A Jina is encircled by a giant halo of ref, green, blue, gold, and white. Within the halo are different creatures, including a tiger, bird, naga, and devotees. The Jina sits nude on a throne with his legs crossed and hands together. Above him are clouds in the sky, and below a monk and devotees.
Subject Matter
This is an illustration in a Digambara Jain manuscript of verse 34 of the Bhaktamara Stotra.
This verse praises the glorious halo that surrounds the Jina on his Enlightenment. The presence of the halo is one of the eight pr?tih?rya or so-called miraculous manifestations that accompany the Jina after his Enlightenment. Here the verse describes how the Jina’s halo of light puts to shame all the heavenly bodies. Greater than a multitude of suns, it is also gentler than the moon at night. The poet means to say that the light of the Jina’s halo is comforting not burning, something that is said in Sanskrit poetry of the light of the moon. At the same time, the light of the Jina is as brilliant as the light of countless suns. And by this seeming paradox the poet tells us that the light of the Jina’s halo is not of this world. The halo with its concentric circles also suggests the miraculous preaching assembly, which in turn alerts us to the marvelous appearance of the halo. Like the preaching assembly it is filled with beings of different realms of rebirth: humans, animals, and gods. The small crowned figure at the bottom worshipping the Jina is probably the god Indra.
Label Copy
Gallery Rotation Spring/Summer 2011
Jina venerated by a monk, layman, and
cobras from a Digambara Jain manuscript
India, Rajasthan, Sirohi School
18th century
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Leo S. Figiel and Dr. and Mrs. Steven J. Figiel, 1975/2.171
Jina venerated by a monk, men and women, a naga, and animals from a Digambara Jain manuscript
India, Rajasthan, Sirohi School
18th century
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Leo S. Figiel and Dr. and Mrs. Steven J. Figiel, 1975/2.170
In the Jain religion, book production reflects the integral relationship among the laity, monastic community, and the Jina, or enlightened Jain teacher. The dedication of sacred books for shrines is required of devotees, and while commissioning a book fulfills the lay obligation of charity, beholding a book helps the individual achieve the proper mental state for spiritual guidance. It was customary for a lay donor to commission a copy of a text for presentation to his spiritual teacher and ultimately to the temple library.
In these colorful pages, both the golden-hued Jina seated on a simple throne and the monk who venerates him are naked, identifying them as Digambara (sky-clad) Jina. On one page, the Jina is surrounded by Jain devotees: a naga (half human, half serpent), animals, royalty, and lay people. In the lower register the monk leads two men in prayer. On another page, another sky-clad (nude) monk prays to a Jina elevated slightly above him. Below them a lay person in a lotus pond holds prayer beads and looks toward the monk as if for guidance. Cobras often appear in Jain texts and imagery as an obstacle to overcome, and in this image two cobras rise ferociously before the devotee.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
A Jina is encircled by a giant halo of ref, green, blue, gold, and white. Within the halo are different creatures, including a tiger, bird, naga, and devotees. The Jina sits nude on a throne with his legs crossed and hands together. Above him are clouds in the sky, and below a monk and devotees.
Subject Matter
This is an illustration in a Digambara Jain manuscript of verse 34 of the Bhaktamara Stotra.
This verse praises the glorious halo that surrounds the Jina on his Enlightenment. The presence of the halo is one of the eight pr?tih?rya or so-called miraculous manifestations that accompany the Jina after his Enlightenment. Here the verse describes how the Jina’s halo of light puts to shame all the heavenly bodies. Greater than a multitude of suns, it is also gentler than the moon at night. The poet means to say that the light of the Jina’s halo is comforting not burning, something that is said in Sanskrit poetry of the light of the moon. At the same time, the light of the Jina is as brilliant as the light of countless suns. And by this seeming paradox the poet tells us that the light of the Jina’s halo is not of this world. The halo with its concentric circles also suggests the miraculous preaching assembly, which in turn alerts us to the marvelous appearance of the halo. Like the preaching assembly it is filled with beings of different realms of rebirth: humans, animals, and gods. The small crowned figure at the bottom worshipping the Jina is probably the god Indra.
