Ceilings are tops at the National Gallery of Art

 

Luigi Garzi, 1638-1721, Saint Catherine of Siena on a Cloud, 1696-1697, National Gallery of Art, purchased as the gift of Robert B. Loper and Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, a study of Saint Catherine who is awestruck by her namesake Saint Catherine of Alexandria, appearing in the ceiling fresco, The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria [to the Christ Child] and the Ecstasy of Saint Catherine of Siena at Sainta Caterina a Formiello, Naples.  See the complete work below.

Detail of Garzi's Saint Catherine of Siena on a Cloud in The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and the Ecstasy of Saint Catherine of Siena, 1696-1697

Garzi's Saint Catherine of Siena on a Cloud in The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and the Ecstasy of Saint Catherine of Siena, 1696-1697

These are magnificent, enthralling, stunning creations, centuries' old masterpieces, many made for ceilings before buildings were destroyed by war and age, when beauty everywhere was welcome, and some still exist to impress those who look up and enjoy all things around them. 

Antoine Coypel, 1661-1722, Cupid Stealing Venus’s Floral Crown, 1705/1708, National Gallery of Art, Woodner Collection, gift of Andrea Woodner, a preparatory study of Venus for a ceiling fresco for a painting commissioned by Philippe II, Duke of Orleans, for the residency of his mistress Mary Louise Madeleine Victoire.  Sadly, only remnants remain of the completed work… in a Banque de France warehouse!  Naughty Cupid! See the work pictured below and enjoy

Sea-born goddess, let me be
By thy son thus graced, and thee,
That whene'er I woo, I find
Virgins coy, but not unkind.
Let me, when I kiss a maid,
Taste her lips, so overlaid
With love's sirop, that I may
In your temple, when I pray,
Kiss the altar, and confess
There's in love no bitterness. 

 Robert Herrick, 1591-1674 

Coypel, Cupid Stealing Venus’s Floral Crown, 1705-1708

Coypel, Cupid Stealing Venus’s Floral Crown, 1705-1708

And what ceilings they are! Some dating more than half a milennium ago, 30 examples of detailed, intricate, beautiful renderings of European designs from the design collections of the National Gallery of Art, the likes of which you will not find anywhere else. The Gallery is open throughout the July 4 holiday! 

Felice Giani, 1758-1823, A Coffered Dome with Apollo and Phaeton, 1787,  Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund.

Phaeton was Apollo’s son.  This is a late example of the confluence of the intricacies of baroque illusionism with neoclassicism, the last major development in European ceiling design, according to the label copy.   Alas!  Destroyed in World War II in Florence at the Palazzo Conti.

 Detail of Giani's A Coffered Dome with Apollo and Phaeton, 1787

Giacomo Quarenghi, 1744-1817, An Ornate Ceiling with an Allegory of Spring, 1790-1815, National Gallery of Art, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund. Quarenghi, an Italian architect, was the most important neoclassical contributor to Russian architecture, especially in St. Petersburg where he died. The Gallery purchased this from Sotheby's in 1993.

I heard a thousand blended notes,

While in a grove I sate reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,

The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;

And ’tis my faith that every flower

Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,

Their thoughts I cannot measure:—

But the least motion which they made

It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,

To catch the breezy air;

And I must think, do all I can,

That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,

If such be Nature’s holy plan,

Have I not reason to lament

What man has made of man?

William Wordsworth, 1770-1850

Johann Georg Dieffenbrunner, 1718-1785, The Stoning of Saint Stephen, 1754. The National Gallery of Art purchased this in 2007 from the princes of Liechtenstein. Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Patrons' Permanent Fund. 

Dieffenbrunner, The Stoning of Saint Stephen, 1754. The Trinity, seen above, upper left, is absent in the completed work below. Wolfgang Ratjen Collection, Patrons' Permanent Fund

Dieffenbrunner, The Stoning of Saint Stephen, 1754. The fresco is at Saint Stephen’s Church, Geltendorf, near Munich. 

Friedrich Sustris, 1540-1599, Euterpe (Personification of Music),1569-1573, National Gallery of Art, Ruth and Jacob Kainen Memorial Acquisition Fund, part of a fresco in a music room in the Fuggers’ palace at Augsburg, badly damaged during World War II. The drawing provide a glimpse of the majesty and style of the original, which is, sadly, now barely visible. That’s what war can do!

At the National Gallery, viewers may trace design evolution from the baroque to the neoclassicism movements.

Look up!  Look up!

What do you see?

I see a ceiling staring at me!

 

What: Looking Up: Studies for Ceilings,1550-1800

When: Through July 9, 2023. The National Gallery hours are 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily.  Open July 4th!

Where: West Building, Ground Floor: G22A, National Gallery of Art, 6th and Constitution, Washington

How much: Admission is 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

Accessibility information: (202) 842-6905

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