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BRIEF GUIDE National Gallery of Art
History and Description
Funds for the construction of the original building were provided by The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust. During the 1920s, Mr. Mellon began to collect with the intention of forming a national gallery of art in Washington. His collection was given to the nation in 1937, the year of his death. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted the completed Gallery on behalf of the people of the United States of America.
Architect for the National Gallery was John Russell Pope, who also designed the Jefferson Memorial and other outstanding public buildings in Washington. The building is one of the largest marble structures in the world, measuring 780 feet in length and containing more than 500,000 square feet of interior floor space. The exterior is of rose-white Tennessee marble. The columns in the Rotunda were quarried in Tuscany, Italy. Green marble from Vermont and gray marble from Tennessee were used for the floor of the Rotunda. The interior walls are of Alabama Rockwood stone, Indiana limestone, and Italian travertine. The entire building is air-conditioned and humidity-controlled throughout the year to maintain the optimum atmospheric conditions for the works of art it contains.
The original building is no longer large enough to accommodate the Gallery's acquisitions and interpretive art programs. A second building, presently under construction, will house new exhibition galleries and a Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts. The two buildings will be connected by a plaza above ground and by a concourse of public service areas, including a new caf?/buffet, below. The new construction has been made possible by generous gifts from Mr. Paul Mellon, the late Ailsa Mellon Bruce, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
THE COLLECTIONS
Owing to changes in installation, certain works of art listed in this brochure may not always be on view. For up-to-date information, please inquire at the information desks.
The paintings and sculpture given by the founder, Andrew W. Mellon, comprising works by the greatest masters from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century, have formed a nucleus of high quality around which the collection has grown. Indeed, in making his gift Mr. Mellon had expressed the hope that the newly established National Gallery would attract gifts from other collectors, so that these works of art might be enjoyed by all and would be a lasting contribution to the cultural life of the nation.
Mr. Mellon's hope that others would carry on the work was realized, even before the Gallery opened, by the action of Samuel H. Kress, who gave to the nation his great collection of paintings and sculptures of the Italian schools ranging from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Enlarging and enriching the Kress Collection on subsequent occasions, Samuel H. Kress and his brother Rush H. Kress made the National Gallery outstanding for its representation of Italian art and also added a distinguished group of French eighteenth-century canvases and sculpture and fine examples of early German paintings, as well as works of first importance from other schools.
In 1942 Joseph E. Widener gave the famous collection of painting, sculpture, and decorative arts formed by him and his father P.A.B. Widener. Chester Dale, besides making numerous gifts during his lifetime, bequeathed his extensive collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century French paintings to the Gallery. Ailsa Mellon Bruce also bequeathed her collection of French paintings to the Gallery and, in addition, generously provided funds for the purchase of many old master paintings, including the Leonardo da Vinci. Lessing J. Rosenwald has given over 20,000 prints and drawings.
In addition, more than 325 other donors have generously added to the collections of the National Gallery of Art.
Florentine and Central Italian Art
Because the Church defined much of the social and cultural structure of medieval life, Christian themes predominated as the subject matter for the arts of the period. In the National Gallery collections, works created in Florence, Siena, Rome, and Central Italy show the range of skills and styles prevalent in painting as it progressed from the highly religious art of the Middle Ages to the more secular art of the Renaissance.
The usual technique for medieval religious art was egg tempera on wood panels covered with a fine bone plaster, called gesso. Egg yolk mixed with powdered pigments was applied to the gesso surface resulting in pictures characterized by bright colors and clear outer contours. To recall the radiant light of the heavenly kingdom and to heighten the patterns typifying this art, the artist often used gold-leafed grounds as well.
Painted by two monks , this important painting fuses the concerns and techniques of medieval and Renaissance artists. The tapestrylike lawn, the decorative bright colors, and the inverted perspective of the shed are elements common to medieval art. The realistic rendering of birds and animals, the weight and volume given the kneeling Magi in the foreground, and the classically inspired nude figures at the distant left reflect the new-found interest of the Renaissance in both classical antiquity and the external world. The colorful, festive mood of the painting, moreover, is emphasized by the bustling throngs of people arriving to worship the Christ Child.
