You still have time to visit two extraordinary exhibits at the Frick collection – both having a direct relationship with Catholic doctrine and liturgy:
The Charterhouse of Bruges: Jan van Eyck, Petrus Christus, and Jan Vos
(until January 13, 2019)
Luigi Valadier: Splendor in Eighteenth-Century Rome
(until January 20, 2019)
Centerpiece of the Charterhouse exhibition is The Virgin and Child with St. Barbara, St. Elizabeth, and Jan Vos, by Jan van Eyck and his workshop, which has long been a highlight of the Frick collection. Is paired with The Virgin and Child with St. Barbara and Jan Vos by Petrus Christus (now in Berlin) and displayed in the context of other objects from the Carthusian monasteries. The patron, Jan Vos, was prior of the charterhouse of Bruges. For a period in the 15thand 16thcentury the usually hidden Carthusians took a much more active role in affairs outside their monasteries, as writers, patrons and – in England – as martyrs.
The exhibition puts a magnifying glass at the visitor’s disposal – a necessity in viewing these astonishingly detailed works. The “sacred conversation” of The Virgin and Child with St Barbara and St Elizabeth looks out upon a depiction of a medieval town and indeed of the whole world. Swan float on a river while a boat is rowed by, figures sit on a wagon, men (hunters?) advance through a forest – the incredible detail underlines the universal significance of contemplative figures in the foreground. This painting, moreover, is directly connected with Catholic doctrine on indulgences.
Jan Vos commissioned the Frick panel as a “memorial” displayed in the monastery church. An indulgence forty days could be obtained by anyone who said and Ave Maria in front of it. But as the Frick catalogue helpfully points out:
“The indulgence, meant to call attention to the memorial and increase prayers for Vos’s salvation, was only valid as long as the panel remained in the Carthusian order. Today, on the walls of The Frick Collection, the Virgin has therefore long lost its power of spiritual remission.”
Luigi Valadier: Splendor in Eighteenth-Century Rome deals with a different, yet still Christian, world, some 325 years later. If Jan van Eyck is representative of the golden age of the art of Christendom, Luigi Valadier (1726–1785) lived shortly before its extinction. Valadier(of French parents ) was a multi-talented man: sculptor, designer, gold and silversmith and worker in semiprecious stone. He catered to Roman aristocrats, great prelates and wealthy nobles and royalty visiting Rome from all over Europe. His style is transitional between rococo and neoclassicalism.
What interests us here, however, are his sacred works. Silver statues are displayed from the high altar of the cathedral of Cefalu in Sicily (famous for its 12thcentury mosaics). The expressive quality of these sculptures in precious metal is amazing – the contrast with recent Catholic attempts at figurative sculpture is devastating (for the latter). You will not get to see the Cefalu statues again unless you go to Sicily – and probably never this closeup!
An Orsini cardinal commissioned from Valadier a full service for the Mass (thirteen silver-gilt items including a chalice, cruets, a ewer, a holy water bucket etc.) – it only has survived because he donated it to a remote southern Italian church. Finally, there is a set of altar cards, very much in the rococo style, made for an altar in Santa Maria Maggiore. Valadier’s art has transformed objects originally intended for utilitarian use into small masterpieces.
These works testily to the reverence still accorded in Valadier’s day to objects in sacred use. For all these works are not just senseless display but fulfill a specific purpose, to serve which nothing could be too fine. These exhibits are among the last witnesses to an art and a world that were shortly to expire.
(All photographs from the Frick Collection website). For more information on the exhibitions and the Frick Gallery see HERE
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