Xavier F. Salomon

In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” join Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, as he explores “Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Portrait of Mrs. Frances Leyland” by James McNeill Whistler. Delve into the tumultuous history of Whistler’s relationship with Frederick Richards Leyland, the shipping magnate who commissioned the painting, as well as the painter’s affinity for Japanese culture. This week’s complementary cocktail is a Sake Highball on the rocks.

Cocktail Recipe

In this episode of "Travels with a Curator," Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, invites us to the Italian city of San Severino Marche to investigate the mystery of the Frick’s “Coronation of the Virgin,” by Paolo Veneziano. The gold-ground panel was originally part of a larger ensemble, but the altarpiece was dismembered sometime before the 1820s. What do we know about the polyptych—and where are the other fragments? Search for clues in a Dominican church just outside the city walls.

In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” discover the fascinating history of Jean Barbet’s Angel, an incredibly rare bronze from fifteenth-century France whose origins are shrouded in mystery. Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, discusses the royal cannon-maker who cast the sculpture and the possibility that it once resided in Paris’s Sainte-Chapelle. This week’s complementary cocktail is the Angel Face, customarily garnished with an apple slice.

Cocktail Recipe

In this episode of "Travels with a Curator," Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, brings us to the church of Santa Maria delle Carceri in Prato, Italy, to explore the original home of one of the Frick’s spectacular bronzes, “St. John Baptizing” by Francesco da Sangallo. Discover the family connections that link this important sculpture to the church and retrace the history of the bronze from its creation in the sixteenth century to its acquisition by Henry Clay Frick in 1916.

In this episode of “Travels with a Curator,” Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, takes us to the site depicted in one of the Frick’s gold-ground masterpieces, The Temptation of Christ on the Mountain, by Duccio di Buoninsegna. The Mount of Quarantine—the origin of the word “quarantine” as we know it today—is the site of the Monastery of Temptation, built on the rocky bluff where Christ was tempted by the devil after fasting in the Judean Desert for forty days and nights.

In this episode of "Travels with a Curator," we visit the world-famous Westminster Abbey in London, with Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator. Xavier shares connections between Westminster Abbey and the Frick through an examination of the life of General John Burgoyne, a playwright, parliamentarian, and military officer buried in the Abbey’s north cloister. Sir Joshua Reynolds’s portrait of Burgoyne was acquired by The Frick Collection in 1943.

In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” join Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, as he discusses the sole Velázquez painting at the Frick, “King Philip IV of Spain,” while enjoying a Fitifiti, the popular Spanish cocktail. Examine the extraordinary details and painterly skills that illustrate why the artist is regarded by many (including Xavier) as the greatest European painter who ever lived, and why this work was Henry Clay Frick’s favorite.

Cocktail Recipe

In this episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, examines the life and work of French painter François Boucher, with a focus on “A Lady on Her Daybed.” Discover why Boucher was said to epitomize the taste of the eighteenth century. This week’s complementary cocktail has a kick: the potent French 75, named after the powerful French 75mm field gun.

Cocktail Recipe

French "75"
2/3 gin
1/3 lemon juice
simple syrup
fill up with champagne

In this episode of "Travels with a Curator," we travel to Warsaw, Poland, with Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator. Xavier enchants us with the romantic Łazienki Park and Palace, also known as the Palace on the Isle. The idyllic gardens and ornately decorated interior spaces are similar in many ways to our own Frick mansion. One of the Frick's Rembrandt paintings, "The Polish Rider," once hung in the royal apartments on the second floor.

In the inaugural episode of “Frick Five,” Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, interviews Nathaniel Silver, the William and Lia Poorvu Curator at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Nat answers our five questions including "What work of art changed your life?" Listen in on this entertaining and exciting exchange of viewpoints.