Mourner from the Tomb of John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria
1443–45
Jean de la Huerta
(Spanish, active Burgundy, 1431–62)
Spanish, Burgundy, Dijon, 15th century
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Small Sword Poster
In the eighteenth century, the smallsword was designed to be a light, quick weapon. Like the rapier, it was carried by unarmored noblemen. As decorative works, smallswords represent the final stage in the evolution of the sword. This poster pictures one of many on display in the Cleveland Museum of Arts Armor Gallery. Size: 36" x 24"
Riemenschneider and Late Medieval Alabaster
by Gerhard Lutz, Curator of Medieval Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art At the center of this publication is Tilman Riemenschneider’s Saint Jerome and the Lion, one of the masterpieces of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Riemenschneider’s Saint Jerome is not only one of the artist’s more important early masterpieces, it is also his only alabaster work in a collection in the USA. Said to have come from the Benedictine abbey church of Saint Peter in Erfurt, Germany, this sculpture by Tilman Riemenschneider (c. 1460–1531), dated to c. 1495, depicts the church father Saint Jerome as he removes a thorn from the paw of a lion, a legendary account of the saint’s kindness. Following the common iconography of the scene, Jerome is dressed in the traditional robes of a Roman cardinal, with the cowl draped over his tonsured head and the broad-brimmed hat on his right leg. Traces of polychromy and gilding suggest that it was once brightly colored. Drill holes in the hat further indicate that cords and tassels of fabric, typical of a cardinal’s hat, would once have decorated the sculpture. Whether the statue was originally commissioned for an altar in a private chapel or smaller space in the monastery remains unknown. Alabaster was prized for its luster and capacity for fine details from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century. The gleaming stone was used for altarpieces and small sculptures, as well as the tombs of wealthy princes. The book unites works from the medieval collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art and selected masterworks from North American museums and the Louvre in Paris, which allows insight into the characteristics of alabaster sculptures in this period. It is striking that these works are of such a particularly exquisite quality that this material was used especially for high-ranking commissions, such as the tomb of Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy in Champmol near Dijon. The book is accompanied by several essays that examine the subject of alabaster sculpture from different perspectives. Published March 2023 180 pages with 158 images
Tales of the City: Drawings in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel
By: Emily J. Peters, Curator of Prints and Drawings, The Cleveland Museum of Art and Laura Ritter, Curator of Netherlandish Art, The Albertina, Vienna, Austria. With contributions from Koenraad Jonckheere, Professor of Northern Renaissance and Baroque Art, Ghent University, Belgium, and Stephanie Porras, Assistant Professor, Art History, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana. Synonymous with artists such as Jheronimus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and with intellectual figures such as Erasmus, Hugo Grotius, and Karel van Mander, the sixteenth-century Netherlands witnessed dramatic religious, political, and social developments: the Protestant Reformation, the Eighty Years’ War, an economic boom and rising middle class, and the Netherlandish city’s flourishing as a site for civic and cultural identity. Tales of the City: Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel brings together sixteenth-century Netherlandish drawings from the collections of the Albertina Museum, Vienna, and the Cleveland Museum of Art in order to propose a new framework for understanding the role of drawing in Northern Europe during this turbulent period. Seeking to benefit from the vast array of opportunities presented by the vibrant urban culture, artists flocked to cities such as Antwerp and Haarlem early in the century. Trading nations, professional guilds, confraternities, civic militia groups, parish churches, and civic governments offered commissions for the adornment of their chapter houses, guild halls, and chapels. In this setting, drawing—previously employed mainly for copying—performed a multitude of roles. It became an indispensable tool for conceptualizing artistic projects, ranging from stained-glass windows, tapestries, and ephemeral decorations for festivals, to paintings and prints. Drawing also served as a means to explore new subjects, to convey ideas to collaborators, to maintain a record of workshop output, and to create autonomous works in their own right. Tales of the City features four essays and more than ninety catalogue entries by the exhibition’s curators and other scholars that address the range of innovative techniques and subject matter that artists such as Bosch, Bruegel, Hendrick Goltzius, Jan Gossart, Maarten van Heemskerck, and their contemporaries explored as they considered both the built environment and the rapidly changing social and ritual lives of their audiences. Thoroughly researched and lavishly illustrated, this volume and the exhibition it accompanies represent a major contribution to the study and appreciation of Netherlandish art and of drawing as an art form. 322 pages with 244 black-and-white and color illustrations Published October 2022
Myth and Mystique: Cleveland's Gothic Table Fountain
By Stephen N. Fliegel and Elina Gertsman The Cleveland Museum of Art’s medieval Table Fountain (c. 1320–40) has somehow survived nearly intact for over 700 years. A medieval automaton, the table fountain is an exquisite piece of Gothic architecture in miniature complete with parapets, vaults, arcades, and columns. Along with animal-shaped nozzles and intimate scenes in opaque enamel, the sight and sound of flowing water is also captured by water wheels and bells. An exquisite example of French metalwork, the fountain is truly a unique example of Gothic fashion and courtly taste. While little is known of its origin and history, similar fountains have been mentioned in royal inventories, but almost none have survived, leading early scholars to misunderstand its function. The third book in the museum’s Masterwork series, Myth and Mystique: Cleveland’s Gothic Table Fountain reassesses this extraordinary piece in the context of other similar luxury objects, analyzing specifically the fountain’s history, functionality, materials, and style." 164 pages Published 2016
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