeneity of race and culture during
all periods. The deserts on each side prevented the
rise of any power near enough to threaten the national
character until it had reached its highest forms.
In this isolated, unchanging, and life-sustaining
INTRODUCTION 5
environment, we find at the earliest dawn of Egyptian
history a race of almost neolithic savages
living in a tribal state by means of agricul- 4500*8. c.
ture, hunting, herding, and simple handi-
crafts. The weapons and implements are of flint and
stone. Woodcarving, basket-making, tanning, and
pot-making are fully developed. The products of all
the handicrafts show the same characteristics which
mark Egyptian art as a whole patience and courage
in treating the hardest materials, simplicity and sense
in the selection of practical forms, a facility in catching
the characteristic lines of animals, and a love of finish.
More than all this, the products of these primitive arts
show a devotion to utility which was never lost. In
this early period we see the beginning of Egyptian art
and Egyptian technique. The methods of working the
stone maceheads, vessels, and slate paint-palettes in
animal forms are essentially the same as those employed
in the reliefs, statuary, and stone vessels of later ages.
The beginning of drawing, painting, and ornamenta-
tion are found in the line drawings on the pottery, the
white line decorated pottery, and in the basket-work
patterns.
The first advance was brought by the 4000 B.C.
invention of copper working, probably the ^>
greatest of all discoveries in its effect.
Within a few hundred years at most, after the in-
troduction of copper weapons, the Egyptian tribes
were forced into a political union under an absolute
monarch. The use of copper implements, the dis-
covery of beds of minerals, the invention of the stone-
borer and the bow-drill, the development of a canal
system, the invention of writing for administrative
purposes all contributed to a great na- y^ B c>
tional prosperity, whose resources were at to
the disposal of a single royal family. In
the service of the needs and of the ostentation of this
6 EGYPTIAN ART
family, the old mud-brick .architecture was transposed
into stone architecture, while painting, sculpture, and
all the handicrafts were developed to their highest
point. Thus during Dynasties IV and V Egyptian
culture in all its phases, including art, reached its
culmination. So far as technical methods are con-
cerned, the Egyptians learned little after this period
except glass-making. The canon of proportions, the
rule of frontality, all the usual compositions were fixed.
The different orders of columns, the square pillar, the
palm, the nymphaea caerulea, tlienymphaea lotus were
ail in use, as well as the true vault, the barrel vault,
and the corbel vault.
1600 B c. After this culminating period the products
l of Egyptian art vary in number and beauty
with the varying economical and political
conditions of the country. But the technique remains
the same, and the old excellence is seldom equalled
and never exceeded. The great changes came in the
New Empire, when contact with Asia, the Mediterra-
nean Isles, and the east coast of Africa brought in new
subject-matter the horse, battle scenes, new animals,
new plants, strange men. The greatest change of all
came in the time of Akhenaton (Amenophis IV), as a
reflection of the religious reform made by that monarch.
But here again the change was due to subject-matter
rather than to any modification in the character of
Egyptian art. The art was always practical and real-
istic. The physical type of the god-king had always
been the ideal type. The use of the degenerate form
of Akhenaton as the ideal type startles us, but is only
in conformity with olden practice. So also the relaxa-
tion of court forms and dignity under this strange man
; s faithfully represented in the reliefs quite in con-
formity with the rules of the old art. Thus it is that
the return of the old established social and religious
order under Dynasty XIX brings back the old forms
INTRODUCTION 7
o/ the art. In fact, the whole work of Akhenaton
appears more a question of political economics than
of religion or of art. That king, far from being a
religious dreamer, was a politician who felt the closing
grasp of the Amon priesthood on the monarchy, and
attempted to break the financial power of that priest-
hood. He failed, and the succeeding dynasty saw
the domination of the priestly power over 1200 B c
the monarchy. The foreign possessions to
were lost. Egypt fell a prey first to the
mercenaries brought in by a feeble, cruel, and avaricious
priesthood, and then to foreign conquerors, Ethiopians
and Assyrians. In GG3 B. C. , for the last time, a strong
native monarchy was reestablished under Psammetic I,
and Egypt turned with enthusiasm to the forms and
ideas of Egypt of the Old Empire, Egypt of the period
of the culmination of its culture. When the old priest-
hoods were revived and the old titles of honor, whose
functions were forgotten, then also the old monuments
were copied and imitated, but with a certain sweet
delicacy, a certain effeminacy and aestheticism which
were happily lacking in the old art.
This renaissance period ended practically with the
Persian conquest in 5^5 B. C. Egyptian culture clung
tenaciously to its fixed forms through the Ptolemaic
period (332-30 B. C.) and the Roman period (30 B. C.-
300 A. D.). It lost its identity with the introduction
of Christianity. The last stand made by civilized
paganism against Christianity was in the Isis Temple
at Philae, where the services were maintained as late
as the fifth century after Christ.
THE DIVISIONS OF EGYPTIAN HISTORY ARE
1. Predynastic Period. About 4500-3300 B. C.
-2. I '.arly Dynastic Period. 3300-3000 B. C. Dynasties land II.
3. Old Empire. 3000-2400 B. C. Dynasties III-VI. The
great culminating period.
EGYPTIAN ART
4. The J nt ^ rmi dint e Period. 2400-2100 B. C. Dynasties
VII-X. Political disunion and economic depression.
.5. M'xldl, l-'.m inn- . 2100-1700 B. C. Dynasties XI-XIII.
6. The llyksos 1'triod. 17(H)-16(K) B. C. Dynasties XIV-
XVI. Disunion and subjection to foreigners.
7. New Empire. 1700-1200 B. C. Dynasties XVII-XIX.
Period of political and religious organization. Economic
prosperity based largely on foreign conquest. Great
architectural activity.
8. Lut> I'iriud. 1200-663 B.C. Dynasties XX-XXV. Dom-
ination of Amon priesthood. Usurpation of Libyan mer-
cenaries. Conquest of Egypt by Ethiopia and Assyria.
9. llinnixmtiu-1'. 663-686 B. CL Dynasty XXVI.
10. Persian Period. 525-332 B. C. Dynasties XXVII-XXX.
11. PtoUmaie Piriod. 332-30 B. C.
12. JioHian Period. 30 B. C.-394 A. D.
13. Byzantine (Coptic) Period. 394-638 A. D.
14. Moslem Period. 638 A. D. to present day.
The following list of books is made for the convenience of
visitors who wish to become acquainted with the more im-
portant features of ancient Egyptian history and art. The
books are all of them in the Museum Library, where they are
accessible to the public. The visitor will find many other
publications in French, German, and English in the Library,
as well as a great number of photographs.
K. Baedeker (Editor), Egypt. 2 vols., dealing with Upper
and Lower Egypt.
Egypt Exploration Fund, Atlas of Anrimt I'.injfif. 1894.
W. M. Flinders Petrie and others, A History of Egypt.
J. H. Breasted, A History of Egypt. 1905.
G. Maspero: The Dawn of Civilization. 1894. The Struggle
of the Nations. 1896. The Passing of the Empires. 1900.
Mitnual of Egyptian Archaeology. 1889. Translation
from the French by A. B. Edwards.
A. Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt. 1894. Translation by H.
M. Tirard.
Jean Capart, Primitive Art in Egypt. Translated by A. S.
Griffith, 1905, with revision by the author.
W. M. Flinders Petrie, Egyptian Tales. 2 vols. An English
adaptation of the ancient stories translated into French
by Maspero.
PREDYNASTIC
Flint Impl
Predynastic
The collection of objects from the predynastic period
is small but fully characteristic. The beautiful chip-
ping of the flint weapons and implements, the wonder-
ful finish of the stone mace-heads and vessels, show the
highest technical skill attained by neolithic man. The
copper harpoons, imitating in form the bone harpoons,
are among the earliest examples of metal work found
in Egypt. The roughly-marked knife below is from
Dynasty I, and shows the degeneration of flint- working
caused by the introduction of copper knives.
10 EGYPTIAN ART
I * I IT
.
\\'hite Line Decorated Pottery Predymtstu-
The pottery vessels of red-burnished soft brown
ware, decorated with drawings in white or yellow
lines, belong to the early predynastic period. They
are contemporaneous with the flint Implements. The
drawings show the very beginnings of the art which
produced the later paintings and painted reliefs.
Red Line Decorated Pottery Jlitlill? Prnli(ii;/
T>ijimxly VI
This unusual necklace was found in the tomb of
Im-Thepy at Giza. Other objects from his tomb,
including his inscribed alabaster head-rest and copper
sacrificial vessels, may be seen in the same case. His
wooden coffin is on exhibition in the Study Series.
OLD EMPIRE
E
Col
Statuettes of Ptah-Jchemiioi and
his Wife Dynasty V
This pair statue of a common priest of Dynasty V
and his wife is exactly like the slate pair on page 17 in
grouping and attitude. It was found in the statue
chamber of the mastaba of Ptah-khenuwi in the ceme-
tery of the priests of Cheops. In Dynasty V the
funerary priests of Cheops utilized the streets and open
places of the royal cemetery as sites for their own
tombs. Ptah-khenuwi was one of these, and his statu-
ettes show the impulse given to private art by the
execution of the great masterpieces of Dynasty IV
sculpture. The man who made this pair statuette had
almost certainly seen our Mycerinus statues and had
14 EGYPTIAN ART
perhaps worked as an apprentice with the Mycerinus
sculptors. The statuettes were intended for portraits,
as was required by the purpose which they served.
The stone is limestone. The conventional colors show
the finished aspect of all Egyptian statuary, and make
us realize how fortunate it is that the color has been
lost from our great masterpieces.
Portrait Head of Limestone
Dyneuty I "
The small head of limestone throughout the Old
Empire this material was greatly favored by the sculp-
tors shows well the climax reached by the artists of
the Old Empire in making small portraits. The face
is that of a man in middle life, and shows an ordi-
nary, matter-of-fact person, fairly well conditioned,
and viewing the world good-naturedly. The type of
head is totally different from the patrician of the IV
Dynasty shown on page 26. The earlier portrait is
clean-cut and aristocratic; this small head is that of
some man one can easily imagine to have worked his
way up from the ranks.
OLD EMPIRE
Magical Set of Cheops
Dynasty IV
Sets of magical implements have often been found
in graves of the Old and Middle Empires. The set
found in the Valley Temple of Mycerinus consists of
dummy vases and a flint implement called a peseshkef-
wand, bearing the two names of Cheops. This wand
applied to the lips of the dead man enabled him to
speak and recite the magical formulas necessary to a
happy future life. The objects of this set furnish a
striking example of the wonderful power over hard
stone possessed by the workmen of this period.
1 6 EGYPTIAN ART
Ceremonial Stone Vesseh Dynasty IV
In the predynastic period stone vessels were very
rare, because of the labor involved in hand carving and
the difficulty of getting suitable blocks of stone. During
Dynasty I, when the use of copper implements had
come to its full effect, stone vessels entirely replaced
the fine pottery vessels, undoubtedly owing to the
opening of the quarries and the invention of the
weighted stone borer. In Dynasty III vessels made
on the potter's wheel appear for the first time, and
in the succeeding dynasties the wheel-made pottery
vessels replaced the stone vessels in daily use. But for
many purposes stone vessels as objects of luxury still
continued to be made, especially as ceremonial vessels
for the graves of kings and nobles. The series of
ceremonial stone vessels from the Valley Temple of
Mycerinus show the great variety of stones at the
command of the artisans of Dynasty IV alabaster,
several kinds of limestone, diorite, syenite, granite,
basalt, porphyry, slate, crystal, and brecchia. The
outside appears in all cases to be formed and finished
by band. Some of the undressed vessels show a
pounded surface similar to that of the unfinished stat-
uettes. The inside was bored out with the weighted
stone borer or by the copper cylinder borer, though
certain parts were rubbed out by hand. A few ot
these vessels which bear the names of earlier kings,
and some others which are of archaic form, were prob-
ably taken from the temples of earlier tombs.
OLD EMPIRE
r
Slate Group : Mycerinus and His Queen Dynasty IV
The collection of Old Empire sculptures come from
the excavations of the Egyptian expedition sent out by
Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts.
This expedition worked during the period 1905 to 1910
1 8 EGYPTIAN ART
at the pyramids of Giza, and was especially successful
in the excavation of the temples attached to the Third
Pyramid, built by Mycerinus about 2800 B. C. Half
of the statues found became by law the property of the
Khedivial Museum and half are now in the Museum
of Fine Arts. The importance of these statues for the
history of Egyptian art lies not merely in their beauty,
but also in the fact that they are the first masterpieces
of the great creative fourth dynasty to be dated beyond
dispute. They have enabled us to remove the un-
certainty regarding the date of the royal statues of
Chephren and to identify the Sphinx as a portrait of
Chephren. The unfinished statues show the technical
methods of the Egyptian workmen, and the finished
statues reveal the artistic intentions and the ideals of
the master-sculptors.
All Egyptian sculpture, both statues and reliefs,
served a purpose which to the Egyptian mind was per-
fectly practical one may say, utilitarian. The whole
race believed in a life after death, a ghostly duplicate
of life on earth, but with added necessities and dangers.
The statues were intended to be exact facsimiles of the
man to furnish an abode for the soul. The reliefs were
intended to provide his soul with spirit-food, spirit-
drink, and spirit-clothing. Consequently, the whole
sculpture is pervaded by an exact, painstaking realism.
This realism, commanding the wonderful technical
skill of the Egyptians, produced the exquisitely modelled
portraits now in our collection ; but, on the other hand,
hampered by the crudeness of the Egyptian sense of
color, the same realism demanded that this fine model-
ling should be covered with simple, conventional colors.
When finished so as to fulfill the desired practical
magical purpose, both statues and reliefs presented a
crude, gaudily-colored aspect which robbed them of
much of the beauty which the uncolored stone now has
for modern eyes.
OLD EMPIRE
Upper part of Slate Group : Mycerinus and His Queen
Dynasty I V
The slate pair, representing Mycerinus and the
Queen, is the finest example of Egyptian portraiture
in the Museum. In all the world, it is rivalled only
20 EGYPTIAN ART
by the diorite statue of Chephren in the Cairo Museum.
The face of the king alone has received the final polish-
ing and the coat of color of which traces may still be
seen, especially about the ears. The rest of the two
figures is more or less unfinished, in spite of the fact
that the modelling appears so perfect. The royal uraeus
on the forehead of the king is wanting, yet the personal
qualities of the face are sufficient to convey a strong
impression of royal dignity and consciousness of power.
The queen's face is of rare womanly loveliness. We
are, undoubtedly, looking at the living faces of a royal
pair,
-J*"'
The Slate Group a* Found
OLD EMPIRE
21
' f.Viri//-.lket-Nesut, Superintendent of the
Royal Gardens. Dynasty V. From G'hn
A portion of the mastaba in which this statue was
found, consisting of a wall of the outer chamber with
the doorway to the inner chamber, is installed behind
it in the gallery.
EGYPTIAN ART
f .Iliiliiixfer Sfaf'iie of Myrrrtnits
T>y nasty 1 V
The large alabaster statue of Myccrinus is in a frag-
mentary condition; but the remarkable workmanship
of the parts preserved stamps it as the greatest known
masterpiece of Egyptian sculpture. It was completely
finished, but fortunately the traces of the black beard
and hair are all that remain of the coloring. The
modelling of the knees is anatomically perfect. The
face presents a version of the Mycerinus face, slightly
different from that of the slate pair. It is either the
work of a different artist or the face of Mycerinus at
another period in his life. There are also two versions
of the Chephren portrait with a similar difference.
This statue was worked from a single block of alabaster
taken from the Hat-nub quarry-
OLD KMP1HK
Alabaster. Head of Slifp-sm-kaf T>ynasty IV
The head of the crown prince, showing the soft im-
mature features of a boy, is fully equal in its exquisite
modelling to any of our great masterpieces. The face
is singularly like that of Mycerinus, and might even be
taken for a portrait of the youthful Mycerinus. But
the custom of placing statues of the sons, especially
of the crown princes, in the tombs of their fathers is
well known ; and it is therefore more probable that this
head is from a statue of the crown prince Shep-ses-kaf,
the successor of Mycerinus.
24 EGYPTIAN ART
Unfinished Statuettes of Mycerinus Dynasty IV
When Mycerinus died, the Third Pyramid, the tem-
ples, many of the statues, and the stone vessels were
unfinished. Shep-ses-kaf, young, harassed by rivals
and anxious about his own tomb, completed hastily the
pyramid of his father, and placed the statues as they
were in the temples. Thus \vr have a series of un-
finished statuettes of Mycerinus showing us six stages
in the carving of a statue.
The rough blocking has manifestly been done by
sawing, bruising, and rubbing. The artist has marked
the statues at each stage with red lines to guide the
workman. The later stages have been worked mainly
by rubbing. The fifth stage shows a well-modelled
portrait of the king lacking only the final polish.
The slate triad opposite is not a relief, but a triple
statue supported by a heavy slab, a device used freely
in all periods of Egyptian sculpture to prevent frac-
tures. The group represents Mycerinus, Hathor,
Mistress of the Sycamore Tree, and the Hare nome.
The inscription before the nome figure says: " I have
given thee all good offerings of the South forever."
That is, this triad was the equivalent of the figures
OLD EMPIRE
Slate Triad Nome-Goddess, Ifathor, and Mycerinus
Dynasty IV
bearing offerings found on the tomb-reliefs of princes,
figures which are often labelled thus each with the
name of a district. Originally there must have been
forty-two of these triads, one for each of the forty-
two nomes. Four intact triads were found, all of Upper
KUY1T1AN ART
J'orfrail Head of Noft/f
IV
Egyptian nomes, and fragments of many others of the
same material and about the same size. Alabaster frag-
ments were also found, and it may be that the Lower
Egyptian mnues were represented by alabaster triads.
In Egypt the greatest artisans were attached to the
service of the royal family, and the main line of artistic
development is always found in the work done for the
monarch. Yet all work follows as closely as possible
the technique and forms of the royal art. It is of
interest, therefore, to have the portrait head of the
Treasurer of the two Maga/im-s of Silver/' Nofer, of
Dynasty IV, as an example of the better private art
of that period. This head was found in the burial-
chamber of the mastaba in whose offering-chamber we
found the relief of Nofer reproduced on the opposite
OLD EMPIRE 27
page. Heads of this type were intended to be used as
magical substitutes for the real head in case the latter
was damaged. The purpose of the head required,
therefore, that it should be an exact portrait; and the
strong, bony features here represented carry conviction
of their truthfulness. The head seems to be rather
rough in workmanship, but it had probably been
finished with plaster, traces of which are still visible.
Porfrnif. of Xuf
28
EGYPTIAN ART
Relief from Tomb of Nofer Dynasty IV
Relief-work readied its culmination in Dynasty V
and examples of Dynasty IV relief are uncommon.
The earlier reliefs are very low and delicate, while
those of Dynasty V project distinctly above the back-
ground and are boldly modelled. The block of white
limestone with the figure of the Treasurer Nofer, an
offering inscription, and the figures of four of his scribes,
is not only a typical late Dynasty IV work, but it also
affords one of the proven cases of portraiture in relief.
The striking facial characteristics of the magic head of
Nofer as seen in profile are reproduced beyond dispute
in the profile relief on the slab. The fourth scribe
represented is Sennuwka, probably the same man whose
offering-chamber is reproduced in the next illustration.
OLD EMPIRE
L
Relief from Tomb of Sennmeka
Dynasty V
The mastaba of Nofer occupied a site in the royal
cemetery. Behind it, in one of the open spaces of
the cemetery, a tomb of Dynasty V had been built for
a mayor of the City of the Pyramid : Glory of Cheops, ' '
Sennuwka. The northern false door in the west wall
of the offering-chamber of this mastaba is here repro-
duced. The reliefs were never entirely finished, and
show clearly (on the right) the preliminary outline
drawing in black, the chiselling away of the back-
ground, and the rubbing of the reliefs. The lines do
30 EGYPTIAN ART
not show which were used in carrying out the canon of
proportions, yet it must be assumed that the same canon
was followed as in other Dynasty V reliefs in this cem-
etery. A vertical line was drawn for each human figure,
and dots were placed at fixed distances on this line to
mark the knees, the waist, the navel, the breast, the
neck, and other parts. Through these dots cross lines
were drawn and dotted to mark the lateral measure-
ments. A comparison of the various known prelimi-
nary drawings shows that the human standing figure,
from the top of the forehead, excluding the crown of
the head, to the soles of the feet, was divided into six
spaces, each equal to the length of the foot. This
same canon, later with eighteen divisions instead of six,
was used throughout the course of Egyptian history.
The reliefs were finally colored as in the mastabas in
the middle of the hall. The Mayor Sennuwka is no
doubt the same man as the fourth scribe of the Nofer
relief, but advanced in office after perhaps thirty years
of public service.
OLD EMPIRE
Scene on Mastaba Wall
Dynasty V
The name mastaba " is a modern Arabic word
designating the low adobe bench used in the houses of
the peasants. It was first applied by Mariette's workmen
to designate the superstructures of the Old Empire
tombs, rectangular masses with flat top and sloping
sides, and has been adopted by Europeans as a techni-
cal term for such tombs. The mastaba tomb has
many different forms, but all present the same func-
tional parts: (l) a burial-chamber underground for
the protection of the burial, reached by a stair, a
sloping shaft or a vertical shaft, and closed forever
after the burial; (2) a superstructure containing an
32 EGYPTIAN ART
offering-place, a meeting place for the living with
the dead. As these parts were functional, they varied
in form with the growth of the knowledge of ma-
sonry ; and the mastabas from Dynasties I to VI
reproduce exactly the history of Egyptian architec-
ture. During this whole period, the mastabas, like
the pyramids, are orientated parallel to the valley,
tvith the offering-chamber on the valley side on the
southern end of the superstructure opposite the burial-
place. In other words, the mastabas on the east
bank face west and those on the west bank face east,
that is, they face the offering-bearers coming up from
the valley.
The offering-chamber, or chapel, was first built inside
the superstructure in the reign of Chephren. The
form of interior chapel used during Dynasty V is that
shown by the two mastaba chambers from Saqqarah.
Hidden in the filling of the mastaba, adjacent to the
offering-room, was a second chamber for the statues of
the dead and his family. This statue chamber, called
a serdab," was sealed up but connected by a small
slit with the offering-chamber. The statues faced this
slit, which was intended either to allow the spirit of
the offering to penetrate to the soul in the statues or
to allow the spirit of the dead to visit the statues.
The offering-chamber usually has one or two sym-
bolic doors, false doors," on the side towards the
burial-chamber, which in the earliest known forms are
copies of the wood-roofed mud-brick doorways of the
Early Dynastic period. The round bar at the top of
the stone niche is a representation of the first log of the
roof over the doorway. It is this symbolic door, first
built of mud-brick, then of stones, and later of a single
slab, as in our mastabas, which finally degenerated into
the simple grave stone, or funerary stele. The sym-
bolic door bears on the sides the name and titles of
the deceased with an offering formula. Above he is
OLD EMPIRE 33
represented seated at a table of offerings. Sometimes the
middle panel is carved to represent a wooden door, and
in one or two cases the deceased is shown in the act of
coming out ; for it was through this door that the spirit
was supposed to pass to and fro between the grave and
the world of the living; and a series of magical texts
to assist him in this act are known, called "texts for
coming forth by day." This is, in fact, the title of
the so-called " Book of the Dead." The other reliefs
on the walls of the offering-chamber were supposed in
some way to provide the spirit with the enjoyment of
the earthly scenes there depicted sowing, reaping,
inspecting the cattle, sacrifice, and feasting. The
magical value of these scenes depended on their realism,
and in spite of all their technical deficiencies, these
Egyptian scenes are plausible and lifelike. Nor, as
is often stated, did the sculptor hesitate to depict mov-
ing figures, such as the man running with two heavy
pails of live fish in the top row of the papyrus swamp
scene, and the flying birds in the same scene. Yet
there is no true perspective, and the difficulties of the
side view of human figures were never overcome.
The coloring of these reliefs is partly preserved and
shows the conventional scheme of red, black, white,
blue, green, and yellow, universally used in Egypt.
Shades are practically unknown, and the painting
without relief is flat. One may almost say that the
painting is merely colored drawing, owing its whole
charm to the clear, graceful outlines. The colored
drawings, if one may be allowed the term, are earlier
than the colored reliefs, and the uncolored drawings
are still earlier, so that it may be said that the
colored reliefs are an advanced form of colored draw-
ings, an almost unconscious attempt to gain plasticity.
Probably the Egyptian artist strove for his effects in
a practical rule-of-thumb manner, without much theo-
rizing; but, as a matter of fact, his relief- work was
34 EGYPTIAN ART
an accessory to the painted drawings. It gave a plas-
ticity which his crude sense of color could never attain,
and produced the similitude of life which was the aim
of all his efforts.
The variations in the workmanship of some parts of
these mastabas are largely due to the different kinds
of stone used. The soft, yellow limestone and the
brittle nummelitic limestone are from the local quarries.
Unsuitable to fine work, they received a plaster dressing
which has largely disappeared, carrying with it the
finer details. The best preserved parts are those un-
dressed reliefs carved on the fine white limestone slabs
quarried across the river at Turah. As is usual in such
large pieces of Egyptian work, some parts have been
reworked and some were never finished.
The offering-chambers, no matter how elaborate their
reliefs, were dark, narrow cells lighted dimly by one
or two slit windows. On the set feast days the rela-
tions of the dead came with their offerings of food,
which they placed before the false door. Offering
formulas were recited to secure the use of the food to
the spirit of the dead. The offering finished, the visitors
went away, locking the wooden door and leaving the
room silent and deserted until the next feast day.
Vv
a a 71 ji
W^ - i.:L u vl I *.Ja
Figures at Base of Stele Dynasty V
MIDDLE EMPIRE
35
The most striking archi-
tectural features of the great
Egyptian temples are the
colonnaded courts and the
halls of columns. The stone
architecture of Egypt was a
secondary development.
The mud-brick architecture
with wooden accessories was
fully developed masonry,
arches, columns during
the first two dynasties, and
this mud-brick architecture
was transposed into stone
during the third, fourth,
and fifth dynasties. Thus,
most of the forms and de-
tails of the stone archi-
tecture are imitations of
the older mud-brick archi-
tecture. It is therefore
no accident that stone col-
umns imitate the palm logs
and the mud-smeared bun-
dles of plant stems used as
roof supports in the earlier
days. The bundle-columns
represent bundles of nym-
phaea caerulea stems, nym-
phaea lotus (not the Indian
lotus) stems, and papyrus
stems. The capitals are formed to represent buds or
Howers usually designated ' closed" or open cap-
itals." The papyrus column with open capital is often
called by mistake a lotus capital. l
1 A full exposition of the types of columns may be found in
Borchardt's " Pflanzensaule."
Papyrus Bundle-Column
Dynasty XII
EGYPTIAN ART
Sfufid' nf in/ /,V// fitlnn Lady Named S
Middle Empire. From Kerma
This important statue fills a gap in the collection,
which hitherto had no representative examples of
Middle Empire sculpture.
MIDDLE EMPIRE
Statuette
Dynasty XI
Statuette
Dynasty XI
The colored wooden figures represent a phase of the
private art of Egypt, which is of archaeological rather
than of artistic interest. During the decline in pros-
perity, following the extravagance of the pyramid age,
the great mastaba tomb gave place to the simple rock-
cut tomb. The functions of the reliefs and of the
statues were assumed by a simple stele and by small
wooden models and figures placed in the burial-chamber.
These figures, seldom more than mediocre in execu-
tion, are usually crude and merely conventional repre-
sentations. The figures shown above are both from
the early Middle Empire cemetery at Assiut. One is
a woman bringing offerings, the other is an attempted
portrait of a priest.
171318
EGYPTIAN ART
OCQFobtfroHt the Way Collection
Top row, left to right : faience scarab of Dynasty XVIII,
showing typical scroll work; scarab with name of Horus;
large pottery scarab from the Greek factory at Naukratis,
about 590 B. C. ; Dynasty XVIII scarab with cartouche of
Thothmes III on the Bark of the Sun ; scarab of the New
Empire, showing peculiarly fine workmanship. Middle
row : basalt "heart-scarab," with carelessly cut inscription ;
large royal scarab of Amenhotep III, struck as a com-
memorative token of his having killed one hundred and two
lions in the first ten years of his reign (there is another ex-
ample in the British Museum) ; serpentine scarab, finely
cut, but uninscribed. Bottom: hue (Ptolemaic) faience
pectoral.