Label Copy
Gallery Rotation Spring/Summer 2011
Jina venerated by a monk, layman, and
cobras from a Digambara Jain manuscript
India, Rajasthan, Sirohi School
18th century
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Leo S. Figiel and Dr. and Mrs. Steven J. Figiel, 1975/2.171
Jina venerated by a monk, men and women, a naga, and animals from a Digambara Jain manuscript
India, Rajasthan, Sirohi School
18th century
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Leo S. Figiel and Dr. and Mrs. Steven J. Figiel, 1975/2.170
In the Jain religion, book production reflects the integral relationship among the laity, monastic community, and the Jina, or enlightened Jain teacher. The dedication of sacred books for shrines is required of devotees, and while commissioning a book fulfills the lay obligation of charity, beholding a book helps the individual achieve the proper mental state for spiritual guidance. It was customary for a lay donor to commission a copy of a text for presentation to his spiritual teacher and ultimately to the temple library.
In these colorful pages, both the golden-hued Jina seated on a simple throne and the monk who venerates him are naked, identifying them as Digambara (sky-clad) Jina. On one page, the Jina is surrounded by Jain devotees: a naga (half human, half serpent), animals, royalty, and lay people. In the lower register the monk leads two men in prayer. On another page, another sky-clad (nude) monk prays to a Jina elevated slightly above him. Below them a lay person in a lotus pond holds prayer beads and looks toward the monk as if for guidance. Cobras often appear in Jain texts and imagery as an obstacle to overcome, and in this image two cobras rise ferociously before the devotee.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Eight worshippers sit to the right of a sky-clad (nude) Jina and monk. They each raise beads in their hands. Below them a struggle is depicted. Two men in shorts wrestle, while a snake, tiger, and elephant rera up beside a fire.
Subject Matter
In the Jain religion, book production reflects the integral relationship among the laity, monastic community, and the Jina, or enlightened Jain teacher. The dedication of sacred books for shrines is required of devotees, and while commissioning a book fulfills the lay obligation of charity, beholding a book helps the individual achieve the proper mental state for spiritual guidance. It was customary for a lay donor to commission a copy of a text for presentation to his spiritual teacher and ultimately to the temple library.
Label Copy
In the Jain religion, book production reflects the integral relationship among the laity, monastic community, and the Jina, or enlightened Jain teacher. The dedication of sacred books for shrines is required of devotees, and while commissioning a book fulfills the lay obligation of charity, beholding a book helps the individual achieve the proper mental state for spiritual guidance. It was customary for a lay donor to commission a copy of a text for presentation to his spiritual teacher and ultimately to the temple library. Over the centuries, monastic libraries received great quantities of texts, which were employed in the instruction of monks and nuns, who were themselves discouraged from practicing the art of painting: one text expressly warns of the power of painting to arouse sensual feelings.
In these colorful pages, both the golden-hued Jina seated on a simple throne and the monk who venerates him are naked, identifying them as Digambara (sky-clad) Jina. On one page, they are shown receiving veneration from the laity (including princes), animals, plants, and even fire and water. On another, a prince is venerating the Jina in the midst of a battle.
Winter 2011 Gallery Rotation
Jina and battle scene from a Digambara Jain manuscript
India, Rajasthan, Sirohi
18th century
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Leo S. Figiel and Dr. and Mrs. Steven J. Figiel, 1975/2.168
Jina and battle scene from a Digambara Jain manuscript
India, Rajasthan, Sirohi
18th century
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Leo S. Figiel and Dr. and Mrs. Steven J. Figiel, 1975/2.169
In the Jain religion, book production reflects the integral relationship among the laity, monastic community, and the Jina, or enlightened Jain teacher. The dedication of sacred books for shrines is required of devotees, and while commissioning a book fulfills the lay obligation of charity, beholding a book helps the individual achieve the proper mental state for spiritual guidance. It was customary for a lay donor to commission a copy of a text for presentation to his spiritual teacher and ultimately to the temple library. Over the centuries, monastic libraries received great quantities of texts, which were employed in the instruction of monks and nuns, who were themselves discouraged from practicing the art of painting: one text expressly warns of the power of painting to arouse sensual feelings.
