DP_Fra Angelico_UK - Musée Jacquemart

1
Page 3
Presse release
Page 5
Introduction by Giovanna Damiani, General curator of the
exhibition
Page 7
Introduction by Nicolas Sainte Fare Garnot, Curator of the
Museum and Associate curator of the exhibition
Page 8
A journey through the exhibition
Page 12
The artists in the exhibition
Page 13
Visuals available for the press
Page 19
Culturespaces, producer of the exhibition
Page 20
The team
Page 23
Visitor aids
Page 25
Publications
Page 27
Sponsor of the exhibition
Page 28
Partners of the exhibition
Page 32
The Jacquemart-André Museum
Page 34
Practical information
2
From 23rd September 2011 to 16th January 2012, the Jacquemart-André Museum is holding an
exhibition dedicated to Fra Angelico, a major figure of the Quattrocento. The Jacquemart-André
Museum is the first French museum to pay tribute to Fra Angelico and reconsider this exceptional
artist’s career. The exhibition will present nearly 25 major works by Fra Angelico and a similar
number of panels painted by some of his prestigious contemporaries, such as Lorenzo Monaco,
Masolino, Paolo Uccello, Filippo Lippi and Zanobi Strozzi.
The event: this dedicated Fra Angelico is a French museum first
Fra Angelico (c.1400-1455) was a major player in Florence’s artistic and cultural revolution at the
beginning of the 15th century. His work combines the golden lustre inherited from Gothic style with a
new understanding of perspective. He initiated the artistic movement which specialists have named
the “Peintres de la Lumière” (painters of light).
Alongside his works will be hung those of renowned painters who significantly influenced his work,
such as his teacher Lorenzo Monaco (1370-1424), Masolino (1383-c. 1440) and Paolo Uccello (13971475), as well as artists that he inspired, such as Filippo Lippi (1406-1469) and Zanobi Strozzi (14121468).
The “Fra Angelico and the Masters of Light” exhibition is being held in partnership with major Italian
museums – including the Uffizi Gallery – and internationally famous collections.
Major works
Fra Angelico was an artist of many talents, and he produced masterpieces on a diverse range of
materials. Although he is best known for the frescos which decorate the San Marco convent in
Florence, he was just as accomplished in the delicate arts of illumination and painting on wood, as
the exhibition will show.
Panels and richly ornate works such as the Last Judgement triptych (from the Corsini Gallery in
Rome), La Madone di Cedri (San Matteo National Museum, Pisa) and one of the panels from
L'armadio degli argenti, (San Marco Museum, Florence) will be displayed at the Jacquemart-André
Museum. These works demonstrate Fra Angelico’s love of elegant, contrasting colours. The subtle
tones he chooses enhance the elegant figures he depicts from Biblical episodes or the lives of the
saints.
3
A video shown at the entrance to the exhibition will allow visitors to view his finest work - the frescos
adorning the cells of the San Marco monastery in Florence.
What makes Fra Angelico stand out within the first Florentine Renaissance
Fra Angelico was a pupil of Lorenzo Monaco and, like him, a monk. He learned his art in Florence, a
city saturated with the International Gothic style. This refined style, which combined influences from
Northern Europe and Italy, inspired Fra Angelico to create works with deep spiritual meaning.
Fra Angelico’s choice of subjects conformed to the religious pictorial tradition, but he reinterpreted
these subjects throughout his career. For example, his many variations on the theme of the Humble
Virgin demonstrate his ability to integrate daring stylistic innovations promoted by supporters of the
new artistic movement. He was fully aware of the innovations of the Masters of his time, such as
Masolino and Uccello, whose work featured a more realistic representation of the world with a focus
on the human figure and a new mastery of the rules of perspective.
Although Fra Angelico adopted these new ideas into his work, he stayed faithful to the principles of
medieval religious paintings: his works retained a didactic function, strengthened by the mystical
force he attributes to light. At the heart of the first Florentine Renaissance, which marked a turning
point in European art, Fra Angelico had an important and unique place.
4
Fra Angelico and art in Florence in the first half of the 15th century
The exhibition, which is opening its doors at the Jacquemart-André Museum in Paris, aims to present
the French public with a vast retrospective dedicated to the painter Fra Angelico, whilst at the same
time recreating the complexity of the cultural climate in Florence during the first half of the
quattrocento. This is an exceptional event as it is the first exhibition in France dedicated to one of the
major artists of the Florentine Renaissance.