NEW EMPIRE
39
Portrait Ifond
Dynasty AT/77
The head shown above is from a squatting private
statue of the New Empire similar to that discussed on
page 41. The limestone is worked to a fine smooth
surface. The head was colored as usual, and traces
of the color may still be seen on its lips. The date is
determined solely by the style of the headdress.
EGYPTIAN' ART
Royal Portrait
]>yanty XIX
The small syenite head shown above is a royal por-
trait of the New Empire, apparently representing
Ramses II. It is to be compared with the head of the
large granite statue of Ramses on page 1-J, and is
another illustration of the persistence of the forms and
technique of the earlier sculpture. Originally this head
was colored according to the fixed convention.
NEW EMPIRE
Statue of Pa-ra-hotep
Dynasty XIX
The squatting statue of Pa-ra-hotep, of gray granite,
is a typical example of New Empire sculpture. The
technique, and even the form, is that of the earlier
work. The difference lies simply in the dress. The
men of the New Empire wore a longer garment and
dressed their wigs in a slightly different manner. It
must not be forgotten that all these statues are mere
portraits intended to reproduce the outward form of
the man, and all show the stiff, dignified, but expres-
sionless attitude of the Oriental when posing for a
EGYPTIAN ART
Seated Granite Statue of Ramses II
Dynasty XIX
portrait. The Egyp-
tian artist represents
character only by ac-
cident, and never had
occasion to attempt
the expression of fear,
hate, love, or other
emotions.
The New Empire,
the period of the
greatest prosperity in
the whole history of
Egypt, owed the
greater part of its
wealth to the looting
of Asia and the Sou-
dan. The founders of
Dynasty XVIII were
princes of Thebes,
and when they drove
out the Hyksos and
assumed the kingship
over Egypt they as-
cribed their success to
their local god Amon,
and poured their
foreign plunder into the treasury of his priesthood.
Great temples were built all over Egypt. The Amon-Re
priesthood became the most desirable career in Egypt,
and Amon-Re became the national god of Egypt.
When Ramses II came to the throne the Egyptians
had been open to the influence of Asia for more than
three centuries. The land was filled with foreign cap-
tives, the gardens boasted of outlandish plants and
animals, the palaces held the finest products of Asiatic-
art, and the market places offered all the wares of the
near East for sale. Yet the effect on Egyptian art is
NKW EMPIRE 43
surprisingly small. New subject-matter crops out; a
few new compositions, mainly battle scenes, appear in
the reliefs; but in general Egyptian art remains what
it was the same in technique, practical and realistic.
When the subject-matter is ceremonial, as in this statue
of Ramses II, the production shows all the character-
istics of the Old Empire. Here is a king in the tra-
ditional insignia of the monarchy, as he appeared at
great court ceremonies. The attitude is almost iden-
tical with that of the Mycerinus statues, and the
method of working was the same. Fifteen hundred
years had passed by. Egypt had learned the ways of
all Western Asia, but the art of the Old Empire still
ruled, the greatest of all in that time.
This statue of Ramses II and most of the art of his
time is, however, slightly lacking. There is size ; there
is an enormous number of statues, reliefs, and temples;
but there are also signs of haste, of carelessness.
Quality is being sacrificed to quantity. The priest-
hood of Amon-Re is growing in numbers and in power.
For much of the surplus wealth is being absorbed by
this avaricious organization. In the preceding century,
Akhenaton had made his fight to break the priesthood,
but his successors had lost all that he had gained.
From this time forth the division of power and wealth
was inimical to the production of great finished pieces
of work, and Egyptian art steadily declined down to
the revival of Psammetic I.
44
EGYPTIAN ART
Relief New Empire
The relief portrait of a New Empire king shown
above is a beautiful example of the best work of that
period, hardly inferior to the Old Empire work. This
is called a sunk-relief; that is, the background has not
been cut away, as in the ordinary reliefs. Otherwise
the technique is the same. Sunk-reliefs cost less labor
and are especially common in the latter part of the
New Empire.
NEW EMPIRE 45
The face in the relief bears the characteristics of the
Theban royal family, the almond-shaped eye drawn
down at the inner corner, the thin nose with rounded
tip, and the fine mouth. The type may still be seen
among the people of Upper Egypt. On the head is
the royal war-helmet with the uraeus.
Support for a Chair in the Form of a Panther Dynasty X VIII
However much they conventionalized the human
form, the Egyptians treated animals with fidelity to
nature, as may be seen from the panther shown above.
T t is of wood, coated with bitumen. The panther's
stealthy stride is well caught, and the blunt head is
admirably modelled. The piece was one of a pair
supporting a seat or throne. The apparent symbolism
is ancient and is to be contrasted with the use of
figures of prisoners for the same purpose.
4 6
EGYPTIAN ART
Wooden Panel, Thothmes IV
Dynasty AT///
The wooden panel is likewise from a piece of furni-
ture, and bears a symbolic decoration, Thothmes IV
as a sphinx trampling the foreign nations. In the
case of chariots, thrones, mirrors, spoons, weapons,
and almost all objects, the ornamentation was symbolic
or magical in character. Images and figures of deities
and divine animals were freely used, each appropriate
to its object, the ugly god of the toilet on cosmetic
boxes, the scarabaeus on seals, hunting scenes on
weapons, and battle scenes on chariots. From the
earliest predynastic period; figures of sacred animals
were carved on the slate paint palettes and had a
magical protective force. In later times the use of
hieroglyphic writing gave a special significance to
almost every object, to every element used in orna-
mentation. Thus the papyrus stem with open flower,
often called a lotus by mistake, has the meaning to
be green," "to be flourishing. " It is of interest to
note that Thothmes IV is the prince named in the
granite stele at the breast of the Great Sphinx as the
NEW EMPIRE
47
one who cleared the Great Sphinx of sand and reestab-
lished its offerings. The workmanship of the panel
shows the soft finish of the best work of the New Empire.
Faience
Six Foreign Captives
New Empire
The six faience plates, representing foreign captives,
are wonderful examples of Egyptian handicraft. The
ability to see and to copy things as they are has pro-
duced in these colored glazes the negro (first and
fifth from the left) and the Arab (fourth), just as
we see them to-day, though in a different dress. The
others, the Philistian (third), the Asiatic, possibly the
Libyan, must be equally true to life, just as they
appeared disembarking in bonds from the Egyptian
war-galleys at Thebes. The plates themselves were
inlays, probably from some piece of royal furniture,
and are another example of the symbolic ornamentation
mentioned above.
4 8
EGYPTIAN ART
Faience Inlay Xew Empire
This beautiful head is merely an inlay piece from
the symbolic ornamentation of some object. The wig
is of glazed pottery and the face of glass paste. The
features are distinctly those of the royal Theban family
of the New Empire, as may be seen by comparing it
with the relief on page 44-. This piece, together with
the figures of captives, is said to have come from the
palace of Ramses III at Medinet-Habu, opposite
Thebes.
NEW EMPIRE
49
This great royal
scarab comes from
Dynasty XIX, and
bears two of the
names of Seti I,
alternately re-
peated. The work-
manship, size, and
condition of the
specimen make it
the finest example
of its class in exist-
ence. It is made
with a greenish-
blue glaze, laid on
rather thinly. The
face shows traces
of gold leaf, which
indicate that at one
time the whole face
of the scarab was
gilded, while the
specimen is bound with strips of pale gold, to which a ring
for suspension is attached in front. The modelling of the
beetle is particularly lifelike and free from convention,
as may
be seen
from the
second
cut, in
which
the same
scarab
is shown
in pro-
file.
EGYPTIAN' ART
Gold was one of the first metals
worked by the predynastic Egyptians
and \vas always a favorite for amulets,
charms, and ornaments. It is even
possible that copper was discovered in
some attempt at extracting 1 gold from
copper ore. In the archives of Amen-
ophis IV, at Tell Amarna, a number of
letters in cuneiform script were found
in which the kings of Babylon beg
Amenophis for gold, saying: " Gold is
as dust in the street in the land of our
brother." The chief mines, now ex-
hausted, were in Wady Alaqi, in the
eastern desert, where the ancient work-
ings, the crucibles, and smelters may
still be seen.
The gold statuetteof the god Hershef,
found at Hierakleopolis, is a rare and
beautiful example of goldsmith's work. It is from
Dynasty XXIII and bears a votive inscription in minute
hieroglyphics on the base.
Statuette of
lit rxhef
Dynasty XXII I
Gold Pectoral Ornament
The statuette above is an example of carved gold
work; the amulet in the form of a ba-bird, or soul in
the form of a bird, is an example of the more usual
beaten gold work.
NEW EMPIRE
Cut Skin Garment Dynasty XVIII
Did no other monument of Egyptian antiquity re-
main to us than the cut gazelle-skin garment shown in
the above plate, both the industry and the skill of the
artisans would be convincingly attested. The piece,
which is only half of the complete garment, was found
with a similar one in the tomb of Maiherpri, a prince
of Dynasty XVIII, and a cup-bearer of Thothmes IV
0436-1427 B. C.). The meshes are made entirely
oy cutting slits in the skin, and then stretching it
laterally. At the shoulders, where seams are visible
across the borders, are two piecings, the meshes being
tied with microscopic knots.
EGYPTIAN ART
Portrait Ptolemaic (?)
Profile of the Same
The last great period of Egyptian art began about
700 B. C. After the time of Ramses III (about 1200
B. C.), the power of the monarchy was gradually
usurped by the high priest of Amon-Ra. These avari-
cious and unwarlike theocrata abandoned the foreign
possessions and utilized Libyan mercenaries to hold the
Egyptian provinces in subjection. First the Libyans
wrested the throne from their employers and fell them-
selves before the rising power of the Aethiopian kings.
Then the Assyrians, enjoying the profits of the con-
quest of Western Asia, drove out the Aethiopians and
held Lower Egypt as a province. In 663 B. C., at a
moment when the Assyrians were preoccupied by in-
ternal trouble, a certain prince of Sais using Greek
mercenaries established himself as king of all Egypt
under the name of Psammetic, the first of that name.
During the long period of foreign domination, the
national consciousness appears to have been awakened.
The Egyptians, surrounded by the monuments of their
ancient greatness, remembered and attempted to revivify
the past. Priests were appointed to renew the funerary
PTOLEMAIC
53
services of Cheops and Chephren. Old texts, some-
times only half understood, were copied, and many a
a word is found resuscitated after centuries of disuse.
Monuments of the Old Empire were taken as models
of the best in art. The forms were copied with a
finish which rivalled the best Egyptian work. This is
the dominating quality of the Saite art it is the imi-
tation of the forms of a sincere, realistic, older art
carried out with the old technical skill. A certain
idealism is thus brought in a belief in qualities no
longer seen in actual life. For all ceremonial works,
where the reliance on antiquity was greatest, there is
a delicacy of treatment, a softness of outline which
seems to indicate some measure of aesthetic feeling.
But in some cases, such as this portrait of the priest in
Portrait of a Priest Saite
hard green stone, the old demand for realism still per-
sisted and was obeyed with all the old fidelity to truth.
Just as in the days of Mycerinus, a form of the earthly
man in imperishable stone was needed for the use of
his ka or soul, and just as the ancient artist reproduced
the bulging eyes and puffy cheeks of the builder of
the Third Pyramid, so the Saite artist, equally un-
afraid, portrays the defects and the cruel lines of the
crafty priest of his ^ay.
54
EGYPTIAN ART
Mummy Portrait J'tttn/rd in Wa.r on Wood
First or SH-IIIK/ Ci'iiliinj A.I).
From a burying-ground at El-Kubayat, in the Prov-
ince of Fayum, this portrait is a specimen of the en-
caustic paintings on thin panels of wood which in the
Graeco-Roman period were substituted for the plastic
representations of the face of the dead used on mummies
of earlier times. The panel was laid over the face of
the mummy, and the outer bandages were wrapped
about it so as to cover its margin. Fragments of the
cloth still adhere to the present portrait.
ROMAN, COPTIC
55
)
I
__..
Coptic Glass
Roman and Byzantine Periods
Glass-making in Egypt goes back perhaps to the
Middle Empire. The early vessels are all opaque and
variegated in color, and seem to have been made on a
core which was afterwards broken up and shaken out.
Colored glass pastes were also used for beads, inlays,
and grinding blue and green colors; but clear glass
seems to have been entirely a foreign invention, ap-
pearing first in Ptolemaic-Roman times. The pieces
shown are from Coptic times and show many forms
found in Syria in the same period.
SEMI ilC ART
Relltf <>f King Asrur-nazir-pal
The figure of a winged god, a relief from the palace
of Assur-nazir-pal (about 889-859 B. C.) is a charac-
teristic example of formal Assyrian sculpture, though
by no means of the best. It shows the same practical
magical purpose revealed so universally by the Egyp-
tian reliefs. The eye is full, as in Egypt; but some
SEMITIC ART 57
of the difficulties of the profile view the feet, the
shoulders have been more or less successfully han-
dled. Yet the heavy outlines, the crude modelling,
and the lifeless conventions deprive the whole of grace
or even plausibility. In the fourth millennium before
Christ the primitive productions of the two civiliza-
tions, Egypt and Babylonia, show almost equal tech-
nical skill. Both nations had a similar economic
development in a rich agricultural valley. In both
cases the art developed as much in the service of
magic and religion as in that of the needs of daily life.
Even the materials available for architecture and sculp-
ture were not very different. Finally, both races were
largely Semitic in origin and lived in contact with
each other from 1500 B. C. to long after the period of
Assur-nazir-pal. Yet Egyptian art, sincere and cer-
tain in its truth, has left a series of great masterpieces,
while Babylonian art has only succeeded in arousing
curiosity and archaeological interest.
CLASSICAL ART
GHOUKD FLOOR
Cl indicates th office of the Department
CLASSICAL ART
SINCE the time of the Italian Renaissance, when men
turned to the remains of antiquity with the enthusiasm
of discovery, classical art has held the same high
position as has been accorded to classical literature. The
best examples of Greek art, however, waited much longer
for recognition and appreciation than the masterpieces
of Greek poetry. The sculptures with which princely and
ecclesiastical dilettanti of Italy adorned their palaces and
gardens were usually Roman imitations of Greek works,
suggesting in only a limited measure the significance and
vitality of the originals.
The opening of the nearer East to archaeological explora-
tion has restored to the modern world priceless examples of
original Greek work, representing the ideas and the tech-
nical achievement of many generations, and has enabled
students of antiquity to attain a truer view than ever before
of the essential qualities of ancient art. They have learned,
for instance, that in real Greek sculpture beauty does not
imply monotonous smoothness of form or coldness of ex-
pression ; that dignity and repose are not inconsistent
with thorough animation. They have learned not only to
admire and enjoy the art of the "classical" period in the
more restricted sense of the word, but to accept with sym-
pathy and pleasure the work of earlier artists, whose
struggle with conventions and technical difficulties makes
only the more effective the sincerity of their effort for vigor-
ous expression of ideas about gods and men ; while the dis-
covery of important sculptures of the Hellenistic period has
revealed in late Greek art an individualism and a dramatic
power which are sometimes supposed to be exclusively
modern.
62 CLASSICAL ART
I. Prehistoric Art of Greece, 3000-1000 B. C. In its
period of highest development and of decline the pre-
historic art of Greece is generally called "Mycenaean,"
because it first became widely known through the excava-
tion of Mycenae. The civilization which produced it
probably centred originally in the island of Crete, whose
position and resources brought its early population the
power and wealth that are echoed in the tradition of Minos,
King of Cnossos. The art of these people shows at its best
an admirable skill in decorative design and a freedom of
style approaching naturalism, even though its method is
far from exact representation. It reflects no ideas of pro-
found interest, but phenomena of marine, animal, and even
human life are presented vividly and freshly. The work
of this period is exemplified in the Museum by an ivory
statuette (p. t>7), by a series of vases in stone and
pottery, aud by a few seal-stones.
II. Archaic Greek Art, 1000-500 B. C. The long de-
cline of Mycenaean art, due to political and social changes
which accompanied the shifting of population in Greece
about 1000 B. C., was succeeded by the development of
the art of the historic Greek people. In the plastic and
graphic arts their earliest efforts embody but inadequately
the wealth of interesting ideas, of which there is such
abundant evidence in the contemj>orary Homeric poems;
they had to learn not only the mastery of tools and mate-
rials, but certain elementary lessons in the "grammar of
art," in which the older Oriental peoples were their
teachers. The pottery of Corinth and Rhodes shows the
strong influence which Eastern art exerted on early Greek
work in the seventh century B. C. Oriental motives and
methods became, however, only the stepping-stones to
original expression; the Greek did not lose his inde-
pendence of vision and feeling, and the characteristic
humanism of Greek art is already manifest in the work of
the sixth century B. C., though it finds expression chiefly in
INTRODUCTION 63
works controlled by religious motives statues of gods,
ideal statues of athletes commemorating victories in re-
ligious games, and other sculptures dedicated to deities.
Within the limits of certain accepted conventions, the
later archaic sculptures show a marked individuality of
style. In this Museum the period is illustrated not
only by some interesting sculptures (pp. 68, 69, 71,
79), but by bronze statuettes (pp. 71 , 72> 73), by coins
issued by many Greek cities in the sixth century (p.
125), and by painted vases on which the subjects, and
in some degree the qualities, of archaic frescoes are
imitated (pp. 76 and 77).
III. The Fifth Century, 500-400 B. C. During
the years in which the Greek states were rising to their
highest military and political power, the technical prog-
ress of the arts continued, and the conventions of the
archaic period gradually gave place to a free style. The
period of transition (480-450 B. C.) is represented in
this collection by one of the finest of the few extant
originals (pp. 80~83). Adequate representation of the
human form in every variety of attitude or action was
specially sought ; but this representation was not literal
or even individual; it reflected the idea of a type. In
its most characteristic achievement, such as the sculp-
tures of the Parthenon, the art of the fifth century may
be called social and civic in its motive. It embodies
more completely than any other the Hellenic ideal of
proportion, sanity, and self-command. The Museum
possesses very few sculptures of this date (p. 80),
but the qualities suggested above may be studied and
enjoyed in the collections of smaller objects ; for in-
stance, the beautiful coins of Sicily and Southern Italy
(pp. 126, 128, ISO), the vases decorated by Athenian
painters of the fifth century (pp. 89-93), and some
unique examples of gold jewelry (p. 88).
64 CLASSICAL ART
IV 7 . The Fourth Century, 400-300 B. C., was an age
in which the older influences of religion and the state
waned, and individualism came to dominate Greek
thought and action. Artists now more clearly distin-
guished individual character, and applied their newly
attained skill to the portrayal of emotional states, even
of transitory feeling. The head of Aphrodite (p. 9?)
in the Bartlett Collection in this Museum, though thor-
oughly ideal in its beauty, has a more particularized
character and is more directly expressive of emotion
than sculptures of the fifth century. Several other
original marbles of the fourth century contribute much
to the value of the collection of classical sculpture in the
Museum. The head of a goddess from Chios (p. 99),
a fragment of a group representing an Amazon on horse-
back and a fallen opponent (p. 95), and a small figure
of a mourning Siren (p. 102), deserve special mention.
Attention should be given to the metal work of this
time, illustrated by the graceful groups on bronze mirror
cases shown in the Fourth Century Room (p. 106).
V. The Hellenistic Period, 300-100 B. C., dated ap-
proximately from the reign of Alexander to the estab-
lishment of Roman power in Greece, shows a further
development of tendencies already manifest in the fourth
century. Individualism led to the growth of vigorous
portraiture, exemplified by some of the best sculptures
in this Museum (pp. 101 and 109). Ancient myths,
no longer matters of sincere belief, were treated in a
highly dramatic and picturesque style. Appreciation
of the charm of genre types and scenes is shown in the
attractive terra -cottas of Tanagra (pp. 107 and 108).
VI. Graeco-Roman Art, 100 B. C.-200 A. D. The
strongly realistic style of Hellenistic portraiture was in
harmony with the literalism of the Roman mind, and
the Roman period is marked by a long series of excellent
INTRODUCTION 65
portraits, not only in large sculpture (pp. Ill and 120),
but on coins and gems. The decay of original inspiration
in the arts is signalized by the attempt to revive older
styles, as seen in the so-called archaistic " sculptures
of Roman date, and by the more or less mechanical
imitation which produced many copies of famous statues
of the fifth and fourth centuries. Most of the extant
ancient mosaics and wall paintings are of this period.
They teach us something of the technique of the graphic-
arts of antiquity, but they do not justify inferences
regarding the quality 'of the best classical pictures.
The arts of luxury and of personal adornment, encour-
aged by the society of Imperial Rome, are illustrated
in some unusually fine cameos (p. 119) which have come
to this Museum from two famous European collections.
The following books are recommended as interesting intro-
ductions to a knowledge and appreciation of Greek Art: P.
Gardner, A Grammar of Greek Art; F. B. Tarbell, A History
of Greek Art; E. Gardner, Handbook of Greek Sculpture;
Fowler and Wheeler, Handbook of Greek Archaeology. Sup-
plementary information on Greek history, religion, and private
antiquities is given in convenient form by L. Whibley (ed.),
Companion to Greek Studies. These books, and many detailed
studies of the several departments of ancient art, as well as
books of reference and important periodicals devoted to clas-
sical art and archaeology, are to be found in the Library of
the Museum. A large collection of photographs of classical
sculpture, including the Brunn-Bruckmann series, is also in
the Library. The Museum publishes a special catalogue of
its collection of casts of Greek and Roman sculpture.
66
CLASSICAL ART
Cybde Marble, about 300 B. C.
This colossal statue is probably to be identified as Cybele,
the Mother of the Gods. Traces of the throne or seat,
which was not made in one piece with the statue itself, are
seen beneath the left arm. The folds of the drapery are
arranged in a harmonious composition which is not lost in
elaboration of detail.
ARCHAIC ROOM
Statuette of the Cretan Snake Goddess
Irnry and Gold; Sixteenth Century B.C.
Example? of sculpture on a large scale are hardly to
be found among the relics of Minoan art, but frescoes,
statuettes, and small reliefs show that the Cretan artists
could impart to their representations of the human form
the same vigorous life which pervades their decorative
designs. In this statuette the proud pose, the keen
expression of the face, and the set of the tense, sinewy,
yet graceful arm compel admiration no less than the
technical skill with which the gold trimmings were
applied to the elaborate Minoan dress.
68
CLASSICAL ART
Limestone, Sixth Century B. C.
This figure was doubtless conceived as the guardian
of the tomb over which it was erected as a monument.
The combination of the front view of the head with the
side view of the body and the symmetrical arrange-
ment of the locks of the mane are characteristic of the
archaic style which sought striking decorative compo-
sition rather than natural representation. It may be
supposed that the sculptor knew lions only as they
were depicted in Oriental art.
ARCHAIC ROOM
69
Girl's Head
Limestone, Sieth Century B. Q.
Among the most interesting and popular of archaic
statues are the "Maidens," found on the Acropolis of
Athens thirty yean ago. The head from Sicyon, pictured
above, has something of their delicacy and charm, although
they are of Parian marble and this fragment is of a coarse-
grained limestone. The tapering face, the crescent smile,
and the slanting, narrowed eyes, are characteristic of a
time when Ionian ideas controlled the artistic expression
of Greece. In this instance the conventional rendering of
the hair is unusually attractive.
CLASSICAL ART
Riatite o/i7 Jl/rtn 1 JAmeslnne. Si.rfJi Century B.C.
This figure is a variant from the "Apollo type " preva-
lent in the archaic period. The left leg was probably
advanced , and the left arm is held down stiffly at the side,
but the right arm was slightly bent and may have held
some attribute. The chief interest of the work, however,
is in the very characteristic rendering of the head. The
carving of the mouth and of the cheeks, fringed by the
short beard, gives the face an air of individuality almost
suggestive of portraiture.
1 Lent by Dr. Denman W. Ross.
ARCHAIC ROOM
The gravestone, figured
opposite, was found in the
Troad. Such slender stone
slabs, often decorated with
painting or low relief and
crowned with delicate or-
nament, were the usual
type of grave monument
toward the end of the sixth
century.
Gravestone Sixth Century Ti.C.
Artemis
Sixth Century B. C.
The small bronzes form an inter-
esting supplement to the marbles
possessed by the Museum, in illus-
trating the development of plastic
art in Greece.
An inscription engraved on the
figure here shown tells that a cer-
tain Chimaridas of Elis offered it
to Artemis Daedalia. The Doric
dress is drawn smoothly around
the figure in front in a way which
recalls the form of archaic cult
images; the statuette is probably
an imitation of some earlier statue
of the goddess. It has the simple
dignity of the careful religious art
of the sixth century B. C.
Athlete
Sixtli Century B. C.
form has been shaped to suggest
energy and agile motion.
CLASSICAL ART
This bronze statuette of an athlete,
found at Olympia, recalls the influ-
ence which the athletic games of early
Greece exerted on the art of sculpture.
Athletic victories called for commem-
oration in sculptural monuments, and
the artist had full liberty to produce
a representation of the entire human
figure, a liberty which was not allowed
in Oriental art. Moreover, games
and athletic practice gave him many
opportunities to develop his ideal of
manhood. It has been conjectured
that this figure is a runner. Like
most archaic statues of athletes, he
stands erect, facing straight ahead,
with both
feet planted
firmlv ; but his
In the Peloponnesus Hermes was
worshipped as the protector of the
flocks. The statuette shown here
represents the god with a young ram
under one arm. He wears a neatly
fitting chiton, a round hat, and heavy
boots. He carried in his right hand
the symbol of his office as herald.
The statuette is distinguished by
vigorous modelling expressive of
sturdy physique, by finish of detail,
and by the naive animation of the
face.
Hermes
Sixth Century B. C.
ARCHAIC ROOM
73
Min-nr
About 500 B. C.
The luxury and the fastidious taste of the Ionian Greeks
are reflected in this representation of Aphrodite. She lifts
her carefully arranged himation with one hand. The
hovering Erotes (Cupids) direct attention to the face of the
goddess. They are so placed that the support of the
mirror appears to be gradually broadened at the top in
order to carry the weight easily.
74
CLASSICAL ART
Amphora, Geometric Style
About 800 B. C.
The extinction of the Mycenaean civilization and the be-
ginnings of the classical Greek are marked by the rise of a
pottery elaborately decorated with geometrical designs.
The primitive drawings of horses and men which often
found a place among these are illustrated by this colossal
vase from Athens. (Compare p. 123.)
ARCHAIC ROOM
75
Oinochoe Sen-nth Cintnnj I',. C.
Greek art of the eighth and seventh centuries is almost
wholly imitative of the foreign models brought to Greece by
trade with Oriental peoples. The oinochoe, or wine-jug,
pictured here is an example of the pottery made on the
island of Rhodes at this period. The lowest of the three
zones of decoration has a lotus pattern derived from Egyp-
tian art; the second shows the pursuit of wild goats by a
dog, a scene probably borrowed from the Phoenicians;
above are represented animals and monsters of Oriental
imagination. The figures are painted in black on a ground
of buff color ; purple is also freely used in the accentuation
of some forms; the heads are drawn in outline.
CLASSICAL ART
\
ARCHAIC ROOM
77
The practice of paint-
ing figures in dark color
on a light ground was
continued by Greek pot-
ters until about 500
B. C. Corinthian paint-
ers were probably the
first to indicate details
within the figures by
lines engraved through
the black paint. This
method was further de-
veloped by the Attic
vase painters of the sixth
century, whose vases,
excelling others in
beauty of material and
shape, and in interest of
color and design, drove
the painted pottery of
other cities from the market. Oriental decorative motives
became in their turn entirely subordinate to human inter-
est, and scenes from heroic mythology, warfare, and do-
mestic life constitute the chief ornamentation of the vase.
The illustration above pictures an amphora (a two-
handled jar) signed by Amasis, who is distinguished among
painters of the black-figured style for precision of work-
manship and a love of the minute detail obtained by in-
cised lines.
