The best museums in New York, Brookville, NY (2026)

09/27/2022

The artists did not skirt biblical stories either. Capitel with the Temptation of Jesus c. 1175-1200 This capital, probably originating from a monastery arcade, depicts the temptations of Jesus. The order of the narrative is inconsistent: the devil tempts Jesus to turn stones into bread; the devil tempts Jesus with the kingdoms of the world; the devil carries Jesus on his back to the top of the Temple; the devil tempts Jesus to throw himself from the top of the Temple. The naturalism of the capital forms, the antiquity of the flowing drapery that defines the anatomy of the figures, and the lively narrative quality are all hallmarks of the nascent Gothic style. An interesting subject is a capitel with an angel emerging from a cloud c. 1150-1200. France. The angel emerging from the cloud suggests that the figure on the column below completed the composition, perhaps it was the Virgin of the Annunciation. Capitals decorated with similar acanthus foliage can also be found in other churches in Burgundy, such as those at Avallon, Vézelay and Donzi-les-Prés. And on the way to the Gothic and mythical creatures is a capitel from Spain Capital with a centaur fighting a man with a bow and arrow ca. 1175-1200 This depicts a man and an animal fighting in a similar almost abstract manner. Centaur fighting man with bow and arrow.

09/25/2022

We already know that antiquity gave us architectural orders. The Middle Ages changed the currencies and leaves of column capitals to amazing stone sculpture. In many monasteries in Europe, many scenes from the Bible, hagiographies of saints, allegorical images (as a confrontation of vices and virtues), as well as intimidating figures of demons and various monsters, beasts and men woven together, were carved on the capitals of columns on which galleries were leaned. The museum collection has interesting versions of such capitals. Capitel with four heads ca. 1225-50 In 863, a monk named Theodosius wrote of the greatness of Palermo, describing it as "full of citizens and strangers . . . Among the Sicilians, Greeks, Lombards and Jews mingled Arabs, Berbers, Persians, Tartars, Africans, some in long robes and turbans . . faces oval, square or round, of every build and profile, beards and hair of every color and haircut." The four heads emerging from the acanthus leaves and forming the corners of this capitol are indicative of Theodosius' comments. The heads are close in style to other examples of Apulian sculptors who worked at the court of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen.

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09/23/2022

In the Scandinavian tradition, the Virgin looks a little different. Virgin on Throne c. 1175-1200 Carved from a narrow bar of poplar, this figure was originally placed to be placed on an altar. The sculpture's elongated form and strong linear ex*****on may be related to more similar works on the island of Gotland, where sculpture from the 1100s was heavily influenced by German art. And this is how the French artist saw it. The Virgin and Child c. 1200. Metalwork combined with the use of enamel in the book and the engraving of the Virgin's crown and shoes, as well as the baby's hair, are characteristic of Limoges' work. Enamels of the type for which Limoges was famous are often found in Spain, and indeed this work belonged to a Spanish collector in the late nineteenth century. In Spain neither the political revolution nor the religious reformation provoked the mass destruction of church property that France experienced. But if we look north of France, we see a different tradition. The Blessed Virgin Mary with Child c. 1210-20 Crowned as the Queen of Heaven, Mary sits on an ornate throne and the infant Jesus holds a ball or apple and blesses. Mary also triumphantly tramples the dragon, a visual reference to the Book of Genesis (3:15), in which God declares the serpent: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman." The smooth drapery style is a hallmark of northern sculpture circa 1200. And German sculpture is several decades younger still. Blessed Virgin and Child c. 1280 This throne-sitting Virgin and Child, triumphing over two dragons, reflects an image from the Book of Psalms (91:13): "You will walk on the aspite and the basilisk, and you will trample with your feet the lion and the dragon." The lively facial expression and the emphasis on heavy forms of drapery are characteristic of the stone sculpture of the Regensburg Cathedral in Bavaria in the late thirteenth century. Recent preservation has revealed the best-preserved of several layers of paint from the Baroque period.

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09/20/2022

The Church taught that if sin entered the world through the first woman, Eve, then salvation from sin also entered through Our Lady Mary, for the atoning death of Jesus Christ was only possible after His earthly birth by Mary. In the East for the first time Her name was given to temples (4th century), Her images were painted, and church festivals were introduced in Her honor (5th century). The Council of Ephesus in the East in 431 deemed it possible to call the Virgin Mary "the Mother of God". Thus the cult of the Virgin Mary merged with the basic tenets of early Christianity and took a prominent place in this new religion.
The first known sculptural image of Our Lady, the so-called Golden Virgin of Essen, was commissioned by the granddaughter of Otto II, Abbess Matilda, presumably around 980 . This is how the sculpture returned to art. In the collection of the Metropolitan, the Virgin and Child in Greatness ca. 1175-1200 In medieval sculpture, individual body parts were often emphasized to convey meaning. Here Mary's huge hands direct our attention to Jesus, seated on his mother's lap. This type of sculpture, very popular in the twelfth century, is known as the Throne of Wisdom. As a miniature adult, Jesus as the Son of God is the embodiment of Wisdom. He would grab the Bible, another reference to the concept of divine wisdom he embodies. Mary is both a sculpture and a vessel: her body has a cavity behind her shoulder, suggesting that the work was a receptacle for holy relics. Such religious statues may have been carried in church processions.