Originally from Vicchio del Mugello, the homeland of the Medici family who were important patrons,
Fra Angelico began painting before taking holy orders. At the beginning of the third decade of the
quattrocento, the painter became a Dominican monk, and took the name “Fra’ Angelico” at the
convent of Saint Dominique of Fiesole. There he continued to practise his art by devoting himself to
painting on wood, without in any way neglecting his work as a miniaturist, known of thanks to the
congregation of Camaldolese monks of St Mary of the Angels where Lorenzo Monaco, another great
visionary painter of the late Gothic period, also worked.
Known from 1468 as “Angelicus pictor” (the angelic painter), Fra Angelico combined the late Gothic
style of his early training with an extraordinary and premature capacity for appropriating pictorial
innovations of the Renaissance that was developed by the protagonists of this figurative revolution
and reached its peak with them. He succeeded in taking his art to the very highest level thanks to a
sublime style, in harmony with his religious fervour, while providing an interpretation of the doctrinal
issues debated in Florence by a number of theologians of that era. In the cells of the San Marco
convent and in the apartments of the Vatican, he left evidence of his extraordinary mastery of the
fresco technique. The San Marco cycle in particular, commissioned by Cosimo de'Medici and only
seen by the monks who lived in the convent for centuries, gives the most significant illustration of
the development of his artistic language, with scenes of great narrative poetry supported by
profound spirituality.
To better understand the major place held by Fra Angelico’s art in the artistic culture of his time, the
exhibition presents a significant selection of the major players in Florence over the same period, such
as Lorenzo Monaco, Gentile da Fabriano, the most sought-after painter of the period, Masolino da
Panicale, friend and collaborator of Masaccio and Filippo Lippi. A series of paintings on wood also
illustrate the work of Fra Angelico’s disciples or collaborators, such as Battista di Biagio Sanguigni, or
Zanobi Strozzi and Benozzo Gozzoli who assisted him with the fresco cycle of the San Marco convent,
Andrea di Giusto or Domenico di Michelino.
5
The tour spreads through several sections which illustrate the scientific aim of the exhibition. First
the works and artists who inspired the young Fra Angelico are presented, then the more important
representatives of Florentine art in the third quarter of the quattrocento, with whom he was
compared due to the originality of his figurative language. Thanks to a wide range of images
depicting the Virgin with the Child, or the “Madonna of Humility”, the exhibition traces the
development of the painter’s style over three decades. A section is also dedicated to the
collaborators of the painter monk.
The exhibition was conceived by Giovanna Damiani, Superintendent of the Polo Museale Veneziano
with Nicolas Sainte Fare Garnot, Curator of the Jacquemart-André Museum and Cristina Acidini
Luchinat, Superintendent of the Polo Museale Fiorentino, Antonio Paolucci, Director of the Vatican
Museums and Magnolia Scudieri, Director of the San Marco Museum in Florence.
The exhibition has been able to come together thanks to loans from the most prestigious Italian and
European museums and collections: in Florence, the Uffizi Gallery, the San Marco Museum, the
Accademia Gallery and the Bargello Museum, as well as the Louvre Museum, the Vatican Museums,
the Diocesan Museum of Santo Stefano al Ponte in Florence, the National Gallery of Antique Art in
the Corsini Palace in Rome, the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, the Giorgio Cini Foundation in
Venice, the National Museum of San Matteo in Pisa, the Sabauda Gallery in Turin, the Museum of
Fine Arts of Nice, the National Gallery of Parma, the Magnani Rocca Foundation (Parma), the
Strossmayer Gallery in Zagreb, the Collegiata Museum in Empoli, the Museo Civico in Prato, the
Pinacoteca Civica of Forlì, the Ingres Museum in Montauban, the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo.
We would also like to thank the managers and curators of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in
Florence, the Archivio Capitolare di San Lorenzo in Florence and the Biblioteca Braidense in Milan.
Giovanna Damiani
General curator of the exhibition
6
At the beginning of the 15th century, Florence experienced an artistic and cultural revolution, led by
renowned artists: Alberti and Brunelleschi in the fields of architecture and sculpture; Masaccio,
Masolino and Uccello in painting. They all sought to create a new vision of man and nature, based on
an objective representation of the world, which required an understanding of perspective. Where
does Fra Angelico fit in?
This monk painted the religious world, focused on the confines of the monastery, and learnt from
Lorenzo Monaco and proponents of the International Gothic movement. Can he be considered part
of this new focus on figurative art? The exhibition organised by the Jacquemart-André Museum aims
to place this innovative artist back in context. His angelic style has often been put down to his
religious commitment, but in fact he was aware of all the innovations of his contemporaries, and
often matched them with unexpected solutions. The exhibition also aims to show that rather than
being a lone figure, he was one of the most widely followed masters, and the originator of an artistic
movement that specialists have called “les Peintres de la Lumière”.
