PLYMOUTH’S GREATEST GIFT THE COTTONIAN COLLECTION
EXTRACT FROM VIRGIL’S THE AENEID, BOOK II
MYTHOLOGY IN THE COTTONIAN COLLECTION
MARITIME PAINTING: A ROW GALLEY ON FIRE
THE GENRE SCENE: CASPAR NETSCHER
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE COTTONIAN COLLECTION & SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS
CONTENTS
THE COTTONIAN COLLECTION PLYMOUTH CITY MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
TEMPTED YIELDED COUNSELLED QUITTED
The Young Explainers are a group of emerging professionals – chiefly Plymouth University students – who endeavour to extend and consolidate their knowledge of museum practice. The team work collaboratively each year to produce a range of outputs that enable the public to have a positive experience of the exhibitions and displays at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery. The 2013 team have worked with the nationally and internationally important Cottonian Collection.
THE USE OF ART IN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY
THE MARTYRS: SAINT BIBIANA & SAINT SUSANNA
THE MEDICI CHAPEL: LORENZO DE MEDICI, DUKE OF URBINO
GRAND ORNAMENTATION: THE MEDICI LIONS
This guide has been researched and produced by our Young Explainers. It offers further information on a selection of pieces featured in the Cottonian Collection, which will either be in the gallery space or in storage at the time of reading. The guide presents some of the broader themes of the collection through research, creative writing, illustration and classical text.
Accumulated over a number of generations, the Cottonian Collection is an engaging assortment of objects from a variety of disciplines. The collection was begun by Robert Townson (16401707), who resided at 3, Lawrence Pountney Lane, London. Townson’s collection consisted of a number of paintings, drawings, and books; a substantial portion of which were sermons. Townson’s collection indicates the foundations of a collecting culture that developed in the eighteenth century. In 1707 Robert’s son, William Townson, inherited the house, collection, and his father’s debts. William had a keen interest in collecting and made many of his own additions to the collection, predominantly drawings from English contemporary artists such as Samuel Scott and James Thornhill. In May 1731 Charles Rogers (1711-1784) was placed in the Custom House under William Townson; it was to Rogers that Townson, a bachelor, left his estate in 1740. As part of the estate Rogers inherited the house at Lawrence Pountney Lane, which housed a selection of art and antiquities. Rogers had a good income and added to the collection whenever he could. By his death in 1784, Rogers had collected almost 20,000 prints and drawings. Rogers left his collection to his brother-in-law William Cotton (1731-1791), who in turn passed the collection to his son, William Cotton II (1759-1816). Cotton II sold
When Cotton II died in 1816 the collection passed to his eldest son William Cotton III (1794-1863). Cotton III again added to the collection, which he displayed at his house at The Priory, Surrey and later at Highland House in Ivybridge, where he lived until he died. Cotton III became interested in Reynolds’ work and went on to research his life and career, producing two books about the artist, one of which is titled Sir Joshua Reynolds And His Works: Gleanings From His Diary, Unpublished Manuscripts, And From Other Sources (1856).
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE COTTONIAN COLLECTION
a considerable amount of the collection, as it was too large for his already-extended house at Clapham Common, Surrey. The sales lasted twenty-four days between 1799 and 1801 and raised funds of £3,886,105. Many of the collection’s most valuable items were sold, including 1800 Old Master drawings. One painting, Watteau’s Landscape with Castle (1718/9) was sold through Sotheby’s on April 15th 1799 (no other records from the sales have been found and it is suspected that they were destroyed when Sotheby’s took a direct hit in World War II). The painting is now owned by the Art Institute of Chicago, USA.
Cotton III gifted the collection to the Plymouth Proprietary Library in two instalments: the majority in 1853 and the rest in 1862, a year before his death. Cotton III stated that he was giving the collection “for the purpose of amusement and instruction of the inhabitants of the towns of Plymouth, Stonehouse, Devonport and their vicinity”. The newly named Cottonian Collection was opened to the public on June 1st 1853 at Plymouth Propriety Library’s original Cornwall Street site. The large collection was transferred to the Plymouth Corporation in 1915/16 by Act of Parliament. Curator Mr. H. J. Snell was tasked with redisplaying the collection and ensuring that it was kept together. The collection is still on display at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, where it is presented free of charge for the pleasure of the public.
