Ancient Egypt rests in Richmond

Bust of Neilos, God of the Nile, ca. AD 100-200. Neilos was the "divine personification" of the River Nile in ancient Greece and Rome, according to the label copy. This sculpture was found in the submerged city of Canopus. The Nile is vital to Egypt's welbeing, then and now/Maritime Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Osiris, 664-610 BC.  Here he wears the "white crown" of Upper Egypt, with a rearing cobra. Considered to be a god of the afterlife and "Lord of Life," he has a curved beard, a sign of divinity. The white dots are reflected lights/Egyptian Museum, Cairo/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the entrance to the exhibition, Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Near the entrance of the exhibition is this statue of a Ptolemaic queen dressed as the goddess, Isis, whose styles and imagery reflect Egyptian and Greek influences, 2nd century BC/National Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Head of a woman, possibly Princess Berenike, II, c. 300-200 BC. She was the daughter of Pharaoh Ptolemy III who died young and was deified. Found underwater at Canopus where she was honored at the temple alongside Osiris. The white lines in the photograph are reflections of lights/Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In the galleries atTreasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

We three kings and pharaohs... were found at Canopus/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Perhaps this is Emperor Hadrian (who just spied Cleopatra) and ruled Rome from AD 117-138 or perhaps he is a citizen who looked like Hadrian.  This bust was found on the banks of the Nile where stones were quarried for Hadrian's building projects in Italy.  In AD 130 Hadrian visited Egypt where his lover, Antinous, drowned. He doesn't blink, then or now/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Temple Stele, c. 664-332, BC, limestone/
Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In the galleries of Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Arsinoe II, c. 300-200 BC, an excellent example of Greco-Egyptian art/Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The photograph by Christoph Gerigk of Arsinoe II being raised from discovery at Aboukir Bay in the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria

This is Horus protecting the pharaoh (between its talons), c. 350 BC. The Egyptians believed that every pharaoh was a reincarnation of Horus, the son of Osiris and Iris/Egyptian Museum, Cairo. 

In front of Horus is the smaller bronze statuette of a pharaoh c. 664-380 BC/Maritime Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Statue of Tawaret, 664-610 BC. Tawaret was the "Great One" whose scary looks help protect mothers and infants. She has the head and body of a hippopotamus, the limbs of a lion and the tale of a crocodile/Egyptian Museum, Cairo/ Photo by Patricia Leslie

 In the galleries ofTreasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Head of a priest, c. 332-330 BC. Found in an Alexandria harbor with features likely obliterated by hundreds of years spent under the sea. His bald head identifies him as a priest. If he were a little bit younger, I'd swear he was an old boyfriend/Martime Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Apis Bull, AD 117-138, The cult of the sacred bull probably rose in the city of Memphis where Alexander the Great offered sacrifices to Apis, but this statue was found at a temple in Alexandria/Greco-Roman Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Goblet, c. 1 - 200 CE, gilded silver/Greco-Roman Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In the galleries at Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

It's only a three-hour drive* from D.C. to Richmond where you can see the notable Robert E. Lee Monument (if it's still standing; please see photos below) on Monument Avenue, and just a mile away, the fascinating "underwater" exhibition, Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the beautiful Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

The Ptolemaic Egyptian exhibition is the East Coast premiere (and the last stop before returning home) of the presentation, spread over several large galleries and designed to make visitors experience the sensation of being underwater as they descend the stairway to the museum's lower level and enter the show. (Elevators are available.)

Scientists, archaeologists, researchers, and Egyptologists from the European Institute of Underwater Archaeology spent more than a decade recovering and studying the artifacts, almost 300 which are displayed; some, from Egyptian institutions.

The IEASM, headed by Franck Goddio, its founder, subscribes to the standards of the 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. In its arsenal of treasured discoveries, Mr. Goddio has recovered about a dozen historic ships, some lying on the sea floor for hundreds of years, including Napoleon Bonaparte's Orient.

Researchers believe a natural event such an an earthquake, tsunami, or other cataclysmic force "sunk" the two ancient cities featured in Richmond: Canopus (which Herodotus called an ancient port) and Thonis-Heracleion (their Greek and Egyptian names are combined). Both places prospered in trade in and around Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean Sea, and on the western edge of the Nile delta not far from Alexandria's center where 60 shipwrecks are recorded.

Research and excavated coins from the second century BC tell the story of Canopus whose buildings collapsed, and the city disappeared from view. A British air officer spotted the ruins from a plane in 1933, according to Wikipedia. 

The exhibition was curated by Mr. Goddio and organized by VFMA's Peter Schertz. Dominion Energy is the chief sponsor.

