Past

Two Exceptional Candelabra: An Intimate Glimpse
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In the spring of 2001, visitors had the opportunity to view at close range two recently restored candelabra dating to the reign of Louis XVI. These extraordinary examples of French craftsmanship and design incorporate white marble, lapis lazuli, patinated bronze, and gilt bronze and brass. While it is difficult to attribute such multifaceted works to one creator, these pieces may fall within the oeuvre of Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843), who executed several similarly inventive works.

The Draftsman's Art: Master Drawings from the National Gallery of Scotland
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A survey of five centuries of draftsmanship by Italian, Flemish, Dutch, British, French, and German artists, this exhibition brought together seventy-three works on paper culled from the National Gallery of Scotland's premier collection of some fourteen thousand sheets. Spanning the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, The Draftsman's Art included examples by masters such as Leonardo, Raphael, Rubens, Boucher, Blake, Ingres, and Seurat. Guest Curator Michael Clarke's selection featured drawings little known in the United States, providing a rare viewing opportunity.

painting of minister ice skating wearing black stockings, coat, and hat.
Raeburn's The Rev. Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, from the National Gallery of Scotland
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In another of its ongoing series of single-picture exhibitions, The Frick Collection presented Raeburn's celebrated skating minister on loan from the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh. Completed by Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823) around 1784, this image of the Rev. Robert Walker — minister of the Canongate Kirk and an avid member of the Skating Society — is one of the Gallery's most beloved works.

A Brush with Nature: The Gere Collection of Landscape Oil Sketches
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This exhibition consisted of approximately sixty landscape oil sketches from the collection of the art historians John and Charlotte Gere. Dating from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, these small, rapidly-executed sketches on paper, panel, or canvas were painted outdoors by artists across Europe to sharpen their skills of perception and execution; they were rarely intended for public exhibition.

painting depicting women and men standing near cave opening draped in cloths as one man descends into the dark opening.
Mantegna's Descent into Limbo, from the Barbara Piasecka Johnson Collection
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Andrea Mantegna (1431–1506) painted this small panel during the height of the Italian Renaissance, using detailed, emotion-filled images to depict the moment when Christ appears to the souls in Limbo. The original work was created for Marchese Lodovico Gonzaga in June of 1468. Because it was so highly regarded, several other versions were made, including this smaller one, which was probably done for Ferdinando Carlo, the last Duke of Mantua, around 1470–75. Lent through the generosity of the Barbara Piasecka Johnson Collection, it was on view in the Enamels Room.

Six Paintings from the Former Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney on Loan from the Greentree Foundation
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The Greentree Foundation generously lent to The Frick Collection for a period of one year six master paintings from the former collection of Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney. The group included Corot's Cottage and Mill by a Torrent (Morvan or Auvergne), 1831; Manet's Racecourse at the Bois de Boulogne, 1872; Degas' Before the Race, 1882-88, and Landscape with Mounted Horsemen, c. 1892; Picasso's Boy with a Pipe, 1905; and Redon's Flowers in a Green Vase, c. 1910.

Michelangelo to Picasso: Master Drawings from the Collection of the Albertina, Vienna
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This major spring exhibition featured masterpieces on paper selected not only to demonstrate the superb holdings of this illustrious Austrian institution, but to chronicle the major assets acquired during the tenure of each of its directors. Works by Rembrandt and Dürer were featured as well as twentieth-century masters acquired by the present regime.

pastel drawing of 18th century woman wearing black and white dress seated in front of trees with powdered hair
Henry Clay Frick as a Collector of Drawings
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Marking the 150th Anniversary of the birthday of founder Henry Clay Frick (1849–1919), this small exhibition drew attention to a lesser-known aspect of the broad collecting interests of the museum's founder. Ten drawings that Mr. Frick acquired between 1913 and 1916 — including examples in various media by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, Thomas Gainsborough, Daniel Gardner, and James McNeill Whistler — were on view in the Cabinet Gallery in the museum's first floor, along with related documents and photographs. Though Mr.

Painting of portrait of king philip IV of Spain dressed in the silver-and-rose costume holding staff and broad-brimmed black hat
Velázquez in New York Museums
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To mark the four-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599–1660), The Frick Collection brought together for the first time six of the Spanish master’s portraits belonging to public collections in New York.

cover of the catalogue for the exhibition Watteau and His World: French Drawing from 1700-1750 with sketch of seated young woman
Watteau and His World: French Drawing from 1700 to 1750
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This comprehensive survey of drawings by Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) and some of his leading contemporaries included more than sixty-five drawings lent from public and private collections in North America. A core of some thirty-five drawings by Watteau himself demonstated the evolution and range of his graphic art, with examples of all the signficant subjects that he drew and all the genres and graphic media in which he worked.