LOOKING UP
STUDIES FOR CEILINGS, 1550-1800
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, Washington
Jan 29–Jul 9, 2023
Anton Kern. A Ceiling with Apollo Presiding over Military and Historical Learning, 1740s
Looking Up: Studies for Ceilings, 1550–1800 presents
some 30 examples of the evolution of ceiling decoration.
A missing artistic expression
In modern architecture and contemporary interior design, ceilings have lost much of their original, complex meaning, becoming neutral fields or featuring generic decoration. However, in the European tradition that spanned nearly four centuries, ceilings were where the most ambitious, compelling, and meaningful painted compositions appeared.
Masters of perspective, anatomy, foreshortenings and Trompe l’oeil
Looking Up: Studies for Ceilings, 1550–1800 presents some 30 examples of the evolution of ceiling decoration. These works move from architectural frameworks housing conventional paintings to the illusion of a single, soaring space teeming with figures and dynamic movement during the baroque, and then on to the geometric organization and idealized form associated with neoclassism.
Some of the drawings are vibrant preliminary studies; others are large-scale models that give a sense of the experience of the intended final composition. Studies of single motifs and individual figures reveal how these grand projects enticed viewers to pause and look up.
HIGHLIGHTS
1587
Giovanni Guerra (Italian, Modena,1544 – 1618, Rome)
and Domenico Maria Viani (Italian, Bologna,1668 – Pistoia,1711)
“Ceiling with Allegorical Figures and the Arms of Pope Sixtus V Saint Joseph and the Christ Child”
(Viani’s central drawing), outer drawing c.1587. (Guerra’s outer drawing)
Central drawing after 1690; attachments c. 1700–1725 pen and brown ink with brown wash over black chalk on heavy laid paper (outer drawing); graphite on heavy laid paper (central drawing); gold leaf borders and paper cut-outs adhered to oculi (Talman additions) center section (octagon): 23.3 x 16.2 cm (9 3/16 x 6 3/8 in.) Overall (ceiling design): 51.1 x 41.8 cm (20 1/8 x 16 7/16 in.) mount: 53.3 x 44 cm (21 x 17 5/16 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of The Circle of the National Gallery of Art
DETAIL of “Ceiling with Allegorical Figures and the Arms of Pope Sixtus V
Saint Joseph and the Christ Child”
Italian 16th Century
“Fantastic Design for an Illusionistic Ceiling with Grape Arbor, Figures Poised on Galleries,
and a Central Scene of Olympian Gods”, c. 1580/1590.
Pen and brown ink with brown wash, heightened with white, over black chalk on brown paper
(sheet enlarged at right and bottom by the artist) overall: 39.7 x 26.6 cm (15 5/8 x 10 1/2 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
1602
Giulio Cesare Procaccini (Italian, Bologna,1574 -1625, Milan)
“Ceiling Studies of a Prophet and a Putto Seen from Below”, c.1602
Oiled black chalk or charcoal, heightened with white chalk on blue-green laid paper,
sheet: 22 x 30.3 cm (8 11/16 x 11 15/16 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Patrons’ Permanent Fund
1620
Lazzaro Tavarone (Italian, Genoa,1556 -1641, Genoa)
“A Ceiling Decoration with Landscapes and Battles”, c.1620
Pen, brown ink, watercolor and black chalk on laid paper overall: 38.6 x 37.8 cm (15 3/16 x 14 7/8 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, William B. O’Neal Fund
1675
Charles de La Fosse (French, Paris,1636-1716)
“Angels and Putti Flying with a Garland: Design for a Ceiling”, c.1675
Red and black chalk with touches of white chalk, squared in black chalk on light gray paper (formerly
blue), with later framing line in brown ink overall: 25.9 x 40 cm (10 3/16 x 15 3/4 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Donald Stone
1685/1690
Andrea Pozzo (Italian, Trento,1642 – 1709, Vienna)
“Illusionistic Architecture for the Vault of San Ignazio”
Pen and gray and brown ink with gray wash on two joined sheets of heavy laid paper overall: 50.4 x 91.2 cm (19 13/16 x 35 7/8 in.) National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Robert M. and Anne T. Bass
DETAILS of “Illusionistic Architecture for the Vault of San Ignazio”
1696-1697
Luigi Garzi (Italian, Pistoya, 1638 – 1721, Rome)
“Saint Catherine of Siena on a Cloud”, 1696/1697
Black chalk heightened with white chalk on blue laid paper, sheet: 38.6 x 27.2 cm (15 3/16 x 10 11/16 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington,
Purchased as the Gift of Robert B. Loper and Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
17th Century
Nicolas Poussin (French, Les Andelys, Normandy,1594 – 1665, Rome)
Modello for a Ceiling:
“Diana and the Dead Endymion, the Judgment of Paris, and the Death of Adonis”
