An exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum offers an interesting look into how Bernini’s large statuary was made. Various statues and groupings, mostly in Rome, are the focus of this show. Bernini’s plans included sketches with amazing details. He, or an assistant, would make clay models, fired as terracotta, of the eventual larger pieces. The show presents some of these drawings and clay sketches. Both the sketches and these small clay pieces give us an intimate and fascinating view of the preparation and process that went into Bernini’s work. The exhibit can be seen until January 6th.
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Two fashion designers from different times are compared and contrasted in this exhibition at the Met. In the clothes and accessories on view, the show is curated to underscore the similarities between the two. Prada’s designs, since they are contemporary, are probably more familiar. This makes Schiaparelli (1893-1973) the more interesting of the two. Her accessories, especially, are fabulous. There is an omnipresent background video of simulated conversations between the two women which is somewhat distracting. The show becomes absorbing if this video is ignored and one goes at a time when the crowds are relatively thin!
It’s the last week to see the Met’s exhibition of Renaissance portraits, on view until March 18th. It is a splendid show that traces the evolution of portraiture in the 15th Century from a standard format to more realistic depictions. Towards the middle of the 1400s the subjects of the paintings came to have a more life-like, vital appearance. Rather than being simply idealized representations, the sitters showed expression and were often painted with negative qualities – physical and spiritual – visible. Perhaps most impressive are some of the marble busts on view: the sculptures show features that are amazingly expressive and, in the case of Desiderio da Settignano’s “Bust of a Young Woman,” enchanting.
The Metropolitan Museum is hosting a charming exhibition featuring Renaissance Venetian art from the museum’s collections. The works – mostly religious in nature – of artists such as Giovanni Bellini and Vittore Carpaccio are part of a show that focuses on the transition in Venice from the Gothic style to that of the Renaissance.
Another exhibition celebrates Perino del Vaga, a sixteenth century artist who trained with Raphael. Perino’s works are in the Mannerist style of the late Renaissance. He was a court artist for Andrea Doria in Genova and later for Pope Paul III in Rome. Two newly discovered works are featured: the painting of the “Holy Family with St. John the Baptist” and the beautiful drawing of “Jupiter and Juno reclining on a Marriage Bed.”
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