Who's not to be fascinated by Egypt? Curiosities of young and old alike never wane when it comes to the Land of the Nile, pharaohs, pyramids, cobras, and strange (at least, to Westerners) practices. It's a magical and alluring ancient civilization one thousand years old whose busts, statues, gods and goddesses, travelers can see nearby at little cost. 

It's a large show, beautifully designed to welcome visitors to "somewhere beneath the sea" to visit galleries on timed entrances which allow plenty of "elbow room" to see and practice social distancing.  

Make sure to get tickets before you go. The show was sold out the weekend I visited, and as time grows closer to the closing date on January 18, 2021, I do imagine the crowds will grow. Maps and an audioguide make the visit more rewarding.

Remember your mask! And, practice social distancing.


* I refuse to drive the crowded, the ugly I-95, and I take instead the beautiful two-lane highway 522 south from Culpeper to I-64 or turn off 522 and pick up Route 33 at Cuckoo, that's right, (my preferred route) into Richmond. The time from here to there is about the same as on I-95, but you "keep on truckin,'" as they say, without 95's "stop and go," but please, keep my secret highway "secret," or it won't be a secret. Thank you.

What: Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities

When: Now through Jan. 18, 2021; open seven days a week, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Wednesday through Friday nights, until 9 p.m.

Where: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

How much: Free general admission to the Museum. but a fee  for the exhibition, students (over age 7), $10 ; seniors over age 65, $16; adults, $20. Free for members, children age 6 and under, state employees, teachers, active-duty military members and their families.

Free virtual lectures:

Sun, Oct 25 | 2:30–3:30 pm
Re-Membering Osiris: Overcoming Death in Ancient Egypt
with Dr. Robert Ritner, Professor of Egyptology at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago who will examine the underlying mythology, symbolism, and festival rituals for Osiris, the Egyptian god of the dead, focusing on the rites of reanimation celebrated at the now sunken city of Canopus on the Mediterranean coast.

Sun, Nov 15 | 2:30–3:30 pm
The Maritime History & Archaeology of Ancient Egypt
with Dr. Pearce Paul Creasman, Archaeologist and Director of the American Center of Oriental Research who will provide a brief history and review of the field of study, discussing topics as diverse as early dynastic (ca. 3000 BC) boat burials found on land at Abydos, Ramesside (ca. 1200 BC) tax levies on imported ship cargoes, and underwater excavations of the Ptolemaic (ca. 300 BC) harbor at Alexandria and identifies possible avenues for future work.

Fri, Dec 11 | 6:30–7:30 pm
The Art of Object Conservation with Elsa Sanguoard, Senior Conservator, USS Monitor Center, Newport News, VA, in conversation with Ainslie Harrison, Associate Objects Conservator, VMFA, moderated by Dr. Peter Schertz, Jack and Mary Ann Frable Curator of Ancient Art, VMFA Join experts in the field of conservation for a discussion about the different techniques and strategies needed to stabilize objects for display.

Thu, Jan 14 | 6:30–7:30 pm
Cleopatra’s World: Greeks, Egyptians and the Fusion of Culture
with Dr. Jeremy McInerny, Professor of Classical Studies, UPENN who will examine how Egyptians and Greeks dealt with each other, how Egyptian culture changed as a result of the occupation by Greeks and how Greek culture was transformed as well.

Parking: The onsite parking deck is free to members and $6 for others. There are some free handicapped spaces.

For more information: 804-340-1400

 

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The Robert E. Lee Monument, Richmond, Aug. 15, 2020/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The Robert E. Lee Monument, Richmond, Aug. 15, 2020/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The base of the Robert E. Lee Monument, Aug. 15, 2020, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie


patricialesli@gmail.com

Where have all the flowers gone, Philadelphia?

At the Hall A entrance at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show, orange and yellow streamers hang from the ceiling looking like dried piece of mud and sand with apples and oranges strapped to them, a dreary introduction for adults who shell out a $42 weekend rate to attend/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This year's flower show in Philadelphia, ending March 10 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, is a tired and sad remnant of past years' displays.

The title, "Flower Power" left me wanting.

Really? I grew up in the 60s and "flower power" today lacks appeal and finesse. 

An infrequent garden landscape at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

It must be peace at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie


My expectations were not exceeded in 2019 in the City of Brotherly Love.

I found no magic or allure.  

Nothing climbs to the ceiling or sent me soaring.

But they came.  The flower show says 250,000 people come annually.

These narcissi ("Sir Winston Churchill" Double Daffodils) won our First Prize for Best Fragrance in the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This host of golden daffodils were all that we found. Usually boxes of them are laid out in competition, but we missed them at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie



The international show this year (and it truly is international since it's the first FTD World Cup competition hosted in the U.S. since 1985) is rather tame and boring (have I said that?) without any huge, mammoth splashes of color or vibrancy to make your mouth drop and the words, "Do you believe that?" tumble out.

