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Home , Agostino di Duccio, Art dealer, National Gallery of Art, William Henry Rinehart

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART • BULLETIN • NUMBER 56 • SPRING 2017 • BULLETIN

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• C. D. Dickerson III, and Head of Department, Sculpture and Decorative Arts

ohn Russell Pope’s magnificent West Building is more than a temple of . Within the Jsublime galleries, on both the main and ground floors, awaits one of the preeminent sculpture and decorative arts collections in the world, comprised of 4,000 objects created before the mid-1900s — from works of marble and bronze to examples of ceramics, textiles, metalwork, and furniture. Stretching from ancient Greece to the early twenti- eth century, the collection spans an even wider historical range than the West Building’s great paintings. Partic- ularly rich in works from the Italian and eighteenth- and nine- teenth-century France, the Gallery’s collection began with Andrew W. Mellon’s founding donations and has expanded through the present century with the transformative arrivals of the distinguished Kaufman collection of American furniture and masterpieces from the . Mellon’s original vision for the Gallery did not include sculpture or decorative arts, however. He loved paint- ings and assumed that any he established would be filled entirely with them. It was only during the final years of his life that his outlook toward sculpture changed. As he wrestled with planning the expansive museum he intended to build on the in Washington, DC, he was led to think more openly about sculpture, paving Fig. 1. of Agostino di , the way for a series of acquisitions that Madonna and Child, 1460s or later, helped bring the West Building to life marble, Andrew W. Mellon Collection when it opened in 1941. NUMBER 56 • SPRING 2017

3 Shaping a Vision, Expanding a Legacy

Mellon acquired his first sculp- Fig. 2. Otto R. Eggers, Preliminary ture in January 1935, only a couple Study: Central Gallery for the Exhibition years before his death in 1937. It was a of Sculpture, c. 1936, graphite with marble of the Madonna and child white wash and cream gouache, then attributed to the Florentine mas- ter Agostino di Duccio (fig. 1). Mellon Acquired from Eggers and Higgins, may have been attracted to the sculp- Architects ture because it enjoyed a distinguished , formerly owned by the who can only have wondered where financier John Pierpont Morgan, whose all these would come from. collection drew Mellon’s interest when Part of the answer revealed itself it was exhibited at the Metropolitan almost simultaneously. Mellon spent Museum of Art in 1913. But the choice the summer of 1936 in London, and one was still unusual for Mellon. By 1935 he of his first appointments was with the had been old master art for renowned art dealer Joseph Duveen, almost two decades — but never sculp- with whom he had had a longstanding ture, always paintings. Unsurprisingly, and productive relationship. Duveen his preference in was for pure told Mellon of a major group of Italian picture galleries like the National Gal- Renaissance paintings and sculptures lery in London, where he had spent that he had been fortunate to secure long hours while serving as the United from the Parisian collector Gustave States ambassador to England between Dreyfus. Mellon agreed to inspect the 1932 and 1933. His attitudes began to material at Duveen’s salesroom in New change around 1935, however, as he York at the end of the summer but contemplated the first designs for the was preempted by illness. He sent the Gallery’s building. His chosen archi- Gallery’s first director, Finley, tect, , was convinced in his place. Finley was instructed to that the interior should be organized survey the offerings and have the best around a great domed rotunda from works shipped to Washington where which two monumental halls would Mellon could judge them for himself. extend to the east and west. Pope By October, twenty-four paintings and planned for these vast spaces to be twenty sculptures had been installed filled with sculpture, as revealed in in a vacant apartment beneath Mellon’s a by his partner, on Massachusetts Avenue. After some Otto R. Eggers, from around 1936 weeks of pondering the collection in (fig. 2). In that conception, large figures quiet, Mellon commenced negotiations in marble and bronze stand in niches with Duveen, and the purchase was along the walls and atop pedestals consummated on December 15, 1936. around the immense room. The draw- Three of the newly acquired sculp- ing must have been a jolt to Mellon, tures could not have been better chosen NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART • BULLETIN

