Mamoli Zorzi and Manthorne (eds.) FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT WRITERS IN MUSEUMS 1798-1898 Edited by Rosella Mamoli Zorzi and Katherine Manthorne From Darkness to Light explores from a variety of angles the subject of museum ligh� ng in exhibi� on spaces in America, Japan, and Western Europe throughout the nineteenth and twen� eth centuries. Wri� en by an array of interna� onal experts, these collected essays gather perspec� ves from a diverse range of cultural sensibili� es. From sensi� ve discussions of Tintore� o’s unique approach to the play of light and darkness as exhibited in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice, to the development of museum ligh� ng as part of Japanese ar� s� c self-fashioning, via the story of an epic American pain� ng on tour, museum illumina� on in the work of Henry James, and ligh� ng altera� ons at Chatsworth, this book is a treasure trove of illumina� ng contribu� ons. FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT The collec� on is at once a refreshing insight for the enthusias� c museum-goer, who is brought to an awareness of the exhibit in its immediate environment, and a wide-ranging scholarly compendium for the professional who seeks to WRITERS IN MUSEUMS 1798-1898 proceed in their academic or curatorial work with a more enlightened sense of the lighted space. As with all Open Book publica� ons, this en� re book is available to read for free on the publisher’s website. Printed and digital edi� ons, together with supplementary digital material, can also be found at www.openbookpublishers.com Cover image: Jacopo Tintore� o, The Adorati on of the Magi, Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice (graphic elabora� on by Pier Giovanni Possamai, The University of Venice, Ca’ Foscari) Cover design: Anna Ga� book ebooke and OA edi� ons also available EDITED BY OPEN ACCESS ROSELLA MAMOLI ZORZI www.openbookpublishers.com OBP AND KATHERINE MANTHORNE FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT From Darkness to Light Writers in Museums 1798–1898 Edited by Rosella Mamoli Zorzi and Katherine Manthorne https://www.openbookpublishers.com © 2019 Rosella Mamoli Zorzi and Katherine Manthorne. Copyright of individual chapters is maintained by the chapters’ authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work; to adapt the work and to make commercial use of the work providing attribution is made to the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information: Rosella Mamoli Zorzi and Katherine Manthorne, eds., From Darkness to Light: Writers in Museums 1798–1898. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2019, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0151 Copyright and permissions for the reuse of many of the images included in this publication differ from the above. Copyright and permissions information for images is provided separately in the List of Illustrations. Every effort has been made to identify and contact copyright holders and any omission or error will be corrected if notification is made to the publisher. In order to access detailed information on the license, please visit https://www. openbookpublishers.com/product/824#copyright Further details about CC BY licenses are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/ All external links were active at the time of publication unless otherwise stated and have been archived via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine at https://archive.org/web Digital material and resources associated with this volume are available at http://www. openbookpublishers.com/product/824#resources ISBN Paperback: 978-1-78374-549-4 ISBN Hardback: 978-1-78374-550-0 ISBN Digital (PDF): 978-1-78374-551-7 ISBN Digital ebook (epub): 978-1-78374-552-4 ISBN Digital ebook (mobi): 978-1-78374-553-1 ISBN Digital (XML): 978-1-78374-723-8 DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0151 Cover image: Jacopo Tintoretto, The Adoration of the Magi, Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice (graphic elaboration by Pier Giovanni Possamai, The University of Venice, Ca’ Foscari). Cover design: Anna Gatti All paper used by Open Book Publishers is SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative), PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) and Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC® certified). Contents Acknowledgments ix Notes on Contributors xi Introduction: From Darkness to Light: Writers in Museums 1 1798–1898 Rosella Mamoli Zorzi and Katherine Manthorne Part I 7 On Light 1. Tintoretto: An Unexpected Light. Lightnings, Haloes, 9 Embers and Other Glowing Lights. Melania G. Mazzucco 2. The Artificial Lighting Available to European and 25 American Museums, 1800–1915 David E. Nye Part II 41 On Light at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and in Venice 3. Tintoretto in San Rocco Between Light and Darkness 43 Maria Agnese Chiari Moretto Wiel vi From Darkness to Light 4. John Ruskin and Henry James in the Enchanting 53 Darkness of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco Rosella Mamoli Zorzi 5. Light at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco 71 Demetrio Sonaglioni 6. The Light in the Venice Ducal Palace 79 Camillo Tonini 7. Latent in Darkness: John Ruskin’s Virtual Guide to the 87 Academy of Fine Arts in Venice Emma Sdegno 8. Venice, Art and Light in French Literature: 1831–1916 99 Cristina Beltrami Part III 107 On Light in American Museums 9. One Hundred Gems of Light: The Peale Family 109 Introduces Gaslight to America Burton K. Kummerow 10. Illuminating the Big Picture: Frederic Church’s Heart 117 of the Andes Viewed by Writers Katherine Manthorne 11. Italian Genius in American Light: The James Jackson 129 Jarves Collection at Yale Kathleen Lawrence 12. Shedding Light on the History of Lighting at the 141 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Holly Salmon 13. Seeing Beauty: Light and Design at the Freer Gallery, 151 ca.1923 Lee Glazer Contents vii Part IV 165 On Light in Museum and Mansions in England, France, and Spain 14. Lighting up the Darkness: The National Gallery, 167 London Sarah Quill 15. Sir John Soane 177 Helen Dorey 16. Chatsworth, a Modern English Mansion 189 Marina Coslovi 17. Daylight and Gold: In the Galleries With Henry James 201 Paula Deitz 18. Remarks on Illumination in Nineteenth-Century 211 American Travel Writings on Madrid’s Prado Museum Pere Gifra-Adroher Part V 221 On Light in Italian Museums 19. To Look (and to See) in the Nineteenth Century: 223 At the Uffizi and Elsewhere Cristina Acidini 20. Ways of Perceiving: The Passionate Pilgrims’ Gaze in 239 Nineteenth-Century Italy Margherita Ciacci 21. ‘In the Quiet Hours and the Deep Dusk, These Things 261 too Recovered Their Advantage’: Henry James on Light in European Museums Joshua Parker viii From Darkness to Light 22. ‘Shedding Light on Old Italian Masters’: Timothy 271 Cole’s Series for the Century Page S. Knox 23. ‘Into the Broad Sunlight’: Anne Hampton Brewster’s 285 Chronicle of Gilded Age Rome Adrienne Baxter Bell Part VI 295 On Light in Museums in Japan 24. In Praise of Shadows: Ernest Fenollosa and the 297 Origins of Japanese Museum Culture Dorsey Kleitz and Sandra Lucore Postscript 307 25. Premonitions: Shakespeare to James 309 Sergio Perosa 26. The Museum on Stage: From Plato’s Myth to Today’s 319 Perception Alberto Pasetti Bombardella 27. Time and Light 323 Antonio Foscari Bibliography 333 List of Illustrations 355 Acknowledgments This book originated in a conference held in Venice at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and at the Salone da Ballo of the Correr Museum, 27–29 April 2016. It was organized by the Venice Committee of the Società Dante Alighieri together with The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Our thanks go first and foremost to the Guardian Grando of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Franco Posocco, for hosting the conference among the marvellous Tintoretto paintings in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, to the Vicario of the Scuola, Demetrio Sonaglioni, and to the Procuratrice of the Scuola, Maria Agnese Chiari Moretto Wiel; to the President of the Musei Civici di Venezia (MuVe), Mariacristina Gribaudi, and to its Director, Gabriella Belli, for receiving us in the Sala da Ballo of the Correr Museum. We would also like to thank Thomas Callegaro of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco for his help collating the images. The conference would not have been possible without a grant from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation through Save Venice Inc., whose Venice Director, Melissa Conn, also received us at the Rosand Library. We are also grateful to Arch. Ettore Vio, former proto of the Basilica, for an unforgettable visit to the Basilica di San Marco, which we entered in total darkness and then saw in all its golden light. We would also like to thank the Secretary General of the Società Dante Alighieri, Alessandro Masi, for participating to the welcome addresses together with the Guardian Grando, the President and the Director of MuVe, and with the President of the Amici dei Musei, Paolo Trentinaglia de Daverio. Several scholars chaired the different sessions, making them lively with their comments: we would like to thank Gabriella Belli, for her lively introduction to the works; Paola Marini, Director of the Gallerie x From Darkness to Light dell’Accademia; Philip Rylands, Director of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection; Renata Codello, General Secretary for MiBact for the Veneto region; Ileana Chiappini di Sorio, art historian; and Daniela Ciani, Pia Masiero, and Simone Francescato, Americanists of the University of Venice, Ca’ Foscari. We thank for their papers Giovanni Carlo Federico Villa, professor of art history at the University of Bergamo; Andrea Bellieni, Director of the Correr Museum; Gianfranco Pocobene, of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; and Jean Pavans, the most important translator of Henry James in France: for various reasons their papers could not be included in this volume.