Compared to years past, the flowers and exhibitions this year have lots of concrete space to take up room for missing displays. (See links below to compare with previous shows.)

Was it just me who was disappointed?  Nyet. Another veteran and a newcomer on the Smithsonian Associates' bus tour agreed it was not the best day trip. No one on the return trip "oohed" and "awed" or even talked about the show, save the Smithsonian guide, Bill Ulman, who did a splendid job (assisted by Marilyn Jacanin).

After spending two hours at the show, the newcomer said she got bored and went across the street to the Reading Terminal Market.

This was one of the "miniatures" which had a theme this year of gardens in books. This title is The Magician's Garden by Chris van Allsburg which won a second prize for "Team Amanda" at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show. The white dots are reflections of ceiling lights in the protective glass/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Another miniature, this one, Escape to Bag End by J.R.R. Tolkien won a second prize for "Northview Crew" at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This miniature, The Garden of Stubborn Cats by Italo Calvino won first prize for Deb and Jim Mackie at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A miniature for The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett won a third prize for "Jenkintown Mini-Makers" at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show. The judges might have liked it more had they not had to bend over to see it in the window/Photo by Patricia Leslie.

Rudyard Kipling's changing colors The Glory of the Garden by John Jayne and Jayne Price won second prize at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This industrial setting, Return of the Restless Railway by Peter Brown won first place for Marlene Goeke and Michelle Blockwell at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Bay leaves, rosemary, corn kernels and husks, mustard and caraway seeds, and almonds are some of the components of this first prize winner, a hair ornament, by Tyler R. Hetherston. Judges labeled it "exquisite, feminine and flawless" at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show. The white dots are reflections of ceiling lights in the glass/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The judges criticized this beautiful ring by Sarah Carlson and Fran Gerdes awarding it only a third prize because its colors were not "bold and pop arty."  Good grief!  It is much nicer than the first place winner, whatever below, at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

First place (?) jewelry at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Great favs, the blue earring "challenges functionality," wrote the judges who granted a second prize for Georgette Sturam and the Garden Club of Trenton at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

One of the international World Cup competitors, Tamas Mezoffy from Hungary created this array on display at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Another international competitor which rather looks like artificial flowers stuck on cotton.  Sorry! At the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Looking up at the ceiling entrance, what would you guess? My tie-dye hair in the morning (had I this much!), hidden bee hives (whoops!  That's the holding screen), a still of a ceiling explosion of thistledown, or a skirt worn by an angry giant at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show?/Photo by Patricia Leslie

I believe, another international competitor at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

An entry in "Entryways" by the Norristown Garden Club won a second prize at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Whatever is prettier and more soothing to the eye than a combination of white and green?  At the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

When it's "flower power," Jimi Hendrix is always nearby, maybe hiding in the bushes at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 Tulips at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Hyacinths and more tulips whose colors seem a bit faded, now that the end is nigh for the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show/Photo by Patricia Leslie


Dear Flower Show:  Can't you give us something pretty?  Like song titles, France, Italy, painters (please exclude harsh contemporaries), beaches, South America, cities, greens, planets, gems (imagine!), and animals? (Well, some of them are.)

Exclude reptiles from animals?  But I recall the life-sized one, standing I think, with skin of green flowers and red eyes which blinked!  I am still talking about him, for the third time this week!  Now, that's a memory, and the only memory I have of your 2019 show is...disappointment.

Philadelphia, I'll admit I am still fuming about Bryce Harper. You can have him, but please, ...bring back the flowers. Thank you. 

To compare 2019 with other shows, please check the following links for pictures from 2016, from 2015, and 2013.



patricialesli@gmail.com

Sultry and sexy define Corot's women at the National Gallery of Art

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Interrupted Reading, c. 1870, oil on canvas mounted on board, The Art Institute of Chicago, Potter Palmer Collection  The wistful subject seems to ask:  "Must you bother me?  I am so sad.  Please go away."  It is wonderful to see in the exhibition, Corot: Women, several samples of women reading. About two-thirds of women were literate in France at this time, compared to "virtually all the [American] women born around 1810," says a Colonial Williamsburg report which seems hard to believe..

Today is the last day to see these ladies (and one man) before they leave the National Gallery of Art and go their separate ways after appearing together for the first time in more than 100 years in a show, Corot: Women.