Not simply a work of art, this painted leather shield reflects the uniquely nationalistic consciousness of the Florentine city-state. As a public image carried in parades and ceremonies, its function was to symbolize the Florentine struggle for freedom and, as a gruesome depiction of victory against oppression, to warn all potential enemies of Florence. On the shield, both main episodes of the Old Testament story appear concurrently: David takes aim with his sling, while the giant's head lies already severed at his feet. The effective, although awkward, foreshortening of the upraised arm and the sharply delineated veins and muscles attest to Castagno's Renaissance interest in the realistic rendition of perspective and anatomy.
Venetian and North Italian Art
Aware of the subtle reflections of light and shadow playing in the misty air over the lagoons of Venice, sixteenth-century artists such as Titian, Veronese , and Tintoretto strove to capture the illusion of surface texture and tangible atmosphere through their paints. Because oils blended easily together and because one could thicken these paints with pigments, artists soon established a more flexible technique. At the same time, they abandoned rigid wood panels for canvas supports, which allowed larger, lighter pictures. These innovations, combined with worldly subjects, soon had a significant impact on the rest of Europe.
Dominated by a placid landscape bathed in the half-light of dawn, Giorgione's composition focuses on the small group placed off-center in the foreground. Rendering the Holy Family in luminous colors, the artist has silhouetted them against the dark mouth of a cave, a traditional nativity setting borrowed from Byzantine art that here reflects the strong cultural ties between the city-state of Venice and the empire to the east. This composition, one of the very few existing paintings by the master, demonstrates Giorgione's mastery of color and control of mood, elements which helped him to achieve fame during his short life of thirty-three years.
Italian Art of the 17th and 18th Centuries
The baroque period began around 1600, when the Church was engaged in a movement to curb the spreading of the Protestant Reformation. To appeal to the large numbers of ambivalent Christians torn between the two theologies, the Catholic clergy commissioned and supported a realistic but dramatic art designed to involve the populace in the teachings and the authority of the Church. Indeed, so appealing was the baroque style that it was quickly adapted to the worldly subjects of the secular arts. Representative of the Counter-Reformation era is Gian Lorenzo Bernini, an enormously successful and influential architect and sculptor. As world trade shifted to the Atlantic nations, however, Italy's economic position declined, and by the eighteenth century many Italian painters had to search for commissions elsewhere in Europe. Through their travels, decorative painters and muralists, such as Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, soon established an international style filled with brilliant colors and virtuoso brushwork.
The most casual elements of this intimate portrait of human activity combine to create a masterful composition of complex and dynamic parts. The pose of the girl, shown with arm and head poised as she tunes her lute, generates a feeling of sustained movement. The intricate still life fading into shadowy depths at the left is in deliberate contrast to the brightly lit costume and solid figure of the lute player. The combination of abrupt spotlighting and suggested deep space was characteristic of baroque painting in seventeenth-century Rome, and Gentileschi, an international court artist, transmitted this robust style to Genoa, Paris, and London.
In an era of travel, when men and women of wealth toured the continent as part of their education, factual renderings of interiors and cityscapes became important souvenirs. A major attraction on the Grand Tour during the eighteenth century was Rome; and in Rome, the Pantheon, a circular temple built in the second century. Converted to a Christian church, it became the burial spot of Renaissance authors and artists, such as Raphael, and has proved the source of inspiration for many later structures, including the central rotunda of the National Gallery. Panini was the greatest view painter in Rome during the 1700s, although his precise manner of painting was paralleled by his Venetian contemporaries, Canaletto and Guardi.
Flemish and German Art
At the beginning of the fifteenth century, northern European art was caught up by the same spirit of empirical inquiry and technical innovation that predominated in Italy during this period. Northern art, however, reflects neither the influence of classical art nor the development of a single-point perspective that are the hallmarks of the Italian Renaissance. Rather, Netherlandish artists such as Jan van Eyck achieved mastery in the new technique of oil painting. The use of oil on wood panel permitted an extraordinary increase in the depth and richness of color, which, in turn, was coupled with the tradition of minute, craftsmanly detail established in late medieval manuscript illumination.