The exhibition will present around 25 works by Fra Angelico borrowed from great Italian collections
and museums from around the world, and a similar number of panels painted by members of his
workshops or school. It will be no all-encompassing account of his work, but the aim is to reconsider
the career of one of the promoters of this new movement.
The exhibition is supported by the Florence Fine Arts Council and its museum department, and has
the backing of Fra Angelico specialists from both Italy and France.
Nicolas Sainte Fare Garnot
Curator of the Jacquemart-André Museum
Associate curator of the exhibition
7
Thanks to the special partnership established with the largest Italian museums, the JacquemartAndré Museum is proud to present the first exhibition dedicated to Fra Angelico in France. This
exhibition benefits especially from the support of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence which has loaned
several masterpieces by the artist in this exceptional case.
Room 1: The great workshop in Florence or Fra Angelico’s training
From early in the 15th century, Florence was an economic and cultural centre of great importance.
The presence of several congregations, like that of the Franciscans and the Dominicans, had a great
influence on artistic production. In their workshops and scriptoria, painters and illuminators worked
to spread religious iconography that was still heavily marked by the international Gothic style
(Lorenzo Monaco, the Virgin and Child on a throne, San Marco Museum, Florence)
One of the adherents of this aesthetic was Lorenzo Monaco (c.1370-1424), with whom Fra Angelico
(c.1400-1455), then a young Dominican monk, trained. Like his master, the student focused on the
use of accentuated colours, bathed in a bright light which eliminated shadows. This process, which
we can observe on the panels, reinforces the mystical dimension of his compositions.
But Fra Angelico’s remarkable talent as a colourist is also expressed in the art of illuminations
(Antiphonaire, corale 43, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence). Although this part of his
production was eclipsed by the grand altarpieces or the frescoes that he also created, it bears
witness to a great subtlety of execution. At a time when the decoration of work was entrusted to the
best illuminators, the elegance of Fra Angelico’s miniatures confirms the excellence of his art.
In the key artistic communities that monasteries became, a specific iconography developed, which
reflected the great influence of the Camaldolese order. Their ascetic way of life inspired the artists of
the Thebaids, narrative panoramas where small figures of monks wandered across the landscape. It
was in this fertile artistic environment that Fra Angelico completed his apprenticeship, during which
he created several such Thebaids, like that of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the model for which was
perhaps devised by Lorenzo Monaco himself.
8
Room 2 to 3: Fra Angelico and the innovations of the Florentine painters
In the first quarter of 15th century, major architectural work had already begun to change the face of
Florence. First it was Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455), unknown at the time, who won in 1401 the
competition for creating the new gates of the baptistery of the Duomo, the cathedral of Florence. In
his wake, architects such as Brunelleschi (1377-1446) and sculptors like Donatello (approx. 13861466) would continue to transform the city.
An equally innovative climate was also taking roots in the field of pictorial art, while even famous
artists such as Lorenzo Monaco or Gentile da Fabriano (approx. 1375-1427) were continuing to sing
the praises of the international Gothic style. These masters combined the refinement of strokes and
the delicacy of polychrome to form their compositions, in the image of Saint Francis receiving the
Stigmata by Gentile da Fabriano (Magnani Rocca Foundation, Parma). On their side, young artists
transcribed the innovations the Florentine sculptors were experimenting with into painting. One of
the first to embody this new trend was Masolino (1383-c.1440). In his works, the medieval golden
background gradually fades, leaving in its place a perspective construction (Scenes from the life of
Saint Julien, Ingres Museum, Montauban). Paolo Uccello (1397-1475) also gradually integrated the
new rules of perspective, as is borne witness by Saint George and the Dragon of the JacquemartAndré Museum. Masaccio (1401-1428) and his brother Scheggia (1406-1486) focused in turn on
spatial layering to recreate the new architectural lines (The birth of the Virgin, Jacquemart-André
Museum, Paris).
Using his training with the heirs of courtly painting from the end of the Middle Ages, Fra Angelico
also appropriated the new precepts developed by the great figures of Florentine art in his epoch.
With an unique talent, he develops new pictorial propositions.. It was only on the predellas, in the
lower section of the altarpiece, that Fra Angelico could demonstrate his audacity, as these elements
were less important in the eyes of his patrons. Designed to complement the main panels, these
predellas were generally split into several scenes: the artists used to tell the story of any saints who
were depicted full-size on the upper register with several scenes from their life here. On these small
panels where he enjoyed blending refined colours and perspective effects, Fra Angelico’s innovations
were the most pronounced. He therefore focused a great deal in his work on depicting people (The
martyrdom of Saints Cosmas and Damian, Musée du Louvre, Paris), and architectural elements
(Scenes from the life of Saint Nicholas, Vatican Museums, Vatican City).