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, The Lady in Blue, 1874, oil on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris, Département des peintures.This view of the woman's back gives one pause to question the meaning. She seems another unhappy soul with muscular arms planted on the piano as if to sigh: "I am tired of this party and want to leave." It is unusual that the artist left her arms bare.

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot,The Repose, 1860, reworked c. 1865–1870, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection (William A. Clark Collection). Corot generally tried to disguise the faces of nude models, unlike other artists, but Repose came out near the peak of his career which was beginning to wane. According to the catalogue, Repose  was intended to enliven Corot's artistic image and to show he was more than a landscape artist.

You walk through the galleries and almost feel like you are peering or intruding upon the models' innermost thoughts as they brood, study, read, and welcome no one.  Happiness is absent, but what would a painting be without conflict or turmoil? They are like books with climax, the peak of interest.

The models look askance, in that direction, this way, down, seldom at the viewer.  One has been bitten by a viper.  In another, a voyeur gets his comeuppance when his hounds chase and kill him.

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Agostina, 1866, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Chester Dale Collection. One of Mr. Dale's favorites which hung in the Dales' New York apartment. The Dales' gifts to the National Gallery of Art form the basis of the Gallery's impressionist and post-impressionist collections, according to the catalogue.

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot,Young Woman in a Pink Skirt, c. 1845–1850, oil on canvas, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts. Her blouse hangs suggestively low.  Might she be a girl of the street? 

The subjects languish over props, with their heads in their hands, positioned sideways, almost sad, some suffering "melancholia."  

Although Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875) was chiefly known for his landscapes, this exhibition is a study in portraiture.

He painted these 44 works between 1830 and the 1870s and kept the works in his studio, most not exhibited publicly during his lifetime.  

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Young Woman at The Fountain, c. 1860, oil on canvas, Musée d'Art d'Historie de Genève.
 
Many of the women are dressed in colorful costumes, an appreciation of apparel Corot gained from helping his mother in her dress shop and observing his father's work as a draper.  Corot was a textile apprentice until age 26 when he persuaded his parents to let him study art full time. He never married, he said, because he only wanted to concentrate on his art.

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Wounded Eurydice, c. 1868–1870, oil on canvas, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Bequest of Mrs. Egil Boeckmann. Before she dies from a viper's bit, Eurydice rubs her foot. Her husband, Orpheus, chases her to the underworld, but disobeys an order and looks back, to lose Eurydice forever.

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Saint Sebastien, c. 1850-1869, oil on canvas. Musee des beaux- arts de Lyon. Perhaps for balance, the exhibition includes a single male "nude." He is nude? That is the description in the "nudity" gallery of the Corot show.

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Diana and Actaeon (Diana Surprised in Her Bath), 1836, oil on canvas. Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection.This is based on Ovid's Metamorphoses when Actaeon stumbles upon Diana bathing and she turns him into a stag who is killed by his own hounds.  (Take that, you voyeur!) A close-up from Diana and Actaeon (Diana Surprised in Her Bath).

 

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Bacchante with a Panther, 1860, reworked c. 1865–1870, oil on canvas. Collection of Shelburne Museum, Anonymous gift in memory of Harry Payne Bingham.. Is this weird or what? Even the National Gallery of Art cannot explain it. A nude woman shows a dead bird to a child on a leopard (?) The label says it looks like a mythological study, however, no one can identify the study, if it is.  The painting almost looks like two separate works.

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Springtime of Life, 1871, oil on canvas. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Bequest of Mrs. Erasmus C. Lindley in memory of her father, James J. Hill. Springtime reminds me of the poem by Robert Herrick (1591-1674):

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
   Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
   Tomorrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, 
   The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
   And nearer he’s to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
   When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
   Times still succeed the former. 

Then be not coy, but use your time,
   And while ye may, go marry;
For having lost but once your prime,
   You may forever tarry.

Like Corot, it took Mary Morton, the National Gallery's curator and head of the department of French paintings, some convincing of "higher authorities," (in this case, the National Gallery director, Earl A. Powell III) to do the show, which had been cruising in her mind for 20 years.

A color catalogue of 180 pages written by Ms. Morton and others is available.

 Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, c. 1850 by Victor Laisné or Lainé (1830-1911),
(1853) Histoire des artistes vivants, français et étrangers, peintres, sculpteurs, architectes, graveurs, photographes : études d'après nature, Paris: E. Blanchard, pp. 27 Retrieved on 5 March 2013/Wikimedia Commons

What:  Corot: Women

When: Today at the National Gallery of Art, open 10 a.m.- 5 p.m.

Where: The main floor of the West Building between Third and Ninth streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. On the Mall.

Admission charge: It's always free at the National Gallery of Art.

Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: 202-737-4215

patricialesli@gmail.com

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