In these colorful pages, both the golden-hued Jina seated on a simple throne and the monk who venerates him are naked, identifying them as Digambara (sky-clad) Jina. On one page, they are shown receiving veneration from the laity (including princes), animals, plants, and even fire and water. On another, a prince is venerating the Jina in the midst of a battle.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
This watercolor depicts a group of three children, three adult females, two adult males, and one small dog. An adult male plays a string instrument on the far left side, and an adult female sits on the lower right side; the rest stand. All the figures wear vividly colored clothes.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Vintage gelatin silver contact print. Black and white image of a nun stitching a hole in linens, with figures of saints looking down from the tabletop.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
This drawing depicts a fresco executed by Giovanni Battista Pozzo (c. 1563-1591) for the Peretti Chapel, Santa Susanna, Rome. The scene is the conversion of St. Genesius, a third-century actor who was about to perform a play ridiculing the rite of baptism. He saw a vision during his performance of angels holding a book with his sins and Genesius converted on the spot.
It has been suggested by Szilvia Bodnár that this drawing, and another drawing showing this composition in the collection of the Albertina, predate the final fresco, which is in a horizontal format while the two drawings are portrait format.
Inscription
Inscribed, l.r. in brown ink in an old hand: Ventura Salmunbin On verso, l.r.: Falchenbusch
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
A nude monk on the top left sits before a Jina at top right. Three Hindu gods, Harihara, Garuda, and Nandi venerate the Jina in the bottom registers.
Subject Matter
A book like this would have been comissioned by a lay devotee to illustrate canonical Jain texts as well as demonstrate peity. Texts like these would have been used for meditation and monastic education.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri was born in Cento, 2 (?) February, 1591 and died in Bologna, 22 December 1666. He was called "Il Guercino" ("the Squinter"), because of a disfigurement. He belonged to the Bolognese school of painting, becoming the city's leading painter in 1642, upon the death of Guido Reni. A biography by Malvasia and the account book recording payments for his commissions provide us with extensive documentation of Guercino's activity as a painter.
Guercino's career began in Cento, where he studied from 1607-1610 with the painter Benedetto Gennari the Elder. Painters from nearby centers of Bologna and Ferrara influenced his development of a Baroque style of painting characterized by dramatic lighting and composition. His first commission was for the altarpiece of All Saints in Glory (untraced), which he completed in 1613 for the church of Santo Spirito in Cento. He received the commission through the canon of San Salvatore in Bologna, Padre Antonio Mirandola, who remained a supporter throughout Guercino's career. He enjoyed success outside of Reggio-Emilia, as well, and other early patrons include Cosimo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Ferdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua.
In 1621 Guercino went to Rome at the command of one of his leading Bolognese patrons, Cardinal Alessandro Ludovisi, who had just been appointed Pope Gregory XV. The Pope's death in 1623 cut short Guercino's stay in Rome, but he had already completed one prominent papal commission: the Burial and reception into Heaven of St. Petronilla, painted for one of the altars of St. Peter's. He also did a ceiling decoration for the Casino Ludovisi on the Pincian Hill in Rome, still in situ, and a portrait of Pope Gregory XV. Guercino's time in Rome, while short, proved to have a profound impact on the development of his painting. Finding that the dramatic Baroque style he had practiced up to now was out of favor among Roman patrons, Guercino began to emulate the style of painters practicing a more austerely classical style, particularly Guido Reni. He continued to work in this vein after his return to Cento and up until 1642, when he moved to Bologna. This final phase in the painter's career sees no similarly dramatic changes although his preparatory drawings show a freedom and lack of inhibition that is not evident in the corresponding paintings.
Guercino never married but his sister, Lucia Barbieri, married Ercole Gennari, a member of the same family as Guercino's first teacher. His nephews, Benedetto Gennari the Younger and Cesare Gennari, later assisted Guercino in his work and, after his death, inherited his estate between them.
Sources: Thieme, Ulrich and Felix Becker, eds. Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler. Leipzig: Seeman, 1907-1950, vol. 15; Turner, Jane, ed. The Dictionary of Art. New York: Macmillan, 1996, vol. 13.
Drawing of a male figure on left wearing a headress and holding a stick-like object with three female figures on the right, two of which are standing behind the third as if holding her up.