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for the vast interior spaces that Pope was planning. A fine bronze example of Giovanni Bologna’s soaring Mercury, now known to be a later cast, would become the focal point of the rotunda, crowning the fountain (fig. 3). Two other life-size bronzes, a Venus and a Bacchus, now known to come from a Renaissance villa near Milan, would become the centerpieces of the west sculpture hall, installed on monumental plinths on the main axis, as visitors find them today. Neither Mellon nor Pope lived to see the propitious effects of introducing sculpture into the Gallery’s collection. They died a day apart, Mellon on August 26 and Pope on August 27, 1937 — only weeks after breaking ground on the Gallery. When the Gallery officially opened on March 17, 1941, visitors were treated to many more sculptures than the twenty-one that Mellon had person- ally selected for the Gallery during his lifetime. In 1940, the Gallery’s trustees acquired two monumental urns in the style of Clodion for the east sculpture hall, as well as a pair of French foun- tains from the gardens of Versailles for the two garden courts (fig. 4). The remainder of the forty-four sculptures that had joined the Gallery’s collection by the opening arrived thanks to Samuel H. Kress, founder of the popular five- and-ten-cent-store chain. Travels to Italy during the 1920s had converted Kress into an impassioned collector of . He housed the col- lection in his New York apartment on Fifth Avenue, which came to be filled with almost three thousand objects, including old master paintings, Italian and French sculptures, Italian bronzes, as well as important frames, furniture, , porcelains, and other decora- tive pieces. By the early 1930s, he was

Fig. 3. After Giovanni Bologna, Mercury, c. 1780/c. 1850, bronze, Andrew W. Mellon Collection NUMBER 56 • SPRING 2017

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contemplating establishing a museum Although Samuel Kress suffered in New York, but Finley was able to a debilitating stroke in 1946 and was convince Kress that the collection forced to stop buying, his legacy as was better off in Washington where a collector continued thanks to his it would complement Mellon’s. He younger brother, Rush, who succeeded also appealed to Kress’s sense of civic him as president of the Samuel H. duty, reminding him that Mellon Kress Foundation. Under Rush Kress’s had expected other collectors to join leadership, the foundation reached new him in building the nation’s art col- heights in collecting. It also widened its lection. In 1939 Kress made an initial focus to represent other schools of art transfer of 133 works to the Gallery, besides Italian. The Samuel H. Kress of which nine were sculptures from Foundation would ultimately donate the . more than 1,900 works of art to the

Fig. 4. Pierre Legros I, Cherubs Playing with a Lyre, 1672–1673, lead with traces of gilding, Andrew W. Mellon Collection NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART • BULLETIN