08/25/2022

Niagara - the name of the famous waterfall comes from the language of the Indians who lived here - the Iroquois and means, according to different versions, either "dividing in half", or, more poetically, "thundering water".
Niagara Falls appeared several thousand years ago, when streams of water formed as a result of the melting of a retreating glacier washed their channel in soft sandstones. The Niagara River carved a deep gorge into them until the harder rock was exposed. So it turned out a cliff from which thousands of tons of water fall down. The characteristic greenish color of Niagara is due precisely to the high content of rock particles dissolved in the waters of the river.
It is believed that in ten thousand years the waterfall has risen about eleven kilometers upstream of the river, this movement continues today at a rate of about thirty centimeters per year. According to scientists, in about fifty thousand years, the cliff will reach Lake Erie and Niagara Falls will cease to exist. Niagara is a complex of waterfalls, the total width of which is more than a kilometer. Goat Island (Goat) divides the river into two branches, forming the "Canadian" and "American" parts of the waterfall. The Canadian part of the waterfall is called because of the characteristic shape of the "Horseshoe", from the US side, a small island of the Moon separates a narrow strip of the "Veil" waterfall from the "American Falls".
The main volume of Niagara's water flows through the Horseshoe Falls. The width of the waterfall is about 670 meters, the depth in the central part is about 3 meters. Streams of water cross the crest of the waterfall at a speed of about 32 kilometers per hour and fall 53 meters down.
The width of the American Falls is about 250 m., the depth of the river on the crest is about 60 centimeters. Numerous rockfalls formed a huge stone embankment at the foot of the waterfall, so the height of the water fall here is much lower than at the Horseshoe - from 21 to 34 meters.
Near the American is the smallest of the Niagara Falls - Fata. It is only 17 meters wide and 24 meters high.
You can watch a ten minute video on my channel.
https://youtu.be/AfOef5vnldg

08/23/2022

Niagara Falls

08/19/2022

So, I went online looking for data on my sugar bowl - candy bar.... Wedgwood began marking his products with his name around 1759, imprinting the name on the underside of the product using a movable printer's typeface. The resulting mark was often uneven and sometimes arched. Around 1769, he adopted the familiar mark with the name stamped out of a single bullet. The WEDGWOOD mark can be found on useful merchandise between 1769 and 1781 and on all merchandise produced after that, until a sans serif version of the mark was introduced in 1929 . In 1769 Wedgwood formed two partnerships, Wedgwood and Bentley, along with his good friend Thomas Bentley, produced decorative goods. Their products are marked with one or another of several versions of the Wedgwood and Bentley mark. Useful goods were produced with his cousin Thomas Wedgwood and marked with the WEDGWOOD mark. And my uncut plate is exactly that typeface. In 1860, the Wedgwood factory began marking its wares with the date of manufacture imprinted on each piece as part of a three-letter code. The first letter of the code represents the month of manufacture, the second identifies the potter who cast the mold, and the last letter denotes the year the product was made, starting with 0, which means 1860. The series was repeated four times. From 1907, in the third series, the first letter of the month is replaced by the number 3, and in the fourth series, beginning with the letter A, in 1924, the number 4. Beginning in 1929, the year is replaced by the last two digits of the year. After 1891, the word ENGLAND is added to the WEDGWOOD stamp, continuing until 1908, when the words MADE IN ENGLAND replace it in all cases. The "MADE IN ENGLAND" mark began to appear on some merchandise as early as 1898, but was not used universally until 1908. The main one has been dealt with. My plate has MADE IN ENGLAND on it, so my product was born after 1891. Referring to the table, it reads G on the butt in 2 places. It looks like the plate was born in 1930, but there are also strange numbers and letters. If anyone has a clue, please advise. Of course it's not an antique but a vintage. But it's damn nice too.

08/17/2022

The third major innovation that Wedgwood is remembered for is jasper ware, which has been called the most important invention in the history of ceramics since the discovery of porcelain. It is this style that I am the owner of. Jasper, a dense white stoneware, was usually made by mixing color with clay, but the basic white form could also be colored. It took Wedgwood years of experimentation to perfect his design of this unglazed stoneware, which has the uncanny ability to be both durable and delicate, and to take color evenly across the surface. Jasper can be almost any color, although the most famous examples are pale or dark blue and white.The new material has been used in an amazing array of objects, including a grand piano. Jasper ware is also known for its bas-reliefs painted on the sides, often imitating classical Greek motifs. Products made of jasper have been made for over 200 years, and during this time the methods of production have not changed much. It would seem that Josiah Wedgwood got it right the first time.
Jasper was available in all kinds of trinkets: buttons, beads, medallions, mantelpieces, and cachets. Large, imposing urns depicting noble scenes and mythology were ideal for Europeans, who were then enamored of all things Greco-Roman. When these Olympian works first appeared in London's showrooms, crowds of people literally fought for the right to get in and, according to historians, reported a "violent frenzy of vases." Wedgwood, never an understatement, called himself "the general of the vases in the universe.