On the opposite page is shown a kylix (drinking-cup)
whose ornament is an unusual illustration of a famous story
in the Odyssey. The enchantress Circe, a nude figure, orig-
inally colored white, stands near the centre of the picture,
holding in her hand a cup containing the magical potion
which has half transformed Odysseus' companions into
beasts. At the left Odysseus is coming to the rescue. The
generally erect figures, radiating from the stem to the rim
of the vase, form an effective design.
Amphora by Amasis
Sixifi Century B. C.
Imitative modelling in terra-cotta
is almost as old as the shaping of
terra-cotta vases. Indeed, primi-
tive vases, being fashioned freely
by hand, often take a form rudelv
resembling the human body. The
small terra-cottas which were pro-
duced in such numbers in prehis-
toric Greece seem to have served a
religious purpose. They generally
represent female figures, and wen'
probably dedicated to a nature god-
dess. Many dedicatory terra-cottas
have been found on such sites as
that of the famous temple of Hera at Argos. These
early images were hastily made by hand, and often are
only caricatures of the human form. From a very early
period, Boeotia was a centre of the production and use
of terra-cottas. In the archaic period many were made
in a flat shape resembling, it seems, board-like images
of wood which were regarded as specially sacred repre-
sentations of deities. They are often decorated with
painted geometric patterns. Some equally primitive
statuettes of almost cylindrical shape from Cyprus also
recall wooden images, whose form, in this instance, was
probably only a slight modification of the tree trunk.
In the archaic period the art was also applied to genre
subjects. The Museum has several interesting terra-
cotta figures of this character : a barber at work, a woman
grating cheese, a wood-carrier resting beside his bundle
of fagots (see the cut above), and other homely scenes
from the life of ancient Greece. There was no lack of
terra-cotta toys : little horsemen on long-necked horses,
carts, and even dolls with movable legs and arms
In addition to terra-cotta figurines shown in rooms
on the main floor, a supplementary exhibition has been
placed in the Terra-cotta Room on the lower floor.
FIFTH CENTURY ROOM
79
Mounted Warrior
Marble Relief ^about 500 B. C.
This relief of the late archaic period was, perhaps, part
of a monument commemorating a man of equestrian
rank. The rider, fully armed with cuirass, greaves, high-
crested helmet and sword, sits firmly and guides the
spirited horse with steady hand. The motion of the group
is signalized by the cloak blown backward in the wind.
The horse's head, which has been broken away, was
turned so that it looked out from the relief; this attitude,
an unusually bold one in archaic relief, must have added
much to the animation of the work. The treatment of
the drapery and the fine modelling of the horse's body
suggest that the sculptor was influenced by contemporary
Attic art, if not himself an Athenian.
8o
CLASSICAL ART
Mfi
FIFTH CENTURY ROOM 8 1
This marble corresponds so closely in material, shape,
and style of sculpture with the famous " Ludovisi
Throne" in Rome, 1 that some intimate connection
between the two must be assumed. The scene on the
front of the relief in Rome probably represents the birth
of Aphrodite ; the figures on the wings a nude cour-
tesan playing the flutes and a matron placing incense
on a censer are best explained as worshippers, typi-
fying two aspects of the cult. On the front of the
relief in Boston a smiling, winged boy is represented
weighing two small figures of youths in a pair of scales,
the beam of which is now missing. Two seated women
are interested spectators : the one to the right bows
her head in grief, the other smiles and raises her hand
in a gesture of pleased surprise. The single figures on
the sides are again probably engaged in acts of worship,
and again strongly contrasted : on the right wing a boy
seated on a cushion is playing a lyre, on the left an old
woman with wrinkled face and short hair sits on the
ground with her knees drawn up and grasps a myste-
rious object which has been mostly chiselled away.
The interpretation of the scene on the front remains as
yet in doubt; but the central figure is clearly Eros, and
the subject represented is probably some myth con-
nected, with Aphrodite, perhaps, as has been sug-
gested, the contest between Aphrodite and Persephone
for the possession of the beautiful youth, Adonis.
The purpose for which the two marbles were made
is also unclear. It was formerly supposed that the
Ludovisi relief formed the back and arms of a colossal
throne for the seated statue of a goddess ; but the two
reliefs are better explained as parts of one monument,
perhaps as ornaments set on the two short ends of a
long rectangular altar. The delicately carved volutes
1 Photographs of the monument in Rome are hung below an
adjoining window, and casts of the two marbles may be seen
in the East Cast Court.
82
CLASSICAL ART
FIFTH CENTURY ROOM 83
and palmettes at the angles of the marble in Boston
were matched on its companion-piece by similar
ornaments, made separately and now lost.
The sculptures are among the most beautiful and
interesting of the transitional " period of Greek art.
The artist lias not yet fully mastered the problem of
translating the figures into relief. The upper parts of
the bodies of the two goddesses are in full front view,
while their legs are in profile. Some folds of the gar-
int-nts are rendered in the archaic manner, while others
show the careful study of actual, accidental folds of
cloth. The strong influence of painting is apparent
throughout, and the artist evidently depended upon
the application of colors to the marble to bring out
details such as the lower edges of the wings of Eros
and the outlines of the mantles and caps worn by the
two goddesses. The strings of the lyre, the fillet of
the old woman, and the latchets of the sandals were
left to be supplied entirely by paint. The soft, un-
athletic treatment of the nude forms, the rich draperies,
and the style of the architectural ornaments suggest
that the reliefs are the products of an Ionian school of
sculpture.
Marble Relief in Mutttio delle 'Ferine, Rome
CLASSICAL ART
Artemis Alarble, Filth Century R. C.
The goddess wears a fillet adorned with simple flowers.
She is probably Artemis, one of whose special attributes
was a garland of flowers. The head is strained forward a
little, with an air of alertness. The finely arched brows
contribute to the vivacity of expression which probably
was most evident in the eyes. These were of another
material colored in imitation of nature.
The head has been considered by some scholars an
original of the first half of the fifth century B. C.; others
regard it as an imitation of work of that date, made in
Roman times. It has, at any rate, an animation and a
freshness of style not often attained in imitative sculpture,
which generally reproduces only the superficial charac-
teristics of earlier art in rather stilted fashion.
FIFTH CENTURY ROOM
Grace Monument Fifth Century B. C.
The grave monuments of the Greeks were important to
them as associated with the rites demanded by natural
piety towards the dead. In the fifth and fourth centuries
B. C. they often took the form illustrated here that of a
simple portico consisting of a gable supported by pilasters
and framing a relief which had reference to the former
occupations of the person in whose memory it was erected.
On this stone is represented an Attic lady, wearing an
Ionian chiton of delicate texture and a himation of heavier
material. She looks at her image in a hand mirror similar
to some of the Greek bronze mirrors exhibited in the
Museum. Like many of the grave-reliefs, it was carved
by a sculptor of imperfect skill, but it resembles the others,
too, in the simplicity of its motive and in the dignity with
which the subject is presented.
86
CLASSICAL ART
This fragment is from one
of several replicas of a popu-
lar statue of the fifth cen-
tury B. C., representing
Diomedes carrying the Pal-
ladium from Troy. A re-
production of a better
preserved copy, now in
Munich, may be seen among
the casts of Greek sculpture.
The head resembles a group
of sculptures attributed to
Cresilas, a Cretan who re-
ceived his training in the
Athenian school. The square
jaw, firm mouth, and level
brow portray a stout fighter.
Diomedes
Marble, Graeco-Roman Copy
Of the great sculptors of
the fifth century Polyclei-
tus of Argos was the most
popular in Roman times,
and countless copies and
adaptations of his works
have survived. This head,
perhaps from a statue of
Hermes, illustrates the
youthful athletic type for
which this sculptor was
most famed. In the defi-
nite modelling of the
surface and the sharp ren-
dering of details of the
eyes and hair it repro-
duces, better than most copies in marble, the quality
of the bronze original.
Head of a Yoiith
Marble, Graeco-Roman Copy
FIFTH CENTURY ROOM
87
The pose of the
fi g u r e illustrated
here does not show
a radical departure
from the traditions of
archaic art, yet it is
not tense and rigid
like that of sixth
century statues, and
the freedom of the
attitude is empha-
sized by the natural
though angular posi-
tion of the left arm
The outlines are
true and refined, and
though the surface
of the body has suf-
fered by corrosion,
the quality of its
modelling shows ad-
vanced understand-
ing of the subject
and skill in represen-
tation. The statu-
ette is said to have
been found on the
site of Croton, a
town in the south of Italy which was famed for the prowess
of its athletes. It may be supposed that the artists of this
region had every opportunity to study the athletic form, in
repose and in action.
i'ijtk Century B. C.
88
CLASSICAL ART
In this wine pitcher the
refinement of taste mani-
fested by the shape attracts
attention first, but the orna-
ment is also interesting as
exemplifying the tendency
of Greek art to representa-
tion, even in decorative
design. At the base of the
handle is a siren, with
wings delicately rendered
in a form of Oriental origin.
At the upper juncture of
the handle with the vase is
the bust of a girl clad in
,^ , .. ' A , Pitcher Fifth Century B. C.
a Doric chiton. A serpent
is represented on the back of the handle.
The technical skill of
the Greek goldsmiths is
shown in this unique
earring. The figures
are hollow, and the
jewel is of the slightest
weight consistent with
strength. The details
of the chariot are repre-
sented with great care ;
the Victory even wears
Earring Fifth Century B. C. earrings and bracelets.
Her garment is stirred
by the wind, and the horses are prancing, yet the com-
position is balanced and unified. The jewel is almost
intact ; only the colored enamel which filled the palmette
in front of the hook is lost. It is possible that the ear-
ring belonged to a statue, perhaps one of the gold and
ivory statues of the fifth century B. C.
FIFTH CENTURY ROOM
8 9
Kylix
Fiftfi Century B.C.
The painters found larger scope for their skill in deco-
rating vases when the colors were reversed, viz. when the
background was filled with black paint and the figures were
left in the red color of the clay. This method allowed a
free drawing of details which took the place of the hard
incised lines of the black-figured style.
The development of the new technique was accompanied
by an extension of the range of subjects. Scenes from the
palaestra, in which Athenian athletes practised their games,
were much favored. The picture here is from the interior
of a kylix. It shows a young athlete running with jumping
weights in his hands. The figure occupies the circular
space effectively, and is vigorously drawn. In its combina-
tion of profile and front views it marks a continuance of an
archaic mode of representation.
CLASSICAL ART
Drawing from a Kantharos
So few vessels of silver and bronze have survived, in com-
parison with the many terra-cotta vases which have been
recovered from graves in Italy and Greece, that it is easy to
forget in what measure the latter are imitations of metal ori-
giimls, though their imitative character is manifested in the
excessively thin ware affected by Attic potters of the best
period, in the shapes of their vases, and in the lustrous paint.
The cup shown here is obviously modelled after a metal
kantharos of exceptionally beautiful, though simple form.
The tall handles are thin and fiat, like bands of metal. The
decoration is in a style worthy of the shape. On one side is
represented a nymph fleeing
from a god, on the other a
man or god in pursuit of a
boy who has been playing
with hoop and stick. The
principal lines of the figures
and of the drapery express
impetuous movement; the
finely crumpled folds of linen
are contrasted with the
broader folds of the woollen
-' garment. The vigorous style
Kantharos Fifth Century B. C. of drawing is found on a
number of vases signed by
Brygos, and this cup, though unsigned, was certainly
decorated by the same master. (Compare p. 124.)
FIFTH CENTURY ROOM
Kylix signed by Hieron
Fifth Century B. C.
The above picture is from the interior of a kylix. It illus-
trates an Attic legend : the story- of Cephalus, the young
Athenian hunter who was carried off by the goddess Eos,
the Dawn. She has grasped his arm, and he turns his head
with a gesture of surprise ; her look is directed upwards, as
if already planning her flight with him into the sky. The
character of the drawing is not like that on most of the
vases from the atelier of Hieron, and although signed
by him, the vase was apparently decorated by an un-
usually skillful and original painter in his employ wh<>
did not neglect abstract beauty of line, but subordinated
it to expression of motion and of individuality.
9 2
CLASSICAL ART
The drawing illustrated on this
page is from an oil-jug which be-
longs to a later stage of the red-
figured period. The subject is an
Athenian myth, the contest of
Theseus with the Amazons. It
will be noted that the figures do
not all stand on the same level
here; there is an indication of
rough ground. The artists have
solved certain problems of repre-
sentation which long baffled the
older painters: the rendering of
the eye in profile, for instance.
There is less of angularity in the
composition than in the work of
Lekythos
Fifth Century B. C.
earlier painters, yet energy is not sacrificed to grace, and
the drawing is still firm and vigorous. This style of deco-
ration was perhaps specially influenced by the frescoes of
Polygnotus and his contemporaries.
1
?i a LekyiJios
FIFTH CENTURY ROOM
93
Pyxis, Odysseus and Nausicaa
Fifth Century B. C.
This picture, from the cover of a small round box, illus-
trates a story in the Odyssey the meeting of Odysseus
and Nausicaa. Odysseus, awakened by the cries of the
Phaeacian princess and her maidens, who are at play by
the seashore, comes cautiously from the thicket where he
has slept. Athena, his patron goddess, leads the way. Two
of the maids are running away in fright; one is busy with
the washing of a garment and does not see. The princess
herself stands erect, calmly waiting the approach of the
stranger. The variety and truth of characterization are
remarkable in so unpretentious a picture.
94
CLASSICAL ART
I'.N GRAVED CiEMS
Intaglio seals present a tradition of unbroken con-
tinuity from the primitive Cretan civilization to that
of classical Greece and Rome. Impressions of seven
gems of the earlier periods are reproduced above, six
of them illustrating the stones most favored by the
gem cutters: sard (2, 6), chalcedony (l, 3\ agate (?),
jasper (4). The lively but careless representation of a
cow suckling her calf on the Mycenaean seal (l) is in
striking contrast to the precise rendering of the griffin
attacking a stag (s), a work of the early fifth century,
still archaic in execution and subject. The grazing
stag (2) is done in a more natural manner. An increas-
ing fondness for the human figure is illustrated by the
representation of Danae (4), a work reflecting the spirit
of Pheidian art, and by the graceful crouching figure
of a girl playing knuckle-bones (o) on a gold ring of
about 400 B. C. The characteristics of Etruscan gems.
pronounced modelling of the muscles and ingenious
adaptation of the subject to the field, will be recog-
nized in the two examples above (6, 7).
FIRST MARBLE ROOM
Amazon in Battle
Marble, Fourth Century B. C.
An Amazon on horseback and a fallen opponent con-
stituted the group of which the extant fragment is illus-
trated on this page. Only the forearm of the latter figure
is preserved. It was apparently raised to shield his body
from the threatening spear of the woman-warrior. The
battle of Theseus with the Amazons was a theme which
offered the dramatic contrasts and pathetic situations
sought by sculptors in the later years of the fifth century
and in the fourth century B. C. The vitality imparted to
every detail of such a composition by the best skill of the
time is illustrated in this mutilated marble. The spring of
the horse is clearly seen; the rendering of muscles shows
the excitement accompanying the motion. The edge of the
rider's garment is driven back in wavy folds; the vigorous
form and fine outlines of the thigh and knee appear above
the heavy Thracian boot.
9 6
CLASSICAL ART
Statue of a Boi/
Marble, Fourth Century B. C.
The statue has no attribute by which its exact signifi-
cance and purpose can be determined. It is an ideal statue
of a boy, sixteen years old, perhaps; not an athlete, if one
may judge from the softness of the body and the lack of
emphasis on structure and muscular development. The
easy grace of the attitude and the fine poise of the head re-
call the Athenian youths on the Parthenon frieze. Ixmg
exposure has given the Pentelic marble a warm tone which
heightens the effect of vitality in the modelling of the figure.
FIRST MARBLE ROOM
97
Aphrodite
Marble, Fourth Century B. C.
The grain and slight translucency of the marble are
here peculiarly adapted to the artist's aim. The fine
oval shape of the face, the quality of the modelling,
and the expressiveness of the features show that this
head is the work of an Attic master, probably of the
School of Praxiteles.
9 8
CLASSICAL ART
M(trl>li>. Gratoo-Tfoman < '<>/>>/
The hero stands in the simple pose of the athletic
statues of the middle of the fifth century. His body is
powerfully developed, and weariness is suggested by the
droop of the head, but these elements are not exagger-
ated, as in later representations of Heracles. The origi-
nal, probably of bronze and on the same scale, has been
ascribed to the Attic sculptor, Myron. Its style has been
reproduced with unusual fidelity by the Roman copyist.
SECOND MARBLE ROOM 99
Head from Chios Marble, Fourth Century B. C.
A veil originally covered the top and back of this head,
which was made separately for insertion in a draped
statue. The soft, subtle modelling and the impression-
istic treatment of some details point to an artist closely
related to Praxiteles, if not to that master himself.
The face is that of a modest girl, the soul of gentleness,
radiant with quiet pleasure, diffusing unconsciously her
happiness and youth around her."
IOO
CLASSICAL ART
MarUf, Graeco-Roman
The slender neck and small head seem inconsistent with
so massive a frame, yet this fragment has an enduring at-
tractiveness, due, perhaps, to the attitude of melancholy
revery, unconscious of all observers. Such a mood is
appropriate to Hermes as conductor of souls to the world
of the dead.
SECOND MARBLE ROOM
IOI
Head of Homer
Marble, Hellenistic
Artists of the Hellenistic period (300-100 B. C.) not
only portrayed contemporaries, but also sought to embody
in marble or bronze their ideas of great men of the past.
To this effort we owe the imaginary portraits of Homer,
one of the best of which is in this Museum. It follows tra-
dition in representing the poet as aged and blind. In spite
of the unsparing realism which has shown the failing of
physical vigor, the t intellectual power of the head is un-
mistakable. The tone of color which the marble has taken
on is in harmony with the subject.
10
CLASSICAL ART
Siren
Marble, Fourth Century B. C.
Sirens, imagined as half bird, lialf woman, were especially
associated with death and so were often represented on
grave monuments. The one figured above is a fragment of
such a monument. She is mourning for the dead; grief is
expressed in the attitude one hand clutching the hair,
the other laid on the breast and in the face. The deeply-
shadowed eyes and the contracted brow are specially
characteristic of a period of art which sought to portray
individual character and even transitory feeling.
FOURTH CENTURY ROOM
103
Torso
MarUe, alout 300 B. C.
The skill with which the Greek sculptor employed trans-
parent and clinging drapery to emphasize a noble form is
illustrated by the fragment shown on this page. Its dig-
nity and animation are characteristic of classical art in its
worthiest representations of the gods.
CLASSICAL ART
111 Illl (>f II Yoll/ll
Marble, Graeco- Roman Copy
The practice of modelling
in terra-cotta was adapted
to the decoration of vases ;
some were even shaped in
imitation of human or ani-
mal heads. The elaborate
plastic ornament of the
lekythos illustrated here al-
most obscures the fact that
it is a vase. The new-born
Aphrodite is springing from
an opening sea shell ; Erotes
hover on either side, so that
the group seems to have an
upward movement.
Scopas perhaps contrib-
uted more than any other
sculptor of the fourth cen-
tury B. C. to that devel-
opment of the expression
of character and feeling
which marks the art of
the period. This head is
a copy of some unknown
work of Scopas or of one
of his pupils. Great in-
tensity of expression is
given by the upward gaze
of the shadowed eyes ; the
structure of the head sug-
gests physical strength,
the parted lips and full
throat a restless vitality.
Plastic Ltkythog
Fourth Century Jt. C
FOURTH CENTURY ROOM
105
Amptwra Fourth Century B. C.
A fine example of the colossal vases made in Southern
Italy in the fourth century B. C. The scene on the front
shows Achilles, attended by Phoenix, seated on a couch.
In the foreground among overturned vases lies the headless
body of Thersites, and at a little distance the head. The
use of plastic ornament and of added white color is char-
acteristic of the later period of vase painting.
CLASSICAL ART
Mirror Case
Fourth Century B. C.
Circular mirror-cases were often decorated with reliefs
of fine technique, made by hammering a thin plate of
bronze into an intaglio mould. The finish of detail possible
in such work is evident in the group of a Centaur and a
nymph pictured above. The composition is balanced and
ingeniously planned to obscure the monstrous nature of
the Centaur. The folds of the lion skin tied about the
Centaur's shoulders and of the drapery of the nymph are
rendered with a delicacy and grace of line appropriate to
the spirit of the theme and to the decorative effect desired
in a design on a mirror-case.
FOURTH CEXTl'RY ROOM
In the classical period terra-cotta figurines were usually
shaped in moulds of the same material. A number of
such moulds, found in Asia Minor, in Italy, and in Egypt,
are shown in the Terra-Cotta Room downstairs. Usually
a figure was moulded in several parts. With a rela-
tively small number of moulds a great variety of forms
could thus be produced through different combinations
of heads and arms and wings with bodies. It is sur-
prising that these somewhat mechanical combinations
do not result in more conspicuous faults of proportion
and line. The more careful artificers added details by
hand, giving an individuality of expression to the face
which would be impossible in mechanical modelling
After baking, the flesh, hair, eyes, and lips were
appropriately colored ; bright tones of pink and blue
were often applied to the dress.
This finish of detail characterizes the figurines which
have been discovered on the site of the little city of Tanagra
in Boeotia. Their date is from about the middle of the
fourth century B. C. to the end of the third. Although
found in cemeteries, there is no evidence of religious pur-
pose in their manufacture. They probably have no other
significance than the one most naturally attached to them:
io8
CLASSICAL ART
Fii) fi. C.
they are graceful representations of ladies and youths and
children as they walked, talked, and played. The types of
Tanagra ladies are far the most common, but have great
variety of attitude and motive. Their dress, usually con-
sisting of a chiton reaching to the feet and an ample hima-
tion, could be disposed in numberless pleasing ways. They
suggest very vividly at least the outward charm of Greek
life, as one might have seen it in the streets of Athens.
Tanagra Figurlnu, about 300 B. C
LATE GREEK ROOM
ICQ
Portrait of a Lady Bronze, about 300 B. C.
The conquests of Alexander placed Macedonian rulers
over the ancient kingdoms of the Orient, and introduced in
Egypt and Syria an aristocracy of Macedonians and
Greeks. The lady whose portrait is shown here undoubt-
edly belonged to this class; found in Egypt, it is pos-
sibly the portrait of Arsinoe II (born about 316 B. C.).
It appears to be considerably idealized, yet the features
are expressive of a distinct personality: the individual
shape of the nose and the lips is noticeable. The detailed
treatment of the hair is very fine, and is in interesting
contrast with the more impressionistic method demanded
by the technique of marble. The eyes were of another
material and were inserted.
I IO
CLASSICAL ART
Port rait
This head is sculptured in ie griechischen
Miinzen der Sammlung Warm, Berlin, 1906.
PICTURES
ROBKRT DAWSOX EVANS
GALLERIES FOR PAIXTINGS
4
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L*w^ A
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MAIN FLOOR
PICTU1RE I -
"'"DUE D RES "R I COLORS "
GROUND FLOOR
Pa indicate* the office of the Department
WESTERN ART TO THE END OF THE
RENAISSANCE, 1600
BY the second century A. D. there were Christians in
nearly all parts of the Roman Empire. As far as the
new religion found expression in art, it made use of
simple symbols and symbolic pictures executed in the
Roman manner. This use of symbols was in accord
with the intellectual tendency of the time.
The first monumental Christian art was produced after
the recognition of Christianity by the state in 327, under
the Emperor Constantine. The old basilicas of St. Peter
and St. Paul and others were then built outside the walls
of Rome over the burial places of the early saints and mar-
tyrs. The materials were often taken from Roman temples,
but new works of Christian art, glass mosaics in glowing
color, decorated the interior walls. On these mosaics and
on the contemporary sarcophagi and miniatures appeared
direct representation of Old and New Testament scenes
in addition to the symbols of the early Christians. The
literary imagery of the Jewish writers was translated into
pictorial and plastic forms by a people who had long been
familiar with such expression.
Christian churches rose in many parts of the Empire ; in
Rome, in Syria, and in Constantinople, the new capital
founded by Constantine in 330 on the site of the Greek
colony of Byzantium. At Constantinople the later art of
Rome was again brought into contact with Greek tradition,
and, influenced by Syria and Persia, it culminated in the
magnificently decorated church of Hagia Sophia built in
the sixth century. This church is now a Turkish mosque.
I3 6 TiCTUKES
During the centuries that followed, while the nations of
\\Vstern Europe were still in the making, there existed
brilliant civili/ations in the Ixnant and at Constantinople.
The most important period of Byzantine art extends from
the middle of the ninth century to the middle of the eleventh.
Many ivorv carvings, objects in gold and silver, bronzes and
textiles, in the beautiful workmanship of this time, reached
Western Europe through Southern Italy and Venice. The
Byzantine influence in the art of the Russian people dates
from their conversion to Christianity, about the year 1000.
Under the inspiration of the new religion of Islam, the
Arabs, in the seventh century, conquered Syria and Egypt
and Northern Africa and Southern Spain. The cities of
Bagdad, Damascus, and Cairo became centres of a new
civilization, vividly portrayed in the "Arabian Nights." The
religion of the Arabs forbade them to represent the human
form; their efforts centred in design and color. The
achievements of later Islamic art include the Alhambra at
Granada (about 1300), the mosques of Constantinople
(after 1453), the buildings, ceramics (see pp. 241 ~24*4),
and textiles (see pp. 228~22?)of Persia and Asia Minor,
and some of the finest architectural monuments of Central
A-ia and India.
\Yestern Europe in the early Middle Ages found artistic
expression in the churches of the Romanesque type. Their
somewhat heavy exteriors and round-arched windows,
arcades, and vaults unite Byzantine, Roman, and Northern
elements. They are found on both sides of the Alps with
many local variations and often with a profusion of sculp-
tured ornament. The best belong to the eleventh century.
The problem of the stone vault, only partially solved
during the Romanesque period, made great progress in the
twelfth century with the general application of the pointed
arch. The Gothic cathedrals which then arose were, like
the Romanesque, shrines of the Christian religion and the
expression of the ideals of a great religious age, but they
grew up among peoples in Northern Europe whose tempera-
INTRODUCTION 137
ment and art were influenced by the spirit of the old Norse
mythology. The result is an art in which the Roman ele-
ment for the time being is almost entirely eliminated.
The great height and slenderness of the supports of the
Gothic cathedral were made possible by outside buttresses,
while the concentration of the weight of the building on
separate piers and columns permitted huge open spaces in
the walls. These were filled with glass, jewel-like in its
radiant color, framed in beautiful stone tracery. Skilled
carvers in wood and stone decorated pinnacles, capitals,
choirs, and doorways with ornament derived from local
plants and from the structural forms of the building itself,
and with little mechanical repetition. Grotesque monsters
formed the gargoyles or waterspouts, and the draped human
figure carved in stone served both for ornament and for in-
struction. In France almost the whole body of science,
nature, history, and religion, according to the mediaeval
divisions, was represented in stone pictures upon the
cathedral.
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries Gothic art was
perfected and spread over Western Europe. In the Fran-
ciscan and Dominican churches and the civic cathedrals of
Italy it often became an ornamental addition to the different
local Romanesque styles.
During the thirteenth century the cities along the Euro-
pean routes of trade rapidly increased in importance, espe-
cially the fortunately located cities of Italy. In Tuscany,
Pisa developed earliest. Already in the eleventh and
twelfth centuries its white marble cathedral had become a
model for its neighbors. In 1260 Niccolo Pisano carved
his pulpit reliefs, drawing some of his motives from antique
remains. The works of his successors show strong Gothic
influence (see p. 255). The city of Siena next rose to im-
portance. Its school of painting, although founded on
Byzantine works, early showed a growing freedom from
tradition and it possessed a decorative charm wholly its
own (see the altar-piece by Bartolo di Fredi in the
Picture Galleries).
1 38 PICTURES
Florence, which gained real importance for the first time
in the thirteenth century, began, shortly before 1300, the
group of Gothic buildings which are the present landmarks
of the city. Contemporary with Dante, Giotto di Bondone,
the first of the long line of master painters of Italy, pro-
duced his dramatic story-telling cycles of frescoes at Assisi,
Padua, and Florence, including those portraying the life of
St. Francis. After Giotto's time mural fresco painting
occupied a leading place in the art of Italy.