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Fig. 5. , Self- his father’s death in 1915 and contin- Portrait, c. 1435, bronze, Samuel H. ued to add to it. He also followed in Kress Collection his father’s footsteps by insisting that if the collection went to a museum, Gallery. Of these, more than 1,480 it could not be divided. Mellon knew were sculptures, with roughly 85 per- Joseph Widener well and was desperate cent being Renaissance small bronzes, to secure his paintings for the Gallery. medals, and plaquettes (fig. 5). Rush He was reluctant, however, to take Kress had purchased them as a group the decorative arts, unsure how they in 1944 from Duveen. They were part of would mesh with the paintings. No the famed Dreyfus collection of Renais- deal was reached before Mellon died, sance sculpture — the same collection and Finley and Mellon’s son, Paul, were that Duveen had offered to Mellon in left to determine a way around the 1936. Dreyfus, who died in 1914, had impasse. The solution they presented to assembled one of the preeminent groups the trustees was to convert areas of the of Renaissance bronzes in the world. Gallery’s ground floor into dedicated The Kress collection was given in 1957, decorative arts spaces. Joseph Widener and with it the Gallery could boast embraced the idea and even took an of Renaissance sculpture holdings of active role in shaping the rooms, which truly international stature. were designed to evoke the galleries at Between Mellon’s death in 1937 and . the opening of the Gallery in 1941, his Legal complications prevented example inspired another dramatic the collection from being in place in pledge to the nation. Joseph Widener time for the Gallery’s opening in 1941. of Philadelphia was the Gallery’s third Instead, it was packed and shipped to Founding Benefactor. His collection Washington at the end of the following had started with his father, Peter Arrell year. Gradually, much of the sculpture Brown Widener, whose first forays and most of the decorative arts were into picture-buying occurred during installed on the ground floor, where the 1880s. Unlike Mellon, Peter A. B. they combined with the architecture to Widener eagerly pursued sculpture and create an intimate, domestic effect. One the decorative arts, evidently - of the more distinctive rooms, near the ing his acquisitions on such European Seventh Street entrance, was decorated collections as those of the Rothschilds to resemble the palatial quarters of a in London and Paris. His 110-room Renaissance prince, complete with a mansion on the outskirts of Philadel- stone fireplace (fig. 7). The walls were phia, Lynnewood Hall, completed in hung with tapestries, including the so- 1900, demanded an integrated approach called Mazarin , named after to . Along with paintings, he its seventeenth-century owner, Cardinal acquired choice examples of eighteenth- Mazarin of France. One of the Widen- century French furniture, amassed ers’ prized possessions, it is widely con- a magnificent collection of Chinese sidered to be among the finest surviving porcelains, and seized opportunities tapestries from the sixteenth century. to acquire three-dimensional works of Renaissance furniture enlivened the the utmost rarity, such as the medi- display, with superb examples from eval chalice made for Abbot Suger of the Wideners’ important collections Saint-Denis and the Florentine marble of Renaissance small bronzes, Italian The David of the Casa Martelli, then maiolica, and supremely rare French attributed to (fig. 6). His son, Saint-Porchaire ware decorating the Joseph, inherited the collection upon cabinets and tabletops. Liturgical NUMBER 56 • SPRING 2017

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Fig. 6. Bernardo Rossellino or , The David of the Casa Martelli, c. 1461/1479, marble, Widener Collection

Fig. 7. West Building Ground Floor sculpture gallery NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART • BULLETIN

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Fig. 8. French 12th Century, Alexandrian items, including the bejeweled sardonyx Fig. 9. ’s portrait bust of 2nd Century BC, and Alexandrian 1st chalice of Abbot Suger, were featured Katherine Seney Simpson (Mrs. John W. Century BC, Chalice of the Abbot Suger in a smaller adjacent space known as Simpson) with The Thinker (Le Penseur) the Treasury (fig. 8). In the opposite of Saint-Denis, 2nd/1st century BC (cup); in the background, both gifts of Mrs. direction, a long gallery was devoted to 1137–1140 (mounting), sardonyx cup with John W. Simpson the Wideners’ 173 Chinese porcelains. heavily gilded silver mounting, adorned Eighteenth-century furniture from the with filigrees set with stones, pearls, Widener Collection, also presented collectors stepped forward to extend glass insets, and opaque white glass on the ground floor, included a writing the range. One of the first to appear pearls, Widener Collection table made by the great Jean-Henri was Katherine (Kate) Seney Simpson, Riesener for Marie Antoinette and a wife of the prominent New York lawyer table with marquetry paneling made John W. Simpson. In 1902, while vaca- by David Roentgen for Louis XVI. tioning in Paris, the Simpsons arranged In 1957 Joseph Widener’s niece and a meeting with Auguste Rodin, then at nephew donated the wall paneling from the height of his fame. They succeeded an eighteenth-century château outside in convincing Rodin to undertake a Paris; it was used to create a sumptu- portrait bust of Kate Simpson, his first ous setting for the furniture — the portrait by an American Gallery’s only period room. By then — (fig. 9). During the two years it took to and entirely thanks to the Widener complete the job, Kate Simpson forged family — the Gallery had become a a close friendship with Rodin, writing place where many of the best three- him regularly and visiting his studio dimensional objects in the permanent whenever she was in Paris. Her delight collection were not traditional sculp- with the finished bust was enormous, tures but works of decorative art. and she became one of his most impor- If the Gallery’s collection of Euro- tant American collectors. Her privileged pean sculpture had stopped with position with the sculptor ensured that Mellon, Kress, and the Wideners, it she was offered his choicest works for would be extraordinarily high in quality purchase, including the magnificent but limited in scope, focused on Italy cast of La France that she acquired in and France and the roughly four hun- 1906 (fig. 10). Between 1902 and Rodin’s dred years between the Renaissance and death in 1917, she assembled a collec- the Ancien Régime. Fortunately, other tion of twenty-eight sculptures by the NUMBER 56 • SPRING 2017