Portrait of William Cotton MA FSA (1794–1863) Stephen Poyntz Denning 1845 Oil on canvas
Sir Joshua Reynolds At the age of nineteen, Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) began to study painting with successful Londonbased painter Thomas Hudson. After learning to paint portraits that flattered his subjects, Reynolds returned to Plymouth Dock (now Devonport), where he was in a prime location to capitalise on the abundance of wealthy Royal Naval
officers who wished for themselves and their families to be painted. The first notable piece was a portrait of Captain John Hamilton, who married into the Eliot family of St Germans in 1749. This early recognition paid dividends in the future as Reynolds continued to paint portraits of Admirals, Commodores and Captains for the rest of his life. After spending four years touring Europe, Reynolds returned to Devon in 1753. After three months he moved to London and set up studio at St. Martin’s Lane, where his rise in popularity amongst London’s wealthy elite secured 125 sitters in 1755 alone. This led Reynolds, like most other artists of the day, to employ an assistant to paint his backgrounds and ‘block in’ figures, while he was left to finish important details such as the face and hands. Among his assistants was the young Giuseppe Marchi, whom he had met in Rome, and James Northcote, another Plymouth-born artist. In 1768, Reynolds became the first President of the Royal Academy of Arts. In the following year Reynolds was knighted, and went on to secure his reputation with a series of high profile paintings, such as The Ladies
Self-Portrait (detail) Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (1723-1792) c. 1764–5 Oil on canvas
Portrait of Charles Rogers FRS FSA Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA (1723–1792) 1777 Oil on canvas Waldegrave (1780). Reynolds’ lecture series, Discourses on Art, which he delivered between 1769 and 1790 at the Academy, are still available to read today. Reynolds held the position of President at the Academy until his death in 1792. Charles Rogers FRS FSA Commissioned in 1777 by Rogers himself and engraved the following year by William Ryland (1733–1783), the portrait appeared in both volumes of Rogers’ own work Imitation of Drawings (1778). Rogers had some reservations about the portrait and he later wrote to his friend Horace Walpole that he thought it made him look too young. Walpole responded that “posterity will not know at what age the likeness was taken”. This was the only painting by Reynolds in Rogers’ collection at the time; the other Reynolds paintings in the Cottonian Collection were added later by William Cotton III, and were donated to the city on his death. Despite Reynolds having a very busy professional life – he was said to work seven days a week for nine months of the year – the artist still found time to paint images
of himself. The Self-Portrait in our collection would have been painted when Reynolds was approximately 40 years old. He most likely produced self-portraits in the summer, when his appointment book was less full. Reynolds also used these periods to experiment with new techniques and compositions for his work. By the end of his life, Reynolds had the reputation of being the greatest portrait painter in England, and was considered an equal to great European painters such as Velasquez, Rembrandt and Rubens.
A Musical Conversation is typical of Caspar Netscher’s earlier works, when he painted genre scenes before committing almost exclusively to portraiture. This type of painting, which featured representations of both peasant life and bourgeois life in supposedly everyday situations, was judged to be one of the lowest in the hierarchy of paintings instituted by the Royal Academy. Such paintings were however extremely popular in Holland during the seventeenth century: as a predominantly protestant country, genre scenes existed in lieu of religious imagery.
In Arnhem Netscher received his first drawing lessons from local artist Hendrick Coster. Following drawing tuition, he spent four years in Deventer apprenticed to the famous Dutch painter Gehard Ter Borch (1617–1681). Borch specialised in miniature paintings and genre scenes, the subjects of which were often set in domestic interiors creating music, reading or writing letters, and drinking. Elements of A Musical Conversation, such as the treatment of the fabrics in the painting and the small–scale domestic interior portraying the amusements of the wealthy elite, are highly reminiscent of Borch’s work. The musical scene, as in Netscher’s piece, was popular in genre paintings and were frequently romanticised: closer inspection of the background reveals that there is a statue of Cupid, the Roman God of Love. Netscher eventually settled in The Hague in 1662 where he found a generous patron in King William III (1650–1703) and developed a more reputable style as a portraitist. This success led him to paint for the English Royal Court and to become a renowned painter of the Dutch Golden Age. Netscher remained at The Hague until his death in 1684.
A Musical Conversation Attributed to Caspar Netscher (1639–1684) c. 1660 Oil on copper
THE GENRE SCENE: CASPAR NETSCHER
Details of the artist’s early life are not clear, but it is speculated that Netscher was born in either Heidelberg or Prague in 1639. Although Netscher became an artist of great reputation, his childhood was troubled. When he was young his father died. After their hometown was attacked during the Thirty Years’ War, his widowed mother was forced to flee to the Netherlands with the children. Netscher was the only child to safely reach Arnhem after his two siblings had starved to death.
