Big Day for the Masterpieces Installation
Such a great day on the Masterpieces installation front. The rest of the crates for the show arrived, and it turned out to be some of the gorgeous Pre-Raphaelites. I was curious why they arrived separately from the others, so I tracked down Museo de Arte de Ponce’s Associate Curator Richard Aste, who couriered the paintings here to Memphis. He tells me that the major British works from the Museo (like their signature piece Leighton's Flaming June) are actually travelling through Europe only. For example, the paintings we received today have been at the Prado in Milan, then the Hague. He just accompanied June, and several other works from the exhibition in Hague to Staatsgalerie Stuttgart for an exhibition dedicated to the Pre-Raphaelite painted Edward Burne-Jones. BUT a few of the works were selected to come from Hague right here to Memphis, so we are even luckier than I realized to be getting these pieces!
So that's a little background information. Now, on to the show. Today I got to watch them uncrate the paintings from the Burne-Jones Briar Rose series.[gallery]
Here you can see the Brooks Preparators and the Collections Manager as they uncrate the paintings and then carefully examine them:
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The next video shows the preparators uncrating this beautiful Rossetti painting:
While they are doing that, you will notice in the background, the Collections Manager and Ponce's Curator examine the immense van Roestraten composition trying to get a better look at what is reflected in the dangling mirrored orb. I believe it was decided that it is a depiction of the artist in his studio -- a similar device as that used by fellow Dutch painter Jan van Eyck in his much earlier work The Arnolfini Marriage... But I digress. Here's the video:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8UGVaQWieQ]
The exhibition opens ONE WEEK from today with a special sneak preview for our members. Not a member? It's easy to become one, and you will enjoy it, I promise. Memberships start as low as $25 for students. Click here for details.
[Many thanks to Museo de Arte de Ponce for the use of the following images.]
Sir Edward Burne-Jones (British, 1833- 1898). The Prince Enters the Woods, from the Briar Rose series, 1871. Oil on canvas. Collection Museo de Arte de Ponce. Fundacio'n Luis A. Ferre', Inc. Ponce, Puerto Rico.//Sir Edward Burne-Jones (British, 1833- 1898). The King and His Court, from the Briar Rose series, 1871. Oil on canvas. Collection Museo de Arte de Ponce. Fundacio'n Luis A. Ferre', Inc. Ponce, Puerto Rico.//Sir Edward Burne-Jones (British, 1833- 1898). The Sleeping Beauty, from the Briar Rose series, 1871. Oil on canvas. Collection Museo de Arte de Ponce. Fundacio'n Luis A. Ferre', Inc. Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, (British, 1828 - 1882). Roman Widow, 1874. Oil on canvas. Collection Museo de Arte de Ponce. Fundacio'n Luis A. Ferre', Inc. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 60.0149
Pieter Gerritsz. van Roestraten (Dutch 1629/30 - 1700). Vanitas, 1678. Oil on canvas. Collection Museo de Arte de Ponce. Fundacio'n Luis A. Ferre', Inc. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 67.0621