Fig. 10. Auguste Rodin, La France, 1904, bronze, Gift of Mrs. John W. Simpson NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART • BULLETIN

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Fig. 11. West Building Ground Floor in bronze, marble, plaster, and in an important way: the Gallery has sculpture gallery with wax and plaster terracotta, along with and limited its collecting of Rodin to works versions of Degas’s Little Dancer prints. Around 1940 she began contem- from the artist’s lifetime. In that way, Aged Fourteen plating where her collection might end the collection is unique among the up. Her initial sympathies lay with the many repositories of Rodin in America. Metropolitan Museum of Art, to which Rodin died one hundred years ago she decided to give her bust and her this year, as did , whose other favorite marble, The Evil Spirits, place in the Gallery’s sculpture collec- in 1942. A week later she withdrew the tion surpasses even Rodin’s for rarity. gift and pledged the whole collection to The Gallery is the most important the Gallery, ensuring that her collection museum in the world for the study of of Rodins remained intact. Her change Degas’s sculptures. It is home to the of heart was a major coup for the Gal- majority of sculptures created by the lery, which reaped one of the very few artist during his lifetime, plus twelve collections of Rodins anywhere formed of the bronzes cast posthumously during the sculptor’s life with his direct from his sculptures. The unques- involvement. Other collectors have tioned star of the collection is Little since added to it, and the collection Dancer Aged Fourteen (fig. 11), which has remained consistent with Simpson’s Degas exhibited in 1881 at the sixth NUMBER 56 • SPRING 2017

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impressionist exhibition. With her strained expression and taut pose, the wax figure tapped an unprecedented vein of that made her a critical sensation. It is also the only sculpture Degas ever submitted for public display. The rest were private studies of bathers, dancers, horses, and riders in action (fig. 12). A group of some 150, including Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, stayed with Degas until his death. Sometime during the 1920s, Degas’s heirs decided to have the seventy-four best-preserved examples replicated in bronze casts. These bronzes instantly became cherished collector’s items, while the original waxes were long presumed to have been destroyed during the casting process. But in December 1955, M. and Company Inc. in New York dis- played sixty-nine of these original waxes, a startling surprise. , who had emerged as a discerning collector in his own right, visited the exhibition and was transfixed by what he saw. Told they were for sale by the widow and daughter of the French foundry owner who had overseen the casting of the posthumous bronzes, Mellon tasked the Gallery’s director, , with ascertaining their authenticity. After Walker reported An overwhelming majority of the Fig. 12. Edgar Degas, Dancer Putting back that he and his staff could not works that form the Gallery’s sculpture on Her Stocking, 1890s/1911, pigmented find any problems with the group, collection have come as gifts. While beeswax, metal armature, cork, on Mellon finalized the purchase of the acquisitions by purchase represent only wooden base, Collection of Mr. and entire collection on May 25, 1956. He a small percentage, their importance Mrs. Paul Mellon would eventually donate the lifetime should not be underrated. The col- sculptures to five museums, with the lection has greatly benefited from the lion’s share going to the Gallery. Seven- strategic buying on the part of teen were officially donated in 1985, over the past several decades, includ- with the remaining thirty-five coming ing Clodion’s terracotta model for as a bequest after Mellon’s death in Poetry and Music, acquired in 1976, 1999. In addition to these works made and an influential wax statuette by a during Degas’s lifetime, including Little follower of , acquired in Dancer Aged Fourteen, Mellon gave ten 1992. One of the most active periods of the posthumous bronzes in 1985, was during the early 2000s, when the 1995, and by bequest. Another distin- Gallery’s main endowment for acquisi- guished collector, Mrs. Lessing J. tions, the Patrons’ Permanent Fund, (Edith G.) Rosenwald, added two was in a fortunate position of financial more bronzes in 1989. strength. One of the most exceptional NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART • BULLETIN