Subject Matter
Derived from the Old Testament story of the Jewish heroine, Esther, Guercino depicts the dramatic moment when Esther enters the king's presence unbidden and faints in distress. Although she is his queen, no one may approach the king without his permission.
The Museum of Art is fortunate to have two preparatory drawings for the Guercino painting of "Esther Before Ahasuerus" (the other is 1978/2.41). In this work, Guercino is exploring the compositional flow through the relationships between the principal figures: Ahasuerus, his queen Esther, and two attendants who support the queen. Between these two studies, it is possible to examine Guercino's process of arriving at his final composition. This rapid study of the arrangement of the figures shows great movement as the king inclines towards Esther, and as she faints towards the right. The emotional intensity of the scene in this small drawing is apparent in the loose, fluid loops of the pen that describe the drapery as well as in the positions of the figures. The scepter, the formal emblem of clemency occupies the void between the figures.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
Guercino was a prolific draftsman whose drawings have been eagerly collected for three hundred years. UMMA is fortunate to have two preparatory drawings by Guercino made for the Museum’s painting, Esther before Ahasuerus, hanging nearby. It was common practice at the time for artists to make studies of drapery, poses, and other details as they were considering the various elements of a large or important work. Such is the case with the Museum’s painting: Guercino used drawings as a way to work through problems before he ever picked up a paintbrush.
There are numerous preparatory drawings for our painting; two here show the different ways Guercino approached the complex relationship between Esther and her husband, King Ahasuerus. The smaller drawing is, in essence, a rapid compositional exploration of the moment when Esther faints in distress as she defies the ban on approaching the king without invitation. In this drawing, her head turns away from Ahasuerus. Perhaps Guercino felt that in this pose she recoiled too strongly from the king because he changed the position of Esther’s head in the final work. The larger drawing, a more distilled examination of the principal figures, employs wash to subtly indicate their psychological state of mind. Here, Esther inclines her head toward Ahasuerus—which she does in the final painting—as the king reaches towards Esther in a gesture of both official clemency and private concern. However, in the final painting, Guercino eliminates the king’s tender motion of taking her hand; his more formal gesture of raising his scepter towards her reverts back to the pose of the smaller, and probably earlier, drawing. How carefully Guercino weighs and considers each figure’s gestures is evident in the drawings and allows viewers to step into Guercino’s creative process. They also exemplify Guercino’s superb versatility as a draftsman; the summary sweeps and loops of his reed pen in the smaller drawing, particularly evident in the lower portions of the drapery, convey agitated motion absent in the final painting, whereas the use of ink wash to denote shading and mass in the larger study indicates that Guercino was focusing on the more subtle connections between the king and queen.
The final painting moved through distinguished collections in both Italy, where it belonged to Pope Urban VIII and other members of the Barberini family, and then became part of the collection of the Dukes of Northumberland. British engraver Robert Strange traveled to Italy during the 1760s and is believed to have seen the Museum’s painting of Esther before Ahasuerus when it still resided in the Palazzo Barberini, in Rome.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Gift of the Daniel and Harriet Fusfeld Folk Art Collection, 2002/1.213
Earnest Patton
United States, born 1935
Man in Business Suit
1970–92
Carved and painted wood
Gift of the Daniel and Harriet Fusfeld Folk Art Collection, 2002/1.212
Sherman Lambdin
United States, born 1948
Red Devil Bird
1970–91
Painted wood twig
Gift of the Daniel and Harriet Fusfeld Folk Art Collection, 2002/1.211
Cooper, Lambdin, and Patton are all professional Kentucky “whittlers,” or folk carvers. Southern carvers often include religious references in their works. Here, Cooper’s figure refers to the lyrics of a traditional African American spiritual, while Patton’s cane snake is a common nineteenth-century folk art symbol that has survived to contemporary times. Carved cane snakes were an African art tradition carried to the American South by enslaved West Africans, for whom snake imagery held spiritual significance.
(Out of the Ordinary, 2010)
Born near Flemingsburg, Kentucky in 1931, Ronald Cooper did not begin to produce art until 1984 when a serious automobile accident left him disabled. Shortly after the accident, Ronald Cooper and his wife Jessie left Marion, Ohio where Ronald worked on an assembly line. They returned to Flemingsburg, Kentucky, where they still live today.
