Lectures
Wednesdays at 6:00 unless otherwise noted
February 11, 2009
Norton Winfred Simon and the Formation of His Collection
Carol Togneri, Chief Curator, Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
On the occasion of the Frick’s special exhibition of five Old Master paintings from the Norton Simon Museum, Carol Togneri will focus on Simon’s acquisitive habits, his wide-ranging tastes in art, and the ambition that drove him to amass a collection of masterpieces.
March 4, 2009
The Régence Picture Frame and Its Afterlife
Nicholas Penny, Director of the National Gallery, London
Nicholas Penny will analyze the sources and trace the evolution of French frames made in the early 1700s. He also will examine the ways in which these frames were imitated and replicated — and both loved and destroyed — during the subsequent two centuries.
March 11, 2009
The Rocky Road to Paradise: Jacopo Bassano’s Flight into Egypt
Beverly Louise Brown, independent scholar
Jacopo Bassano (c. 1510–1592) explored the theme of the Holy Family’s arduous journey to Egypt several times during his career. While the bucolic settings of these works stand as a testament to the artist’s keen observation of rural culture, they also provide a visual metaphor for the viewer’s own pilgrimage through life. This talk will explore the evolution of the theme in Bassano’s work, culminating with a discussion of the exquisite version on loan from the Norton Simon Museum.
March 25, 2009
“Why Seek Ye the Living among the Dead?”
Rubens’s Holy Women at the Sepulchre, from the Norton Simon Museum
Peter C. Sutton, The Susan E. Lynch Executive Director, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut
Today, the great Flemish Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens is more often admired than loved. Few dispute his capacity for invention, dramatic design, or coloristic brilliance, but many find his oratorical grandeur daunting. To help viewers appreciate Rubens’s achievement, especially in our secular age, the lecturer will discuss the tumultuous times in which the artist lived, his genius as an impresario, his values as a peerlessly diplomatic Catholic gentleman, and the rich rhetoric and diverse sources of his art — particularly in his painting currently on view at the Frick as part of its special exhibition. |