Willem van de Velde (1622–1707) was the most successful Dutch maritime painter of the late seventeenth century. Velde and his brother, landscape painter Adriaen van de Velde (1636–1672), were trained by their father Willem van de Velde the Elder (1611– 1693), a renowned maritime painter and official artist to the Dutch fleet. Painted between 1690 and 1700, A Row Galley on Fire depicts a battle between two vessels at sea. Velde’s fluidity of brushwork, use of colour, precise observation of light and balanced composition express the scene’s inherent drama. The undamaged vessel to the right, for example, provides an effective contrast to the damaged vessel releasing a proportionate cloud of smoke to the left. As with Velde the Elder’s paintings, details are accurate to the actual ships. Contemporary historians use paintings such as this to understand more clearly the structure and form of seventeenth-century vessels. Due to the changing economic and political climate in the Netherlands caused by military conflicts with France, both Willem van de Velde the Elder and the Younger relocated to England in the winter of 1672. The move was beneficial for the artists: by 1674 they had gained the favour of Charles II and his brother the Duke of York. The pair went on to paint for the Royal Court, a move that caused a shift in the focus of their artwork from scenes of war to ceremonial scenes of the Royal Navy. Wartime themes did still feature in their work, such as the English victories over the
Dutch navies. Velde painted from a studio in the Queen’s House in Greenwich before moving to Westminster in 1691.
MARITIME PAINTING: A ROW GALLEY ON FIRE
Velde continued to live and work in England until his death in 1707. His work defined the development of seascape painting in the eighteenth century; later artists influenced by his work include the draughtsman and painter Samuel Scott (c.1702–1772), whose work A Calm also features in the Cottonian Collection.
A Row Galley on Fire Willem van de Velde II (1633–1707) Oil on canvas
The latter half of the eighteenth century saw a rise in the influence and popularity of Classical Antiquity in terms of developing artistic taste throughout Europe. There existed a long tradition of artists observing and reproducing classical works as part of their training. In the late eighteenth century the practice became of such significance that a branch of the French Academy opened in Rome in 1666, where the most ambitious and talented artists and architects studied for a period of three to five years. Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, the sculptor of the Mercury and Venus plasters in the Collection, self-funded his studies at the Academy. The time that the artists spent in Rome influenced their work both in terms of content and style. During the late eighteenth century it became popular to take a Grand Tour travelling across France and Italy with the aim of becoming educated in the classics. Tourists would observe the ancient Roman ruins and statues, often purchasing examples of Graeco-Roman art to add to their private collections. For those who could not afford to purchase original pieces, a cluster of workshops opened in order to reproduce cheaper copies. Reports written by the grand tourists about their expeditions around Europe fuelled an increased interest in the ancient past. Texts such as Robert Adam’s Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletain at Spalatro in Dalmatia (1764) and Nicholas Revett’s Antiquities of Athens (1762) helped to broaden and stimulate the public’s passion for all things ancient. Mercury (detail) Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (1714–1785) Plaster
MYTHOLOGY IN THE COTTONIAN COLLECTION
A particularly popular subject for copyists (the Collection’s own Centaur was created in Rome’s prominent Zoffoli workshop) was the Young and Old Centaur, commonly known as the Furietti, currently on display in the Capitoline Museum, Rome. The Capitoline’s marble statue, on which this statuette is based, was discovered alongside the Old Centaur in Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli.
