Cabinet of Curiosities

By Mary Jo Gibson

August 31, 2012

The changes of the season will soon be upon us, but as the last days of summer wane, I bring a new Cabinet of Curiosities with several bits of interest. The cabinet picture is from the Victoria and Albert Museum, showing a Japanese lacquered incense box that may have belonged to Queen Marie-Antoinette of France.  The museum’s team of scientists have tested the materials and found that metals such as gold, silver and tin were used to decorate the surface, and what was thought to be red coral is actually made with a red pigment called vermilion.  Let’s open the drawers a take a look inside…

Restoration Secrets from the Vatican

Museum Secrets has added new content to their website, including an interactive tool for users to experience restoration of a fresco.  A back story tells of restoration work in the Papal apartments on several masterpieces by Raphael.  Old repairs that concealed damage to the faces of several popes revealed the name of the leader of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther.  How did this name appear on a work of Catholic religious art?  Find out at their link, Museum Secrets.

Opening up the Soane

The Soane Museum in London has added a video to their site showing the unique restoration project that is currently being undertaken.  Their archival library includes an inventory of all objects from Sir John Soane himself, and several books with watercolor drawings of the rooms.  Armed with this research, the restoration will be completed to the highest satisfaction of the donor’s standards.  The video offers a glimpse of the miniscule water closet, which contains one of the smallest sinks I have ever seen.  Take five minutes and find your imagination in awe of what awaits behind the door at Soane’s private residence in London, there is even a sarcophagus in the basement.

What exactly is a Cotehardie?

Clothing through the ages has changed radically, with art recording the variety of the times.  The Cotehardie was the first tailored garment in European history.  Prior to this, clothes were a variation on a bag with sleeves and a hole for your head, not exactly flattering.  An enterprising individual whose name has been lost through the passage of time experimented with cutting the fabric to fit the body like a glove, and a revolution began.  Images from art of the period showing women dressed in Cotehardies can be found at this link.

The true journey of the lost sock

I never thought that an old pair of stockings would have any significance, but a small collection from the Costume Institute is available on the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.  This particular pair dates from the late 18^th century, made of silk with metallic thread.  A gift from Henri-Marcel Cadgene in 1955, I am truly amazed at what people have stored away in their homes.  I doubt the television program Hoarders would find anything of this value, but there is the possibility.

Tudor Roses and enough history to fill volumes

This emblem of King Henry VIII, the Tudor Rose, represents the combination of the House of York and the House of Lancaster.  When Henry took the crown of England from Richard III in battle, he brought about the end of the War of the Roses.    Given the symbolism and branding through the centuries at the historic King’s College Chapel, a virtual tour with explanations would greatly enhance their website.  Perhaps writers of the Dan Brown variety will find inspiration in this storied chapel.  Founded in 1446, I am sure there is some historical intrigue that can be fleshed out through research.  After all, master masons of the highest caliber were involved in the construction and decoration of this historic place.

Another lost Masterpiece makes news

Horse and Rider, the only known three dimensional piece of art created by Leonardo da Vinci was unveiled this week.  Taken from a 504 year old beeswax image, the sculpture is believed to contain a thumbprint of Leonardo.  Created in 1508 as gift for his patron, French military governor Charles d’Ambroise, it measures 12 inches high and 7 inches wide, and believed to be intended as a model for a much larger sculpture.  After Leonardo’s death in 1519, it was given to his apprentice, Francesco Mezi, remaining in the family until 1930.

When studied in detail, it was discovered that along the horse’s right breast a thumbprint exists.  While there is no possible verification available, it is believed to be Leonardo’s.

The beeswax sculpture was authenticated by Dr. Carlo Pedretti, widely considered the world’s foremost authority on Leonardo, and professor emeritus of art history and the Chair of Leonardo studies at UCLA.    The statue is currently on display at the Imagine Exhibition Gallery at the Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas.

Around the world with a virtual vacation

If funds are scarce this holiday weekend, take a tour from Best Places in the World.  Beautiful photographs of unusual points of interest across the world.  A short description of the historical context is just enough to whet the appetite for more research.  This photo of Mont Saint-Michel in France gives the briefest of vignettes, but the Wiki page provides a depth of detail.

Thank you for joining me for this week’s Cabinet of Curiosities.  Museum Monday will offer a virtual tour of the historic Red Rocks Amphitheater and their museum.  Join me for some of the most beautiful views outside the city of Denver, and a little music to complete the experience.

Cheers,

MJ

What I am reading over the holiday weekend.

