In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” toast the new year with Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon as he examines a masterpiece of both sculpture and clockmaking: “The Dance of Time,” by Clodion (Claude Michel) and Jean-Baptiste Lepaute. In this 18th-century timepiece, three terracotta nymphs or Hours dance in a circle around an exquisite mechanism enclosed in a glass globe. The Frick has one of the country’s most important collections of clocks, many of which came to the museum through a gift from Winthrop Kellogg Edey. Welcome 2021 by raising a Metropolitan cocktail—Happy New Year!
Tag Archives: The Frick
Cocktails With A Curator: Bastiani’s “Adoration of the Magi” (The Frick Video)
In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” celebrate the Yuletide with Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon as he takes a closer look at Lazzaro Bastiani’s “Adoration of the Magi.” Acquired from Pierpont Morgan’s heirs in 1935—the year The Frick Collection opened to the public—this fascinating picture shows the gift-toting kings on different stages of their journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. A contemporary of Giovanni Bellini, Bastiani was considered the artist’s equal at the time and commanded similar prices for his pictures. Explore the work of this magnificent but under-appreciated artist while enjoying a festive Cranberry Bourbon cocktail—Merry Christmas!
Lazzaro Bastiani was an Italian painter of the Renaissance, active mainly in Venice. He was born in Padua. He is first recorded as a painter in Venice by 1460 in a payment for an altarpiece of San Samuele, for the Procuratori di San Marco. In 1462 he was paid at the same rate as Giovanni Bellini.
Cocktails With A Curator: ‘Hoffman’s Bust of Henry Clay Frick’ (Frick Video)
In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon takes a closer look at Malvina Cornell Hoffman’s marble bust of Henry Clay Frick, the museum’s founder, and considers the complicated legacy of the Pennsylvania-born industrialist. This month marks several important milestones for the Frick, including the eighty-fifth anniversary of the opening of a museum for, in Frick’s words, “all persons whomsoever.” This oft-overlooked bust was commissioned by his daughter, Helen Clay Frick, and for many years welcomed guests in the Entrance Hall at 1 East 70th Street. This week’s complementary cocktail is the Old Fashioned, a nod to Frick’s first job as an accountant for the family whiskey distillery.
Cocktails With A Curator: Vermeer’s “Mistress And Maid” (The Frick Video)
In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” Curator Aimee Ng pulls back the curtain on hidden details in “Mistress and Maid,” the largest of the Frick’s three Vermeer paintings and Henry Clay Frick’s final acquisition for his collection. Take a closer look at the rumpled tablecloth, the lady’s wispy curls, and the dark background to understand how this mysterious work has changed since Vermeer applied paint to canvas in the mid-17th century. For this week’s complementary cocktail, the Genever Brûlée, Aimee has dipped into the bottle of genever she featured in her summer episode on Vermeer’s “Officer and Laughing Girl.”
To view this painting in detail, please visit our website: https://www.frick.org/mistressmaid
Cocktails With A Curator: Lawrence’s ‘Lady Peel’
In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” Curator Aimee Ng explores the history behind Sir Thomas Lawrence’s celebrated portrait of Julia, Lady Peel. When it was shown at the Royal Academy, in 1827, this painting was hailed as Sir Thomas’s greatest portrait—and one of the great works of modern art at the time.
It’s easy to see why: the sitter projects authority, confidence, and ease despite her flamboyant, over-the-top outfit. Sir Thomas’s depiction of Lady Peel is closely related to Peter Paul Rubens’s famous “Chapeau de Paille,” which had recently entered the collection of her husband, Sir Robert Peel. In recognition of the lavish bracelets and rings worn by the sitter, this week’s complementary cocktail is the Bijou (French for “jewel”).
To view this painting in detail, please visit our website: https://www.frick.org/ladypeel
Cocktails With A Curator: ‘Murillo’s Self-Portrait’
In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” delve into the life and times of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, one of the most celebrated painters of seventeenth-century Spain. Look closely at his self-portrait for clues about the Seville-born artist—a trompe l’oeil stone frame points to his fascination with the antiquities excavated in his hometown, and the sitter seems to be looking forward, into the future, after surviving a traumatic period when Seville was ravaged by plague. Acquired by Henry Clay Frick in 1904, the painting stayed with the family until 2014, when it was gifted to the museum by Dr. and Mrs. Henry Clay Frick II. This week’s complementary cocktail, the Rebujito, conjures the warm spring days of Seville’s Feria de Abril (April Fair) and goes well with Thanksgiving leftovers.
To view this painting in detail, please visit our website: https://www.frick.org/murilloportrait
Cocktails With A Curator: Claude Monet’s “Vétheuil in Winter” (Frick Video)
In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon takes viewers through Claude Monet’s journey as an artist, focusing on “Vétheuil in Winter,” one of only four Impressionist paintings at The Frick Collection. Monet created this work during a particularly difficult period in his life, which included his wife’s passing and the bankruptcy of his biggest patron. For Xavier, this canvas signifies the importance of hope, as Monet persevered and went on to complete some of his greatest works in the wake of these challenges. The wintry landscape is paired with a complementary beverage of mulled wine. To view this painting in detail, please visit our website: https://www.frick.org/vetheuilwinter
Cocktails With A Curator: Tiepolo’s “Perseus and Andromeda” (Frick Video)
In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon considers the fragility of art in the context of the Frick’s “Perseus and Andromeda” by Giambattista Tiepolo. This depiction of the Greek demigod saving Andromeda from a sea-monster is a preparatory sketch for a series of ceiling frescoes at Palazzo Archinto in Milan that were destroyed during an Allied bombing in 1943. The painting was featured in an acclaimed 2019 exhibition at the Frick that brought together the surviving preparatory works and pre-war photography to tell the story of these lost masterpieces. This week’s complementary cocktail is a Milanese Gin and Tonic.
To view this painting (or object) in detail, please visit our website: https://www.frick.org/perseusandromedaSHOW LESS
Cocktails With A Curator: ‘Chardin’s “Still Life With Plums”‘ (The Frick Video)
In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” join Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon as he explores the magical brushstrokes of the first still life painting to enter The Frick Collection—one that will be very familiar to devotees of this series. Acquired at the end of World War II by the museum’s trustees, Jean-Siméon Chardin’s “Still Life with Plums” is a beautiful example of the artist’s skilled portrayal of light refracted and reflected by everyday objects. Xavier has paired this episode with a Gin Martini with a twist.
To view this painting in detail, please visit our website: https://www.frick.org/chardinstilllife
Cocktails With A Curator: Bronzino’s ‘Lodovico Capponi’ (Frick Video)
In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” Curator Aimee Ng explores the life of Lodovico Capponi, the subject of a 16th-century portrait at the Frick by Agnolo Bronzino. A page at the Medici court, Lodovico had the misfortune of falling in love with a Florentine noblewoman whom Duke Cosimo I intended to marry to one of his cousins. Join Aimee with an Aperol Spritz as she discusses one of her favorite works in the museum and examines what some of the details—from his black-and-white outfit to the partially obscured cameo in his right hand—may tell us about the young man and his life.
To view this painting in detail, please visit our website: https://www.frick.org/agnolobronzino
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