The Stars and Stripes
Fabric of the American Spirit
Exhibition Available 2008 - 2010
42-Star Halo Flag
c.1889-1890
Pierce Collection of American Parade Flags
The STARS and STRIPES: Fabric of the American Spirit illuminates the personal and historical stories woven into the framework of our nation by tracing the evolution of the American Flag. Drawn from the Pierce Collection of American Parade Flags, the exhibition highlights the timeless appeal the Stars and Stripes holds for many generations of the American public.
From the flag’s birth on June 14, 1777 until the beginning of 1912 no laws governed the arrangement of stars on the canton, the blue field occupying the upper left corner. As a result, the placement of stars representing an ever-growing number of states in the Union was left to the sole discretion of the individual flag maker. The varying designs and layouts of stars on flags produced before 1912 illustrate the creativity and diversity involved in varying interpretations of America’s premier symbol of patriotism and national unity. This exhibition of 90 flags offers a survey of the ways in which the American Flag reflects the changing historical, social and political landscape of a Nation as it emerges from infancy to adulthood.
Sublime Beauty
Renaissance Treasures from the City Museums of Prato
Exhibition touring 2007 - 2008
Annunciazione
Filippo Lippi e Fra' Diamante
While not as well known to Americans as its neighbors, the Tuscan city of Prato and its museums, have made notable contributions to the rich tapestry of Italian art history. This exhibition features 55 paintings, including delicate tempera on wood panels and other works of art dating from the 1300s to the 1700s.
Prato uniquely enjoyed a special relationship between the city, its saints and sanctuaries, which has been a source of artistic inspiration throughout the centuries, but which reached its greatest level of inspiration from the early Renaissance school of Filippo Lippi. Lippi’s works and those of the Medici Renaissance painters that he influenced, including Santi di Tito, Giovanni Stradano, Mattia Pretti, and Christofano Allori, form the heart of this exhibition.
These beautiful works of art with their rich color, detail and divine inspiration recently had a successful tour in Japan. This will be a rare opportunity for American audiences to enjoy these hidden treasures from the City Museums of Prato. The exhibition will be available to American museums for only a six-month period – in 2007 or 2008.
Great Expectations
Aristocratic Children in European Portraiture
Exhibition touring 2008 - 2009
Portrait of the Infanta Ana of Austria (1601-66)
c.1614
Studio of Juan Pantoja de la Cruz
This is a new and totally delightful exhibition of children’s portraiture – both royal and noble – spanning the late 16th to the 19th centuries. Taken from the collection of the Yannick and Ben Jakober Foundation in Majorca, Spain, the portraits depict European children from infancy to the teens in their richest and sumptuous best. Lace, velvet and silk brocade abound in every painting.
Among the 40 paintings in the exhibition are portraits of Louis XIII, XIV, XV and XVI, the young Edward VI of England, a teenage Charles I, subsequently famously beheaded, and princes and princesses of German and Italian principalities, the Spanish monarchy, and the prosperous low countries. This gallery of illustrious historic figures will provide viewers with a unique view into times and lifestyles far removed from the American experience.
Painting the Italian Landscape
Five Centuries of Views from the Uffizi
Exhibition touring 2007 - 2009
The Tower of Marghera
c.1750
Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto
Painting the Italian Landscape presents 45 superb works that will enhance any understanding and appreciation for Italian landscape painting. This exhibition illustrates in a chronological review the evolution of the genre from the Renaissance of Botticelli to the Baroque of Canaletto. Curated by Antonio Natali, Director of the Department of Late Renaissance Art, Mannerism and the 17th Century Art and the Department of Contemporary Art for the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the exhibition is drawn entirely from the unequaled collections of the Uffizi.
In addition to Botticelli and Canaletto, the exhibition also features the works of Guercino, Filippo Napoletano as well as other famous European landscape painters, including Paul Bril, Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain. An illustrated all-color catalogue will accompany the exhibition.