Cooper began whittling animals in the mountain craft style, then moved on to produce larger, more intricate wooden sculptures. Both Coopers are artists and they often collaborate on their works. Jessie Cooper explains: "We each do our separate thing. But if I need something carved, he carves, and I sometimes paint on his."
Inspired by Ronald Cooper’s fundamentalist Christian beliefs, this work depicts the popular Biblical image of Christ holding people in his hands, sheltering them from evil. The angels affixed to Christ’s arms on wooden pegs also watch over Christ’s people as an extension of Christ’s own vigilance. This image serves to remind people of Christ’s love, understanding, and constant presence in their lives.
Lindsay Meehan
Modern and Contemporary Art Intern
2002
Inscription
ON TOP SIDE OF BASE. Inscribed in black marker: He's go / you & me Brother / in his hands / Ronald Cooper 92
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Smiling woman, slightly hunched and looking out at viewer, in see-through negligee pulling up her left stocking.
Subject Matter
Smiling prostitute in see-through negligee looks at viewer while pulling up her left stocking.
Label Copy
George Grosz
Germany, 1893–1959
Reclining Nude (Liegenden Akt)
1915
Ink on paper
Gift of the Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection, 2007/2.119
George Grosz
Germany, 1893–1959
Woman in Negligee
Brush and ink on paper
Gift of the Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection, 2007/2.80
In these two drawings by George Grosz, one can compare how one Expressionist’s study of the figure relates to the development of his formal style. In Woman in Negligee Grosz pushes the contour line of his figure studies to the point of caricature and satire by removing all shading and hints at depth.
While Grosz shares the emphasis on line and the human figure of the Expressionists, he is also often characterized as part of the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) reaction that followed Expressionism in the 1920s. Neue Sachlichkeit artists presented what could be considered a “hard realism” in contrast to the highly idealized and poetic forms of Expressionist artists. Grosz’s work can often be viewed through both lenses.
Inscription
RECTO. Signed in pencil, lower right: Grosz
VERSO. Inscribed in pencil, lower left: recto / 577/271
Inscribed in pencil along bottom edge: kiz / Skizze II [kkr: this last is the roman numeral 2, not two ones. "Skizze" is German for "layout" or "sketch"]
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
A heavily inked, multi-layered multi-media image with tinges of color. On the left hand side of image, an older gentleman in turban and beard can be made out. The background is dark inks and washes, bleeding into man's figure. Bottom edge of paper carries inscriptions from Kubin (handwriting matches other samples).
Subject Matter
A heavily inked, at times abstract image. On the left can be seen the figure of a turbaned, bearded older man.
Label Copy
Emil Nolde
Germany, 1867–1956
Actress
1912
Watercolor on paper
Gift of the Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection, 2007/2.102
Alfred Kubin
Austria, 1887–1959
Black Magic (Schwarze Magie )
1954
Pen and ink, watercolor, and gouache on paper
Gift of the Ernst Pulgram and Frances McSparran Collection, 2007/2.111
While Expressionists experimented with degrees of abstraction—and some would eventually pursue pure abstraction—their work rarely left the world of the human figure or landscape.
From 1910 to 1912, Emil Nolde wintered in Berlin and completed dozens of watercolors portraying the world of his wife, a stage actress. Applying large washes of color, Nolde would then go in and apply black lines with a dry brush to carve out human forms from the color patches. In Actress, however, Nolde leaves us with only his original layer and its suggestion of perhaps a bent head and figure, allowing us a glimpse into his working method.
Likewise, Kubin’s tribute to his friend and art critic Salomo Friedländer (1871–1946) becomes so abstract as to become difficult to describe. Yet a human figure can still be made out among the artist’s complex layerings of medium and lines.
Inscription
Signed and dated by artist in ink, bottom right corner: 1959 / Kubin / Zwickled
[KKR: "Zwickled" refers to "Zwickledt," Kubin's castle home in Austria; he included "Zwickledt" on all of his letters written from there.]