Several of the marble statue’s features suggest that it is itself a copy of an original Hellenistic bronze: the deeper colour of the marble and the equine legs, for example. Both statues also bear the inscriptions of Aristeas and Papieas, artists known to originate from Aphrodisias, a city in Asia Minor known for its school of skilful copyists. Many students of such schools moved to Rome in the last decades of the first century AD, the years in which the marble statues would have been produced. It is therefore likely that the Capitoline’s statue, on which this statuette is based, is in fact a copy of an even earlier original. The contrasting combination of the tormented old centaur with the young and joyful Dionysian centaur was common to Hellenistic love poetry. Other copies of the pair indicate that the original statues supported small figures of Eros on their backs, the presence of whom further polarises the pair: love brings joy to the youth but torment to age. This tension is revealed in the centaurs’ differing responses to the god of love: the hands of the old centaur are tied behind his back and his facial expression exhibits an emotion of pathos toward the hero. By contrast, the tightly knit muscles and springing step of the younger
A Centaur Zoffoli (18th Century) Bronze
Antinous French School (c.1700) Bronze centaur indicate the compressed energy of lustful youth. The victorious gesture and delightful laughter of the younger centaur serves as a strong contrast to the torment that physical desire causes to the elder. The Cottonian’s statuette features the younger centaur, Nessus, who was shot with an arrow by Hercules after he attempted to rape Hercules’ wife, Deianira. We can identify Nessus by the club and lion skin that he carries. The Cottonian’s bronze Antinous is a copy of the Belvedere Antinous, sometimes known as the Belvedere Hermes, currently on display in the Vatican Museum, Rome. Interestingly, it is thought that the Vatican’s Belvedere Hermes is itself a later copy of a bronze Hellenistic work by ancient sculptor Praxiteles, dating back to the fourth century BC. The tree stump on which Antinous leans would not have been present in the bronze original but was added to support the figure in the later marble copy. The Cottonian’s bronze statuette has mimicked the marble version even though it is unnecessary for bronze. It was commonly assumed in the sixteenth century that Hadrianic sculptures of male youths depicted Hadrian’s deified lover, Antinous.
This assigned identity was accepted in the case of this statue because it was found adorning Hadrian’s Mausoleum. When Charles Rogers bought this statue in 1751, he believed it to have been of Antinous. Despite these indicators, the statue was in fact misidentified. Through the well-known iconography of the travelling cloak (seen wrapped around the figure) we can identify the subject as Hermes. He is in his role as Psychopompos, guiding souls to the underworld.
Helen was the immortal daughter of the Queen of Sparta and Zeus. Theseus, King of Athens and Pirithous, King of Larissa, and his brother, Pirithous, both desired to make love to a daughter of Zeus before they died. After hearing of Helen’s legendary beauty Theseus kidnapped her, the
Italian painter Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610–1662) was tutored in Rome under Pietro da Cortona (1596– 1669) and patronised by the Barberini family. In Rome, Romanelli was commissioned to work on churches and palaces throughout the city, including the Vatican. When the Barberinis were exiled, Romanelli accompanied them to Paris where he became a prominent artist, producing work for the National Library and the summer apartments of the Queen Mother, Anne of Austria, in the Louvre. Romanelli created restrained versions of his master’s richly decorative baroque style, and his painting in the Cottonian Collection is typical of this style of work.
Romanelli famously produced a series of fresco cycle paintings based on Ovid’s classical Metamorphoses (c. 1AD). Many artists took inspiration from such works, and as texts were often written in Latin the featured characters in artwork often took on their Roman names. An extract from Book II of Virgil’s distinguished Latin text, The Aeneid (c. BC20), with an accompanying illustration of the passage, follows overleaf.
scene of which is the subject of this painting. Whilst in the care of Theseus’ mother, Aethra, Helen was rescued by her brothers Castor and Pollux, who also captured Pirithous’ sister and Aethra to be slaves for Helen. In the traditional story Helen is a young child, perhaps as young as seven, and Theseus is a middle-aged man. Romanelli portrays both characters as young adults in order to create a romanticised scene.
Helen Carried off by Theseus Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610–1662) Oil on canvas
The Aenied Virgil c. BC20 Book II Then, not before, I felt my cruddled blood Congeal with fear, my hair with horror stood: My father’s image fill’d my pious mind, Lest equal years might equal fortune find. Again I thought on my forsaken wife, And trembled for my son’s abandon’d life. I look’d about, but found myself alone, Deserted at my need! My friends were gone. Some spent with toil, some with despair oppress’d, Leap’d headlong from the heights; the flames consum’d the rest. Thus, wand’ring in my way, without a guide, The graceless Helen in the porch I spied Of Vesta’s temple; there she lurk’d alone; Muffled she sate, and, what she could, unknown: But, by the flames that cast their blaze around, That common bane of Greece and Troy I found. For Ilium burnt, she dreads the Trojan sword; More dreads the vengeance of her injur’d lord; Ev’n by those gods who refug’d her abhorr’d. Trembling with rage, the strumpet I regard, Resolv’d to give her guilt the due reward: ‘Shall she triumphant sail before the wind, And leave in flames unhappy Troy behind? Shall she her kingdom and her friends review, In state attended with a captive crew, While unreveng’d the good old Priam falls, And Grecian fires consume the Trojan walls? For this the Phrygian fields and Xanthian flood Were swell’d with bodies, and were drunk with blood?
