Past Exhibition

The Search for Alexander

A crowned man holding up a sword lunges toward another man who wears a helmet and holds up both hands in this vertical painting. This happens in front of a long banquet table set with a rumpled white cloth. About a dozen people react or cling to each other on the far side of the table and more gather farther in the background. Most of the people have pale, peachy skin and wear tunics, robes, and dresses in shades of celestial and sky blue, pale yellow, forest green, peach, or white. The man holding the sword has a furrowed brow, and his lips are parted. He wears a molded yellow breastplate over seafoam-green, knee-length tunic. A marine-blue cloak patterned with a gold design wraps loosely around his shoulders, and he wears toeless, shin-high sandals on bare legs. A white pearl earring hangs from the ear we can see, and more pearls are on his breastplate. He holds the sword up with his right hand, farther from us, and holds the sheath with the other. He steps to our left, toward the man who wears royal-blue armor with gold trim, including a gold lion’s head at the shoulder. His silver helmet has gold decorations and a fluffy sky-blue feather. He faces our right so his face is in shadow, but his mouth is open. He steps onto his right leg, closer to us, as he leans back with his hands raised. A vivid red cloth flutters from his shoulders to his knees. The table behind this pair is on a platform with five steps. A man lies on the green and white checked floor on our side of the steps with his head coming toward us. He grips an urn with one arm and holds his other hand out. One foot is raised and the other knee bent so that foot is on the ground. Silver urns, trays, and a chalice sit on the steps to our right. Two people in the crowd on the far side of the table stand out. One is an ashen-faced woman wearing a crown to the left, who clutches another woman as she looks at the conflict. The other person is to the right and has dark brown skin and short, dark hair. That person wears an iron collar around the neck over a white pleated shirt and a sage-green vest edged in gold. The space behind the table is enclosed with a person-high wall topped with thick, dark green columns. A man to our left stands above the melee and reaches for another person, presumably to rescue them from the chaos. The space beyond opens into a tall, light-filled, white stone-clad space where people line balconies. Several spears and the tops of people’s heads indicate another group on the far side of the wall. A green curtain is pulled up into the top right corner of the composition.
Donato Creti, Alexander the Great Threatened by His Father, probably 1700/1705, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.6

Details

  • Dates

    -

  • Locations

    East Building, Concourse (12,000 sq. ft.)
A crowned man holding up a sword lunges toward another man who wears a helmet and holds up both hands in this vertical painting. This happens in front of a long banquet table set with a rumpled white cloth. About a dozen people react or cling to each other on the far side of the table and more gather farther in the background. Most of the people have pale, peachy skin and wear tunics, robes, and dresses in shades of celestial and sky blue, pale yellow, forest green, peach, or white. The man holding the sword has a furrowed brow, and his lips are parted. He wears a molded yellow breastplate over seafoam-green, knee-length tunic. A marine-blue cloak patterned with a gold design wraps loosely around his shoulders, and he wears toeless, shin-high sandals on bare legs. A white pearl earring hangs from the ear we can see, and more pearls are on his breastplate. He holds the sword up with his right hand, farther from us, and holds the sheath with the other. He steps to our left, toward the man who wears royal-blue armor with gold trim, including a gold lion’s head at the shoulder. His silver helmet has gold decorations and a fluffy sky-blue feather. He faces our right so his face is in shadow, but his mouth is open. He steps onto his right leg, closer to us, as he leans back with his hands raised. A vivid red cloth flutters from his shoulders to his knees. The table behind this pair is on a platform with five steps. A man lies on the green and white checked floor on our side of the steps with his head coming toward us. He grips an urn with one arm and holds his other hand out. One foot is raised and the other knee bent so that foot is on the ground. Silver urns, trays, and a chalice sit on the steps to our right. Two people in the crowd on the far side of the table stand out. One is an ashen-faced woman wearing a crown to the left, who clutches another woman as she looks at the conflict. The other person is to the right and has dark brown skin and short, dark hair. That person wears an iron collar around the neck over a white pleated shirt and a sage-green vest edged in gold. The space behind the table is enclosed with a person-high wall topped with thick, dark green columns. A man to our left stands above the melee and reaches for another person, presumably to rescue them from the chaos. The space beyond opens into a tall, light-filled, white stone-clad space where people line balconies. Several spears and the tops of people’s heads indicate another group on the far side of the wall. A green curtain is pulled up into the top right corner of the composition.
Donato Creti, Alexander the Great Threatened by His Father, probably 1700/1705, oil on canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.6

Overview: 173 works of marble, gold, silver, bronze, ivory, and terracotta of the 4th and 3d centuries B.C. from Greek, European, and American public and private collections included portraits of Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great. A gold casket, a gold wreath of oak leaves, and armor from the royal tomb at Vergina, thought to be that of Philip, were among the highlights loaned from the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, where the larger original exhibition was first shown. This blockbuster exhibition, in preparation with Greek authorities for many years, included recent finds from Macedonian tombs from the age of Alexander.

Organization: The exhibition was coordinated by the National Gallery with the cooperation of the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sciences, and supported by the National Bank of Greece and Time Inc. for the participants in its United States tour. Gaillard Ravenel and Mark Leithauser designed the exhibition and Gordon Anson designed the lighting for the National Gallery.

Leaflet: The Search for Alexander: Related Works of Later Periods. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1980.

Attendance: 434,504

Catalog: The Search for Alexander: An Exhibition, by Nicholas Yalouris et al. Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1980.

Brochure: The Search for Alexander. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1980.

Other Venues:

  • Art Institute of Chicago, 05/04/1981–09/07/1981
  • Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 10/23/1981–01/10/1982
  • M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, 02/19/1982–05/16/1982
  • Toronto (revised version)

You may also like

Exhibition:  Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985

Several white lines swirling around on a black background.

Exhibition:  The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art