Written in ink along bottom left edge of image: akistanischer Winkel
[KKR: Alternate title has come from an assumed or filled-in "P" at the beginning of this phrase]
Written in pencil, bottom left corner below image: (Schwarze Magie) / (Fortsetzung von Mynonas grauer Magie)
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Born July 10, 1834 in Lowell, Massachusetts, the son of George Washington Whistler, a draftsman and civil engineer. In 1842 the senior Whistler was employed by the Russian government to help build a railroad between St. Petersburg and Moscow. James Whistler thus spent seven years of his youth in Russia (1842-49). In 1851 he entered West Point Academy but was discharged in 1854, for deficiency in chemistry. He worked as a draftsman from 1854 to 1855 in the U. S. Coast Survey, Washington, D.C., where he also learned to etch. In 1855 he left the United States for Paris and, after five years in France, settled in London. He never returned to the United States. He enjoyed great success in his life, as a painter and printmaker, but also struggled for acceptance and endured times of financial hardship.
Whistler studied at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Russia and at West Point Academy, but probably received his earliest artistic training from his father. In 1856 he entered the studio of Marc-Gabriel Charles Gleyre in Paris and became acquainted with Henri Martin, Henri Oulevey, George du Maurier, E. G. Poynter and L. M. Lamont. In 1858 Whistler met Fantin-Latour at the Louvre. Fantin-Latour took him to the Cafe Molière, where he met Legros, Carolus-Duran and Astruc and to the Brasserie Andler, the meeting place of Courbet and his followers. Fantin, Whistler, and Legros formed their own society, the Société des Trois in the same year. Later, in 1865, Albert Moore replaced Legros as the third member of the Société.
Whistler submitted the painting, At the Piano, to the Salon in 1859. Rejected by the Salon, the painting was exhibited in Francois Bonvin's studio. This was also the first painting by Whistler exhibited in Britain, at the Royal Academy, in 1860. Among Whistler's principal patrons early in his career include F. R. Leyland and W. C. Alexander and among major works he produced at this time are portraits of family members of these two men.
In England, Whistler became acquainted with the pre-Raphaelite circle of artists. He began collecting Japanese art and curios in the early 1860s and also is known to have visited the Salon des Refusés in Paris when many of the Impressionist painters were exhibiting there. Whistler's many connections with contemporary artists and wide interests make him an artist difficult to pigeonhole.
Two events in Whistler's life perhaps shed some light on his character: he sued John Ruskin for libel in 1877 (the fees incurred during the case forced him to declare bankruptcy in 1879) and in 1890 he published a book "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies."
Whistler married Beatrix Godwin, widow of E. W. Godwin, in 1888. She preceded him in death in 1896. Whistler died in London on July 17, 1903.
One-man exhibitions: 1874 London, Flemish Gallery; 1904 Memorial exhibition, Boston; 1905 Memorial exhibition, London and Paris
Memberships:
Elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists, 1884; president, 1886-1888
First president of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters, and Gravers, 1898-1903
Officer of Legion of Honor, France
Member of Société Nationale des Artistes Françaises
Commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy
Chevalier of the Order of St. Michael of Bavaria
Honorary member of Royal Academies of Bavaria, Dresden, and of St. Luke in Rome
Sources: Groce, G. C. and D. H. Wallace, eds. "The New York Historical Society's Dictionary of Artists in America 1564-1860." New Haven: Yale University Press, 1957; MacDonald, M. F. "James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours." New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995; McNamara, C. and J. Siewert, "Whistler: Prosaic Views, Poetic Vision." London: Thames and Hudson, 1994; Opitz, Glenn B., ed. "Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers," 2nd ed. Poughkeepsie: Apollo, 1986; Spencer, R. "Whistler: The Masterworks." London: Studio Editions, 1990.
A woman, nude but for a diaphanous elbow-length drapery and a cap over her hair, stands facing the viewer with her head turned towards the right. The figure's right arm is extended gracefully from the side of her body, hand facing downward. Her left hand is extened at nearly a right angle, holding her drapery out, which further devines the curves of her body. Her weight is on her right leg as the left leg points forward.
Subject Matter
Draped figures such as this occupied Whistler from the 1860s onward, but with particular focus during the early/mid 1890s. Usually these figures are posed standing; the implied movement of this figure is somewhat unusual.