In the early fifteenth century a German school of painting
developed in Cologne (see p. 1.50), and the first master-
pieces of Flemish painting, the work of Hubert and Jan
Van Eyck, appeared (after 1432). The Flemish painters
began the successful use of oil as a medium, and their
influence on contemporary Italian painting, though not
yet clearly defined, must have been important. Besides
this development of painting (see p. 142), the fifteenth
century and the next witnessed beautiful developments
of late Gothic architecture in Flanders. About the
year 1.500 tapestry weaving reached its height (see pp.
216-218).
The vigor of Italian life and intellect produced at this
time a great burst of creative art. The direction of its ex-
pression was determined to a great extent by the newly
awakened interest in the literature of Greece and Rome,
much of which had been unknown to the Middle Ages.
New ideas from these sources now profoundly influenced
conduct and society.
The pioneer of the classical movement was Petrarch,
(d. 1374). His teaching as to the mutual relations of the
patron, the artist, and the man of letters, and his appeal to
Italian pride in ancient Rome, helped develop every art.
Florence was the centre of the movement. Its citizens
made collections of ancient gems, coins, and manuscripts,
founded libraries, and attracted scholars. The first effect
of the classical texts was less scholarship than inspiration
and a gradual growth of the humanist point of view.
INTRODUCTION 1 39
Under the patronage of the Medici, in the early fifteenth
century, there arose at Florence a group of artists who had
broken with the traditions of the followers of Giotto, and
whose work, free, spontaneous, and human, was in accord
with the new ideals. Their realism, their idealism, their
religious feeling, their increasing paganism, reflected the
opposing forces of the times. With decorative details of
great delicacy and refinement, not as yet mere imitation of
Roman work, their art possessed the qualities of sobriety
and restraint and showed a sympathetic treatment of child-
hood and an increasing interest in humanity. The Church
welcomed this art and made use of it. In the sculpture of
Donatello and his contemporaries (see p. 256), and the
paintings of Masaccio, Fra Angelico (see p. 144), Fra
Filippo Lippi, Botticelli and others at Florence, in the
art of the hill towns from the valley of the Arno to the
upper reaches of the Tiber in Umbria, and in that of
the valley of the Po, Italy interpreted and visualized
the Christian religion in a manner never to be forgotten.
At Venice the earlier painters were followed by Giovanni
Bellini, who painted many Madonnas grave and serene, still
showing traces of the old hieratic Byzantine art, but ren-
dered in the superb color which was the distinctive beauty
of the Venetian school. (See the altar-piece of Bartolom-
meo Vivarini; the Pieta of Crivelli, p. 143; and the en-
gravings of Mantegna in the print collection.) In the mak-
ing of beautifully printed books Venice led the rest of Italy.
Sincerity of purpose characterized the art of the fifteenth
century. Its expression was far more genuine than much
of the technically perfected art of the next generation.
With Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, completed at
Milan in 1498, the golden age of painting began in Italy.
The Popes became the most magnificent of patron?.
Among the artists at Rome, Raphael best embodied the
Renaissance spirit. In the Stanza della Segnatura in the
Vatican he painted, in the humanist manner, frescoes repre-
senting religion, poetry, philosophy, and the cardinal vir-
140 PICTURES
tues (standing for character), a synthesis which the mind
of the Renaissance continually struggled to grasp. (See
the engravings of Marcantonio Raimondi after Raphael in
the print collection.) The splendid frescoes of Old Testa-
ment subjects by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel belong
to this period. At Venice Giorgione and Titian, with many
others little inferior to themselves, reached a higher techni-
cal stage in painting, and interpreted their subjects in a
manner more secular and magnificent than religious.
After 1500 direct imitation of Roman and late Greek
art became more pronounced. The new St. Peter's was
begun in 1506. The Apollo Belvedere, discovered in 1491,
and the Laocoon, discovered in 1506, became models for
sculpture. Raphael drew up plans for the restoration of
ancient Rome. Original Greek works had small influence
as compared with Roman works; even the temples at
Paestum, near Naples, were ignored.
Meanwhile there was a vigorous artistic renaissance in the
German cities along the routes of trade. The Gothic
carvers and metal workers of the important commercial
city of Nuremberg were famous. Its painter, Wolgemuth
(see p. 1 50), was the teacher of Albrecht Du'rer, who, like
I^eonardo da Vinci, was a thinker and a writer. (Diirer's
engravings and woodcuts may be studied in the print
collection.) Contemj>orary with Diirer were the two Hol-
beins, painters of Augsburg and Basle.
The first half of the sixteenth century was the most
dramatic period in Italian history. It saw, along with the
culmination of Italian art, the loss of Italian liberty. The
mutually jealous small city-states of Italy failed to unite
against the outside enemy (Spain, France, and the Ger-
mans), and the greater part of the peninsula passed under
foreign control. Milan lost its independence in 1499, Rome
was sacked in 1527, the republic of Florence came to an
end in 1531. Venice, although humiliated, remained safe
on her islands, and in her territories painting continued to
flourish all through the century (see pp. 147 and 1*8), as
INTRODUCTION 141
did literature for a shorter period at the neighboring court
of Ferrara.
During this century lace-making was developed in Italy
(see pp. 255 to 262), and majolica ware Mas produced
in many of the towns on the eastern slopes of the
Apennines (see p. 2;>o). The dome of the new St.
Peter's at Rome was finished about 1000.
( 'onquered Italy became in matters of art the teacher of
Northern Europe, where the great Gothic movement had
spent itself. In France Italian influence early appeared in
the royal palaces or chateaux of the valley of the Loire, with
their happy mingling of native Gothic forms and Renais-
sance ornament. The spirit of the Renaissance was, how-
ever, too often misunderstood in the North, where the later
works were usually imitated rather than those of the earlier
and more inspired period. G. M. B.
S. Reinach, Apollo, an illustrated Manual of the History of Art
throughout the Ages, trans. Simmons, 2d edition, N. Y., 1907;
A. Michel (ed.), Histoire de Fart, Paris, 1905-06, 4 vols. have ap-
peared; the historical background may be obtained in J. H. Rob-
inson, An Introduction to the History of Western Europe, Boston,
1902; convenient introductory books are O. M. Dalton, A Guide
of the Early Christian and Byzantine Antiquities in the British
Museum, London, 1903, and W. R. Lethaby, Mediaeval Art,
312-1350, N. Y., 1904. For the Renaissance see E. Miintz,
Histoire de Part pendant la renaissance, 3 vols., Paris, 1889-95.
For painting consult : Crowe and Cavalcaselle, History of Paint-
ing in Italy, London, 1903, ed. Douglas, 2 vols. have appeared ;
Blashfield and Hopkins edition of Vasari, 4 vols., N. Y., 1897 ; Wolt-
man and Woerman, History of Painting, 2 vols., N. Y., 1880-85;
Bryan, Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, edited by G. C.
Williamson, 5 vols., N. Y., 1903-05; R. Muther, History of
Modern Painting, 3 vols., London, 1895-96. The study of painting
can be supplemented to advantage by the use of the print collection.
Single painters and special subjects are treated in such series of
monographs as the Great Masters, the Duckuvrth series, the Knack-
hiss series, and many others contained in the Museum Library.
Use should also be made of the thousands of photographs in the
Museum Collection, and The Manual of Italian Renaissance
Sculpture as illustrated in the Collection of Casts, published by the
Museum, 1904.
142
PICTURES
Marriage of Saint Cat her! it P. Sienene School, Fourteenth Century
Allied to the work of Lippo Memmi, though not in
technique strictly typical of him. The central small
group shows two young knights throwing down their
arms to embrace. Above, the inscription, ' AricodiNeri
Arighettihad this panel made" (fece fare questa tavola),
suggests a votive picture grown out of fear and hatred
likea flower from the mire. The Arighetti are mentioned
in Sienese fourteenth and fifteenth century records.
ITALIAN*
Madonna and Child with Angels, Saints ami a Donor
Frnrll<>mtnn> SnnnU. called Rranumtino
About 1460 to about 1536
Brainantino, whose appellation is due to his intimacy
with Bramante, belonged to the group of artists who
founded the Milanese School; his works are very rare,
but he exercised no little influence on his contemporaries.
The balance of the composition and the harmony and
delicacy of the color contribute to the charm of the
picture. The tree partly cut down symbolizes, perhaps,
the Old Dispensation, the young branch symbolizing
the New.
148
PICTURES
Count dlborgheiti of fiergamn and His Son
Giovanni Battlsta, Moroni, 1520(?)-157S
Many painters, influenced by Venice but retaining
their own local characteristics, flourished in Venetian
territories. Moroni's truthful portraits were painted
at Bergamo. In that above, the father has just finisued
a letter and handed it to his son to deliver.
ITALIAN'
1 49
riniffxi-d (!iirS
A product of Maes' maturity like this brilliant picture
is generally more interesting to a student of painting
than either his earlier or his later work. At first he
painted with a simple fidelity, although according to an
elaborate system, which later became a very florid use
of thin color and a brilliant palette. He has endowed
this portrait with all the distinction at his command,
composing a rich background of blacks and grays, which
both harmonize with the sedate and gentle dignity of the
figure represented and serve to enhance its fragility and
pallor.
1 68 PICTURES
The wealthy commercial and manufacturing cities of
Flanders developed a brilliant school of painting in the
fifteenth century. Their pictures are the first wholly suc-
cessful combination of color with oil, and, whether secular
or religious, they depict the things in which the contem-
porary Flemish burgher took an interest. Bright textiles,
jewels, portraits, architectural detail, landscapes which
seem to be viewed through a reducing glass, are painted in
warm color, and the influence of the miniaturist's art is very
apparent.
The picture shown opposite is a beautiful example of the
early Flemish school. Although ordinarily attributed to
Rogier van der Weyden, it is argued with some reason that
it is by Gerard David. The subject is St. Luke drawing
the portrait of the Virgin, one of the legends of St. Luke.
His usual symbol, the ox, is seen in a small room at the right,
under the colored window and the book. The Virgin is
seated under a canopy of Flemish brocade, on a Gothic
wooden bench, on which is carved the Temptation of Eve.
A loggia opens upon a garden with violets and other flowers,
where a man and a woman are looking over a parapet.
The distance presents one of those landscapes which the
Flemish artists delighted to paint.
The picture is upon an oak panel, and, like many other
productions of these wonderful painters, is remarkable as
well for its draughtsmanship and the establishment of forms
in pure grisaille as for its color in its completed state. It is
repainted in parts. The columns, the cushion on which the
Saint kneels, the dark folds of the Virgin's robe, and the
sky and distance on the right, are easily distinguished as the
work of a restorer. Beautiful as the original work is when
viewed close at hand, its color is still more luminous when
looked at from a distance.
FLEMISH
169
St. Luke Drawing the Portrait of the Virgin
Flemish School, Fifteenth Century
170
PICTURES
Anna Maria de Schodt Anllunnj Vmi T>yck, 1599-16 ', 1
A burgher's wife dressed in her most costly gown. This
portrait is identified with that formerly over the family
tomb in the cathedral of St. Gudule at Brussels. 1
1 Rooses, Funfzig Meisterwerke von Van Dyck, Leipzig, 1900;
p. 85.
FRENCH
I/I
Arnauld d'Andilly Philippe de Champa'igne, 1602-1674
In 1647 Arnauld d'Andilly, elder brother of the famous
Dr. Antoine Arnauld, had deserted the court of Louis XIII
and was living at the Abbey of Port Royal des Champs,
not many miles from Versailles, where he devoted himself
to the religious life and to intellectual pursuits and the culti-
vation of his garden. The portrait shows him as he was, a
man of intelligence and amiability. Philippe de Cham-
paigne, Flemish by birth but French by choice, was the
painter of Port Royal, and d'Andilly a noted adherent.
Artist and subject make this painting an historic document
of moment.
172
PICTURES
Parnassds, one of the few paintings in the Museum
representing a mythological subject, is an important
example of Claude Lorraine, who painted especially
landscapes, in which he endeavored to express various
effects of light and transparent atmosphere. He exer-
cised a great influence upon modern painters, upon
Turner in England and Corot in France.
This picture was painted for the Constable Colon na
in 1681. In the disposition of the figures of the picture
Claude was inspired by the famous fresco of Raphael in
the Vatican, representing the same subject. The Muses
are assembled on Mt. Helicon, listening to the lyre
of Apollo; nearby is the fountain Hippocrene, which
Pegasus caused to spring up with a blow from his hoof.
But in a picture by Claude the figures always count for
little; its charm lies in the poetically-conceived land-
scape, with its harmony of line and delicately-blending,
soft color.
FRENCH
173
Going to Market
Francois Boucher, 1703-1770
from
The Museum also possesses The Return
Market," a companion piece to this picture.
Boucher's talents were devoted to the entertainment of
the luxurious court of Louis XV and the circle of Madame
de Pompadour. His easel pictures, mural paintings, de-
signs for tapestries and scenery for the theatre reflect the
taste and temper of his day, its pleasure in what was grace-
ful, no matter how unreal, its determination to ignore every-
thing painful or unpleasant. Jean Marc Nattier, 1685
1766, was the portrait painter of this same society.
The world for which Boucher painted was weary of the
academic compositions of the days of Louis XIV. It had
welcomed the "fetes galantes" of Watteau, 1684-1721,
and of Lancret, 1690-1743. Boucher's successor, Frago-
nard, 1732-1806, painted still more intimately its manners
and fashions.
Benjamin Franklin
J. S. Duplessis, 1725-1802
During his sojourn in France, 1776-1783, Franklin's
portrait was painted repeatedly. He wrote in 1780: "I
have at the request of friends sat so much and so often to
painters and statuaries, that I am perfectly sick of it." '
The portrait by Duplessis, of which this is one of several
replicas, is considered the best. 2
Lent by the Boston Athenaeum.
1 Franklin's Works, edited by John Bigelow, v. VII, p. 96.
a See McChire'g Magazine, Jan., 1897, p. 269.
FRENCH
175
FRENCH PAINTING IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
A notable characteristic of the art of the nineteenth cen-
tury is the enlargement of the range of subjects treated in
painting. Gericault, followed by Delacroix (see p. 178) and
the romantic school, reflecting the widespread unrest which
led to the Revolutions of 1830 and 1848, substituted scenes
from the novel, history, contemporary romance and tragedy
for the academic subjects of David and the classicists.
Delacroix, Fromentin, and Decamps made known the life,
and painted the brilliant colors of Algiers and the Levant.
Influenced by Constable and Bonington in England,
Rousseau, Corot (see p. 177), Daubigny, Diaz (see the pic-
ture called "The Descent of the Bohemians") and Dupre
added the vast domain of landscape painting to art. Others
like Troyon painted animals with landscape. With them
at Barbizon was Millet, a peasant from Cherbourg, who
painted the peasant at his work. Millet once wrote: "De-
void though the peasant's toil may be of joyousness, it
nevertheless stands, not only for true human nature, but
also for the loftiest poetry." (See pp. 179 and 180.)
The most radical departure of the century came after
1850 with those artists, later known as the Impressionists,
"among whom Manet was the pioneer and Monet the most
consistent exponent. Manet said, "The principal person in
a picture is the light," and these artists rendered light, the
light of the air, the light of every object and its reflections
on other objects, and so accomplished their picture.
The end of the century has welcomed paintings which
depict the life of the laborer in all its phases ; every side of
life has been touched with beauty. There has been an in-
crease in mural decoration ; and portraiture, which has
produced great works all through the century, still continues
its activity.
PICTURES
Portrait of the Marquis de Paxtoret, Chancellor of France, 1829
Paul Delaroche, 1797-1856
Delaroche is principally known by his historical pic-
tures and by his mural painting decorating the hcini-
cycle of the Academy of the Beaux Arts in Paris. This
portrait shows him a master also in portraiture. The fea-
tures of the dreamy, melancholy countenance are studied
with the conscientiousness of a primitive painter. The
portrait was probably painted in 1 829, when the Marquis
had just been made Chancellor of France.
FRENCH
1/7
Dante and Virgil J . B. C. Carol, 1796-1875
Corot's art, a highly poetical interpretation of nature,
depicts the most subtle atmospheric effects, such as the
falling light of evening or the moment just before sunrise,
which is the time chosen for this picture. Dante is lost in a
dark wood and is rescued by Virgil from a lion, a leopardess,
and a she-wolf, who bar his way. (Inferno, canto I.)
I 7 8
PICTURES
Pieth, painted 1848
F. V. Eugene Delacroix, 1798-1863
This pietd is conceived in the spirit which marked Dela-
croix as the most important figure in the Romantic move-
ment. Though dark, it is rich in color, and it was consid-
ered by the painter one of his most beautiful works. Dela-
croix was among the first of the French painters of the
nineteenth century to revive the religious subject, which had
been banished from French art by the Revolution and the
classicism of David.
FRENCH
1/9
Washerwomen
J.F. Millet, 1814-1875
The two women are at work. They have been washing
clothes in the river, and now one of them stands on a rock
piling the still wet and heavy lumps of linen on the other's
back. The second woman bends her head, and holds her
left hand on her hip to support the load, while she steadies
it with her right hand. A third figure is walking away along
the water's edge. The level plain with a far away church,
tree or haystack, usual in Millet's pictures, is here replaced
by a river, and the effect of space is secured by the distant
man in the boat and the cattle standing on the top of the
opposite bank. It is twilight fast deepening into darkness,
a favorite time with this painter, for details of hands, dress,
and features are then lost, and there only remain the
statuesque outlines of the figures against the glow in the
sky and the rhythmic sweep of their movements.
1 8o
PICTURES
J. F. Millet, 1814-1875
In the foreground, two women are hard at work loading
sheaves into a handbarrow; a man and a woman with a
filled barrow, and two heavily laden women carry the
sheaves to a group of men in the background who are en-
ergetically threshing out the grain ; another man piles the
straw with a fork. Farther on billows of smoke from the
burning straw soar into the sky. Among the charcoal
drawings by Millet in the Museum are studies of The
Sower, The Gleaners, Sliepherdesses, A Woman Churning,
and Women Sewing (see p. 368).
182
PICTURES
V Eminence Grise, painted 1874
J. L. Gtrtnic, 1824-1004
Father Joseph, a Capuchin monk, was secretary and con-
fidant of Richelieu. His powerful position won for him the
name "His Grey Eminence," in distinction from his mas-
ter's title. He is here seen descending the stairs of the
Cardinal's palace engrossed in his breviary, while a num-
ber of courtiers ascend to some reception. They make
way for him and bow in token of their recognition of his
influence. The contrast between the affected servility of
the rich and the unassuming bearing of the friar is the occa-
sion of the picture.
Gerome's knowledge and his wealth of detail in telling a
story make this work justly famous. The conception, it
must be confessed, is not very deep theatrical perhaps,
rather than dramatic; there is also a certain dryness and
lack of atmosphere in the picture, due to its artificial
illumination and the artist's inattention to exact tone rela-
tions. The whole work is a brilliant illustration in color
rather than an inspired presentation of the truth.
FRENCH
183
Race Horses
H. G. E. Degas, born 1834
This artist finds his inspiration in those elements of
Parisian life represented by the ballet, the cafe concert, and
the race-course. He brings a subtle power of observation,
a profound technique, and a sense of elegance which is
temperamental, to portray its incidents.
In the picture, "Race Horses," it is a clear but overcast
day; the sky is threatening, with clouds tinted like rose
leaves; there are no shadows, and colors are emphasized.
At the back is the height of Suresnes, with trim gardens and
houses clinging to its slopes ; in front is the race-course of
Longchamp. Still nearer in the paddock, ready for the
struggle, are eleven race horses, high bred, nervous, and
restless creatures, with their gentlemen jockies in gay
jackets.
Many influences helped to mould the art of Degas, among
them the example of Manet and the principles of Japanese
decorative painting.
1 84
PICTURES
AutoinedL
Horses of Achilles
Henri RegnauLi, 1843-1871
Xanthos and Balios, the immortal horses of Achilles, con-
scious of the hero's approaching death, already foretold by
one of them in speech, are struggling with Automedon, his
charioteer. The stormy sky with a pale glimmer on the
horizon, the ominous sea, the barren shore, presage disaster.
The painter's enthusiasm for horses, his magnificent
color, his facile power of drawing, are here united in an
impetuous composition. The picture was Regnault's
envoi as the holder of the Prix de Rome at the age of twenty-
four. Three years later this happy genius met his tragic
end in the last sortie against the Germans besieging Paris.
ENGLISH
I8 5
Portrait of Ifrx. Folk
Sir Juxlnia ttryitiildx, t7tS-179t
Sir Joshua Reynolds returned to England in 1752, at
the age of twenty-nine, after having spent nearly three
years in Italy. He rapidly became the fashionable por-
trait-painter, and his career was one of unbroken success.
He had, however, little technical training, and in the
use of pigments was devoted to experiments too often
unsuccessful ; but grace, beauty, and charm his pictures
always possessed.
1 86
IMCTrill.S
ENGLISH
I8 7
The Slare Ship, painted 18 fl J. M. H'. Turner, 1775-1851
The original title of the painting was "Slaver Throwing
Overboard the Dead and Dying: Typhoon Coming on."
It was once in the possession of John Ruskin, who wrote of
it that "it was the noblest sea Turner ever painted." 1
The print collection contains fine examples from the
" Liber Studiorum " (see p. 362).
In the same gallery there is a pleasing example of Richard
Wilson, 1714-178-2, with the usual Italian landscape, a
tower on a hill, a picturesque valley in the foreground, and
the wide stretch of the Roman Campagna beyond. With
this may be compared a small work of John Constable,
1776-1837; and the fine example of John Crome, 1769-
1821, which shows a distant view of the city of Norwich
and its cathedral.
1 Modern Painters, London, 1867; vol. I, p. 376.
188
PICTfKI.S
Portrait of John EI
Thoma* Gainsborough, 1717-1788
Thomas Gainsborough, celebrated as a painter both
of portraits and landscapes, became one of the charter
members of the Royal Academy in 1768, and lived in
London from 1774. The Portrait of John Eld, founder
of the Staffordshire General Infirmary, the design for
whose facade he holds in his hand, was painted toward
1772. It had been kept in the Infirmary up to
May, 1912.
ENGLISH
189
Le Chant d' Amour (water-color)
Sir Edward Bume-Jones, 1833-1898
"Helas! Je sais un chant d'amour,
Triste ou gai, tour a tour."
On a terrace overlooking a meadow l)efore a mediaeval
town a knight sits gazing at a lady who is singing. With
one hand she holds open a book and with the other plays on
an organ. At the bellows of the organ sits a winged figure,
blindfolded, clothed in red, whose head is wreathed with
roses. The subject, steeped in romance and poetic fancy,
is rendered in rich color contrasts of definite claret-purple,
subdued scarlet, pale yellows, and atmospheric blues. The
draughtsmanship is more genuine and less artificial than in
the artist's later work, when he was striving for more cor-
rect details. This water-color was painted in 1865. A
larger version in oils of the same subject differing in some
details was begun in 1868 and finished in 1877.
The poetic decorative art of Burne-Jones found expres-
sion in oils, water-color, and tempera paintings, and in
scores of cartoons for stained glass windows, mosaics and
tapestries.
1 90
PICTURES
F.ARI.Y AMERICAN PAINTING.
The earliest portrait painters of merit in the colo-
nies, Sinibert anil Blackburn, were followed by John
Singh-ton Copley. By 177J-, when Copley first went
to England, he had painted a collection of portraits
which {rive an intimate picture of American society
before tin- Revolution. (See pp. I'M, 1!^, li>8, 196.)
Benjamin West went to
Italy when twenty-two
years old, and three years
later to Knjrland. He
pained the favor of King
George III, helped found
the Royal Academy and
became its president in
1 7, after the death of
Reynolds. (See p. 198.)
Among "West's pupils
were Charles Wilson Peale
and Gilbert Stuart, both
famous for their portraits
of Washington, and the
1\'nxJrinfffr>n JH.f'on latter the best of the early
Min'mtHi-i lj i'.iliranl <;.Mtillie portrait painters. (See
1777-1807 pp. I'll, 195, H>7.)
With Stuart in West's
studio worked John Trumbull, Robert Fulton, S. F. B.
Morse, Edward G. Malbone, Washington Allston (a
man of great personal charm, born in South Carolina),
and William Dunlap. The Museum contains many
pictures and sketches by Allston, with examples of his
contemporaries, John Neagle, Thomas Sully (see p.
199), Henry Inman, W. Page, and Francis Alexander.
AMERICAN
Samuel Adams John Singleton Copley, 1737-1815
Painted by Copley in 1772 at the order of John Hancock,
whose likeness was executed at the same time. Adams is
shown addressing the British governor, Hutchinson, the
day following the Boston Massacre in 1770. He points to
the Charter of Massachusetts with his outstretched left
hand, and grasps his brief, marked "Instructions of the
Town of Boston," with the right.
Lent by the City of Boston.
IMCTt'KKS
Mr. and Mrs. Izard
John Singleton Copley, 1737-1815
In the spring of 1774 Copley, then aged thirty-seven,
left Boston for England. Soon afterwards he journeyed to
Rome with Mr. Izard, a wealthy planter of South Carolina,
and his wife. This picture he produced the following
winter, and it was his first group so far as is known. It was
taken back to England, and the approach of the Revolution
having produced difficulties in Mr. Izard's financial affairs
so that he was unable to pay for it, it remained in Copley's
possession until 18-2.>. when it was sold to Mr. Izard's
grandson.
Mr. and Mrs. Izard, with a table between them, sit on
a chair and sofa upholstered in rose damask with a rose
damask curtain at the back on one side. Souvenirs of their
Italian journey surround them. The picture is in Copley's
Boston style, with some of his early rigidity apparent in the
man, but the lady is painted in his best manner.
AMKKICAX
Family Portrait
John Singleton Copley. 1737-1815
The picture shows the artist and his family, life size.
Copley himself stands in the background. The old man
before him is Mr. Clarke, his father-in-law, famous as the
consignee of the cargo of tea of the "Boston Tea Party."
Mrs. Copley, on the sofa, is caressing their son John, who
lived to be Lord Lyndhurst and three times Lord Chan-
cellor of England.
This is one of Copley's best paintings. It shows the be-
ginning of his English manner, but retains the finer qualities
of his colonial work. The painting of the heads is excellent.
The figure of the little girl in the centre is reminiscent of the
canvases of Van Dyck. The subject is well within his
range, is noble in conception, and most skilfully executed.
Notice, for instance, the treatment of the doll in the corner
of the picture.
Lent by Copley Amory.
PICTURES
Martha Washington
(lilhcrt Stuart. 1755-1828
These portraits of Washington and his wife were painted
from life by Gilbert Stuart in the spring of 1796 at Phila-
delphia. Washington, acceding to the request of Stuart,
permitted the artist to keep the originals and accepted
copies in their place. The originals remained unfinished
in the possession of Stuart until his death in 1828. The
portrait of Washington served in the production of many
AMERICAN
George Washington Gilbert Stuart, 1755-1828
pictures up to that date. Owing to the large number of
these repetitions, the portrait became widely known, and
it is regarded as his standard likeness. The artist's widow
sold these studies after his death to the Washington Asso-
ciation, by which they were presented to the Boston
Athenaeum in 1831
Lent by the Boston Athenaeum.
196
PICTURES
John Quincy Adams John Singleton Copley, 1737-1815
This picture of the sixth President of the United States
was painted in 1795, when Adams was twenty-seven years
old and Minister at The Hague.
The portrait exhibits the sense of grace and distinction
for which Copley strove, though with some loss of that
strength of character which distinguished his early work.
It should be compared with the portrait of Adams by
W. Page painted many years later.
Lent by Charles Francis Adams.
AMI.KICAX
Mnjor-General Henry Kno.r
Gilbert Stuart, 1755-1828
Artillery officer, companion and adviser of Washington,
Secretary of War 1785-1794. Judging from the age of
the General, the portrait belongs to the time of Stuart's
ripest production, about 1800. General Knox, well-edu-
cated and affable, commended himself to the artist as a
brother spirit, and he is here the subject of one of Stuart's
most successful portraits.
Lent by the City of Boston.
198
PICTURES
AMERICAN
199
The Torn Tint
Thomas Sully, 17S3-1S7S
Sully has here rendered the happy inspiration of a bov's
healthy, attractive face seen in warm sunlight with the
shadows illumined by reflections.
