A Celebration of Acquisitions: the Seventh Annual Dinner
Tuesday, April 20, 2010

European Art Society members enjoyed cocktails, a tour of the galleries by Chief Curator and Curator of European Art Jeannine O'Grody, and dinner with fellow EAS members.

Visit to frame maker Jose Manuel Garcia’s studio
Thursday, October 8, 2009

Did you catch the recent feature on José Manuel Garcia in the Black & White? We now have a master frame maker and conservator living in Birmingham. Spaniard Garcia moved from Madrid last year but continues to hand carve frames for museums such as the Prado, as well as private clients worldwide. Members of the European Art Society had the opportunity to visit his studio with curator Jeannine O’Grody and learned about the art of the frame.

Print connoisseurship with Armin Kunz, Director of C.G. Boerner in New York
Tuesday, December 1, 2009

European Art Society members enjoyed the rare opportunity to view 16th-19th century European prints “up close and personal” with no frames between them and the paper. Members learned how to spot a high quality print from one of the best eyes in the business.

All of the European Art Society membership dues support a purchase for the collection. The group holds an annual dinner in April when members vote on the acquisition. This exciting and festive event gives members a chance to voice their opinions and to celebrate the Museum’s growing collection of Old Master paintings, sculpture, and works on paper.

Save the Date! The 2010 Annual Dinner is Tuesday, April 20, 2010.

The group has purchased the following works for the Museum:

2004

The Finding of Moses
Cornelis van Poelenburgh, Dutch, (1594/95 - 1667)

Mid-seventeenth century
oil on copper
7 1/8 x 9 7/8 in. (18.1 x 25.1 cm)

Museum purchase with funds provided by the European Art Society

Considered the most important painter of the first generation of Dutch Italianate artists, Poelenburgh excelled at painting female nudes within biblical or mythological scenes set in Italianate landscapes bathed in warm southern light. Accordingly, although the title of our painting is "The Finding of Moses," clearly the subject is secondary to the depiction of the nudes in an Arcadian landscape with a panoramic view to the golden horizon. Poelenburgh lived in Italy from 1617-26 and was active both in Rome and in the Medici court in Florence. His paintings were among the most prized by the classically educated aristocracy of northern Europe.

2005

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary
Master i e, Germany, Colmar? (active 1480 - 1500)

End of the 15th century
engraving (single state)
8 1/2 x 5 9/16 in. (21.6 x 14.1 cm)

Museum purchase with funds provided by the European Art Society

The artist's name is derived from the inscribed monograph found on one of the fifty-five engravings attributed to this artist. Little is known of him, other than that he was a follower of the great early German engraver, Martin Schongauer (about 1450-1491).

This is an extremely rare print; only nine known impressions exist. An impression is a single printing from a plate. All of the prints by the Master i e are engravings. In this process the grooves that will hold the ink are cut into the copper or zinc plate with a sharp-pointed instrument called a burin. The strength of the line may be increased by cutting deeper into the plate. The elegant, controlled lines of this strong impression give the image its powerful simplicity.

2007

A Wooded Landscape with a Bacchic Scene
Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes, France, (1750 - 1819)

About 1810
oil on panel
15 15/16 x 21 7/8 in. (40.5 x 55.5 cm)

Museum purchase with funds provided by the European Art Society and Patty McDonald

This painting was made at an important time in the history of landscape painting. The artist, Valenciennes, was a leading proponent in the movement to elevate the significance and appreciation of landscape painting among artistic circles and the general public. Valenciennes's carefully ordered paintings reveal a commitment to the classical landscapes from centuries earlier. This painting is considered classicizing because it is organized with distinctly receding planes: there is a foreground, middle ground, and background, with the scale of the figures diminishing sharply to lead the viewer's eye to the indistinct hills in the distance. Also, the figures at the right probably depict a scene from the writings of the ancient Roman poet, Virgil. Soon after Valenciennes, landscape painters in nineteenth-century France became less influenced by the past, and more concerned with evoking a mood, thought, or impression.