‘T is true, a soldier can small honor gain, And boast no conquest, from a woman slain: Yet shall the fact not pass without applause, Of vengeance taken in so just a cause; The punish’d crime shall set my soul at ease, And murm’ring manes of my friends appease. Thus while I rave, a gleam of pleasing light Spread o’er the place; and, shining heav’nly bright, My mother stood reveal’d before my sight Never so radiant did her eyes appear; Not her own star confess’d a light so clear: Great in her charms, as when on gods above She looks, and breathes herself into their love. She held my hand, the destin’d blow to break; Then from her rosy lips began to speak: ‘My son, from whence this madness, this neglect Of my commands, and those whom I protect? Why this unmanly rage? Recall to mind Whom you forsake, what pledges leave behind. Look if your helpless father yet survive, Or if Ascanius or Creusa live. Around your house the greedy Grecians err; And these had perish’d in the nightly war, But for my presence and protecting care. Not Helen’s face, nor Paris, was in fault; But by the gods was this destruction brought. Now cast your eyes around, while I dissolve The mists and films that mortal eyes involve, Purge from your sight the dross, and make you see The shape of each avenging deity. Enlighten’d thus, my just commands fulfil, Nor fear obedience to your mother’s will. Where yon disorder’d heap of ruin lies, Stones rent from stones; where clouds of dust arise-
Amid that smother Neptune holds his place, Below the wall’s foundation drives his mace, And heaves the building from the solid base. Look where, in arms, imperial Juno stands Full in the Scaean gate, with loud commands, Urging on shore the tardy Grecian bands. See! Pallas, of her snaky buckler proud, Bestrides the tow’r, refulgent thro’ the cloud: See! Jove new courage to the foe supplies, And arms against the town the partial deities. Haste hence, my son; this fruitless labor end: Haste, where your trembling spouse and sire attend: Haste; and a mother’s care your passage shall befriend.’ She said, and swiftly vanish’d from my sight, Obscure in clouds and gloomy shades of night. I look’d, I listen’d; dreadful sounds I hear; And the dire forms of hostile gods appear. Troy sunk in flames I saw (nor could prevent), And Ilium from its old foundations rent; Rent like a mountain ash, which dar’d the winds, And stood the sturdy strokes of lab’ring hinds. About the roots the cruel ax resounds; The stumps are pierc’d with oft-repeated wounds: The war is felt on high; the nodding crown Now threats a fall, and throws the leafy honors down. To their united force it yields, tho’ late, And mourns with mortal groans th’ approaching fate: The roots no more their upper load sustain; But down she falls, and spreads a ruin thro’ the plain.
Flew From Troy By Carina Dewhurst
In the sixteenth century, Ferdinando de’Medici (1549–1609), then Grand Duke of Tuscany, required two lions to adorn the front staircase of the Villa Medici in Rome. The first sculpture was formed from an original Roman relief fragment and reworked by sculptor Giovanni di Scherano Fancelli into a three dimensional Lion. The almost identical second statue was produced by Flaminio Vacca (1538– 1605), and was carved from marble taken from the Roman Capitoline Temple of Jupiter. Vacca favoured repairing ancient sculptures and as a consequence the Lion is one of only a few of his original works. The two Medici Lions were the epitome of luxurious ornamentation, which is why we find them widely copied across Europe in the eighteenth century. This popularity accounts for the plaster statuette, of the sixteenthcentury Vacca Lion, being found in
the Cottonian Collection. The Medici Lions were not only popular for their grandeur but also for the connotations that any connection with the Medici family would ensure. The Medici family were one of the most powerful families in Italy. They rose to prominence in the fourteenth century under Cosimo de’Medici, and by the fifteenth century the Medici Bank was the largest in the world. Although the family gained much political power in Florence, it wasn’t until 1531 that they became Dukes of Florence. In 1569 the family were appointed to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, a position they held until 1737. In total, the Medici family produced four Popes and two Regent Queens of France. In 1798 the Grand Duke had the Lions moved to the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, where they remain today.