Inscription
On the stone, l. of figure: Butterfly monogram Signed, in pencil, l.l.: Butterfly Collector's mark: Rosalind Birnie Philip. Lugt 406 Watermark: IVDL (?)
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
This black and white print depicts a portrait of a seated man holding a sword in one hand and what appears to be a book in the other. The figure wears a black jacket and a white cravat. The figure’s expression is stern and his gaze meets the viewer’s directly. His hair is white and pulled back into a queue.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
A sketch drawing of four men, identified as soldiers. On the bottom left a solider appears to be studying a large document. The rest of the drawing is composed of other soldiers reclining and kneeling within the space of the paper.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
The upper portion of this print depicts an ornate round frame inside of which is a three quarter portrait of a man from the waist up with his left hand held to his head. The lower portion of the print depicts the base on which the frame rests decorated with a classical scene of figures in a landscape. A collection of objects including books, a mask, a crown, a tambourine and sheet music rest atop the base.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
This black and white print depicts a scene with groups of figures separated compositionally by a large wooden post that is placed in the foreground of the composition, just left of center. Four male figures on the left look toward the scene on the right where a woman kneels in prayer before a child accompanied by two angels and a haloed man feeding hay to a donkey.
Subject Matter
Adoration of the Shepherds: Virgin and Child in foreground at center right of composition with angels, Joseph and a donkey; shepherds are arranged on the left.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
This painting depicts the interior of a room where four men are grouped around a table. They are painted as half-length figures, and their forms fill the foreground. They are painted in warm tones of brown, red and green and dressed in 16th century Netherlandish clothing. There is a king, wearing a pointed crown, who, with his right arm awkwardly crossed over his left, points to another man across the table. He has a furrowed brow and his mouth is partially open as if he is speaking. Next to him is a man looking downward, intently counting coins piled on the table. The third man pauses while writing in a book, his hand with the pen is stopped in mid-air, and looks back at the king. The fourth man, on the other side of the table, has his hands clasped in a pleading gesture and his eyes meet the gaze of the king. Items in the room and on the table such as books, scissors, a money bag, and an hourglass, are painted in great detail. In the upper right, a small outdoor scene, painted in tones of light green, shows an imaginary cityscape with a man being dragged into an underground chamber by some soldiers.
Subject Matter
Jan van Hemessen has been credited with originating this type of moralizing genre painting. Here he paints a version of one of Christ's parables from the New Testament (Matthew 18:23-35). A king was settling his accounts and a servant was unable to pay his large debt of money. After the servant pleaded for mercy, the king took pity and released him from his debt. Later, this man saw a fellow servant who owed him money and demanded payment. The man could not repay him and the servant sent him to prison. When the king heard of this, he summoned the servant and punished him since he had not shown the same mercy that was given to him by the king.
The scene of a tax collector's office was a common subject in Flemish art in the 16th century, but Van Hemesson has added the narrative elements of the parable to relate the importance of forgiveness. He has chosen to show the moment in the story when the king denounces the servant, " You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me: and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?" (Matthew 18: 32-33)
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
In this painting Jan Sanders van Hemessen, one of the most successful artists of his day, dramatically portrays a biblical parable about mercy and hypocrisy. The story, told by Christ in the Gospel of Matthew (18:21–35), begins with a servant who owes his king a tremendous sum of money. The king shows mercy and forgives his servant’s debt; but when the same servant later refuses to forgive a trifling debt owed him by another man, the king reverses his earlier judgment and orders the unmerciful servant cast into prison. The lesson of this tale is that God will be equally merciless to those who do not show forgiveness to others.
Hemessen’s figures fill the foreground of the painting, and their expressive faces and animated gestures create an arresting effect. On the left the king raises an accusing finger toward the servant, who sits anxiously on the right with his hands intertwined. Between them sit two men, one carefully counting coins and the other looking up at the king before making a note in his ledger. As the servant’s initial fate is decided, a window gives onto a view of the concluding scene of the story, in which he gets his just reward.
There is some evidence that this painting was made for the office of a municipal tax collector in northern Holland—an appropriate location to ponder the lessons of the parable.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