Lent by Miss Margaret Greene.
2OO
PICTrHKS
William Mnrnx ITuiit, /,s'.';-/.
The Museum is rich in the work of William Morris
Hunt. Several other oil paintings, as well as a num-
ber of water-colors, sketches, and drawings in charcoal,
are on exhibition in the Hunt Memorial Gallery, over
the Library of the Museum.
A.MKKICAN
201
The blacksmith of Lyine-Regis
J. A. McNelU Whistler, 1834-1903
The Museum owns also a companion piece called
" The Little Rose of Lyme-Regis." Whistler's etch-
ings may be seen in the print collection.
2O2
PICTURES
The Pity
The rapidlv advancing fog warns th<> fisherman to return
t. his ship before it disappears and he loses his l>ea rings.
In addition to this pit-hire, there are on exhibition several
water colors by Homer, and the painting known as "All's
Well."
AMERICAN
203
Cm-it as
Al>lttt, If. Thaynr, 1S49-
204
PICTURES
Mother and < 'liilil
droryr, di> Forrxt JJmxJi, /.V.7.7-
AMKRICAN
205
Isabella, or The Pot of Basil
.1. IT. Alexander, 1856-
Isabella, whose lover has been murdered by her brothers
in a wood near Florence, secretly hides his head in a pot, in
which she plants sweet basil. The story is told in Boc-
caccio's "Decamerone," and in Keats' poem, "Isabella,
or the Pot of Basil."
206
PICTURES
Girl l\f-nf
Edmund C. TarMl. 1862-
AMERICAN
207
J'nrffdit nfflu Mixxtx Holt
John S. Surgent, 1S56-
Born at Florence of American parents. Pupil of
Carolus-Duran. Has lived mostly in Europe. Painter
of portraits and of genre subjects.
This portrait, one of the first works of Sargent, and
which contributed to establish his reputation, was
painted in 1882.
Lent by Mr. Edward D. Boit.
208
PICTUKKS
John S. Sart/t'iit, /.S'J6'
Mr. Sargent has preferred for some years to paint
in watercolor. In 1912 the Museum acquired a series
of forty-five watercolors executed in Italy, in Spain,
and in Switzerland during the last three or four years.
WESTERN ART
MOHAMMEDAN AND KLROPKAN
GROITND FLOOR
Tx and WA fadioatt thr 'I't .rfih, Study and the
office of flu' l>i part ment
MOHAMMKUAN 213
THK NKARKR ORIENT
Saracen, meaning "Eastern," was a term applied
first to the Arabs, later to all Mohammedans, and in the
Middle Ages to all Eastern opponents of the Crusades.
There were many centres of Saracenic art at different
periods of the Arab Conquest, including Central Asia,
India, the Euphrates country, Syria, Egypt, Morocco,
Spain, Sicily, and Turkey. Some of these developments
we designate by special names, as Persian, Indian, or
Moorish art; but all are related to one another. In
some respects the most important examples of the Sara-
cenic style are found in Egypt because of the almost
continuous record furnished by the mosques of Cairo,
which show, in their simple lines and restrained decora-
tion, the purest form of the art as distinguished from
the more fanciful outgrowth in Spain or India.
Much light has been thrown on the ceramic art of
the Arabs within the last few years by excavations at
Rakka and other ruined cities of Syria and Persia. The
pottery from Rakka seems to be of the earliest origin
(ninth to twelfth century), and some of it bears a strong
likeness to the blue glazed jars found at Babylon. The
rubbish heaps of Fostat (Old Cairo, destroyed about
1 lii.S) and of Kus, near Luxor, have yielded fragments
of dishes, the most interesting being decorated with a
brilliant ruby and gold lustre on a white tin enamel
ground, which method of enamelling was employed on
the glazed Egyptian pottery dating as early as 1500
B. C. Similarly lustred tiles have been found at
Rhages, Sultanieh, and Veramin in Persia, and it is
not yet possible to decide whether the art was carried
from Egypt to Persia or vice versa. But the former
seems more probable, since the earliest dated tile is of
the twelfth century, and a noted Persian traveller of
the eleventh century speaks with enthusiasm of the
lustred pottery which he saw at Fostat as being an art
214 WKSTKRX ART
unknown to him. Many of these tiles bear inscriptions,
rloral scrolls, and figures with strongly-marked Mongo-
lian features, which suggests that they may have been
produced by some of the Chinese workmen brought
into Persia with Ghengis Khan early in the thirteenth
century.
Pots and bowls of the thirteenth and fourteenth cen-
turies, from Syria, are painted in blue and greenish-
black under a glass glaze. The lust red di>hes and
vases made by the Moors in Spain and Sicily in the
fifteenth century, anil later by the Italians at Gubbio
and L'rbino, all bear a family resemblance to the tiles
and fragments, although the styles of decoration vary.
The pottery made under Turkish influence at Rhodes,
Damascus, and Kutahia date from the fifteenth century ;
and in the sixteenth century factories were established
at Kouhacha, in Daghestan ; at Kirman in the seven-
teenth century, and at Kashan and Bokhara in the
eighteenth century. Lustred semi-porcelain was pro-
duced in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in
Persia, the colors being golden yellow or pale green
lustre on dark blue, or ruby lustre on white.
The Arabs worked in many metals, and the examples
remaining to us show delicate pierced scrolls or elabo-
rate inlay in gold and silver, as well as engraved medal-
lions, inscription and figures, or the damascened gold
ornament so generally found on the sword blades for
which Damascus was noted. A few carved ivory panels
of the thirteenth century are still in existence; and
beautiful mosque lamps of glass with colored enamel
decoration are found in several European collections.
Among the illuminated manuscripts, the Koran, con-
taining the teachings of the prophet Mohamcd, is the
most important book of the Arabs. The highest art
of the period is lavished on its two title pages, which
are ornamented with beautifully written texts set in
elaborate and delicate floral scrolls, painted in red, blue,
MOHAMMEDAN' 2 1 5
green, and gold; and the carved, gilded, and painted
leather bindings have also great charm. Some of the
greatest treasures of the Khedivial Library in Cairo
are early copies of the Koran which were made for the
Sultans. The Makamat of Hariri is another famous
book. The works of the Persian poets have come
down to us in illustrated form. F. V. P.
Hooks. Ameer Ali. Short Hixtm'y of the Saracens; Lane-
Poole. Saracenic Art: \Vallis, Persian Lustre Vases; Journal of
Indian Art : Coomaraswany, Mediaeral Sinhalese. Art; Migeon,
Manntl (/'Art Mnsnl/nan : Max Herz Bey, Catalogue Musee
National de I' A rt Aral>e. Cairo: Sarre, Jienkmaler J'ersisclter
Jianknnsf; Artin, Contribution a I'Ktmle dn filaxuii rn Orient;
Calvert. Moorish Remains in Spain, 'J vols. ; Bourgoin, Lus
Art Arafn-s: K^t-rton. Italian Anif and Armor in the, Indian
Museum; Ha veil, Indian Painting and Si-n//>ti!. Indian Art; Bird wood. In-
dustrial Arts <>f India; }>nrlinufon Fine. Arts Cltih ILrhihition
Cataloff*4 IXS~> and I'.iuS: Mi^con. l^.r/ioslflon des Arts Mussel-
man, J'aris, I'm.!; Oriental Enamelled (llass, Vienna, IS'i'J ;
Poole. Art of the Sai-arens in Eyypt ; F. R. Martin, The Minia-
ture I'aintintj of I'erxia. India, and Turkey, /.'//.'; Catalogue of
Persian Miniatures exhibited at the Mnsee, lies Art it 1 >emratifs,
J '~-
^7 ^P"" < _ _J
Pulpit Door from a mosque in f'airo with carved and
inlaid ebony and ivory panels; inscribed, "Honor to
our Master the Sultan El Malek El Zaher Barquoq. May
God make glorious his reign." Fourteenth century.
MOHAMMEDAN
217
\- ruin ii Litx/
Tlni-fi i nth Century
1'iKiiiiihil '.Vu.v.v Tir,!ffli to Tliirti-rnlh Cftititry
Ross (\illirt Ian
218
WESTERN ART
Persian Tile
Th irtcniili Century
Star-Tile: a rare specimen of Persian art dated, in its
inscription, 657 of Hegira (1259 A. I).). It is probably
from Veramin, a town in Northern Persia, and its date
puts it in the period of the Mongol invasions and within a
year of the fall of the Baghdad Caliphate, one of the great
events in the history of the nearer East. This particular
tile is reproduced in Dr. Martin's great work on Persian
Carpets. There are other and very interesting examples of
the same art in the Museum.
MOHAMMEDAN
219
Turkish Plate
Si.vt.*n:tli Century
Turkish ceramic
wares were influ-
enced by both
Persia and China.
This plate belongs
to a class usually
called Rhodian,
although it was
probably made in
one of the mainland
citiesof Asia Minor.
The main design of
the plate shows
flowers of the field.
The border design
has been inter-
preted as represent-
ing the clouds and the sky. The cypress tree (in the centre
of the plate), the thistle leaf, the rose, the tulip, the wild
hyacinth, and the carnation are familiar in the designs of
Persian textiles.
The beauty of
this plate, from the
Caucasus country
of Daghestan, is
found in the har-
mony of its colors:
greens, reds, and
browns, upon a soft
yellow - brown
ground which is
further enriched by
the crackle of the
glaze. The plate
was perhaps a wed-
ding present.
Plate from Koitbarha, Daghesian
Sixteenth Century
22O
WESTERN ART
HitptOtO-iioretqtte J)rug Vase and Plate
Valencia. N/KK'H, Fifteenth Century
The best known Hispano-Moresque ware was made near
Valencia, Spain, in the fifteenth century. The lustre was
produced by the action of heated smoke on the metallic
oxides which are applied over the white enamel glaze.
Lustred ornament is also characteristic of much Persian
and Arabic work. The Moorish potters of Spain worked
for Christian patrons. Lustred arms, representing mar-
riage alliances which may be dated, appear on many
pieces, and by this means the sequence of the decorative
patterns is determined.
The vine leaves on the "Albarello" or Drug Vase shown
in the illustration are alternately in blue and in light
brown lustre, the blue leaves being under the glaze and
the lustred leaves upon it. The wildbryony, a local plant
of Valencia, appears in blue and lustre as the principal
decoration of the plate. In the centre of the plate is the
monogram I H S, which was widely popularised in the fif-
teenth century by San Bernardino of Siena. Valencia pot-
tery was often exported to Florence, Siena, and Venice.
MOHAMMEDAN
221
Title-page from a Koran of the fourteenth century.
Written in Moghribi characters and illuminated in gold,
dull green, and brown. North African.
Ross Collection.
222
WESTERN ART
Persian Cllilt-il Li-nther Jlnnk-bintUng
Sixteenth Centura
Ross Collection
MOHAMMEDAN
223
Fiijnn- an a Jlirone Arabic Painting
Egyptian < Mrx]tnf,ii n ian, late Tirrlfth Century
Goloubew Collection
224
WESTERN ART
-c *
MOHAMMEDAN
225
226
WESTERN ART
JiiJidiif/ir and I lit Court
Jii renteenth Century
Goloubew Collection
MOHAMMEDAN
227
Voo/i'.v Ark in Ornamental Arabic Script
From r.t . Thirteenth to Fifteenth Century
lions Collection
44k} MA ^
Srripffrom *
-.
Title Pages of a I\<>nni
Ilott
MOHAMMEDAN
229
enlh Century
Collection
230
WESTERN ART
W SAVINGS
From the East came the arts of weaving and needle work,
and with the mechanical knowledge came also the designs.
As pupils follow their teachers closely at first, so the Euro-
pean countries followed the Oriental ones, using many of
their motives, and strong Oriental feeling is found in the
early weavings of Italy and Spain. Tapestry weaving, as
the simplest form of the art, was practised by many primi-
tive peoples. The earliest and crudest pieces owned by the
Museum come from the Coptic graves of Egypt, first to
eighth century A. D. (seeabove and p. 2 1 o), and from the
graves of Peru (see p. 2 1 4). These latter pieces were made
before the invasion of that country by Pizarro in 1531. The
looms used at present in the French tapestry works at
Paris are made on the same principles as those upon which
the Coptic pieces were woven. By the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries tapestry weaving h ;u ] reached its
greatest height in Europe, and the Museum is fortu-
nate in owning two beautiful examples of the work
of Flanders at that period (see pp. 210-218). Of
later date (seventeenth and eighteenth centuries) are
the pieces in the Collection from the Brussels and
French workshops (see p. i^l ). From China and
Japan, in addition to the large Chinese tapestry illus-
trated on p. 346, are many smaller pieces made of silk.
Oriental rugs, like tapestry, are still woven by hand, and
MOHAMMl.DAN
231
with as simple looms as those that were in use many hun-
dred years ago. In spite of the great improvement made
in machinery by the Europeans and Americans, the Ori-
entals, with their hand looms and vegetable dyes, still sur-
pass all other peoples in the beauty and durability of their
rugs. Of the remainder of the Collection, the larger part
of the weavings consists of velvets, brocades, and damasks
from Persia, Turkey, Italy, Spain, and France. The Per-
sian, Turkish, and Italian pieces are especially noteworthy
for their beauty of color, material, and texture. S. G. F.
Books. Alan S. Cole. Ornament in European Silks; Dujxmt-
Auberville, L'OnmnUdtt Tixxns, F. Fiscbbach, Textile l-'d/n-icx;
Julius Lessing, OtMbtammhtng V.v KoiiiyllrJten Kmutgtwtrbt
MiixeiDux ~n 1 it- rll >i : Otto v. Falku, Kwutffttekiektt der Seiden
II ' i lit- rei; Jules GuifFrey, Lex TVlpWMTMV 'ral dex Tapixxi-ries >ln
la Manufacture dis Oobflins d^puit ton oriffinejvjtqu 1 a n<>x jourx;
George Leland Hunter. Tii/iixt r'n-x : '/'lit !/ <)/-!i/i>i. History, and
Renaissance; Eugene Muentz, A Short History of Tapestry;
\V. (T. Tho.nson, History of Tapestry i Mrs. A. H. Christie, Kin-
broidery and Tapettry ll'euriii'j; Orient a! Car/iets, Ancient Oriental
Carpets, Ixitli published by the Itoyal lin(x'rial Austrian Museum,
Vienna; John Kimberly Mumford, Oriental Hugs; F. R. Mar-
tin, A History of Oriental Corfu fx Injure, 1SOO. All of these
books may be consulted in the Museum Library.
r
Peruvian Taprxtries Before tJia Conqittxl, T>uffl
These pieces were found wrapped around mummies.
232
WKSTKRX ART
A winged figure, eighteen and
one-half inches in height. This
piece, which shows strongly
both in the design and coloring
the influence which the art of
Byzantium had upon that of
Egypt, was found in a ( 'optic-
grave at Akhmim. The ground
as in many of the Coptic tex-
tiles is of natural colored linen,
while the design is woven with
colored wools. The wings sug- '
gest the possibility that the
figure represents an angel. The
drawing is crude; the color of "-
the flesh, hair, and wings, purple /-.';////>//<; Tapestry
brown ; the tunic, red ; and the Third to ilujhth ( 'enturi/.A.D.
skirt, green.
Also from Coptic graves
at Akhmim. In the drawing
and composition of this de-
sign, a rabbit nibbling a
bunch of grapes. Roman in-
fluence is very strongly felt,
but the brilliancy of the col-
ors browns, pinks and
greens suggests the art of
By/antium. The ground is
linen, the pattern wool.
Squares like this were ap-
plied to garments. Illustra-
tions of their use can be seen
Third to Seventh Century, A.I), in the mosaic of the Empress
Theodora and her court, in
the Church of San Vitale at Ravenna.
MOHAMMEDAN
233
IE^rti-Tr r _^^*w*T~_jfc' ,^ *- _
This rug, which is woven of wool, although not
purely Indian in character, as it shows strongly the
influence of Persia, and to a lesser degree that of China,
is probably of Indian manufacture.
234
WKSTKKN' ART
Turkish I'nii/ir Rug
Ghiordes, Serentfentfi Century
Central field, white; ground of main border, dull blue.
Design in blue, red, white, and auiber.
MOHAMMEDAN
235
^^'ic^.S^'H^c-ic^
** ^ 2 ^ rf I 1 J 8 |
O c ^.oc- -^."?
5 S - & . -U r- " . d
** ||tf|>^8" I |.ti8.9-s.|.*il|
j;^ oP;_5.; rf^oj^ -^^t- 3 cs
^j^:ii^u^ .ri-rl-
Jl If -= aT^ *1*-rfltfJl ! ''J
"? Jg &S^--5-w "| -si 2 &J2t ^'-g
C ^TK .f~ a5-Ct:2ajo-c9ogo-fl&
OwUtncStCPcoOaiC-StaDtiPOP-^
o ^.
" o
^U
11
- fe l
-o j
fli ^i
O
2 w
o
^2
*-.s
ic g
I!
236
WKSTKKN ART
Ruff, probably Persian (called Polish) Seventeenth Century
This ruff, which is woven with silk, silver, and gold,
was probably made in Persia for a royal gift. The
name is derived from a pretty well refuted theory that
these rugs had their origin in Poland
MOHAMMEDAN
237
It
Cloth of gold with the design of flowering trees and
birds woven with dull green, blue, yellow, pink, and
red silk.
WESTERN ART
Turkish <>r J'i r.tian Velvets
Ground, purple brown.
Bold design in dark red,
gold, and touches of
bright yellow.
Ground, red. Design,
yellow silk wound with
metal.
Ground,
crimson satin.
Design, groups
of two figures;
one with an
axe over its
shoulder leads
the other fig-
u r e by a
string; trees
and flowers;
colors, pale
green, yellow,
white, and
black.
Persian Brocade
Sixteenth Century
EUROPEAN
239
&
I
240 WKSTKKN ART
This tapestry (l4 ft. 2 in. x 'J7 ft. 3 in.) is woven with
silk and wool. Seated at the base of the columns that
divide the tapestry are Jeremiah, Peter, David, Andrew,
Isaiah, James, Hozea, and John. Running through the
lower part of the tapestry are two ribbons; on one is
part of the Apostles' Creed: "Credo in Deum patrem
omnipotem, Creatorem celi (coeli) et terrae et in
ihesura (Jesum) Xpristum (Christum) Filium e(j)us
unic(um) Domi(n)um nost(r)um. Qui conceptus est de
Spiritu Sancto natus ex Maria \ irgine |>assus sub Poncio
Pylato crucifixus mortuus et sepult(us) " : "I believe
in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and
earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord,
Who was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the
Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pdate, was cruci-
fied, dead and buried." On the other are '' Patrem
invocabiimis qui terran (m) fecit et condidit C(o)elos" :
We will call upon, or pray to, the Father who made
the earth and founded the heavens; and the follow-
ing lines from the Old Testament: Dominus dixit ad
me filius nieus es tu " : "The Lord said unto me, Thou
art my son " (Psalms ii. 7); " Kcce virgo concipict et
j)ariet filium " : Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and
bear a son" (Isaiah vii. 4); "O mors oro mors tua
morsus tuus ero inferne " (" F,ro mors tua, O mors!
morsus tuus ero, inferne "): " O death, where are thy
plagues? O grave, where is thy destruction? " (Hosea
xiii. 14). Letters decorate Isaiah's garments, the loin
cloth of Christ, the robes of the Virgin and Joseph, and
the hat and scabbard of the man standing at the right
of the tapestry. On the scroll borne by an angel is
Gloria in exsexlis (excelsis) Deo et in ter" ("ra pax
hominibus bonae voluntatis '") : Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men "
(Luke ii. 14).
See the Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin, February, 1909,
Vol. 10. Whole No. 37, pp. 5-T.
EUROPEAN
241
242 WKSTKRX ART
Tliis tapestry (13| by 19} ft.) is the product of the best
period of the art in Flanders. On the left, Pharaoh on a
richly caparisoned horse, crowned and brandishing a sword,
rides in the midst of his disheartened soldiers, urging them
to press forward in spite of the constantly rising waters,
while Moses upon the shore, calm and complacent, points
out to the Israelites the contrast between their position, the
chosen people of the Lord, and that of their oppressors, the
Egyptians. The safety and comfort of the Israelites is em-
phasized still further by the land on which they stand, car-
peted with exquisite flowers of many varieties and shaded
by tall trees. The people are represented in the dress and
style of the artist's own period. The Egyptians wear the
armor of the fifteenth century, the Israelites, the costume
of civilians of that time. The areas occupied by the vari-
ous colors greens, blues, reds, and soft dull tans are
proportioned so as to give a very harmonious effect. Silk
and gold add light and richness. The whole is surrounded
by a compact border of flowering branches tied with ribbon.
EUROPEAN
243
The Efficacy of tfie Sacrament
Fntiflt Tajtestry Early Sixteentii Century
Two scenes, the legends beneath explaining their sig-
ni6cance.
"Par la vertu du Sacrament
Fut demonstre ung grant miracle
Car le diable visiblement
Sortit hors dung dcmoniacle."
(The power of the Sacrament was demonstrated by a
groat miracle, for tbe devil "'as seen to pass out of a man
possessed.)
"Ung payen sans honneur passa
Par devant le sainct Sacrament
Mais son cheval se humilia
Puys crut le payen fermement."
(A pagan passed before the Holy Sacrament without
homage. His horse, however, abased itself; whereupon
the pagan became a firm believer.)
244
WESTERN ART
One of the most at-
tractive phases of Ital-
ian art of the middle of
the fifteenth century is
its sympathetic treat-
ment of childhood.
The youthful St.
Johns, the Davids, and
the very human Christ
Child are among the
gifts of the Renais-
sance to modern art.
This group of two boys
in marble recalls the
work of Donatello at
Padua and elsewhere.
The humanism of
the time found expres-
sion in both painting
and sculpture. The
Renaissance sculptors
worked in marble,
bronze, and clay. Luca
della Robbia toward the middle of the fifteenth century
first applied the white enamel glaze to modelled groups of
terra-cotta figures. This form of art became very popular
in Italy and was practised for about a century by the della
Robbia family. The colors at first were white for the fig-
ures of the simple groups and blue for the background, but
gradually other colors, as well as more detail, were added.
The group on the opposite page is probably from the
workshop of Andrea della Robbia. In spite of the long,
thin fingers of the mother, and her face a little vacant and
formal, the hieratic conception of the Mother and Divine
Child seems far away, and the life of human infancy very
near. The position suggests an instinctive appeal to the
Mother from something that has caught the Child's eye
Marble Group
Style of Donatello Fifteenth Century
Ml KOPEAX
245
Madonna and Child School of Andrea detta Robbia
Florence, Sixteenth Century
246 WESTERN ART
Mini(i nnil ( 'luld: Stune i'r< m-li
EUROPEAN
Client irifli I'irri-nl l' IK IK
Italian, Fifteenth to Sixteenth Century
FfOllf I'dHfl <>f <> Ch.tt
French, late Fifteenth Century
248
WKSTKKN ART
Wood Panels, Flamboyant Gotfiic, Sixteenth Century
To see the great cathedral* of the Gothic age one must
journey from place to place in western Europe, but the
spirit of the time is felt in even its smallest works. The
torso of the Madonna and Child pictured on page 255
represents the style of the Pisani ; the small ivory
carving is French work of the fourteenth century.
The elaborate metal cross is later.
The successive stages in the progress of Gothic design are
often marked by characteristic patterns in the tracerv or
frame work of the glass of windows. In the earlier period
these were quite simple: later they became connected
geometric patterns, which in time often changed to a design
of flowing and complex curves. These window tracery
patterns were applied to stone surfaces, to wood carving,
and in fact, wherever ornament was used. The wood panels
pictured here are all of late design and belong to Northern
Europe, where the Gothic style held its own long after
Renaissance ornament derived from classic art had taken
its place in Italy.
EUROPEAN
249
Madonna and Child, Marble Madonna and Atujeror Constan-
tine. Sl'2 A.D. The
sleeping Emperor
sees in a dream an
angel above him
holding in one hand the Cross and in the other a scroll
on which are the words "7n hoc nujno n'/ur.v." Attendants
bearing the Emj>eror's sword and armor stand at the right.
Chinese porcelain, brought to Kurope by trading vessels
in the sixteenth,
seventeenth, and
eighteenth centu-
ries, was imitated
in ]K)ttery in Hol-
land at Delft and
its neighborhood.
The chief charm
of Delft ware is
its deep blue and
white enamelled
decoration, but it
lacks the hardness
and translncency
of its Chinese
models. Ulue mid U'/iunto taijliato, or tela tagliata)
Laic Siflccnth Century
The needlework filling of the open spaces in the linen was
done with white thread, while for the laid-work embroidery
gold thread was used. This use of gold thread as well as
the design shows strong Kastmi inilueiur.
:>&*'
iL^^^SC^.. .r^gr;....;-: ... j^gQg ''." "ft-
Florcniinr Cut-irnrk (puntn iayluito.or tcla tatjliuta)
l-'.iykternth Century
The combination of many embroidery stitches and of
punto in aria with the cut-work adds greatly to the beauty
and value of this piece.
EUROPEAN
259
\ int'ttan J'oint ([>unto in aria)
Seventeenth ( 'cntury
\ rare example, strong and bold in design, and interesting
as the eonneeting link between the geometrical patterns of
retieella and the elaborate floriated patterns of the later
Venetian points.
Venetian Point (punto a rilicvo a fiorami) Seventeenth Century
Bold and strong in design, and of great delicacy of
execution.
260
WESTERN ART
I'oinf
(punto a roscllina)
About 1700 A. D.
French Point
Eighteenth Century
KUROl'l.AN
26l
Chalice TV/7, or Corfxirale, of Bobbin Luce Seventeenth Century
In each corner a double-headed eagle with a crown ; in
the middle of one side the Host, supported by cherubim ;
opposite, St. Symphorian, bearing a martyr's palm and led
by his mother. Balancing these on the other sides are
St. Francis of Assisi with the stigmata, and two birds, and
St. Tillo, with an abbot's staff and chalice, and two crowned
lions. Scrolls fill the intervening places. This piece inav
possibly have been made in Flanders by Spanish nuns.
This would account for the technique, which resembles the
work of both Milan and Flanders, and for the choice of
saints and motifs.
WI.SIT.IIX ART
French
Century
Fragment of the border of a tapestry. Figure of a
mail partly dressed in heliotrope cloth, seated and play-
ing a pipe; t\vo birds, flowers, and fruits. The cream-
colored ground is entirely of silk. The design, largely
of silk, is in flesh colors, cherry, heliotrope, greens,
and cream shading into brown. This is a good example
of the delicacy of the Krencli coloring and ot the fine-
ness of the work done in that country in the eighteenth
century.
'inulx in H OOa
and Stucco,
Gilded
EUROPEAN
In the eigh-
leenth century the
French were the
leaders in matters
of good taste and
elegance; French
furniture, French
interior decora-
tion, as well as
French manners,
set the standard
for Europe.
There are in
the Museum
eight large deco-
rative panels of
the eighteenth
century which
have designs of
great delicacy.
The figure on
01 ie of the two here
shown is remi-
niscent of Jean
Goujon and the
French Renais-
sance. The pan-
els should be
compared with
the old gilt frames
of the same pe-
riod around the
paintings by
Boucher in the
Picture Gallery.
late Eighteenth
Century
264
WESTERN ART
Tllll Mllfiif Ll'KKOIt
alioitt 1",(JO
This Chelsea group, modelled by Roubillac after Wat-
teau's picture, "L'agreable lecon," is typical of that phase
of eighteenth-century taste which amused itself by playing
at shepherd and shepherdess and was much given to
sentiment.
While Chelsea groups are made of artificial porcelain,
the contemporary German figurines, also well represented
in the Museum, are of true porcelain, which was first made
in Europe at Meissen in the eighteenth century.
EUROPEAN
265
ll'edyicood Blue Jasper Ware
Late Eighteenth Century
In Jasper ware, the most beautiful of the Wedgwood pro-
ductions, white cameos are placed upon a colored ground.
Jasper ware of the best period (1786-1795) is recognized
by its fine grain, even surface, and satiny feeling. The
white reliefs are sharply mod-
elled and are highly polished.
The body color is either lilac,
pink, sa;e green, yellow,
black, or some tone of blue.