Around 1500, Italian humanism and Renaissance science had a discernable effect upon northern European painting. Albrecht D?rer and Francois Clouet both profited from their exposure to Italian art. The Renaissance influence carried over into the work of Rubens in the seventeenth century despite the religious and political upheaval of the Reformation which affected so much European art of the mid-1500s. Catholic Flanders, the home of Rubens, remained relatively untouched by the changing times and maintained a continuity of political and economic ties to the Spanish monarchy. Rubens, who drew heavily from the work of earlier Italian masters, at the same time developed a baroque preference for large-scale canvases and bravura brushwork, transmitting this style to his associate van Dyck.
The sacred setting of a medieval church provides the backdrop to van Eyck's interpretation of the Annunciation. The archangel Gabriel, dressed in jewels and rich fabrics, greets Mary: "Hail Mary, full of grace." The simply gowned young virgin lifts her hands in wonder and replies, "Behold the handmaiden of the Lord." The two Latin phrases reinforce the contrast and balance between these two important figures: Gabriel in his sumptuous attire and with wings in rainbow colors stands slightly in front in a partially turned position, whereas Mary in her subdued glory sits slightly behind the angel and faces forward. Following the established tradition of the story, van Eyck added a lily, symbol of purity, and a dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit. He also decorated the floor tiles with Old Testament scenes prefiguring the life and triumph of Christ--Samson destroys the Philistine temple and David slays Goliath. This subtle integration of religious history into the background of the painting is indicative of the late medieval belief that objects of the external world are imbued with religious symbolism.
One of the few surviving paintings by Gr?newald, this crucifixion amply displays the emotional power of this German Renaissance artist. Set against a sky darkened by an eclipse of the sun, the scarred and haggard body of Christ makes the scene painfully and physically immediate. With the agonized gesture of the hands, the ragged loincloth, the dislocated shoulders, and twisted feet, little remains to soften the tension of the painting; rather, the artist emphasizes the human suffering necessary for Christ to redeem mankind. Painted on the eve of the Protestant Reformation, this panel reflects the growing insistence in northern Europe upon the reality and importance of private religious experiences.
Scholar, collector, diplomat, and one of the finest artists of his century, Rubens was famed for the boundless enthusiasm and technical wizardry of his paintings. This monumental piece was executed early in Rubens' career. Its impact depends not only upon its large scale but also upon the baroque combination of the theatrical--the dramatic lighting and Daniel's expressive pose--with a convincing realism--the lifelike postures and superbly rendered lions' fur.
Dutch Art
The United Netherlands was founded in 1609 as a Protestant nation following bitter wars of liberation from Catholic Spain. The combination of excellent seaports, a powerful navy, and strong mercantile interests made Holland a flourishing economic center. Dutch patrons, predominantly Calvinist and middle class, demanded not religious or mythological pictures, but landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and genres, or scenes of daily life. Their demands were met by an ever-increasing number of Dutch artists who, perhaps in response to a burgeoning and competitive market, specialized in a single type of subject. Thus Frans Hals was famed for his portraits, Kalf for his still lifes, and Ruisdael and Hobbema for their landscapes. The one exception was Rembrandt, whose penetrating insight into the human condition and whose superb technical facility enabled him to explore successfully a variety of subjects. Holland's artistic boom was soon ended, however, for as quickly as it arose, the economic and artistic Golden Age declined during the last years of the seventeenth century.
One aspect of Vermeer's genius was his ability to create a poetry of the obvious, to transmute a mundane scene into an evocative moment. In what appears at first to be a simple depiction of a woman holding a pair of scales, a framed painting of the Last Judgment included on the back wall of the scene suggests a more serious, allegorical meaning. Weighing the souls of mankind serves as a point of comparison to the woman weighing her worldly possessions. Vermeer's incomparable sensitivity in rendering effects of light can be seen in the careful modulation of the cool, muted daylight that fills the room. Especially striking aret ?a suffit pour empoisonner mon voyage!
