Past Exhibition

Private Treasures

The image depicts two individuals shown from the waist up. The person on the left is seated, leaning slightly towards the other person, who is on their right. This person has an elegantly styled hairstyle, with curls framing their face and gathered at the back. They are wearing a voluminous, ruffled garment that appears to be a dress. The other person to the right is slightly leaning in, appearing to speak closely to the first person. This individual also has wavy, slightly longer hair swept back and is dressed in a loose-fitting, billowy shirt. Both individuals are sharing the seat of an ornately carved chair with floral patterns on its backrest. The first person has a gentle, serene expression while the second person's face is partially obscured. In the surroundings, soft edges and muted tones suggest an intimate atmosphere.
François-André Vincent, The Drawing Lesson, 1777, brush and brown wash over graphite on cream laid paper, laid down, with a framing line in brown ink, Anonymous Partial and Promised Gift, 2000.99.1

Details

  • Dates

    -

  • Locations

    West Building, Ground Floor, Outer Tier Galleries G26 through G29
The image depicts two individuals shown from the waist up. The person on the left is seated, leaning slightly towards the other person, who is on their right. This person has an elegantly styled hairstyle, with curls framing their face and gathered at the back. They are wearing a voluminous, ruffled garment that appears to be a dress. The other person to the right is slightly leaning in, appearing to speak closely to the first person. This individual also has wavy, slightly longer hair swept back and is dressed in a loose-fitting, billowy shirt. Both individuals are sharing the seat of an ornately carved chair with floral patterns on its backrest. The first person has a gentle, serene expression while the second person's face is partially obscured. In the surroundings, soft edges and muted tones suggest an intimate atmosphere.
François-André Vincent, The Drawing Lesson, 1777, brush and brown wash over graphite on cream laid paper, laid down, with a framing line in brown ink, Anonymous Partial and Promised Gift, 2000.99.1

Overview: 113 old master drawings from the 16th through the 20th centuries were presented in this exhibition selected from an anonymous private collection. Included were 15 works given to the National Gallery by the collector during the previous decade. The exhibition was organized chronologically by century and included drawings created by some 85 artists including Gian Lorenzo Bernini, François Boucher, Edgar Degas, Jacob Cats, Caspar David Friedrich, and Käthe Kollwitz.

Gallery talks were presented in the exhibition during May, June, July, and August.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Morgan Library & Museum, New York. The curators at the National Gallery of Art were Margaret Morgan Grasselli, curator and head of old master drawings, and Andrew Robison, Andrew W. Mellon Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings. Rhoda Eitel-Porter and Jennifer Tonkovich were curators for the presentation at the Morgan Library & Museum.

Attendance: 68,327

Catalog: Private Treasures: Four Centuries of European Master Drawings, by Margaret Morgan Grasselli, Andrew Robison, Rhoda Eitel-Porter, and Jennifer Tonkovich, with contributions by Judith Brodie et al. Washington DC: National Gallery of Art and New York: The Morgan Library & Museum, in association with Lund Humphries, 2007.

Other Venues: The Morgan Library & Museum, January 17–April 8, 2007

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