All the different varieties
may be seen in the Museum
collection, which contains
also numerous smaller ob-
jects in Jasper ware, such
as snuff boxes, jewelry, etc.,
and a series of contempo-
rary portraits, one of which, ^
the astronomer Sir William
Herschel, is pictured here.
Wedgwood Plaque
Green Jasper Ware
266
WI.STKKX ART
The art of
the black-
smith in
the Middle
Ages was
more a d- fl
vanced in
France than |
in any other
country of
Furope, and
the most inter- x
esting ivinains of ^
that period are
hinges which at first \
consisted of a simple
*trap, but later became
very elaborate and covered \
the greater part of the door,
often serving as a kind of armor
against robbers. The magnin-'^H
cent hinges on the doors of Notre \
Dame in 1'aris are early thirteenth-
century work and show tlie skill at- x
tained by the French smiths in stamping '
the designs on the iron with metal dies.
Of this same period, but
less elaborate, is the grille
surmounting the tomb of
Queen Eleanor in West-
minster Abbey.
Fine grdles of riveted
quatrefoils wen- made in Italy ; but ironwork was a later
development in Germany, inspired by French exam-
ples; while the Flemish in the fifteenth century became
noted for their tall iron spires, which are still seen on
the Cathedrals of Antwerp, Ghent, and Bruges.
(\nnJ1e Jj racket
lull rltt<-i.t
I-' ni/nr of I In Royal Armory.
Mm/rill; Ani/iras Collection, I'iinna (see the Conmotugur for
February and Mareh, l!0t); Cataloijue. of tin' >'/>//:* vols. ; Arnn-ria .ln/i<''>'. - lliirliii la Renoistanct.
Silrer and I'urtu-. ChafTers. Hall Marks on Plate; Buck,
Old Plate; Rosenberg, her (,'ohlftcliinifdf Mrrkzeirhen : Museum
of Fine Arts. American Siln r. /.'"''<'; Museum of Fine Arts,
American Clmrcli Silrer. I'.i 1 1 : Jones, Morgan Collection, Wintl-
Kor Castle Collect Ion. 'I'oin -/ nf London Collectio)!. Czar of Russia's
Collection; Cripps. Old French Plate; Howard, Old London
Sllci r; Masse, Pewter Plate; Gale, Pewter and the Amateur
Collector.
Misci I/unions. Ferrari, 77 legno nelV Arte FtaUana; Ferrari,
// fi-rrn in I/' Art i llaliana ; Mns/e dis Arts Decoratifs, Le Bols
and Le Metal, 3 vols.; Buffum, Amber as a Gem; Fairbairn's
Books of Crests; Holden. Primer of Hi raid ry for Americans ;
British Museum i'afaloijue of Early Christian Antiquities; La-
barte, Arts of the Middle Ayes; Balcarres, Krolntion of Italian
Sculpture; Williams, Arts and Crafts of Older Spain, 3 vols.
CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
CHINESE
STONE | JAPASEO IDEALISTIC' P/MTIHS r ROTUNDA .
CULPTURE! | | T 1
MAIN FLOOR
GROUND FLOOR
(7 H-,
at which time and during the first part of the following
Ch'ing Dynasty the art of decorating porcelain reached
perhaps its greatest perfection, the glory of China has
been to a large extent a glory of the past.
An agricultural people, living in a once highly fertile
land, the Chinese have from time immemorial been
subject to raids from the fierce nomad tribes inhabiting
the great steppes to the North. The conquerors gen-
erally settled down after their victories, and gradually
became assimilated to the manners and customs of
their more civilized subjects only to be in their turn
overwhelmed by a fresh inroad from the North. The
vicissitudes attendant on these invasions, together with
the damage done by numerous great floods, have left
but few examples of the early art of China, mostly
bronxe vessels and ceremonial jade implements, which,
buried with the dead, have remained protected by the
earth till dug up by some later generation. The early
bronzes, some of them perhaps dating back two thou-
sand years before Christ, are generally of massive and
dignified form, decorated in moulded relief with dragon
monsters and conventional cloud, and other forms.
Other vessels are themselves fashioned in the forms of
animals or birds (see plate, p. 33S). The early jade
and other stone objects which have come down to us
are also nearly all of ceremonial quality, many of the
pieces reproducing the form of agricultural or warlike
implements, as well as mystic emblems connected with
the worship of nature (see plate, p. 336).
The grave pottery of the Han Dynasty (206 B. C.~
221 A. D.) seems generally to follow in style bronze
forms; its decoration becomes less conventional and
abounds in hunting scenes among the mountains, etc.
It is covered with a dark green glaze reminiscent of
the patina induced on bronze by the action of copper
salts (see plate, p. 3u).
2/8 CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
From the fourth century A. D. forward Buddhism,
which since about the beginning of the Christian era
had been slowly filtering into China from the Indian
frontier, became a living influence, and a new school of
art was developed at the hands of those artists and
artisans who followed in the steps of the Indian apostles
to furnish and adorn the newly-erected temples. This
Indian art, revelling in brilliant color and voluptuous
lines, received later at the hands of the more restrained
Chinese a dignity and impressiveness which it had
hitherto lacked, and so evolved an ideal type compa-
rable with, though differing from, that of Greece during
her period of highest achievement (see plates, pp. 291
and 305). At this time communication between Persia
and China over the great trade routes of the North
became intimate, and much of Persian influence became
apparent in Chinese decoration*
Every fresh impulse of Chinese thought or expression
found its echo on the shores of Japan, there to receive
the subtle refinement of native genius and to be pre-
served long after its memory had perished in the land
of its birth. Thus the earlier art history of both
countries may best be studied side by side.
Buddhism first reached Japan at the beginning of
the so-called Suiko period, 550-700, and the sculpture
of this era follows the style of contemporary Chinese
Art, being of a decidedly Indian type modified by
Chinese ideas. Soon, however, the innate Japanese
love of beauty became dissatisfied with purely abstract
representations and began to soften the rigidity of
outline and to add a certain character of tenderness
peculiar to the national consciousness.
The following Nara period, 700-800, witnessed in
Japan, as in China, the production of a vast amount of
sculpture, including the great seated bronze Buddha
of Todaiji, fifty-four feet in height, in which the be-
lievers sought, according to the then prevalent trend
CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART 2/9
of thought throughout the Buddhist world, to embody
an idea of the supreme unity of the cosmos in colossal
and calmly meditating representations of the Blessed
One."
The development of the idea of union between spirit
and matter led, during the Jogan period, 791-900,
to the representation of different attributes of the all-
producing Godhead as separate emanations. Thus was
created a pantheon of symbolical conceptions, which,
by their nearer approach to human kind, gained in
vigor while losing some of the solemnity of the earlier
works.
In the Fujiwara period, 900-1 IPO, Japan, having
assimilated the teachings of the continent, began to
evolve an art and culture more nationally distinctive.
With a return to ancient modes of thought, including
the idealization of womanhood, the gods became almost
maternal, and, in their infinite mercy and compassion,
granted salvation to even the weakest. The paintings
and sculpture of this period are characterised by great
delicacy of line and color, accompanied by the lavish
use of gold as representing the yellow light of Paradise.
Such conceptions, however, sapped the virility of the
court, with the result that the effeminate nobility left
the enforcement, of authority throughout the country
to despised provincial governors. The governors, pro-
totypes of the daimyo of a succeeding age, soon usurped
all power, and through their mutual jealousies and
struggles almost brought about a condition of anarchy.
Out of this turmoil arose the commanding figure of
Minamoto Yoritomo, who, aided by his chivalrous
brother Yoshitsune, sei/ed the chief power, under the
title of Shogun, "great general,'' and in 1190 fixed
his capital at Kamakura.
During the T'ang (A. D. Gl 8-907) and Sung
(960-1 280) Dynasties, Taoist and Neo-Confucian ten-
dencies of thought had brought to the fore in China
280 CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
the Zen sect of Buddhism, which, discarding ritual,
sought salvation through self-concentration and medi-
tation. This school endeavored to establish direct
communion with the inner spirit of things, regardless
of their external accessories, and deemed the least
atom as equal in importance to the greatest god in
the cosmic unity, a conception which had a vast effect
on contemporary art and gave birth to those simple
ink sketches whose slightest stroke is replete with
meaning. This was the great era of landscape paint-
ing, which no longer remained subsidiary to some figure
or incident portrayed, but became an end in itself and
produced those delightful and poetic sketches in which
the Sung masters, true impressionists, give us the echo
of a distant temple bell or the soft hush that comes
before the snow (see plates, pp. 311 and 812).
During the wars which in Japan ushered in the
Kamakura epoch, 1190-1337, there was developed a
spirit of individualism and hero-worship which, together
with the introduction of Zen modes of thought and the
establishment of a system of military feudalism, had a
great effect upon contem|M>rary art. This was the
great age of portraiture both in sculpture and painting,
when even the gods assumed more individualized char-
acteristics, and artists delighted in representing the
stress of battle and the achievements of famous war-
riors and saints (see plates, pp. 296 and 313). To
overawe the populace, we now first find paintings of
the horrors of hell, executed with the same strength
of delineation and vigorous spirit of action which
characterizes the other work of this period.
Owing to the steady growth of Zenism, with its
subjective idealism and search after the inner spirit of
things, the Ashikaga period, 1337~1582, is marked by
the general elimination of color and detail from paint-
ing. The great Ashikaga masters, like Sesshu and his
illustrious host of followers, in their enthusiasm for
CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART 281
simplicity, preferred the natural beauties of a bird or
a. flower to those of subjects more overlaid by circum-
stance (see plate, p. ,Slf>). From now on painting
truly becomes writing (the Japanese use the same word
for the two arts), and a pictured scene becomes rather
an essay or poem than a representation. The search
for hidden beauty in all things caused even the great-
est artists of this period eagerly to apply their genius
to the design and decoration of the humblest household
utensils. In carrying out the idea of hidden beauty,
they often concealed their finest work beneath a com-
paratively plain exterior, a practice which has to some
extent survived till the present day.
The feudal barons of the Ashikaga period were con-
stantly warring one with another, each striving to
obtain supreme control of the government. Out of
this state of chaos arose the figure of Toyotomi Hide-
yoshi, a man of the humblest origin, who, by his
Napoleonic genius, became in 1582 virtual ruler over
a unified Japan. Like most parvenus, he and his en-
nobled generals sought in their palaces for gorgeous
effects, often replacing the sober refinement of the
Ashikaga decoration by a wealth of gold and brilliant
color. In conformance with the taste of his patrons,
Eitoku and his army of pupils studied the models
brought back by Hideyoshi's generals on their return
from Korea, and upon their own native golden screens
enthusiastically produced gorgeous palace scenes after
the fashion of the Ming Academy, bountiful of color
and exuberant of spirit (see plate, p. 320).
Affected by the spirit of the times, Koetsu (d. 163?)
and his great followers, Sotatsu (middle seventeenth
century) and Korin (d. 1716), established the school
commonly known as that of Korin. This school sought
to combine the rich coloring of pre- Ashikaga days with
the bold treatment of the Zen school, and, anticipating
the French impressionists by two centuries, depended
282 CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
for its effects rather on broad masses of color than on
line (see plate, p. 3^23).
After the death of Hideyoshi, lyeyasu, the greatest
of the daimios, founded the Tokugawa Shogunate,
and through his Machiavellian skill in statecraft insti-
tuted a complicated system of control which enabled
his descendants peacefully to retain the Shogunaie
until the Restoration of 1868.
Under the encouragement of lyeyasu and his imme-
diate successors, Kano Tanyu and his followers endeav-
ored to return to the purity of the Ashikaga masters,
but with only partial success, for the spirit of the times
was against them, and the new nobility and rising
middle class demanded something more decorative and
easily understood than the spiritual concepts of Zen
philosophy. In response to this demand there arose
a more democratic school, and Sanraku (1559-1686),
gifted successor of Eitoku, Itcho (1651-1724), and
many another skilled painter employed their brushes
in depicting popular festivals and other everyday inci-
dents, thus preparing the way for the Ukiyo-e, or
school of common life.
After centuries, during which the various great feudal
princes had been almost constantly at war with each
other, came the long Tokugawa peace " and the rise
of the commons to positions of wealth and ease. These
people demanded an art which they could understand,
and in response to their call many Kano and other
artists began depicting the popular festivals and cus-
toms of the day with all the technical skill and tradi-
tion of their art heritage (see plate, p. 'i-JS). In
connection with this movement the art of printing
in colors from wooden blocks was brought to a high
state of perfection, but as later artists of the school,
with a few notable exceptions, in accordance with the
popular demand, turned their attention for the most
part to the portrayal of popular actors and beauties of
CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART 283
the Yoshiwara, their work narrowed and finally came
to an end amid the general upheaval attendant on the
Restoration of 18u\S.
In the middle of the eighteenth century there arose
in Kyoto a realistic school, which owed its inspiration
partly to the inception of a similar movement in China
and partly to a direct study of European models.
I nder such masters as Okyo, 17.'W~1795, and Ganku,
1 7 MI -1838, this school produced many delicate and
graceful compositions, which, however, sometimes
lacked the conviction inherent in the works of the
Abhikaga and Toyotomi masters (see plate, p. 3"24).
Amid the turmoil of the Restoration of 18G8 and
the subsequent indiscriminate enthusiasm for every-
thing Occidental, Japan for a while regarded her
native art and its ideals as necessarily inferior to those
of the countries whose scientific and mechanical tri-
umphs she so greatly admired. Gradually however,
after a more intimate acquaintance with the West, the
people of Japan are beginning to realize that in some
respects their own ancient civilization by no means
suffers in comparison with that of Europe and America,
and many artists, adopting from foreign practice such
aids as seem to them desirable, are again seeking
inspiration from the ideals of their own eai-ly masters.
F." G. C.
Bibliography. W. Anderson, I>escriptire and Historical
(\itnlogiie <>f a Collection of Japanese, and Chinese Paintings
in the liriti.ih Museum, London, 1886; H. A. Giles, Introduc-
tion in the History of Chinese Pictorial Art, Shanghai, 1905 ;
K. V. Strange, JMMMM I II nut rat ion. History of the. Arts of
Wood-Carving and Colour Printing in Japan. London, 1897,
and ilioMMMMM Colour Prints. London, 1904; W. von Seidlitz,
QttckiekU di-s .Ifipaiii.ti-ht n l-'arl>i-iiliolis<-hnitt.t. Dresden, 1897
(English translation, London, 1910); the Catalogues of the
l-'.i-/iifiifioii.i of Japanese Prints htld at the Muse.e des Arts
I >>'<<> rat if s. Paris. 1J0. 1910, 1911; S. W. Bushell, Chinese
Art, 2 vols., London, 1904; L. Binyon, Painting in the Far
284 CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
East, London, 1908; A. Morrison, The Painters of Japan,
2 vols. ; E. Fenollosa, Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art,
New York (n. d, ); O. Kiimmel, KmutftiPirbe in Japan,
Berlin, 1911; M. A. Stein, Ancient Khutan, "2 vols., Oxford,
1907; E. Chavannes, La Sculpture snr Pierre en Chine, Paris,
1893; Mission Archeologique dans la Chine Septentionale, Paris,
1909-13; Havell, Indian Sculpture and Painting, London,
1908, and The Ideals of Indian Art; B. Laufer, Chinese Pottery
of the Han Dynasty, Leiden, 1909, Jade, A Study in Chinese
Archaeology and Religion, Chicago, 1912; Illustrated Cata-
logue of Early Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, Burlington Fine
Arts Club, 1910; Japanese Te-mples and Their Treasures, Tokyo,
1910; and Histoire de L' Art du Japon, Paris, 1900; Okakuru-
Kakuzo, Ideals of the East with Especial Reference to the Art
of Japan, second edition, New York, 1904, and Hie Book of
Tea, New York, 1906; M. Anesaki, Buddhist Art in It a Relation
to Buddhist Ideals; Ars Asiatica: Etudes et documents pnl>lies
sous la direction de Victor Goloubew, Paris, 1912-14; A. Brock-
haus, Netsuke, Versucheiner Oeschichle derjapanischen Schnitz-
kunst (second edition), Leipzig, 1909; L. Binyon, Painting in
the Far East, London, 1913.
CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART 285
SCULPTURE
The earliest examples of Chinese stone sculpture known
to us date from the Han period, B. C. 206-A. D. 221.
They are, for the most part, in the form of thickish
slabs of gray limestone decorated on one side with
chiselled drawings of semi-legendary scenes, and were
used as sheathing for the small anti-vaults and more
imposing pillars built to mark the graves of important
people. Of these slabs the Museum possesses several
specimens which may be attributed to the second cen-
tury of our era. The designs they bear are executed
in broad outline, with so little suggestion of relief
modelling that they seem to be more nearly related to
painting than to sculpture. They are, moreover, char-
acteristically Chinese quite unaffected, apparently,
either in motive or in technique, by the religious ideas
and arts which had found their way from Buddhist
India to China at least one hundred years before the
date assumed for these slabs. Three centuries later,
however, the influence of Buddhism was already widely
disseminated among the Chinese, and was everywhere
stimulating the production of monumental sculpture
in the round a form of artistic expression for which
the Chinese seem never before to have felt any
great need.
In the Museum's numerous collection of Buddhist
and Taoist sculpture this striking development of
what was practically a new art in China may be ade-
quately followed throughout the period of its greatest
activity, from the fifth to the ninth century,
special attention being merited by the two heroic
figures of Kuan Yin (one seated, the other standing)
and the smaller marble statue of a Bodhisattva,
286 CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
each one typiral of an important phase in this brilliant
evolution.
As examples of early Japanese sculpture there is a
rather primitive but interesting wooden figure of Kwan-
non, probably of the early Tempyo period (7'-'!> ?!S)
and a magnificent heroic Bodhisattva of the late Tempyo
period, carved with the exception of the arms, which
are a later restoration from a single block of wood.
This figure follows T'ang ideals, but with a certain
softening of line and nearer approach to humanity
peculiar to all Japanese translations from the Chinese.
Another very fine example of the work of this period is
a little bron/e statue of a standing Kwannon in which
dignity and tenderness are wonderfully combined, while
the following Jogan period (794-900) is represented by
a number of specimens, among which is a classically
Chinese wooden figure of Taishaku-ten (the gift of a
member of the Department) once completely overlaid
with a brilliant decoration of mitsudaso," a mixture
of oil, pigment, and white lead, of which traces re-
main on the face, hands, and a few small portions of
the robe.
Among the Fujiwara pieces (900-1 1 92) is a Dai-Itoku
of the tenth century, whose triple head shows wonder-
ful modelling, and a large Amida, whose calm, dispas-
sionate serenity well expresses the trend of religious
thought at that period.
Among a number of Kamakura (l 193 139^) pieces
are two small figures of monks whose individuality
stands forth strongly, and a dated (l322) Ji/o, which
well shows the closer approach, in this period of indi-
vidualism and hero worship, of divine types toward
those of humanity.
In the Ashikaga (1393-1578) and Tokugawa (l<>03-
1868) periods representations of the gods became
highly formalixed, while the development of the
iVo-drama, in which ancient heroes and semi-mythical
CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART 287
characters related their philosophic and temporal
adventures, called forth a school of mask carvers,
perhaps the greatest ever known in the world's his-
tory, of whose work the Museum possesses some fine
specimens. J. E. L.
288
CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
CHINESE SCULPTURE
289
Kuan Yin, Deity of Compassion
Chinese, Early Fifth Century Height, 1.965 m.
Given by Dr. Denman W. Ross in memory of
Okakura-Kakuzo, late Curator of Chinese and Japanese
Art at the Museum.
2QO CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
Yin, /''//>/ <>f
Chinese, L,r l-'.urlij S/ r tlt < '< ntiinj lit in0~1337
JAPAN KSK MASKS
299
A Hoy
Japanese, "No" mask, signed Sukemitsu. Early eigh-
teenth century.
The "No" is a semi-religious opera dealing with
historical and legendary incidents through a Buddhist
interpretation.
The Spirit of the Pine Tree
Japanese, "No" mask. Japanese, "No" mask.
Middle of the sixteenth Early sixteenth century,
century.
300 CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
PAINTING
Some twenty-five years ago, at a time when the
Japanese were ready, in their enthusiasm for Western
civilization and methods, to cast aside many of their
artistic heirlooms, the late Prof. E. F. Fenollosa
and Dr. W. S. Bigelow, at that time residing in
Japan, with wise foresight sei/ed the opportunity be-
fore them and began the two great collections of
kakemono, rolls and screens, which now form the
backbone of the Museum Collection.
The late Dr. Charles G. Weld, who purchased the
Fenollosa Collection and kept it at the Museum, at his
death bequeathed the same to it, together with a mag-
nificent collection of swords, lacquer, etc., which he
had himself accumulated, and at the same time Dr.
Bigelow presented his entire- collections to the Mu-
seum. Although through the generosity of Dr. Ross
and other benefactors of the Museum the Department
of Chinese and Japanese Art has been enabled to add
many precious examples of the great period of Chinese
and Japanese painting to those which it already had in
its keeping, it would have been utterly impossible for
it ever to have reached its present quality and size
without the aid of those two early collections, made at
a time when it was possible to purchase works which,
if to-day in Japan, would either be registered as
"National Treasures," and so unattainable, or, if
privately owned, would be held at prohibitive prices.
At the present writing the Museum possesses of
Chinese paintings :
T'ang Dynasty
Sung 69
Yuan 21
Ming 74
Ch'ing 45
Total of Chinese paintings 215
PAINTING 301
Sino Tibetan paintings :
Yuan Dynasty 6
Ming 42
nt ' "
Ch ing . . 9
Total of Sino Tibetan paintings 57
Korean paintings :
Chosen 21
Japanese paintings :
Fujiwara Buddhist .... g
Kamakura 132
Romantic 2
Ashikaga Buddhist 118
Idealistic 91
Romantic 5
Kano 866
Post Ashikaga Idealistic 299
< < < <
Buddhist 43
Tosa 110
^oetsu 40
t'kiyo-e 884
Bunjin 56
Nagasaki 106
Dutch 11
Kyoto 639
Mixed 65
Miscellaneous 2
Modern 32
Total of Japanese paintings 3,503
Grand total . . 3,796
1 Including Sotatsu, Korin, and Hoitsu.
The above, which is the exhibition list, includes two
hundred and forty-nine six-fold screens. Copies, etc.,
of which there are about seven hundred, are not in-
cluded.
302 CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
The oldest and one of the most beautiful and inter-
esting pieces in tlir collection is a Hokke Mandara,
representing the Buddha seated upon the " Kagle
Peak " in the midst of an attendant concourse of
Bodhisattva and Kakan, to whom he expounds the
Mahayana principle. Although much of the back-
ground and lower part of the picture has been de-
stroyed, one finds in the figure of the Blessed One "
and his attendants the same calm sublimity of spirit
and exquisite feeling for line which mark our famous
marble torso of Kwannon, but in this case with the
added glory of that color which the latter has lost,
while a close study of the background yields us con-
siderable insight to a feature of T'ang painting hitherto
little known.
The celebrated album of Yuan Yuan, a scholar and
expert of the eighteenth century, which has recently
come into our possession, contains a number of little
Tang and Sung paintings of exquisite quality, while
in the roll of the Emperor Hui Tsung we have a
wonderfully preserved example of the delicate drawing
and fascinating color of a great artist following, accord-
ing to tradition, the work of a Tang master. Besides
the ten paintings of the Daitokuji Kakan set we have
a complete set of sixteen Rakans by Lu Hsin-chung
( Rikushinchu), with the artist's signature in small
characters upon the trunk of a pine tree in one of
them.
Among the Sino and Nepali-Tibetan paintings we
have, one of them a Shaka, five pieces from a very fine
and rare Yuan set of Rakans, taken from the Iwunascry
of the summer palace at its sacking in IStJO, while of
the Ming Academicians we have a number of notable
examples, including a long roll "Spring Festival,''
attributed to Ch'iu Ying, a fine mountain landscape by
Lan Ying, and a deliciously delicate Harp Player in
a Pavilion ' ' by Ch'iu Ying.
PAINTING 3^3
The eight Fujiwara Buddhist paintings in the
Japanese Collection arc all of high quality, especially,
perhaps, the great tenth century Bishamon Mandara,
with its wonderful sweep of line and eolor, surely the
original composition of a great master, while among
the one hundred and thirty-three Buddhist paintings
of the Kamakura period it would be strange indeed if
there were not some of the highest order, full of the
vigor and stern individualism of that warlike era. Of
the Kamakura Romantic school \\ e have a fragment
from the famous Jigoku Zoshi or Hell scenes and one
of the three famous rolls, formerly attributed to Sumi-
yoshi Keion, which hold first rank among the battle
pictures of Japan.
Among the one hundred and eleven Ashikaga Bud-
dhist paintings are many rich pieces, but the greatest
talent of the day followed the triumphant march of
/en thought, and expressed itself mostly in the strong
black and white impressionism of Sesshu and his noble
following. Among the eighty-eight screens and paint-
ings of this era in the Museum may be mentioned a
Josetsu landscape from the Kobori Knshu Collection, a
pair of monkey and bird screens painted by Sesshu at
the age of seventy-two years, and a pair of monkey
screens formerly attributed to Sesson, but now proved
to be part of the same set of which the Miyoshinji
Temple possesses two examples mounted as kakemono
and known to be the work of Tohaku.
Of the 1'ost Ashikaga Idealistic and early Kano
schools we have fine specimens of nearly all the great
masters, together with several splendid pairs of golden
flower screens by Sotatsu, the far-famed wave screen"
of Korin, and other smaller paintings by these artists
and their followers. The long Tokugaw r a Peace,"
1603-1868, witnessed a period of luxury during which
the Kano Academy, the latter Tosa school, Kyoto
Naturalists, the new Ukiyo-e school, and others, vied
304 CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
with each other in the quality and quantity of their
artistic output, fine specimens of which, by the best
masters of the day, may be freely found among the
many pieces in the Museum.
Owing to the great si/e of the collection, even with
greatly added facilities for exhibition, the Department
will never be able to put before the public at any one
time more than a very small proportion of its treasures ;
it will, however, be always ready to receive visitors at
its executive office, and to sho\v them, under such
regulations as are necessary, any further paintings
which they may desire to see. F. G. C.
CHINESE PAINTING
305
Bodhutattra, detail from Unlike MtUtdam
Painting in full color on silk, probably Chinese of
T'ang Dynasty, A. D. 618-907.
CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
Chinese Buddhist Painting
Late Sung Period, 960-1280
One of five Rakan, or saints, manifesting himself as
the Eleven-headed Kw.nmion. This painting in full
color on silk is one of one hundred pieces formerly in the
possession of Daitokuji Temple, Kyoto, five of them
signed by Chou Chi-chang (Shukijo) and Lin Ting-
kuei (Rinteikei), late twelfth century. The Must-urn
possesses ten of the set.
CHINESE PAINTING
3O/
Cliiinsr ll/n/illiixt I'ninfliiif fni Xirh'i, full color on silk
Japanese, Fujiwara Period Late Eleventh Century
CHINKSK AND JAPANESE ART
Detail from M ' I'n />/'//// UK- AYir Silk "
Chinese, painted by tlie Kniperor ilui TSUIIy>i' c
C
S
.
f.
G
x
JAPANKSE PAINTING
3'
"*n.
LaMtcofM Axhihii'in Period, 133
Painting on paper in ink, with slight color. School of
Motonobu, 1477-1559.
CIIINr.SK AND .1 A I' \\KSK ART
I'nlrtm (m a Hock Avhikaijd 1'i'rind, 1.1. 17
In monochrome, on paper, by Kaihoku-Yusho, 1532-
1615.
JAPANESE TAINTING
3'9
j
I
o
I
o
M. Not /<(/< r Ilinn /Jn- 7'm/fi ('nilnnj II. < '.
Probably "srl in coiiiu-c-tion \\iili sarrific-ial worship
of Heaven.
( H1NKSK BKON/.I.
333
Cllilliai llrnir.i . 'I 'xii ll
J. C. 1000
iiinxf llron-1, Tsiolt
Circa B. C. 1000
334 CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
Chinese Bronze Mirror (reverse side)
The design is an arrangement in concentric spaces
about the large knob, of leaf-like ornaments, nipples, the
seven divine figures, birds, fishes, and beasts. The cast-
ing is remarkable ; it was probably done at the shang-fang,
the imperial foundry, in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-
221 A.D.).
CHINESE BRONZE
Chinese, Rronze, JI:;i, iri/h hisrrip/inn (jiritifj Sale, A . J).