08/15/2022

In 1768 Wedgwood developed a fine black porcelain called Black Basalt. With this fine-grained stoneware he was able to make copies of recently excavated Etruscan pottery from Italy. Black Basalt was designed to mimic the inky-black luster of volcanic basalt. To achieve the desired hue, an iron oxide-rich mixture of manganese and iron from nearby coal mines was added to the clay body and fired in a kiln. The new innovation proved to be another huge commercial success. The surface is shiny and smooth, with a purplish-black luster. The Wedgwood factory was barely meeting the demand for candlesticks, medallions, dishes and vases made from this material
Copies of Greek and Roman busts, bas-reliefs, and amphorae demonstrate Wedgwood's technical skill, but, Wedgwood's inventive spirit could only be rivaled by his marketing genius. "He was one of the few true craftsmen who also achieved great success in business," critics noted. Inspired by the popularity of the Grand Tour-the post-university sojourn of British nobility in the 17th and 18th centuries on the continent-and the subsequent demand for Roman and Greek objects excavated at sites along the Mediterranean Sea such as Pompeii, Wedgwood developed his own pottery to make copies of these ancient and rare vessels for sale in large numbers. In January 1769 Wedgwood wrote to his business partner Thomas Bentley that "there was an epidemic frenzy regarding vases which must be satisfied.
"These were copies for people who wanted a Greek vase but could not get one. But unlike the originals, which had weathered and cracked over the centuries, the copies, were beautifully painted and completely intact. "They were in perfect condition, and people were willing to pay for that luxury." In addition to the neoclassical themes, Wedgwood also used black basalt for more contemporary pieces. Sculptures dedicated to the reigning thinkers of the time-Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin-were given a seriousness by the use of heavy, dark-colored ceramics.

08/13/2022

"I want all of England on my table!" - This is how Catherine II formulated the order to the English ceramic artist Josiah Wedgwood. The most unusual table service in the history of ceramic art was created in 1774. Catherine II ordered the service in 1774, when a castle country palace designed by Yury Felten was being built on the Tsarskoselskaya road. When the palace was built, the place was called "Kikerikksen", in Finnish "frog's marsh". And the palace was first called Kikerikksen - "the palace on the frog swamp. It was impossible to pronounce it, so they shortened it to Kikeriko. Especially for the new palace Catherine ordered in England at the famous manufactories Jozai Wedgwood service of nine hundred and fifty-two items, where each tureen or plate painted a green frog. Now the "service with the green frog," as it is officially called, is the pride of the English collection of the Hermitage. Saucers, plates and dishes in Wedgwood's signature "cream-colored faience" decorated with old English landscapes are on display on the third floor of the Winter Palace. And so the palace acquired two names. On a mundane level - "Kikeriko," and officially - the Chesmen Palace. It was produced by the British company Wedgwood and Sons. Wedgwood's companion Thomas Bentley compiled a handwritten catalog of drawings especially for the Empress. Catherine approved the sketches and suggested that the service be decorated with a frog - after the name of the area. Thus the amphibian on the knight's shield became the emblem not only of the service, but also of the palace. After the imperial court had bought the Wedgwood service, the Russian court was regarded as highly competent in art. In this way Catherine II maintained her image and that of the state. The most expensive porcelain set in the history of the imperial court was for 50 people. It consisted of 944 pieces: 680 for the dinner part and 264 for the dessert part. In the course of time their number increased, as additional crockery was already being produced at the Russian manufactories. The table service with the green frog cost the Tsarist treasury 3000 pounds - 16,406 rubles an unthinkable sum at the time.

08/11/2022

The first major innovation Wedgwood introduced in pottery was the development of Queen's Ware, cream-colored earthenware with a lead glaze. It was a durable porcelain made from a mixture of flint and white clay. Wedgwood was recognized when King George III and his consort Queen Charlotte decided to favor local artisans to boost the country's economy. The initial order was placed by the Queen's royal staff on her behalf. The order was for a complete tea set of twelve tea cups and saucers, a sump or bowl where the leftover tea is poured, a sugar bowl with a lid on a stand, a teapot on a stand, and a spoon. Another order was for a coffee pot with twelve coffee cups, six candlesticks, and six fruit baskets on a stand. Wedgwood was proud of the royal order. He personally supervised all production, insisting that the smallest details be observed. Queen's Ware's first pottery, a tea service, was presented to the palace in the last quarter of 1765. Wedgwood saw a marketing opportunity by showcasing his brand to the public. He rented a space on Greek Street in London as a showroom and showed the tableware to the public before it was delivered to the Royal Palace. There is only one dish from this collection in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. News of Wedgwood Queens Ware soon spread throughout Europe. He soon received an order from the British Ambassador to Russia, Lord Cathcart, for similar ceramics for the Russian Empress Catherine. The design had the basic scallop shape of Queen Charlotte's ceramics. Like Queen Charlotte, the Russian service must have greatly admired the master, since a larger order was placed in 1773.

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The best museums in New York

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