Medici Lion (detail) c. 1595 Plaster
GRAND ORNAMENTATION: THE MEDICI LIONS
Purchased by Charles Rogers in 1783, the Lorenzo de’Medici, Duke of Urbino bronze statuette replicates the seated figure in the Tomb of Lorenzo de’Medici. Similar to the Medici Lions also found in the Cottonian Collection, the work is affiliated with the powerful Medici family. Cosimo di Giovanni de’Medici (1389–1464) amassed the largest library in Europe, spending a large portion of the family’s wealth on cultivating literature and the arts. After purchasing the works of the philosopher Plato from Constantinople, Cosimo founded the Platonic Academy where he patronized Marsilio Ficino, who later went on to publish the first Latin edition of Plato’s collected works. Lorenzo de’Medici (1449–1492), the grandson of Cosimo, was a patron of the arts in much the same way as his grandfather. Lorenzo’s reign, from 1478 to 1492, coincided with the ‘golden age’ of Florentine painting, sculpture and architecture. Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci were two of the many artists who worked under Lorenzo’s protection. Michelangelo also flourished during this period of the Renaissance and upon Lorenzo’s death in 1520, he was given the commission for the brothers’ tombs. The mausoleum was supposed to contain,
THE MEDICI CHAPEL: LORENZO DE MEDICI, DUKE OF URBINO
amongst others, the tombs of Cosimo’s grandsons: Lorenzo de’Medici and his brother Giuliano de’Medici (1452–1478), collectively known as the ‘Magnifici’. Unfortunately, work on their tombs never started. Today, the Medici Chapel in Florence features the unfinished tombs of the less prominent Lorenzo do Piero de’Medici, Duke of Nemours (1479–1516) and Giuliano di Lorenzo de’Medici, Duke of Urbino (1492–1519); the latter of whom is the subject of the Cottonian Collection’s statuette.
S. Bibiana François Marié Poncet (1736–1797) fi. 1767 Terracotta
S. Susanna François Marié Poncet (1736–1797) fl.1767 Terracotta
The Saint Bibiana statuette appears to be a plaster cast, but on closer inspection this piece (alongside the Saint Susanna) is in fact made of terracotta. This is indicated by the item’s weight: the sculpture is far heavier than a typical plaster cast of the same size. The sculpture has also been painted in white, giving the visual impression that it is made of marble or plaster.
choice amongst sculptors: highly versatile and flexible; its low cost made it ideal for practice models and for tests of full size statues; and it is more readily available than marble.
Terracotta is earthenware: a coarsetextured brown/orange clay-like material that is fired at a low temperature. Due to a variety of factors the material was a popular
The legend states that Bibiana’s family were persecuted Christians. The Governor of Rome, Apronianus tortured her father Flavian, a Roman Prefect, and sent him into exile where
The earliest mention of Bibiana can be found in the biography of Pope Simplicius (468–483). A legend of Saint Bibiana later emerged, which claims that she died a martyr.
Bibiana and her sister Demetria continued in a state of fasting and prayer, which incensed Apronianus. Demetria confessed her Christian faith to the Governor and upon doing so, fell dead at his feet. Bibiana was initially placed at the hands of the woman Rufina, whose repeated attempts to seduce Bibiana failed. Bibiana was later removed, tied to a pillar, and beaten until death. The legend claims that the saint endured her torment with joy. Remembered for her courage and integrity, Saint Susanna died a Christian martyr in 295AD. Born in Rome, Susanna was the daughter of the priest Gabinius and the niece of Pope Caius. After taking a private vow of virginity for her faith, Emperor Diocletian requested that Susanna marry his sonin-law Maximian. Susanna refused to give up her vow for the Emperor’s request, and was beheaded as a result. Saint Susanna was removed from the Universal Calendar of Saints in 1969, though a Roman church continues to bear her name, as it has done since the fifth century. Although no reliable sources concerning her life have been found, her legend remains alive. Duquesnoy’s classicised Saint Susanna was made in 1629 for the Santa Maria di Lorento church in the Roman Forum. Although little attention was paid to Duquesnoy’s sculpture initially, Saint Susanna gained precedence in 1739 when a marble copy, made by Guillaume Coustou, was sent to Paris. It is now one of the best known and admired sculptures of Saint Susanna. A marble copy of Duquesnoy’s statue, dating 1765–6, is held in the National Trust Collection at Stourhead, Wiltshire.
THE MARTYRS: SAINT BIBIANA & SAINT SUSANNA
he eventually died of his wounds. Her mother Defrosa was beheaded, and the two daughters were left to suffer in poverty after being stripped of their possessions.