T'ang Mirror.
The large central
design sliows two
phoenixes on
clouds symmetri-
cally placed, and
two ornaments as
settings for char-
acters which read
one thousand
autumns" and
signify longevity.
The border shows
conventional
clouds, lotus
sprays, and four
jewels."
Bronze Mirror (reverse side)
Chinese, T'ang Dynasty
336
CHINKSK AND .IAPANKSK AUT
Jnili 1'i, nn i inlli in of nmk
SWORD FURNITURE
337
338
CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
Sword Guard (Iron)
Mloclilii Sti/lf
Late Eighteenth Century
Sironl Guard (iron)
Si>/iit(l Mynrhin Miincyoshl
Design of fireflies
and grasses in sha-
kudo (a composi-
tion of gold and
copper), copper,
and gold, on iron,
by Itsuriuken Mi-
boku, a celebrated
artist of the Nara
School, 1695-1769.
Design of stone
lanterns in silver,
shibuichi (composi-
tion of silver and copper), and gold, on shakudo, by At-
suoki, who worked in Kyoto about 1840-1860. Otsuki
school.
Japanese Sword Furniture, Kozuka Hilts
Japanese Gold Lacquer Ink-box in Shape of Fan
Probably by a Kyoto Artist Late Eighteenth Century
340
CHINKSK AND JAI'ANKSK AKT
Japanese Lacquer Inrn (Mi //>///, /Jo.o.v
from Ihf, (,'inlle
' Hill ll
Inro. Rice-boats floating ,, tin- water. Applied lead
and mother-of-pearl. Signed Koma-Kwansai. Prob-
ably the second Kwansai, early nineteenth century.
^ Black lacquer, with porcelain toys applied. Signed
Haritsu, eighty-four years old," KKJ4.-17 17.
Crows in autumn forest. Signed Kajikawa. Prob-
ably the second Kajikawa, about the middle of the
seventeenth century.
CHINESE POTTI.KY
341
Cli!in:-i I'nf /ii't/. Jinn I>i/ii.
'.'/// >/>nis/i/
Figures of men and animals, and models of houses,
utensils, and the like, ha\ e been buried with the Chinese
dead apparently since early in the Han Dynasty, 1J. C.
206-A. D. 220. The horse and the camel illustrated
are made of very soft, white clay moulded in several
parts, which were originally held together by slip and
the glaze. They are fine examples of the best work
of this kind from the T'ang Dynasty, 018-907 A. D
F. S. K.
< IIINKSK I'Olil KI.AIN
< '//'/'//./ hi/misty
CIIINKSK I'OIMT.I.MN
Porcelain the hard, translucent , thoroughly vitrified
wan was first made in China. For centuries its pat-
terns and colors influenced the pot lery ot'bot h F.u rope and
Western Asia, hut not until the eighteenth century was it
successfully imitated in Europe. It is said that the first
porcelain was produced in the effort of the potters to
imitate the appearance of jade, which is so "'really ad-
mired by the Chinese. Many literary references testify
to the beauty of the early porcelain, but few if any ex-
isting specimens go back airther 1 han the Ming Dynasty,
l.'ltiS hill-. The history of Chinese porcelain is the
history of the Imperial factory at Ching-le-chen, rebuilt
in I ,'itJ!) by the founder of the Ming Dynasty. Its period
of greatest splendor was within the reign of the Kmperor
K'ang Hsi, lt)(i"J 17--, when the earlier porcelain
gla/es and designs were reproduced and new ones in-
vented. The brilliant colors and bold decora! ion of this
period were refined and weakened within the following
century, and in part supplanted by a naturalistic floral
decoration with carefully finished details in over-gla/e
pigment and enamels. Since the eighteenth century
the art of porcelain-making has lost its high distinction.
F. S. K.
346 CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
Chinese Porcelain Ming Dynasty, 1368-1662
In the Museum collection may be found many examples
of porcelain glazed in single colors, varieties of blue and
white, pure white, porcelain with colors under the glaze, or
with painting over the glaze ; in all a body of rich material
for the study of the art. A jar of the seventeenth
century, illustrated on this page, shows a five-clawed
imperial dragon rising from the waves into the clouds
in pursuit of the flaming jewel of omnipotence. The
design is in white with engraved details under the
glaze, reserved against a ground of dark blue.
CHINESE PORCELAIN
347
Chinese Porcelain Vase, Height 30 in.
K'ang Hsi Period (1662-1722)
348
CHINKSK AND JAPANKSK ART
w
liim-fif Tiifii'tifry .It' nif / ',ini .1. /.
of a larger |IK (< i.f t lie early Miur Dynasty.
MORSE COLLKCT10N' 349
THE MORSE COLLECTION OF J.\i'\\i:si: POTTKKY
VAUIOl'S jH'iiods are rceogni/ed in the development
of pottery in .I;ip;m. 'I'lie preliislorie pottery ex-
humed in various parts of the empire is found in the
shell heaps seattered along the shores 1'iom Ve/o in the
north to Higo in the extreme south. The pottery is usually
in fragments, entire vessels l>eing rare. It is hand-made,
decoration either cord marked or incised with curious vari-
ations in form in different localities. As the Ainu occupied
the entire land In-fore the Japanese, it was naturally sup-
posed that this early pottery was made by the Ainu, though
there is no historic evidence that the Ainu ever made
pottery. An art of this kind once acquired is never lost by
a savage people. (Kxamples of this prehistoric jx>ttery
may be found on the two lower shelves in Case II.)
Next comes the carlv historic pottery, lathe-turned, un-
pla/.ed and identical in form and purpose with Korean
pottery of the same |>eriod. This pottery consists of mortu-
ary vessels and is found in dolmens and mounds. It has an
age of from twelve to fifteen hundred years.
The first definite history of the potter's art in Japan be-
gins with the work of Toshiro in Seto in the thirteenth
century, though fragments of green-gla/ed pottery have
been dug up in Omi to which a famous expert ascribed an
age of nine hundred years. In the ancient storehouse at
Xara a soft green-glazed pottery is preserved which is
known to IK> a thousand years old. This, however, is prob-
ably Chinese.
The formal ceremonies associated with the drinking of
powdered tea exerted a lasting influence on the |>otter's art
and gave it that reserve and simplicity which is so char-
acteristic of Japanese pottery.
The collection of Japanese Pottery is exhibited in the
room at the left of the entrance to the Museum. Each
case is numbered to facilitate reference to the plate in the
350 JAPANESE POTTERY
catalogue where the objects are described. The table
with the catalogue may be rolled from case to case for
purposes of study. In this collection is brought together
the work of nearly every potter in Japan up to within
thirty years, and the objects are arranged by provinces.
If one will recall the pottery of the Baltic provinces he will
remember that little or no distinction is seen in the work,
each potter copying the forms and rude decorations of the
others. The Black Forest potters, covering a wide area,
again show nothing distinctive in their work. In Japan, on
the contrary, a local pride prompted the potter, the lac-
querer, and other artisans to produce something original
either in form or decoration, so that the provinces are dis-
tinctive, and the names of the provinces are often used in a
generic way in designating the pottery, such as Satsuma,
Bizen, Izumo, Kaga, Awaji, etc. After the provinces were
brought together under a strong central government in
1868, provincial feeling still survived, and each province
prided itself on special products, such as pottery, lacquer,
textile fabrics, and the like. The strongly marked differ-
ences between the dominant pottery of certain provinces
may be seen by comparing the following cases: Hizen, 3,
4; Bizen, 5; Higo, 8; Nagato, 10; and many others.
The Japanese potter derived certain methods of tech-
nique from the Koreans, and for this reason a small collec-
tion of Korean pottery has been brought together in Case I.
The objects range in age from a thousand years and over to
the present time. In Case 2 is a collection of early historic
and prehistoric pottery of Japan.
The casual visitor may enjoy the collection by simply
noticing the remarkable qualities of glaze, the curious
motives of design, the variety of form, and, above all, the
reserve and sobriety shown in the decorative treatment.
For sources of information, the work of amateur potters, motives
of decoration, Korean influences, uses of objects and other details,
reference must be made to the illustrated catalogue of the collection
published in 1901.
MORSE COLLECTION
351
Pottery of the Province of Sanuki
Morse Collection, Case 19
352
J.M'ANKSK 1'OTTKRY
Koda roller i/, I'rorinre of IIi(jo
A fine example of Koda pottery. Tlir gla/e is gray; the
design incised and filled with white clay. Height, 5 inches.
Morse Collection. Case 8.
.MOUSE COLLECTION
353
Bottle Talcafort I'olicry, I'rurmrc of Chikuzen
A good example of the freedom of the Japanese potter.
A leaf design slashed in long strokes. The sides are in-
dented for convenience of handling. Height, 12 inches.
Morse Collection. Case 18.
COLLECTION OF PRINTS
(Fenway Entrance)
(From the Huntinjton
Avenue linildlny)
GROUND I''I<>OK
Pr indicates the office of the ]>p,,>-lni,n
COLLECTION OK PRINTS
357
The resources of the collection of prints are difficult to
illustrate, since half-tone reproductions, while presenting
an apparent facsimile, fail to rentier the subtler qualities
which constitute the charm and the value of prints. The
illustrations are given merely to surest ;l ' ( ' w "' *ne numer-
ous spheres of interest available.
The collection was begun in 1S7-2 by the gift of one print.
To-day it holds a leading place among print collections
in this country. The volume of material necessary to the
usefulness of a collection of this kind forms an obstacle to
its winning wide popular favor. Only a small fraction of
(lie eighty thousand prints (approximately) which form
the collection can be shown at any one time in the
exhibition rooms. The visitor to the galleries is not
ware of the great mass of material in the Print Rooms,
ready to provide pleasure and information.
A few words concerning the range of the collection
will not be amiss. If one desires to hark back to early days
of engraving, there is virile Mantegna sketching on copper
his strong figures, instinct with dignified grandeur. Earlier
yet are the great series of Sibyls and Prophets and the
famous Tarocchi, while the goldsmith's niello impressions
offer some earl J experiments in printingfrom metal plates.
The Museum is fortunate in possessing a number of these
early prints. Turning to northern art, one visitor may
358 COLLECTION OF PRINTS
prefer the spring-like purity of Schongauer's engravings,
or he may respond to the power of Durer's expressive,
forcible conceptions. The vigorous message of early
German woodcuts may afford pleasure to some, while
others will prefer the bold, broad treatment of Italian
chiaroscuro, suggesting by graded tones the varied effects,
of the painter's work. Raphael's genius may be ap-
proached through the medium of his faithful engraver,
Marcantonio. The realism of seventeenth century art
in the Netherlands offers an immense field in etching
Besides the Flemish engravings of Bolswert, Pontius,
and others of the Rubens school, there are the por-
traits in Van Dyck's famous "iconography," there are
Cornel Visscher's forceful likenesses and DelfTs plates,
the Dutch peasant scenes of Ostade, the cattle pieces
of Paul Potter, de Laer, Berghem, Dujardin, the landscapes
of Ruysdael and Waterloo, and, above all, the masterly
plates of Rembrandt, whose wonderful, versatile genius can-
not fail to awaken a deepening interest. A large collection
of Rembrandt's drawings in excellent reproduction helps
to bring out the unique powers of the great Dutch master.
In France portrait engraving reaches its highest perfection
with Morin, Nanteuil, Edelinck, and the Drevet. From
these beautiful plates one may turn with interest to the Eng-
lish school of mezzotint engravers, to the portrait work of
Green, McArdell, Smith, Ward, Watson, Reynolds, to the
plates of Earlom or the stipples of Bartolozzi. Constable's
realistic landscapes are interpreted by the mezzotints of
Lucas. Again a different mood will be met by Canaletto's
breezy Italian landscape etchings.
An unfailing source of delight is always open to the
amateur of landscape art in the wonderful plates of
Turner's Liber Studiorum, England and Wales, and
other series. The beauty of the French metropolis
inspires Me'ryon's series of Paris etchings, and Whistler in
his Thames set has recorded the poetry of a traffic-laden
river. Then there are Haden and Lalanne, Klinger and
COLLECTION OF PRINTS
359
Buhot, Corot, and Millet; there are Gaillard's exquisite
portraits as well as the lithographs of Delacroix, Haffet,
Daumier, Gavarui, Isabey, Dupre, and Bonington.
The collection of American prints, though rather
deficient in examples of early work, offers abundant
material for the study of the nineteenth century.
The Print Department is also the repository for the
collection of drawings (pp. 368-37^).
tfadonno if
Diirer is the greatest painter-engraver of the sixteenth
eentury. I lisart, largely allusive, filled with t lion "lit, de-
mands thought on the jiart of the IxOiolder. Although able
to express l>eaiitv, he generally sets it aside for expressive-
ne>s, action, power. Standing on the threshold of modern
times, Diirer links the dark ages with our own. Ohsrure
though his art may be at times, il always proves stimulating.
362 COLLECTION OF PRINTS
Frans Snyders (First State)
Etching by Van Dyck, 1599-1641
For purity of style Van Dyck's portrait etchings are
unrivalled. They were done in so fresh and personal a
manner as to be unappreciated by his contemporaries,
so that in many cases formal backgrounds and accesso-
ries were added with the burin by professional engravers.
The Museum collection contains the majority of his
portraits, in early states, before this additional work.
COLLECTION OF PRINTS
363
Blind Tobit
Etching by Rembrandt, 1606-1669
Amidst the vast number of famous Dutch artists stands
the mighty personality of Rembrandt. Be his medium the
brush, the pen, or the etching needle, he infuses into
his art the vital, compelling force of the thought which
animates him. He masters the secrets of nature by
incessant study and keen observation. One of many
examples of his powers is this groping figure of Tobit.
364
COLLECTION OK PRINTS
J'tirtrilif of I'inii/Kiii, ,1, Ili-lli! i- i-r
I '.mi nii-iii, i I, if n,,l,,-rl \aiil, nil. H! .'.! (.')-/678
French en<^ra\ ing is seen to l>est advantage in the work
of seventeenth-century m^rnvers. Amon^ tin-in none <|iiite
equals the excellence of Kolx-rl Nauteiiil. In his plates the
last word of technical perfection is spoken, vet (lie engrav-
er's refined taste keeps technique subservient to the message
of his art.
COLLECTION OF PRINTS
M.iri/. />///
M> ~:<>tinf Ill/iff tiriitif In/ .l
,///7~/S.:7
Creation of
Colored ]>r,i,ri,i;/ Inj \\'illii
William Blake was ;i inyslic, living ammitf visions
which lie attempted t( interpret in his art. His pow-
erful miH-rptiMiis \\illi their* exquisite coloring and thrir
pcruliaritics of form carry one away fnun the realities
COLLECTION OF PRINTS
369
A<1um and lire and the Antjtl Raphael
Colored Drawing by W'dimm Illake, 1757-1S27
of life. Kve takes shape at the Creator's bidding, amid
quiet, low shadings of gray and green. Again a nacreous
glo\v of colors pervades the seated figure of Raphael.
The Museum owns a number of these masterly drawings.
3/0
COLLECTION OF PRINTS
~
The y J. F. Millet, 1814-1875
The life and toil of the peasant forms the dominant
theme of Millet's art. His genius for terse expressive-
ness is revealed in a score of sketches in the collection.
COLLECTION OF PRINTS
371
I'ntxiint vitlt a WlinUxirrow
I>nnrhiff ly J. F. Millet, 1814-1875
Close observation of the interplay of muscular effort
and the force of gravitation is evident in this drawing,
which is a preparation for the etching of the same subject.
372
COLLECTION OF PRINTS
Besides the Blake drawings and the sketches of Millet,
the Museum owns a number of drawings in charcoal by
William Morris Hunt, and a miscellaneous assemblage of
sketches by various artists, among them some examples
of the art of Tiepolo. This small collection of original
drawings is supplemented by numbers of excellent
reproductions of the masterly drawings of Rembrandt,
Durer, and other famous artists, found in the great col-
lections of Europe. Reproductions <>t' Men/el's works
and colored reproductions of sketches by Degas and
Renouard are frequently consulted by visitors.
Woman Feeding Her Child
l>i/ J. F. Mi Hit, lXl.' t -lS75
LIBRARY
AND
COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS
LIBRARY 377
LIBRARY
NOT until 1 879, three years after the opening of the
Museum in Copley Square, was a room equipped to
serve the specilic purposes of the Library, but the
establishment of a special Library was mentioned in the
statement of the objects of the Museum issued by the
Trustees upon their incorporation in 1S70, and the con-
tribution of one thousand dollars offered in 1875 for the
purchase of books was the earliest gift of money to the
Museum for any other than its general pur|K>ses.
The Library now possesses approximately twenty-five
thousand Imoks and pamphlets, including the Alfred
( in ( nough collection (chiefly books on architecture).
It aims to possess the most authoritative information on
line and on applied art, and to serve any individual work-
ing in those fields. The collection, includes museum cata-
logues, catalogues of private collections, biographies of
artists, monographs on different branches of art, and
large and expensive volumes of reproductions. The
Library also subscribes to the leading periodicals of art.
The collection of photographs is an important adjunct of
the Library. It was started with ten volumes of "Roman
photographs " given by George B. Emerson ; these are re-
corded in the first annual report (1873) of the Committee
on the Museum. The collection now contains about forty
thousand photographs, representing American, Euro-
pean, Egvptian, Classical, Japanese, and Mohammedan
Art.
378 LIBRARY
The public is not allowed to take books from the
Library, but teachers are permitted to borrow photo-
graphs for purposes of instruction on condition that
they be returned within forty-eight hours.
The Library is open to any visitor to the Museum.
The Librarian, or an assistant, is constantly present to
give information to readers.
Free tickets of admission to the Museum are issued
at the Director's discretion to special students whose
course of investigation may be aided by work in the
Library. Application should be made through the
Librarian.
EAST COURT 381
GREEK AND ROMAN SCULPTURE
ORIGINAL works of Greek sculpture in America
are so few and often so fragmentary that the stu-
dent of classical art must supplement his study
of actual examples by the use of photographs and casts.
As mechanical reproductions in the original size, casts
give the composition, the proportions, and what has
been called the dramatic character of Greek sculpture,
and enable the student to learn something even of the
technical procedure of the artist. In looking at them,
however, it must be remembered that the final perfec-
tion of style in the work of great masters cannot be re-
produced in plaster. The effect of this material in color,
quality of surface, and response to light and shadow is
very different from that of the original marble or bronze.
The impression that the casts produce should be con-
stantly corrected by reference to the collection of original
ancient sculptures in the classical galleries.
The large court to the right of the central stairway
is devoted chiefly to Greek sculpture of the archaic
period and of the fifth and fourth centuries B. C.
Near the entrance of this room are reproductions of
works of early date illustrating the steady progress by
which the art outgrew its primitive helplessness and,
through direct study of nature and increasing mastery
of materials and tools, prepared the way for the con-
summate achievement of the fifth century.
At this end of the room are also a few casts of sculp-
tures of the so-called period of transition between archaic
art and the free creation of the art of Pheidias. To this
period belong some of the works of which casts are ex-
hibited on the walls of the court: the west pedimental
group from the Temple of Aphaia in Aegina and some
382 COLLECTIONS OF CASTS
of the pedimental figures and metopes from the Temple
of Zeus at Olympin. The sculpture of this time lias a
freshness and sincerity which more than atone for the
limitations in its scope of representation.
The athletic ideal of the fifth century B. C. is em-
bodied in the work of Myron, the sculptor of the
famous Discobolos, and of Pol} - cleitus of Argos, who
attempted to establish a normal standard of proportions
for the human figure. Casts representing the work of
these artists are shown in the west end of the court.
The mingled elements of Athenian civilization found
their plastic expression in the style of Pheidias. At
the west end of the court are casts from a few statues
of his school, while on the long pedestals at the sides
of the rooms are reproductions of the pedimental groups
of the Parthenon. Parts of the Parthenon frieze and
a few of the metopes are arranged on the walls. The
decoration of this temple was probably directed by
Pheidias. It reflects the noblest civic and religious
ideals of Greece.
The graceful motives and the refined technique of
Praxiteles are shown in casts from works attributed to
him and to his school. These are grouped at the
southeast corner of the court. In the northeast cor-
ner are reproductions of statues attributed to Scopas,
one of the most vigorous and original of the sculptors
of the fourth century B. C. The last great sculptor of
the athletic figure in Greece was Lysippus of Sicyon,
whose celebrated Apoxyomenos is known to us through
a Roman copy, of which a cast is exhibited here.
Because of their large size, casts of two important
examples of late Greek sculpture are exhibited in the
court: the Victory of Samothrace and a part of the
frieze of the great altar at Pergamon. In front of
the latter is placed a selection of the dramatic sculp-
tures of the earlier Pergamene School.
A door on the south wall of the court leads into a
EAST COURT 383
corridor on one of whose walls are casts from the frieze
of the Temple of Apollo, near Phigaleia in Arcadia.
In the circular hall under the rotunda are casts from
works of the Hellenistic and Roman periods, including
the Aphrodite of Melos and the Laocobn group. A
model of the Athenian Acropolis and of a corner of the
Parthenon are also shown here.
NOTE. For detailed information regarding the classical
casts, the visitor is referred to the Cdfultxjut' <>f ('
EDWARD WALDO FORBES April 28, 1903
A. SHUMAN Jan. 17, 1907
THOMAS ALLEN April 1.5, 1909
THEODORE NELSON VAIL Jan. 19,1911
GEORGE ROBERT WHITE Jan. 19,1911
ALEXANDER COCHRANE Jan. 16, 1913
AUGUSTUS HEMENWAY Jan. 16. 1913
WILLIAM CROWNINSH1ELD ENDICOTT, Jan. 21, 1915
GEORGE PEABODY GARDNER May 6, 1915
WILLIAM ENDICOTT May 6, 1915
Appointed by Harvard College
WILLIAM STURGIS BIGELOW, 1891
JOHN TEMPLEMAN COOLIDGE, io->
ROBERT BACON, 1912
Appointed by the Boston Athenaeum
JOSEPH RANDOLPH COOLIDGE, JR., 1899
ALEXANDER WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, liiol
HOLKER ABBOTT, 1909
Appointed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
RICHARD COCKBURN MACLAURIN, 1909
EDWARD JACKSON HOLMES, 1910
ROBERT SWAIN PEABODY, 1912
Ex Officio
JAMES MICHAEL CURLEY, Mayor of Boston, 191 1
JOSIAH HENRY BENTON, President of the Trustees of
the Public Library, 1908
FRANKLIN BENJAMIN DYER, Superintendent of Pnhllc
Schools, 1912
DAVID SNEDDEN. Commh.fi oner of Education. 1909
ABBOTT LAWRENCE LOWELL, Trustee of the Lowell
Institute, 1900
OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES 393
OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES FOR 1916
MORRIS GRAY, President
FRANCIS LEE HIGGINSON, Treasurer
ARTHUR FAIRBANKS, Director
BENJAMIN IVES GILMAN, Secretary of the Museum
FRANK HERBERT DAMON, Assistant Treasurer
STANDING COMMITTEES
Committee on the Museum
THE DIRECTOR, Ex Officio, Chairman
THE PRESIDENT, Ex Officio
THE TREASURER, Ex Officio
THOMAS ALLKN
WILLIAM STURGIS BIGELOW
ALEXANDER COCHRANE
JOHN TEMPLEMAN COOLIDGE
DENMAN WALDO ROSS
GEORGE ROBERT WHITE
Committee on the School of the Museum of Fine Arts
THE PRESIDENT, Ex Officio THE DIRECTOR, Ex Officio
THOMAS ALLEN
finance Committee
THE PRESIDENT, Ex Officio
THE TREASURER, Ex Officio
ALEXANDER COCHRANE
GEORGE PEABODY GARDNER
GEORGE ROBERT WHITE
394 THE MUSEUM AND ITS HISTORY
. VISITING COMMITTEES
A dmin ixt ration
ARTHUR FREDERIC ESTABROOK, Chairman
ABBOTT LAWRENCE LOWELL
WALLACE LINCOLN PIERCE
A. SHUMAN
FRANK GEORGE WEBSTER
MRS. ROGER WOLCOTT
Classical Art
JOSEPH RANDOLPH COOLIDGE, Jit., Chairman
MRS. WALTER SCOTT FIT/
EDWARD WALDO FORBES
WILLIAM AMORY GARDNER
MRS. JOHN MUNRO LONGYEAR
MRS. FRANCIS CABOT LOWELL
BELA LYON PRATT
MRS. NATHANIEL THAYER
MRS. EMILE FRANCIS WILLIAMS
Prints
GEORGE PEABODY GARDNER, Chairman
GORDON ABBOTT
Miss KATHERINE BULLARD
WILLIAM MAURICE BULLIVANT
MRS. THOMAS JEFFERSON COOLIDGE, JR.
ALLEN CURf IS
HORATIO GREENOUGH CURTIS
PAUL JOSEPH SACHS
CHARLES COBB WALKER
FELIX MORITZ WARBURG
Egyptian Art
AUGUSTUS HEMENWAY, Chairman
Miss MARY SHREVE AMES
FRANCIS WRIGHT FABYAN
Miss HELEN C. FRICK
DAVID GORDON LYON
JOSEPH LINDON SMITH
Chinese and Japanese Art
EDWARD JACKSON HOLMES, Chain,,,,,,
DR. WILLIAM STURG1S BIGELOW
RALPH ADAMS CRAM
MRS. ERNEST BLANEY DANE
MRS. FRANCIS LEE HIGGINSON, JR.
WILLIAM STUART SPAULDING
MRS. WASHINGTON B. THOMAS
MRS. GEORGE TYSON
BAYARD WARREN
MRS. CHARLES GODDARD WELD
JAMES HAUGHTON WOODS
COMMITTKES 395
Western Art : J'niiifitii/.t
THOMAS ALLEN, Chairman
HOLKEK ABBOTT
ALEXANDER COCHRANE
ROBERT JACOB EDWARDS
Mus. ROBERT DAWSON EVANS
MKS. WALTER SCOTT FITZ
DESMOND FITZGERALD
EBEN DYER JORDAN
EDMUND CHARLES TARBELL
GEORGE ROBERT WHITE
Western Art : Textiles
DR. DENMAN WALDO ROSS, Chairman
Miss FRANCES GREELY CURTIS
DR. JOHN WHEELOCK ELLIOT
LINCOLN NEWTON KINNICUTT
MRS. BAYARD THAYER
Western Art : other Collections
JOHN TEMPLEMAN COOLIDGE. Chairman
MKS. GEORGE RUSSELL AGASSIZ
FRANCIS HILL BIGELOW
WILLIAM CROWNINSHIELD ENDICOTT
MRS. ROBERT FREDERICK HERRICK
MKS. MAYNARD LADD
JOHN ENDICOTT PEABODY
DUDLEY LEAVITT PICKMAN
HENRY DAVIS SLEEPER
CHARLES HITCHCOCK TYLER
Library
CHARLES KNOWLES BOLTON, Chairman
HOLKER ABBOTT
MKS. HENRY DENISON BURNHAM
CHARLES KIMBALL CUMMINGS
MKS. CHARLES PELHAM CURTIS,
ALEXANDER WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
EDWARD PERCIVAL MERRITT
Mus. HORATIO NELSON SLATER
Miss HARRIET SMITH TOLMAN
The President is .r officio a member of all the Visiting
Committees.
396 THE MUSEUM AND ITS HISTORY
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT, Chairman
CHARLES KNOWLES BOLTON
MRS. RICHARD CLARKE CABOT
JOSEPH RANDOLPH COOLIDGE, JR.