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Gijón’s gilded wood Saint John of the Cross (San Juan de la Cruz) (fig. 14). Produced for a convent in Seville in 1675, the life-size figure ani- mates the view down the sculpture hall in the West Building, sited in the central niche on the far western wall. A purchase of extraordinary quality is the ivory statuette Christ Bound attrib- uted to François Duquesnoy, a Fleming who worked in during the 1620s and 1630s (fig. 15). Acquired in 2007, the ivory is a marvel of expressive com- position and virtuoso in minia- ture, as Christ’s twisting body reveals a physical perfection that sets off his tormented expression. Sculpture acquisitions made by the Gallery between the late 1990s and early 2000s could not have happened without the support of trustee Robert H. Smith, who joined the board in 1985, serving as president between 1993 and 2003. Dur- ing a collecting career spanning more than four decades, Smith built one of the finest collections of Renaissance bronzes in private hands, which he displayed in his apartment overlooking Reagan National Airport in Virginia. At the time of his death in 2009, the collection totaled eighty works, includ- ing masterpieces by Antico (fig. 16), Baccio Bandinelli, Giovanni Bologna, and Barthélemy Prieur. In 2008 he announced his intentions to give the Fig. 13. South German (Swabian or acquisitions addressed the pressing need collection to the Gallery. A powerful Franconian) 15th Century, The Holy to expand the representation of north- incentive was the fact that the Gallery Kinship, c. 1480/1490, polychromed ern European Renaissance sculpture boasted new sculpture galleries that wood, Patrons’ Permanent Fund in the collection. In 2002 the Gallery were practically tailor-made for his col- acquired The Holy Kinship (fig. 13), an lection. As board president, Smith had amazingly well-preserved sculpture in made it a priority to rethink how the painted wood by an unknown sculp- Gallery displayed its growing collection tor active in southwestern Germany of sculpture. The most pressing problem during the late fifteenth century. The was lack of space. With no options on Virgin holds the Christ child and is the main floor of the West Building, seated with her mother at the center attention turned to the ground floor, surrounded by relatives, all in brightly which offered approximately 24,000 colored garments with characterful square feet of contiguous space in the faces. In the following year, the col- northwestern corner, much of it used lection gained its first major work of for offices. In 1995 the work of convert- Spanish sculpture, Francisco Antonio ing those spaces into galleries began. NUMBER 56 • SPRING 2017

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Fig. 15. Attributed to François Duquesnoy, Christ Bound, 1620s, ivory, Patrons’ Permanent Fund

Fig. 14. Francisco Antonio Gijón, Saint Fig. 16. Antico, Seated Nymph, probably John of the Cross (San Juan de la Cruz), 1503, bronze with gilding and silvering, 1675, polychromed and gilded wood Robert H. and Clarice Smith with sgraffito decoration estofado( ), Patrons’ Permanent Fund NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART • BULLETIN