Le lac ?tait froid, gris et sec de ton ? cette heure matinale, dans une petite brume commune.
Avertie attendait, comme au th??tre, l'apoth?ose finale, les beaut?s du Gothard qu'elle escomptait pour la remettre de bonne humeur; mais quand elle les eut, l?, sous les yeux, dans leur s?v?rit? verte, crue et pierreuse, ?troites et profondes, telles les ?mes de Port-Royal--sauf toutefois la couleur verte--elle ne put les aimer. Cela l'ennuyait, l'ennuyait prodigieusement, autant que de la mauvaise peinture.
--Etes-vous assez d?nigrante, ma ch?re! disait Floche d'un ton de reproche. Ces neiges ?ternelles, ces pics grandioses, cette nature boulevers?e, cette prodigieuse cr?ation de voie ferr?e, ces <
--Oh! ces gorges... Quand on pense aux beaux seins des femmes et qu'on compare!
--Vous dites? Et ces cascades?
--Ouatt! les cascades? des <
--Des pisse... quoi?
--Je dis des pissevaches. En Suisse, vous savez bien, toutes les cascades sont des pissevaches.
--Non, je ne comprends pas bien, mais vous avez de l'esprit d'? propos... En effet, ce sont tout ? fait des vaches vues par derri?re, mes pauvres cascades... ces bonnes vaches qui donnent de si bon lait, du si bon beurre, du si bon miel!
--Oh! du miel surtout, Floche!
Le d?jeuner que Floche avait, par ?conomie, refus? de manger se servait pendant la mont?e serpentine du Gothard, tandis que, b?ats, les touristes ?pataient leurs nez contre les vitres sales.
Seuls, Avertie et un couple amoureux se d?sint?ressaient du paysage. Le couple, comme tous ceux du m?me genre, s'entre-mangeait des yeux au-dessus de l'omelette aux fines herbes et du veau marengo. La femme, am?ricaine, tr?s fra?che sans ?tre tr?s jeune, avait la poitrine libre sous une ?toffe l?g?re. Quand elle faisait effort pour rompre son pain trop cuit, ses seins en cloches remuaient.
Elle e?t souhait? ? l'enfant une vilaine figure, tant ses vilaines mani?res offensaient sa beaut?. Quand elle se leva, tandis qu'il s'empressait poliment pour l'aider ? remettre son manteau, elle dit ? demi voix:--Merci beaucoup, mon petit monsieur, et, puisque vous ?tes si poli, ?coutez une vieille dame: lorsqu'on a, comme vous, une jolie figure, il faut avoir les ongles propres et ne pas manger avec ses doigts.>> Et elle partit.
Elle fouilla nerveusement le sac jaune.--Aurai-je le temps seulement de les sortir?... J'ai peut-?tre le coeur malade, qu'est-ce qu'on sait, apr?s tous les malheurs que j'ai eus! J'ai lu dans un journal que l'air de ce tunnel ?tait si lourd, si oppressant, si m?phitique... Ah! mon Dieu! nous voil? d?j? dans le trou et je ne trouve pas mes sels, quelle fatalit?! Ah si... enfin!
Et au moment o? elle les portait ? son nez, le jour r?apparaissait.
Un soleil printanier ?clatait, enflammant les glaciers du versant italien; il r?pandait de l'argent liquide sur les pics froids, assis en rond comme des juges.
Ils ?taient beaux et peu sympathiques. Avertie, intimid?e, d?tourna les yeux; elle finissait par se croire coupable.
Mais le train, ? toute vitesse, l'emporta loin de ces monstres. Lointains, couronn?s de l?gers nuages, ils lui parurent plus accessibles. Floche, elle, prenait activement des notes:--<
--Mais oui, Josepha, c'est elle! et les voix s'?teignirent dans des embrassades.
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