Cabinet of Curiosities

Mary Jo Gibson

June 22, 2012

Collector’s Cabinet Metropolitan Museum of Art 1570-90

Work and new responsibilities have kept me from posting my favorite internet finds, but that doesn’t mean I have stopped my endless searching.  I have plenty to choose from, and this week I share a new Cabinet with its roots in Russian art and culture.  My brother just returned from one of his yearly visits to Moscow and Saratov University, bringing with him pictures and stories of life in this widely varied land.

Hermitage

One of the greatest museums in the world is located in St. Petersburg, the Hermitage, state museum of Russia, with a collection that rivals the Louvre.  Consisting of six buildings, the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage and New Hermitage, this was once the home of Catherine the Great.

The Small Hermitage is what fascinated me after stumbling across a show called Museum Secrets, on Twitter of all places.  I am frustrated beyond imagining that this is not on American television considering what little is available beyond Nickelodeon.  A visit to their website and the tantalizing previews available will have you hunting YouTube for more than a snippet of what they offer.  But I digress, the private castle of Catherine the Great, 1729-96, and the giant Peacock mechanized clock are what I want to share with you.

This private pleasure palace is also referred to as the Little Hermitage and attached to the Hermitage museum.  This ‘smaller’ salon was the hideaway of the great Empress, where she held her famous dinner parties, entertaining away from the politics and gossip of the court.  In this dining room is a gift from one of her lover’s, Prince Grigory Potemkin.

Constructed by the English clockmaker James Cook, this mechanical menagerie only comes to life a few brief days a year during the Russian White Nights.   The turn of the dragonfly sitting atop a mushroom counts the seconds above the hour and minute marks.  A squirrel frozen in the moment preparing to eat a golden acorn sits among the branches of a gilded tree.  At the striking of the hour, the bells ring in the cage surrounding the mechanical owl, its head turning as if surprised to find himself caged in this magical place.  The female peacock lifts its feathered tail, unfurling intricate golden feathers, turning around to show off for the viewer as the male peacock crows a unique sound to mark the hours.  Then all is quiet in the woodland grove again.

Imagine the delight of Catherine at the presentation of the beautiful scene of nature, constructed of gilded bronze, silver and glass.  For someone who had everything, this was a gift that could not be matched.

Peter the Great and the Kunstkamera

A great collector of his day, Peter the Great, 1672-1725, was one of the first to take advantage of the Age of Exploration.  The world had opened up along overseas trade routes bringing strange and impressive relics to those with the means to afford them.  A standing order went out to merchants and his military to bring back any items of interest for his Cabinet of Curiosities.

Two Dutch collections make up the basis of Peter’s natural-scientific collections.  Albert Seba (1665-1736) concentrated on collection naturalia and artifacts of the indigenous inhabitants of Asia and America.  He supplied medicines to the Imperial Court in St. Petersburg, and offered his collection for sale in 1715.

The Tsar bought another collection in 1717, that of Frederick Ruysch.  Peter was an attendee of the anatomical lessons of this collector while living in Amsterdam in the winter of 1697-98.  These classes were given in an anatomical theater over a period of several days until the cadaver began to decompose.  You can imagine the physical oddities that transfixed the ruler who came from a country steeped in superstition; among these curiosities were a two headed sheep and a four legged rooster.  These items were eventually housed in a museum called the Kunstkamera.

A fire in 1747 destroyed a majority of the collection of Peter the Great, morbid as it sounded.  But something else rather rare is featured at the museum site, a mechanical ship.  Referred to as the Celestial Ship, this item has a vague provenance, possibly procured through European missionaries by the Russian embassy.  Watch the video clip as the clockwork of the ship comes alive with the turn of a key.  The device moves on wheels on the bottom of the hull, along with figurines of musicians and dancers.

Celestial Ship from the Kuntskamera

 

The Cabinet of Curiosities was undoubtedly a typical product of its time, a manifestation of the thirst of human learning.  In the essay “On Experience” by Michel de Montaigne (1533-92), reflections of an earlier time when science was shrouded in mystery and suspicion:  “For in my opinion, the most ordinary things, the most common and familiar, if we could see them in their true light, would turn out to be the grandest of all miracles of nature and the most marvelous examples, especially as regards the subject of the action of men.”

What curiosity fascinates you?  Is there a museum with a relic that you return to time and again for contemplation and inspiration?  Share your insights in the comments below.  I leave you with a slide show from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Heilbrunn Timeline, and some of their unique pieces from various Cabinets of Curiosity.

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Until next time,
Cheers
MJ