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Fig. 17. West Building Ground Particular care was taken to emulate Dancer Aged Fourteen. These orient the Floor sculpture gallery Pope’s architectural style, as the new visitor toward an adjacent room given galleries were meant to look as though over entirely to the Degas waxes. Visi- they had always been part of the tors entering from the opposite end of original building. the galleries, located near the Seventh Comprising twenty-two rooms, the Street entrance, are drawn into a cabi- renovated galleries that opened in 2002 netlike room devoted to the collection retain the same layout today. One of of Renaissance medals and plaquettes. the most majestic spaces, a long hall Double-sided cases permit appreciation with a working fountain in the center, is of both the obverse portraits and the adorned with a Florentine Renaissance fine reliefs on the reverse of the med- statue of Venus (fig. 17). A short walk als. Renaissance sculptures, including away is another exhilarating space, also ’s unbaked clay long and light-filled. Divided by two Putto Poised on a Globe, occupy the next pairs of fourteen-foot columns, it houses two rooms, before the long hall with the the collection of Rodins and a group fountain, which introduces the baroque of sculptures by Degas, including Little works, including ’s NUMBER 56 • SPRING 2017

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portrait bust of Monsignor Francesco Fig. 18. Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Monsignor Barberini (fig. 18) and a holy-water Francesco Barberini, c. 1623, marble, stoup in precious metals by Giovanni Samuel H. Kress Collection Antonio Fornari. A suite of intimate rooms for the eighteenth-century furni- ture from the Wideners lies behind the long hall, while the route ahead leads back to Degas and Rodin by way of a rare complete set of Honoré Daumier’s thirty-six bronze caricature portraits, a gift of Lessing J. Rosenwald in 1943. To navigate the circuit affords a masterfully designed view of the collection in all its breathtaking extent, with more than nine hundred works of sculpture and decorative arts from the Middle Ages through the twenty-first century. NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART • BULLETIN

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The Gallery devoted more square The decision to accept the Kaufman footage on the ground floor of the West gift was made with an awareness that it Building to sculpture and decorative represented a completely new collecting arts a decade later. In 2010 George M. area for the Gallery — early American and Linda H. Kaufman of Norfolk, furniture — but one that made good Virginia, promised their collection of sense given that it paralleled the excel- early American furniture to the Gal- lent collections of European decorative lery. Built with great discernment over arts that had come from the Wideners. more than fifty years, their collection Celebrating American craftsmanship at is one of the largest and finest in pri- the highest level, the collection teaches vate hands. In 2012 a selection of more the extraordinary diversity in styles that than a hundred pieces went on view at existed between the principal centers the Gallery in an installation on the of production, including , New- ground floor (fig. 19), complemented by port, and Philadelphia, between the outstanding examples of paintings from early 1700s and the early 1800s. the Gallery’s collection, including por- At the time of the Kaufman gift, the traits by . The rooms used Gallery owned few works of American for the installation are contiguous with sculpture, creating a strange imbal- the sculpture galleries, on the main ance within the collection. (The great east-west axis of the West Building. plaster relief for the Shaw Memorial by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, on loan from Fig. 19. West Building Ground Floor the Saint-Gaudens National Histori- gallery showcasing the Kaufman cal Site since 1997, actually does not collection belong to the Gallery.) The situation NUMBER 56 • SPRING 2017

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changed markedly in 2014 with the historic acquisition of more than 6,000 works from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, including 227 works of American sculpture from the Revolutionary War through the twentieth century. The unquestioned star and arguably the most important work of American sculpture from the nineteenth century, The Greek Slave by (fig. 20), now occupies a gallery on the Ground Floor, beckoning visitors from the Seventh Street entrance with her demure gaze. As the first life-size, publicly exhibited American sculpture depicting a female nude, The Greek Slave attracted unprecedented attention at its unveiling in the in 1847, following a successful exhibition in Europe. Powers, a native of Cincin- nati who worked in Italy, had produced a first version in 1844. He followed it with five more life-size versions, each slightly different. acquired the first of those, which became a centerpiece of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Sculpture held a special place for William Corcoran, who made a point of collecting works by contemporary masters, both Americans as well as Europeans. The French sculptor he most admired was Antoine-Louis Barye, best known for his small bronzes of animals. Corcoran suc- ceeded in acquiring a nearly complete set of Barye’s animals and historical and mythological subjects, almost one hundred bronzes in total; he was one of only two individuals to do so. (The other was William Walters, founder of the Walters in .) Efforts are now under way to create a special gallery dedi- cated to a selection of the works by Barye, with the first of several cases