THEODORE MILTON DILLAWAY
FRANKLIN BENJAMIN DYER
ARTHUR FAIRBANKS
MORRIS GRAY
MRS. HORATIO APPLETON LAMB
Miss FANNY PEABODY MASON
MRS. ROBERT SHAW RUSSELL
Miss ANNA DIXWELL SLOCUM
MRS. CHARLES EDWARD WHITMORE
THE SECRETARY OF THE MUSEUM, Ex Officiu, Secretary
STAFF OF THE MUSEUM 397
THE STAFF OF THE MUSEUM
DIRECTOR ARTHI R FAIRBANKS
SECRETARY OF THE MUSEUM BENJAMIN IVES OILMAN
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR MORRIS CARTER
BURSAR pro tempore MORRIS CARTER
SUPERVISOR OF EDUCATIONAL WORK
HroER ELLIOTT
REGISTRAR HAN FORD LYMAN STORY
Department of Prints
CURATOR FiTzRoY CARRINGTON
ASSOCIATE CURATOR EMU. HKINRICH RICHTER
ASSISTANT ADAM E. M. PAKF
Department of Classical Art
CURATOR LACEY DAVIS CASKEY
Department of Chinese and Japanese Art
CURATOR JOHN ELLERTON LODGE
KEEPER OF JAPANESE POTTERY
EDWARD SYI.VESTEB MORSE
KKKPERS IN THE DEPARTMENT
FRANCIS STEWART KEHSHAW
KOJIHO TOMITA
ASSISTANT HAROLD IRVING THOMPSON
Department of Egyptian Art
CURATOR GEORGE ANDREW REISNER
ASSOCIATE OF THE DEPARTMENT Dows DUNHAM
Department of Paintings
KEEPER JOHN BRIGGS POTTER
398 THK MUSEUM AM) ITS H1STOKY
lii ltrtin< nt f HV.s7, //; Art
HONORARY CURATOR FRANK Gun MA>V..KK
ASSISTANT IN CHARGE OF TEXTILES
Miss SARAH GOHK. FLINT
ASSISTANT IN CHARGE OF OTHER COLLECTIONS
Miss FI.OUKNCK VIHC.INIA I'AI LI.
ASSOCIATE OF THE DEPARTMENT
HKHVKV EDWAKD WKT/.KI.
labrasry
LIBRARIAN FOSTKK Sri: MISS
ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN MKS MVHTMA FKNI.KHSON
ASSISTANT IN CHARGE OF PHOTOGRAPHS
Miss FIIANOOS Ei.i.is TritNKK
Registry of L<>r..}0. Subscriptions may
be addressed to the Company either at 4 Park
Street. Boston, or at 14 East Fortieth Street,
New York.
Print Collector's Booklets:
The Men of 1890.
The Art and Etchings of Jean Francois Millet.
Le Pere Corot,
Charles Francois Daubigny, Painter and Etcher.
By Robert J. Wickenden.
Charles Jacque (1813-1H94).
By Robert J. Wickenden.
Maxime Lalanne.
By William Aspenwall Bradley.
Each booklet, in paper $0.20
The set in a case 1.00
400 THE MUSEUM AND ITS HISTORY
Catalogue of the Engraved and Lithographed Work Postpaid.
of John Cheney and Seth Wells Cheney (1891).
S. R. Koehler $->.:>()
Exhibition of Early Engraving in America: Decem-
ber 12, 1904, to February 5, 1905 1.00
In boards on hand-made paper "2.00
DEPARTMENT OK CLASSICAL ART
Catalogue of Casts of Greek and Roman Sculpture.
Edward Robinson.
With supplements .50
Greek Gods and Heroes as Represented in the Clas-
sical Collections of the Museum: a Handbook
for High School Students.
Arthur Fairbanks, in conjunction with a Com-
mittee of Teachers. Hough ton Miffiin Co. , 1915.
In boards .60
In paper .30
A Chryselephantine Statuette. L. D. Caskey. Re-
printed from the American Journal of Archae-
ology, Vol. XIX, No. 3. 1915 .15
Gallery Books:
Classical Corridor.
Graeco-Roman Glass.
Sculpture.
Archaic Room.
Terra Cotta Figurines and Vases.
Sculptures and Bronzes.
Fifth Century Room.
Coins of Syracuse.
Gems and Jewelry.
Bronzes and Terra Cotta Figurines.
Vases.
Fourth Century Room.
Greek and Etruscan Mirrors.
Terra Cotta Figurines and Vases.
Late Greek Room.
Gems and Jewelry.
Bronzes.
Terra Cottas.
Sculpture.
Graeco-Roman Gallery.
Sculpture.
Each book .25
Catalogue of Arretine Moulds. G. H. Chase. (In
preparation.)
Catalogue of Casts for sale Sent free.
THE MUSEUM AND ITS HISTORY 401
DEPARTMENT OF CHINESE AND JAPANESE ART
Catalogue of the Morse Collection of Japanese Pot-
tery (1901). Edward S. Morse $.'0.(K)
Large paper edition 50.00
Catalogue of Japanese Sword Guards. Okabe-
Kakuya (1908) 1.25
The Illustrations separately, in a cover . ... ..'.">
Gallery Book. Netsuke .25
DEPARTMENT OK WESTERN ART
Manual of Italian Renaissance Sculpture. Benjamin
Ives Gilraan . . . .50
Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of American Church
Silver (1911): with illustrations 5.00
Gallery Books:
Italian Renaissance Sculpture .25
Bremgartcn Room .10
Lawrence Room .10
W. A. Buffura Collection of Amber .10
The publications of the Museum ;ire on sale in London by Bernard
Quaritch, No. 11, Crafton St., New Bond St. \V.
The following publications are also on sale at the
office at the Huntiiijtton Avenue entrance :
The Tears of the Heliades, or Amber as a Gem.
W. A. Buffum. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1900 . . $1.00
A Catalogue of the Engraved Plates for Picturesque
Views in England and Wales after Water Color
Drawings by J. M. W. Turner. Francis Bullard.
Merrymount Press, 1910. Paper 1.00
Cloth 1.50
Bernini and Other Studies in the History of Art.
Richard Norton. Macmillan Co., 1914 .... 5.00
Prints: Their Technique and History. E. H.
Richter. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1914 .... 2.00
Athenian White Lekythoi. Arthur Fairbanks. Uni-
versity of Michigan Studies. Humanistic Series.
Vol. VI, 1907 4.00
Vol. VII, 1914 3.50
Buddhist Art in Its Relation to Buddhist Doctrine.
M. Anesaki. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1915.
In boards 6.00
Paper 5.00
COPYING AND PHOTOGRAPHING
Application to copy or photograph any object in the Museum
should be made at the Director's office. Easels and space to
keep materials are provided for students.
4O2 THE MUSEUM AND ITS HISTORY
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
For information concerning the following announcements apply to
the Supervisor of Educational Work at the Museum.
1. STUDENTS' AND ARTISTS' TICKETS
Free tickets of admission are issued to
(1) Teachers, alone or accompanied by pupils for purposes of
instruction in art.
(2) Any student of art or history, when recommended by a"
teacher known to the Museum; also to special students whose
course of investigation may be assisted by work in the Museum
or Library and to those who are attending special courses of
instruction in the Museum.
(3) Artists and designers and others employed in industries,
on satisfying the Director of their professional qualification,
and for such period as the Director may determine, not
exceeding five years.
2. DOCENT SERVICE: WEEK DAYS
Free by Appointment
The officers of the Museum have united in offering to act as
Docents, or companions to visitors in the galleries, as far as
their other work will permit. Applicants will receive cards
giving the day and hour of the appointment, and entitling
the holders to the attendance of the officer named on the card
within his department for one hour from the time stated.
The number of persons in one party is limited to twenty-five.
These cards do not exempt the holders from the usual admission
fee to the Museum.
By applying in advance teachers and others who are inter-
ested in visiting the Museum may arrange to have a Docent
meet groups or classes in the Museum; pupils may be sent
without a teacher, in groups of from ten to twenty, and a
Docent will meet them by appointment.
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 403
3. SUNDAY DOCENT SERVICE
From the beginning of October to the end of May two
speakers meet visitors in the galleries of the Museum on each
Sunday afternoon. Informal talks are given either to audi-
ences seated before objects in the collections or to groups
moving from gallery to gallery; occasionally the lecture hall
is used. The names of the speakers and the subjects of the
talks are announced in the newspapers and in special notices
sent upon request to educational and other institutions.
Those who give their time thus to making the collections of
greater interest to the visitors are friends of the Museum, and
the public and the Museum are greatly indebted to them for
their willing efforts to impart to others the interest which they
feel in the collections.
4. THURSDAY CONFERENCES
Admission by Card Previously Obtalunl
Informal talks in the galleries on objects shown at the time
are given each winter by officers of the Museum. The confer-
ences are announced in the Museum Bulletin, in the daily
papers, and by leaflets posted and distributed at the entrance
of the building. Admission is free by card, which will be sent
when application is made accompanied by a stamped and ad-
dressed envelope. Applications will be filled in the order
received, and tickets (to the capacity of the gallery) for each
series of conferences will be sent two weeks before the series
begins. The card docs not exempt the holder from paying
admission to the Museum.
5. UNIVERSITY EXTENSION COURSES
^liliiiixKtou l>y Fee
The Museum cooperates with the colleges and universities
of Boston and neighborhood in the instruction offered by the
Commission on Extension Courses. This instruction corre-
sponds as nearly as practicable to that offered in the curriculum
of the institutions cooperating.
404 THE MUSEUM AND ITS HISTORY
Lectures arc given in the Museum by the members of its
Staff and the galleries and classrooms are offered for work in
connection with courses relating to its exhibits. Information
regarding hours, fees, and entrance requirements may be
obtained by writing to the Commission on Extension Courses,
University Hall, Cambridge, or to the Supervisor of Educa-
tional Work in the Museum.
9 several circumstances
combined to reawaken interest in the scheme. The Boston
Athenaeum had received a bequest of armor and the offer of
funds for a room wherein to exhibit it. The Social Science
Association had conceived the idea of a public collection of
plaster reproductions of sculpture. Harvard College sought
an opportunity to make its collection of engravings useful to
the public. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology had
no sufficient room for its collection of architectural casts. In
October, 1869, representatives of these organizations united
with other interested persons in appealing to the State Legis-
lature, which early in the following year established a public
Museum of Fine Arts in Boston by granting the present char-
ter. No support from State or City was provided for, and none
has ever been received, the only gift to the Museum from a
public source being the plot of ground on Copley Square
occupied by the first building.
Among the founders of the Museum, Martin Brimmer, its
President for twenty-five years until his death in 1895, and
Charles C. Perkins, Honorary Director for sixteen
Founders years until his death in 1888, should be named
first. The reports and published addresses of both
testify to their high conception and clear grasp of the essential
purposes of the Museum. The first executive officer appointed
was General Charles G. Loring, a veteran of the Civil War and
both before and after a traveller in Egypt and student of Egyp-
tology. General Loring remained in general charge of the Mu-
seum for twenty-six years as Curator and afterward Director,
from its opening in 18?, and on the next day. the centennial anniver-
sary of the Declaration of Independence, it was opened to the
public. The collections of the Museum, both gifts and loans,
which for four years had been exhibited in two rooms at the
Athenaeum, were installed in the new structure.
To complete the front of the building another popular sub-
scription was called for in 18T8. The response was prompt and
generous. In 1888 another enlargement of the building became
necessary. The amount received from this third subscription
enabled the Trustees to erect two wings which, with a connect-
ing corridor, completed a quadrangle. The enlarged building
was opened in 1890, the contents rearranged; on the first floor,
the collections of Egyptian and Classical antiquities, with
casts of antique and Renaissance sculpture; on the second, the
collections of paintings, minor arts of Europe, and Oriental
art.
For many years the Museum was without funds for purchases.
notwithstanding the utmost economy in administration. The
exhibits of this period consisted almost entirely of
loans. Later both bequests and gifts were received.
Henry L. Pierce, Catherine C. Perkins, Julia B. H.
James, Harvey D. Parker, George B. Hyde, and a number of
others, left large sums to the Museum, and those benefactions
have been continued by the bequests of R. C. Billings, C. H.
Hayden, Sarah W. Whitman, Martin Brimmer, and others.
Within the ten years ending in 190-1- the free use of funds avail-
able for purchases more than doubled the value of the collec-
tions belonging to the Museum.
The collections of Egyptian Art now embrace sculptures, in-
cluding royal statues from the Mycerinus Pyramid Temple at
Gizeh, obtained in the course of recent excavations by the
j
HISTORICAL DATA 411
Harvard University-Museum of Fine Arts Exploring Expedi-
tion; smaller objects, including cut leather garment of 1850
B. C., gold ornaments, tiles. The collections
of (' lassit>;l1 Art embrace sculptures, including
the Three-sided Relief (fifth century), Head of
Aphrodite, female head from Chios (fourth century). Head
of Homer (Hellenistic); terra-cottas. including portrait head
(Roman); vases, bronzes, coins, and gems, including Marl-
borough cameo (Graeco-Rotnan). The collections of Chinese
and Japanese Art embrace sculptures of wood, bronze, marble,
and lacquer from the fifth century to the present time; paint-
ings, including the Hokke Mandara (eighth century) and the
Ileiji Monogatari Roll (thirteenth century); early Chinese
pottery; Chinese bronze mirrors, swords, and lesser works in
sculptured iron, bronze, silver, and gold; lacquers, porcelains.
The collections of paintings embrace Spanish, Italian, Flemish,
Dutch. French, F.nglish. and American examples, including
Don Halta/ar Carlos and His Dwarf, Velasquez; Slave Ship,
Turner; Watson and the Shark, Copley; Athenaeum Heads of
Cieorge Washington and Martha Washington, Stuart. In the
other collect ions of Western Art the collections of Mohammedan
art. embrace pottery, including the Sears Persian lustre bowl
(thirteenth century), Persian illuminations, Persian rugs, and
velvets. The collections of Kuropean Art embrace textiles, in-
cluding Flemish tapestries (fifteenth and early sixteenth cen-
turies); sculpture, including Head of Ceres, by Auguste Rodin;
smaller objects, including Paul Revere silver. The collection
of Prints consists of (it). ooo examples. The collection of Plaster
Casts contains several hundred casts from Greek, Roman, and
Italian Renaissance sculpture. The Library contains 14,035
volumes. 7.419 pamphlets, and :H.:W5 photographs; all chosen
with special reference to the Museum collections and intended
for the use of both Staff and public.
For several \eai-s after the building was opened, the adminis-
trative work of the Museum was performed by the Director and
the Secretary with a small number of assistants. In 1885 two
of the departments were placed in charge of men of special
412 THK MUSEUM AND ITS HISTORY
competence Since that time numerous additions have been
made to the staff of trained men upon whose judgment the Trus-
tees have relied in the choice of acquisitions and
the arrangement of exhibits, and to whom the pub- o inistr **
lie have come to look for aid in the understanding
of the collections. To the band of active-minded and devoted
scholars who are or have been identified directly or indirectly
with its interests, the Museum owes much of its present stand-
ing abroad and influence at home. In 1 !)<)<> Visiting Com-
mittees to the Departments of the Museum were appointed.
and in 1908 Advisory Committees upon branches of its
activity.
The development of the methods of the Museum has kept
pace with the growth of its means. The Museum has sought
to attain its first charter purpose that of pro-
tecting works of art from destruction and oblivion Methods of
Public
in a special building by providing in the new Service
structure (1909) the best conditions of safety; by
arranging therein exhibition galleries in which each object is
shown to the best possible advantage; by stimulating public
interest through alternative exhibitions drawn from collections
held in reserve; and by promoting understanding of the ob-
jects shown, through both oral and printed interpretation.
The methods of oral interpretation employed include Gallery
Conferences (since January, 1908) by officers of the Museum
and other competent persons on objects shown at the time; the
assignment of these and other speakers under the title of Docent
(since April, 1907) to the duty of meeting visitors singly or in
groups in the galleries to give information about the exhibits.
The Sunday Docent Service (since January, 1908) includes
guidance, talks, and department circuits offered by profes-
sional men and others of special training. Printed aids to un-
derstanding the collections include labels and chart books in the
galleries, a Handbook (first edition, August, 1906), Bulletin
(first issue. March, 1903), and other publications; photographs
(since May, 1882), postal cards (since 1907), and half-tones illus-
trating Museum objects sold at the door; teachers' lists (since
HISTORICAL DATA 4 '3
1908) of objects relating to historical periods and teachers' loan
collections of photographs and lantern slides.
The Museum has sought to attain its second charter purpose
that of imparting knowledge and skill in the field of fine art
by maintaining a library of fine art (since 1877); by giving free
admission to students and copyists (since 1876): by providing
in its new building (1909) reserve galleries in which each object
can be studied to the best advantage; by offering special stu-
dents opportunities for work in the Department offices (since
1887); by publishing catalogues of permanent value(since 1887);
by arranging courses of lectures on subjects germane to the col-
lections (since 1892, University Extension courses since 1908J;
by establishing a public inventory of works of art outside the
Museum, interesting and accessible to the Boston public, under
the title of a Registry of Local Art (since October, 1909); and
by giving the best instruction practicable in the arts of drawing,
painting, modelling, and designing in the School of the Mu-
seum (classes begun 1876; reorganized as the School of the
Museum, 1901).
Three circumstances led the Trustees in 1899 to consider
seeking a new site and erecting a new building the inad-
equacy of the Copley Square building and lot for
Studies for the future accommodation of the Museum, the
the New
Museum danger of fire from high neighboring structures,
and the obstruction of light thereby. The grounds
on which the present Museum stands, covering twelve acres
fronting on Huntington Avenue and the r'enway, were pur-
chased by vote of the Board on December 5, 1899. On April
22, 190-2, the sale of the Copley Square property was effected
and on May 27 a Building Committee was appointed, under
the Chairmanship of Samuel D. Warren, "with full powers
to procure plans, specifications, and estimates for Museum
buildings on the Fenway land."
At a number of meetings of the Building Committee the
question of a competition of architects was carefully considered,
the decision of the Committee being to select two architects
who should report a building scheme without prejudice to the
THE MUSEUM AND ITS HISTORY
right of the Trustees to proceed thereafter as they might elect.
In accordance with this decision, the Committee in the follow-
ing November commissioned Mr. II. Clipston Sturgis in con-
sultation with Mr. Edmund M. Wheelwright to collaborate
with the Committee and the Staff of the Museum in studying
the possibilities of the Fenway site and in formulating a possi-
ble solution of the building problem both in writing and by
drawings and sketches. In order to the best utilization of the
property, the Trustees asked and obtained from the city a
change in the layout of Huntington entrance anil the Fenway,
replacing its original curves by rectangular outlines.
The series of studies which have ended in the present plan
were begun in January, 190'.}, and actively prosecuted. They
are recorded in several scores of progressively changing skrt en-
plans based on many hundred detail drawings, and their direct
written result includes, besides reports from Messrs. Stnrgis
and Wheelwright and from others, two volumes entitled
" Communications to the Trustees regarding the new build-
ing " Nos. 1 and 2, privately printed in March and December,
1904, and containing, with extracts from recent literature on
museum construction and administration, papers contributed
by officers of the Museum. In December. 1903, the Building
Committee, with the approval of the Trustees, commissioned
the architects and the Director to study European museums.
Accompanied by the President of the Museum, the party spent
the following three months (January to April, 1904) in Europe,
visiting one hundred and four museums and galleries in thirty
cities. An illustrated volume containing reports of observa-
tions by Messrs. Sturgis and Wheelwright, architects, was
privately printed in January, 1905, as No. 3 of Communica-
tions to the Trustees. During the summer of 1903 the Com-
mittee authorized the erection of a temporary structure on the
Fenway site for the purpose of experiments in the lighting of
galleries. The work was conducted at first under the super-
vision of Professor Charles L. Norton of the Institute of
Technology, and later in the immediate charge of Mr. W. R.
McCornack, in co-operation with Messrs. Sturgis and Wheel-
HISTORICAL DATA 415
wripht, architects, and with the committees and officers of the
Museum. Experiments were continued for two years, and in
January, 1906, an illustrated volume entitled "The Experi-
mental Gallery," embodying the results of the tests made,
was privately printed as No. 4 of Communications to the
Trustees.
In October, 1905, the Building Committee requested and
received from Professor D. Despradelle of the Institute of
Technology a criticism of the studies for the new building
made since 190,'?, which included sketch-plans submitted by
officers of the Museum during the preceding summer at the
instance of the Committee. Three months later, in January,
1906, the Committee presented to the Trustees a unanimous
report, accompanied by a sketch-plan, elevations, and a per-
spective, drawn by Professor Despradelle, and recommended
that instead of instituting a competition the Trustees should
appoint Mr. Guy Lowell as architect of the building, with
Messrs. E. M. Wheelwright, R. C. Sturgis, and D. Despradelle
as consulting architects, to carry out the design in substantial
compliance with the general requirements of the Committee
as elaborated during the previous three years. The Trustees
responded by authorizing the Committee to obtain plans in
general accordance witli their recommendations, and on the
19th of the following July the Committee presented to the
Trustees plans, elevations, sections, and a perspective prepared
by Mr. Lowell. These were accepted and adopted by the
Trustees, who, at a subsequent meeting held February 4,
1907. authorized the signing of a contract for that part of the
structure which had been planned in detail for immediate
erection.
On April 11 ground was broken. On July 18 Mr. Warren
resigned the Chairmanship of the Building Committee, re-
maining a member; and Mr. Henry S. Hunnewell, a member
of the Committee from the beginning, was appointed in his
stead. Two years and four months later, November 15, 1909,
the building was opened to the public.
The total cost of the new Museum was about $2.900.000.
416 THE MUSEUM AND ITS HISTORY
The sum of $1,200,000 was expended for land and improve-
ments, $1,600.000 for the building itself, and $100,000 for
gloving and installation. These expenditures have born de-
frayed from the proceeds ot the sale of the old building
(11,750,000), contributions from private individuals ($600,000),
and appropriations from the Museum endowment (about
$500.000). The building contains eight structurally scpnr;i It-
departments, Egyptian Art, Classical Art, Western (Euro-
pean and Mohammedan) Art, Chinese and Japanese Art,
Pictures, Prints, Casts, and Library, the main floor bt-ing
chiefly devoted to exhibitions historically arranged and in-
stalled to show each object to the best advantage, and the
ground floor to reserve collections accessible to all visitors and
to study and administration rooms; both floors being abun-
dantly lighted, mostly by high windows. An area of fll.^^J
square feet of floor space is devoted to primary exhibition pur-
poses and 8-2,437 square feet to reserve collections, offices,
workrooms, etc.
Plans for the eventual development of the Fenway property
contemplate buildings covering the entire site. These consist
of the completed Museum to the east, a building
to the northwest for casts from sculpture, and J he .
Completed
another to the southwest for the School of the Museum
Museum, replacing the present provisional struc-
ture. The gift from Mrs. Robert Dawson Evans in May, 1911,
of that portion of the Fenway front designed as a picture
gallery assures the completion of the Museum in general
accordance with the original plans.
In the completed Museum the present Rotunda on the main
floor, reached by the stairway from the entrance, will be about
equally distant from the centre of the principal departments.
Straight on northward a gallery for tapestries will lead to the
Picture Gallery lying east and west on the Fenway. The pres-
ent Picture Galleries or the adjacent corridors will then give
access eastward to the wing on Huntington Avenue, then
devoted entirely to Egyptian Art, and to a future block on
Huntington entrance to be devoted to Classical Art; and
HISTORICAL DATA
417
41 8 THE MUSEUM AND ITS HISTORY
westward to the wing on Huntington Avenue, then devoted
wholly to Chinese and Japanese Art, and to a new interior block
to be devoted to Western Art. From the lobby of the future
Picture Gallery on the Fenway an interior corridor, continued
as an external loggia fronting northward, will lead east and
west to galleries accessible either through existing Depart-
ments, and hence available for their extension, or through
corridors only, and hence available for new Departments.
Four principles of arrangement determined the plan of the
completed building, and have been adhered to as far as possible
in housing the collections and work of the Museum in the
present fraction of the whole design.
Division in Plan. The building is not a single museum, but a
group of several, each devoted to collections of one origin or of
one character, and each accessible without traversing any other.
Separation by Resting Places. The grounds and open courts
of the building, the halls and loggias connecting the depart-
ments, offer opportunities for relaxation and diversion among
surroundings either of natural beauty or of architectural
dignity.
Division in Elevation. Almost the entire main floor is de-
voted to exhibition, while a large part of the ground floor is
devoted to rooms for study and for objects arranged compactly
for preservation, both study and store rooms being open to the
public upon application.
Oblique Illumination. Most of the galleries are lighted by
high windows instead of from overhead, and the size and ar-
rangement of both windows and skylights throughout the
building are the fruit of observation and experiment directed
to securing ample and well-directed illumination in all parts of
every room.
These four provisions aim to obviate recognized hindrances
to the fullest effect of museum collections upon the visitor.
The separation of departments prevents confusion and distrac-
tion of thought; intermediate resting places forestall fatigue
of body and mind; opportunities for instruction render the
exhibits comprehensible; well designed light openings make
them visible. The plans permit of meeting a fifth hindrance-
HISTORICAL DATA
419
420 THE MUSEUM AND ITS HISTORY
to the vital influence of museums that of their sameness of
attraction by providing opportunities for the alternation of
exhibits on the two floors, and for occasions having to do
with the collections conferences, meetings, social gather-
ings, even plays or concerts in the halls and gardens of the
building.
The Museum in its second home promises the city a new
agency of spiritual well being; not dedicated to discipline of
mind or direction of conscience, like a school or a church, but,
like the shrine of the Muses whence it takes its name, sacred
to the nurture of the imagination.
DenotoH ovont GfaMtrist fur Paintings
Fenway Front
CHRONOLOGY 42'
CHRONOLOGY
THE MUSEUM INCORPORATED FKHKI:AHY 4, 1870
DEPARTMENTS
The Museum placed under the general charge and manage-
ment of a Curator (afterward Director) January -21, 1876.
Library organized July 17, 1879.
Print Department established February 1, 1887.
Department of Classical Antiquities established March 1,
1887.
Japanese Department established March 15, 1890. The title
changed to " Department of Chinese and Japanese Art" April
28, 1903.
The name of the School of Drawing and Painting (maintained
since January -2, 1877, in the Museum building) changed to
"School of the Museum of Fine Arts" October 17, 1901.
Keepership of Paintings instituted August 1, 190-2.
Department of Egyptian Art created September 15, 190-2.
Honorary Curatorship of Western Art (except paintings and
textiles) created April 21, 1910.
Curatorship of Painting created May 11, 1911.
LAND AND BUILDINGS
Land on Copley Square given by the City May 26, 1870.
\\Yst wing upon Copley Square opened to the public July
3, 1876.
Completed front on Copley Square opened July 1, 1879.
Southern corridor and connecting wings opened March 18.
1890.
Land on the Fenway purchased December, 1899.
Land and buildings on Copley Square sold April 22, 1902.
Ground broken for the New Building April 11, 19O7.
New Building opened November 15, 1909.
Robert Dawson Evans Galleries for Paintings opened
February 3, 1915.
422 THE MUSEUM AND ITS HISTORY
Location of the Museum Buildings
T. O. Mctcalf Company, lioston, U. S. A.
This booK is DUE 01
date stamped b
5w-2,'31
The exhibition galleries of the Print Department and the
gallery of Water Colors are on the entrance floor on either side
the vestibule of the Evans building. The rest of the entrance
floor is occupied by secondary collections and offices.
Not all the contents of the Museum can be shown at
once. Each department possesses a larger or smaller
reserve collection which may be drawn upon for alter-
native exhibition in the main galleries. Persons especially
interested are welcome in the department offices for
conference with the officers and study of objects not
shown at the time.
On the opposite plan the offices are indicated as follows:
Administration A Western Art WA
Secretary of the Museum, S Egyptian Art . . . , . E
Prints Pr Textile Study Tx
Classical Art Cl Paintings Pa
Chinese and Japanese Art, Superintendent of the
C&J Building SB
Catalogues and Photographs CP
Office hours, 11 to 12.30 and, except on Saturdays, 2 to 3
P. M. The Library, the Textile Study, and the offices of the
Department of Prints and the Superintendent of the Building
are open during Museum hours.
Apply at the office of the Administration for tickets issued
to artists, teachers, and students, and for Docent appointments.
The Lecture Hall is on the entrance floor, and is entered
from the Crypt beyond the main stairway.
The Forecourt Room at the Huntington Avenue entrance,
reached through the Catalogue office, is occupied from time to
time by Temporary Exhibitions.
000 452 495
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA
^
LOS AJNGELBS
LIBRARY