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January 16, 2019

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Red marble vase adorned with gilt-silver leaves and the heads of two lions with rings in their jaws
Recent Acquisition: Rare Vase by Luigi Valadier on View

Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, previews the upcoming fall exhibition dedicated to the Roman silversmith Luigi Valadier. He discusses the Frick’s recent acquisition of a rare vase by the artist, which will be featured in the show.

Detail of a chart titled "Bell Schedule & First Floor Electric Wiring"
Untold Histories: The Push of a Button

In this installment of Untold Histories, explore the relics of the Fricks' extensive annunciator system. This network of call bells connected the family to its staff and offers a glimpse into the rhythms of domestic service at 1 East 70th Street.

Oil painting of Sir Thomas More in a black cap and fur-lined black cloak against a green curtain
Mapping Provenance: Holbein's "Sir Thomas More"
The journey of an artwork is rarely a smooth one, and what we know about the ownership history of Holbein’s Sir Thomas More (1527) is notable for its gaps. Explore an interactive map tracing the fragmentary path of this panel from Tudor England to the second floor of Frick Madison.
Woman looking at a painting of a female maid handing a letter to a seated woman in a yellow coat
Return of the Vermeers: New Insights on Three Masterworks
Freshly reinstalled at Frick Madison after their presentation in the Rijksmuseum’s landmark Vermeer exhibition, The Frick Collection’s three canvases by the “Sphinx of Delft” have divulged a few more secrets from their layered histories.
Long, triangular abstract painting with texts.
Forgotten Folk Songs

In 1932 Juliana Force, the director of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, commissioned Thomas Hart Benton (1889–1975) to create a series of eight murals for the library of the museum. While six panels from this series survive, two ceiling panels are unlocated. It is feared that they have been destroyed.

book cover of Limoges Enamels with male with long mustache and hat on blue background
Henry Clay Frick’s Limoges Enamels

In 1916, Henry Clay Frick converted his private office at his home on Fifth Avenue into a gallery for the collection of Limoges enamels that he had purchased from the estate of J. Pierpont Morgan for the then-staggering sum of $1,157,500. What was so compelling about these delicate, jewel-like objects that Frick paid such a high price and was willing to sacrifice his sanctuary for their display?

students with filming gear in Frick gallery
The Frick Film Project
Collage of Rubens's "Venus at the Forge of Vulcan" and "An Old Woman with a Brazier"
Ars Longa: Photoarchive Retraces History of Separated Rubens Paintings
Ars Longa is a blog series exploring lost, altered, and destroyed works of art that are preserved in the records of the Frick's Photoarchive. In this post, the Photoarchive helps us uncover the complex history of a painting by the circle of Peter Paul Rubens, two separate panels of which today reside in two different museums.
Man seated in a gallery with two large, colorful Rococo paintings and a marble bust
Mapping Provenance: Fragonard's Progress of Love
What happens to a work of art when it is rejected by its patron? Explore an interactive map to discover how the canvases in Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s Progress of Love series were scorned by a royal mistress, rolled up for twenty years in the Louvre, and more than tripled in number on their way from eighteenth-century France to the fourth floor of Frick Madison.
A blonde woman smiling in front of shelves filled with books
Reading List: Staff Picks by Hannah Fountain
Get to know the friendly faces of the Frick Art Reference Library in our new series, Staff Picks! In the first installment, Hannah Fountain, Discovery Lead, shares a selection of her favorite items from the library’s collection—including books on modernism, craft, and a Grant Wood catalogue with a corn-cob chandelier. Plus, discover Hannah’s answers to our rapid-fire Q&A.