Fig. 20. Hiram Powers, The Greek Slave, model 1841–1843, carved 1846, Serravezza marble, Corcoran Collection (Gift of William Wilson Corcoran) NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART • BULLETIN

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Gates of Paradise, Powers’s Diana, and ’s Penserosa. The Gallery has also become the new home for many treasures of decorative arts from the Corcoran, including superb examples of Italian maiolica assembled by Senator William A. Clark, some now on display on the ground floor with works from the Wideners. More are slated to go on view on the main floor. Besides curating the ever-evolving permanent collection, the Gallery also drives appreciation for sculpture and Fig. 21. West Building Ground Floor already completed (fig. 21). One by decorative arts through an ambitious gallery devoted to sculptures by one, other masterpieces from the program of international loan exhibi- Antoine-Louis Barye Corcoran are being installed, such as tions, part of a long tradition dating the marble bust known as The Veiled back to the first major exhibition of Nun by an anonymous nineteenth- early modern sculpture undertaken by century Italian sculptor and Saint- the Gallery, Rodin Rediscovered, which Gaudens’s Amor Caritas. opened in 1981 (fig. 22). Featuring more With the acquisitions from the than three hundred bronzes, marbles, Corcoran, there is now an opportunity plasters, drawings, and photographs, to create a denser, more comprehensive the exhibition was installed through- installation that will tell the history of out the East Building and provided an American sculpture in greater depth. intimate view of Rodin’s astonishing One of the most enviable challenges in creative powers. Since then, the Gal- the coming months will be reimagining lery has developed a sterling reputation the room on the ground floor that has for organizing exhibitions that cast a been the customary home of Thomas spotlight on underappreciated sculptors Crawford’s David Triumphant and represented in the collection, such as Randolph Rogers’s Nydia, the Blind Girl Tilman Riemenschneider in 1999, Jean- Fig. 22. The Rodin Rediscovered of Pompeii. Among the additions being Antoine Houdon in 2003, and Desid- exhibition at the Gallery in 1981 contemplated are Crawford’s Peri at the erio da Settignano in 2007. The current exhibition continues that practice, cel- ebrating the brightly colored ceramic sculptures of Luca della Robbia and his family workshop. Running through June 4, 2017, Della Robbia: Sculpting with Color in Renaissance draws chiefly from American collections but also presents several outstanding inter- national loans, including Luca’s mas- terpiece The Visitation, which has never left Italy before now (fig. 23). Like every sculpture exhibition at the Gallery, this one is designed to heighten appreciation for the permanent collection, a col- lection that may have founded but whose phenomenal growth would surely have left him amazed. • NUMBER 56 • SPRING 2017

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Fig. 23. The Della Robbia: Sculpting with Color in Renaissance Florence exhibition, including The Visitation, at the Gallery in 2017 NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART • BULLETIN