The Paduan painter, Francesco Squarcione (c. 1395– c. 1468) is not especially known for his own artwork but for that of the pupils he trained. Squarcione was possibly the first artist to collect plaster casts specifically for the use of training his apprentices. This type of practice quickly became popular: painter, writer and art critic Giovanni Battista Armenini (1530– 1609) recorded at end of the sixteenth century that there existed cast collections for this function in many northern Italian cities. For the purposes of academic training, Academies collected casts which best exemplified classical Greek, Roman and Renaissance sculpture. The most influential institution, the French Academy in Rome, had a collection of over one hundred casts by 1684. The use of sculpture for observational study in producing drawing, painting, or further sculpture is a process that the Greeks called ‘ekphrasis’. By the twentieth century later innovations in the teaching of art caused the practice to turn away from the traditional academic and classical approach. Plaster casts lost their function as pedagogic aid, resulting in a decrease in demand. Without this function, and because the casts were copies of originals, their value was questioned; by the 1970s many collections had been destroyed. Fortunately, as in the case of our Collection, some historic casts still exist and many collection owners still allow artists to draw from their pieces.
The subject of John Keats’ Ode on a Grecian Urn (1819) is an assemblage of different items that the poet had seen and is an excellent example of ekphrastic writing. His speculation on the identities of the urn’s figures and his narration of their actions provide an intimate description that enable readers to vividly imagine the urn.
THE USE OF ART IN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY
The items of focus for ekphrasis are not confined to sculpture, and the artwork produced is not confined to the visual arts. Recent theorists have extended the definition of ekphrasis to include verbal and literary representation as a method of describing visual representation. In this way, the original items may be fictional, existing as redefined objects in the writer’s imagination.
The following poem is a contemporary example of ekphrastic writing. The writer responds to the two allegorical paintings by Angelica Kauffman in the Cottonian Collection: Beauty Tempted by Love, Counselled by Prudence and Beauty Yielded to Love, Quitted by Prudence (c. 1782).
Beauty Yielded to Love, Quitted by Prudence Maria Anna Angelica Kauffman (1741–1807) Oil on canvas c. 1782
Distracted. Fluttering wings lure me to look. Vigilance subsides into silent shadow, muted by naked Love – virile man painted as boy. Blushing buttocks. Angelic?
My belt is too tight. Empire silhouettes permit only halfbreaths. Prudence is a lady dressed in crimson, crippled by the dun cloak of antiquity. Virtue weighs heavily upon her rigid frame. Wise warnings whispered on the hush of the breeze, muffled by rustling leaves – scantily audible. Her claw-like clench chafes my wrist (reminds me to listen).
Roseate dusk; dawn of amorous night. Pastel clouds exhibit their chinks – come, fade to black and announce the stars. Evening dew kisses my toes, piques my nose, warm scent: damp, desolate land.
Tempted Yielded Counselled Quitted By Kelly Evans
I am Beauty, willing subject of Love.
Afterglow. Caramel curls sashay the curves of my spine; posies sprout from fertile ground. O Surrender. You are the first bite of a ripe peach: sweet, juice-drenched lips. Shawl has slipped arms bare one breast unwrapped to breathe the air the other peeps beneath translucent drapes; dainty chain cinches my waist – an ethereal embrace.
“To Hell with you,” her palm proclaims, prudent feet poised for abandonment. Seething scowl, disapproval, a premature I told you so.
Crown me with flowers. Don’t restrain me with reason – can’t be harnessed. Desire me, I’m Passion’s muse veiled in deepest rouge.
Fire-haired cupid crouches close; silk fingers brush milk-white skin; I awaken, lost in him.
Front Cover Image: Helen Carried Off by Theseus Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610–1662) Oil on canvas All images: Cottonian Collection Š Plymouth City Council (Arts & Heritage) With thanks to Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery and Plymouth University. Special thanks to Emma Philip, Curator of Fine Art and Sara Norrish, Learning Officer for Young People. The Young Explainers Natalie Butler Luke Pitcher Mollie Millward-Nicholls Victoria Smith Katy Neusten Xia Yu Kristin Annus Eleanor Barker Katie Palmer Olivia Davies Marie Miranda
English Literature Graphic Communication with Typography Classical Civilisation Art History Art History Accounting and Finance Art History History Art History Art History Anthropology and Art History
Additional Thanks Kelly Evans Carina Dewhurst
English and Creative Writing Illustration
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