Pen and brown ink with brown wash over black chalk on laid paper overall: 32 x 31.5 cm (12 5/8 x 12 3/8 in.) National Gallery of Art, Washington, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund
1700-1710
Lorenzo De Ferrari (Italian, Genoa, 1680 – 1744)
“A Female Figure Seated on an Entablature, Holding a Distaff”, c. 1700/1710
Black chalk on laid paper, sheet: 29.1 x 20.8 cm (11 7/16 x 8 3/16 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Purchased as the Gift of Robert B. Loper
1720
Cosmas Damian Asam (German, Benediktbeuern 1686–1739, Munich)
“The Ascension of Christ”, 1720
Red chalk with gray wash on laid paper, sheet: 28.5 x 38.6 cm (11 1/4 x 15 3/16 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Patrons’ Permanent Fund
1720-1740
Ferdinando Galli Bibbiena (Italian, Bologna, 1657-1743)
“A Grand Illusionistic Ceiling”, 1720/1740
Pen and brown ink with gray and brown washes over graphite on laid paper
overall: 60.1 x 105.9 cm (23 11/16 x 41 11/16 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund and an Anonymous Donor
DETAIL of “A Grand Illusionistic Ceiling”
1736
Livio Retti (Italian, Laino,1692/93 – 1751, Ludwigsburg)
“The Triumph of Virtue and Divine Wisdom”, 1736
Pen and brown ink with brown wash over graphite on laid paper,
sheet: 44.3 x 54.1 cm (17 7/16 x 21 5/16 in.) National Gallery of Art, Washington,
Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Patrons’ Permanent Fund
1740s
Anton Kern (German, Tetschen, 1709 – 1747, Dresden)
“A Ceiling with Apollo Presiding over Military and Historical Learning”, 1740s.
Watercolor, pen and gray ink over traces of black chalk on laid paper
overall: 34.1 x 44.4 cm (13 7/16 x 17 1/2 in.) National Gallery of Art, Washington,
Diane Allen Nixon and Ailsa Mellon Bruce and Professor William B. O’Neal Funds
1740-1741
Matthäus Günther (German, Tritschenkreut , 1705 – 1788, Haid)
“Worshippers at the Tomb of Saint Peter”, 1740/1741
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite over pen and brown ink, indented with a stylus, on pink-gray prepared paper, squared with graphite for transfer, sheet: 48.2 x 36.2 cm (19 x 14 1/4 in.), trimmed to a roughly circular shape with ornamental lobes and angles image: 38 x 35.4 cm (14 15/16 x 13 15/16 in.) Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Purchased as the Gift of Vincent and Linda Buonanno
1759-1760
Carlo Innocenzo Carlone (Italian, Scaria, 1686 – 1775, Como)
“The Apotheosis of Saint Euphemia”, 1759/1760
Pen and light brown ink with gray wash over graphite, strengthened with tip of the brush and dark gray wash, squared in red chalk on cream laid paper, sheet: 81 x 56.1 cm (31 7/8 x 22 1/16 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Patrons’ Permanent Fund
DETAIL of “The Apotheosis of Saint Euphemia”
1765
François Boucher (French, Paris, 1703 – 1770)
“Aurora Heralding the Arrival of the Morning Sun”, c. 1765
Brown and black chalk with stumping, heightened with white chalk on bu laid paper,
overall (octagonal): 46 x 40.2 cm (18 1/8 x 15 13/16 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Dian Woodner
1787
Felice Giani (Italian, San Sebastiano Curone, 1758 -1823, Rome)
“A Covered Dome with Apollo and Phaeton”, c. 1787
Pen and brown ink with gray, blue, and pink washes over black chalk on wove paper, overall: 34.9 x 27 cm
(13 3/4 x 10 5/8 in.) National Gallery of Art, Washington, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
1790-1815
Giacomo Quarenghi (Italian, Rota d’Imagna,1744 – 1817, San Petersburgo)
“An Ornate Ceiling with an Allegory of Spring”, 1790/1815
Pen and black ink with watercolor over graphite on faintly blued-green laid paper,
overall: 47.7 x 34.7 cm (18 3/4 x 13 11/16 in.) National Gallery of Art, Washington, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
DETAIL of An Ornate Ceiling with an Allegory of Spring
1794
Pietro Fancelli (Italian, Bologna,1764 – 1850)
“Studies of Aurora and Apollo”, 1794
Pen and brown ink, squared for transfer, overall: 71.2 x 49.8 cm (28 1/16 x 19 5/8 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, William B. O’Neal Fund
18th Century
Jacob de Wit (Dutch, Amsterdam, 1695 – 1754)
“Judgment of Paris”
Red chalk on laid paper overall: 33.2 x 46.1 cm (13 1/16 x 18 1/8 in.)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Julius S. Held Collection, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
DETAIL of ” Judgment of Paris”
Exhibition Organization
The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Exhibition Curator
The exhibition is curated by Jonathan Bober, Andrew W. Mellon Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Art.
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
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