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Opportunities for Giving Planned Gifts and The Circle of the The Andrew W. Mellon Charitable Annuities National Gallery of Art Foundation Challenge Grant The National Gallery of Art By making a donation to the Circle members play a substan- relies on a partnership of public National Gallery of Art through tive role in the life of the Gallery, Last year, to commemorate support and private philan- a bequest of cash or property, as their annual gifts of $1,000, the 75th anniversary of the thropy to fulfill its mission to gift of art, trust arrangement, $2,500, $5,000, $10,000, and National Gallery of Art, exhibit, preserve, and enhance charitable gift annuity (cga), or above provide a much-needed The Andrew W. Mellon through acquisition our nation’s other estate plan provision, you source of un­restricted funds for a Foundation awarded the art collections. Opportunities Gallery a historic challenge can help provide for the Gallery’s broad spectrum of activities. The abound to support the Gallery’s grant. We are indeed grate- future while meeting your cur- benefits of membership include efforts at various levels, and ful for this opportunity to rent financial goals. For example, invitations to curato­rial and we welcome your involvement, strengthen the Gallery’s a cga, which provides you guar- other events, special exhibition now or in the future. You may work in several crucial anteed, fixed payments for life, previews, and much more. For lend your support to a variety areas—digital engagement, can offer additional benefits such of projects in art acquisition more information about joining conservation, scholarship, as increased income over tradi- and conservation, scholarly and The Circle, please contact the and educational program- tional investments, capital gains scientific research, ex­hi­bitions, Circle office at (202) 842-6450, ming. We hope you will tax avoidance, investment diver- educational outreach programs, email [email protected], or refer join this endeavor by mak- sification, a generous income tax and the Center for Advanced to the enclosed reply card. ing a gift of your own. Your deduction, and the opportunity Study in the . The contribution supporting the to designate your gift to sup- The Tower Project following initiatives also offer Gallery’s endowment will port a specific Gallery program. avenues for participation. The Tower Project provides be matched by the Mellon Friends who make a planned support for the In the Tower Foundation. For further Fund for Art Acquisition gift will be invited to become a series of modern and contem- information, please call Because the Gallery relies solely member of The Legacy Circle. porary exhibitions in the East (202) 842-6372, visit us online on private gifts to acquire For more information about Building. Through an annual at nga.gov/support, or write works of art, a secure source The Legacy Circle, a personal gift of $2,500, Tower Project to the Development Office of art acquisition funds has illustration of a charitable gift members will be invited to at 2000B South Club Drive, been established to sustain annuity, or other options for opening events for exhibitions Landover, MD 20785. the growth and quality of including the Gallery in your sponsored by The Tower Project. the nation’s collections in the estate plan, please contact the Members will be recognized The National Gallery of Art future. For more information Gallery’s Office of Planned in related exhibition materials is a 501(c)(3) organization and about how you can support Giving at (202) 842-6372 or and invited to take part in donations are tax-deductible. the Fund for Art Acquisition, email [email protected]. special curatorial lectures, tours, please call the Development The Exhibition Circle of the and receptions. Additionally, Office at (202) 842-6372. National Gallery of Art Tower Project members are entitled to all Contributing- Fund for the International Members of The Exhibition level Circle benefits. Should Exchange of Art Circle provide the Gallery with you wish to join or have any The Fund for the International a crucial source of spendable questions, please contact the Exchange of Art plays a critical funds for its exhibition program role in furthering the Gallery’s with annual gifts of $20,000 and Circle office at (202) 842-6450 mission as America’s cultural above. Each year, revenue from or email [email protected]. The Exhibition Circle is allocated ambassador to the world by Patrons’ Permanent Fund supporting international exhibi- to support special exhibitions at The Patrons’ Permanent Fund tions and exchange projects. the Gallery. Members of The (PPF), an endowment for art Frequent international exhibi- Exhibition Circle enjoy a variety tions share great works of art of privileges, including special acquisition, is a vital resource in among nations, and many other invitations to openings for building an art collection of the programs find an international exhibitions sponsored by The highest caliber. More than 3,400 audience, such as publications, Exhibition Circle and recogni- works of art have been acquired symposia for scholars, fellow- tion in select exhibition cata- through the PPF, including ships, and educational resources. logs. For more information paintings, drawings, sculptures, By participating in the Fund for about joining The Exhibition prints, photographs, and other the International Exchange of Circle, please contact the Circle media. For more information Art, individuals, foundations, office at (202) 842-6450, about making a gift to the PPF, and corporations help the email [email protected], or refer please call the Development Gallery meet these goals. to the enclosed reply card. Office at (202) 842-6372.