9
Rooms 4 to 5: The influence of Fra Angelico on the Masters of Light
Altarpieces, illuminated works, fresco cycles, etc.: the success met by Fra Angelico during his career
was such that he had to surround himself with collaborators to respond to the many commissions
that he received. Students and assistants succeeded one another by the master’s side, as they
assisted him in creating frescoes and large polyptychs.
While it was not strictly speaking a workshop, these artists took Fra Angelico’s innovations on in their
own work, spreading them and testifying to the great influence he had on them during their
collaboration. In this way the art of Zanobi Strozzi (1412–1468), who was one of his main assistants,
was imbued with the style of Fra Angelico, as can be seen in his luminous paintings of the Virgin and
Child.
His sense of composition influenced prestigious painters like Filippo Lippi (1406–1469) and Alesso
Baldovinetti (c.1425-1499), who created an exceptional Sacred Conversation (Uffizi Gallery,
Florence), whose figures evoke those of the Dominican painter. In turn, they passed on to their
students a style of art marked by the treatment of light characteristic of Fra Angelico, with all its
delicacy and subtlety.
From Zanobi Strozzi and Benozzo Gozzoli (c.1421-1497) to Domenico di Michelino (1417-1491), the
art of Fra Angelico was relayed by several generations of artists and their works confirm the key
position that he held in Florentine art in the first half of the 15th century.
Room 6 and 7: Figures of Christ and the Virgin, favoured subjects for Fra
Angelico
Artist with a deep spirituality, Fra Angelico gives a special part to the representation of Christ or the
Virgin, in his compositions. All along his work, he deals with subjects like Crucifixion that can be
considered as a special pattern.
Among these subjects, we can single out the Madonnas of Humility, a subject with which Fra
Angelico showed the full extent of his skills. Appearing in the years that followed the great plague of
1348, this iconography gradually replaced that of the “Madonna of Majesty”. Within the dramatic
context of the mid-14th century, this stylistic development responded to a need to accentuate the
humanity of divine individuals to make them more accessible. In its simplicity, the Madonna of
Humility corresponded to this new expectation, as the Virgin sat not on a throne but on the ground.
10
His Madonnas of Humility enable us to follow his development and to distinguish the successive
compositions he focused on. By synthesising these various stylistic trends, Fra Angelico developed an
art that exuded elegance and serenity which would permanently mark Florentine art, as is
demonstrated by the lovely Virgin and Child of the Sabauda Gallery in Turin. This art results perfectly
in the magnificent Coronation of the Virgin, (Uffizi Fallery, Florence).
Room 8: Fra Angelico’s masterpieces
A key player in the first Florentine Renaissance, Fra Angelico won renown through works which
carried a great aesthetic strength. A fresco painter and talented illuminator, he also created
magnificent altarpieces. The Jacquemart-André Museum is delighted to present an exceptional
selection of these panels from the greatest Italian museums.
The originality of Fra Angelico lies essentially in the virtuosity with which he was able to combine
religious sentiment and artistic modernity. The three panels of Ascension, Last Judgement and
Pentecost (Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Corsini, Rome) reflect his incredible sense of composition.
The fullness of the stroke, the subtle and refined shaping of depth and the attention devoted to the
portrayal of the human form lend his works a profound elegance (predella of the altarpiece of Bosco
ai Frati, Museo di San Marco, Florence).
The design of the Silver ex-voto wardrobe (Museo di San Marco, Florence) epitomises the art of Fran
Angelico: the finesse of the composition, the glistening colours and the vibrancy of the light make it
one of the pictorial highlights of the first Florentine Renaissance. An iconic painter in this period of
artistic exuberance, Fra Angelico was able to create works of art with an exceptional intensity.
11
Fra Angelico’s predecessors
Lorenzo Monaco (c.
1370-1424)
Gentile da Fabriano (c. 1375-1427)
Battista di Biagio Sanguini (1393 – 1451)
Fra Angelico’s contemporaries
Masolino (1383-c.
1440)
Paolo Uccello (1397-1475)
Filippo Lippi (1406-1469)
Le Scheggia (1406-1486)
Fra Angelico’s students and collaborators
Zanobi Strozzi (1412-1468)
Benozzo Gozzoli (c.1421-1497)
Fra Angelico’s followers
Domenico di Michelino (1417-1491)
Andrea di Giusto (mentioned in the documents from c.1424 to 1450)
Alesso Baldovinetti (c.1427-1499)
Giovanni di Consalvo (active in Florence between 1436 and 1439)
Giovanni di Francesco da Rovezzano (active between 1440 and 1450)
12
1. Fra Angelico (c. 1400-1455)
Stigmatization of St Francis of Assisi and Death of St Peter the Martyr
c. 1436-1437Tempera on wood, 24,3 x 43,8 cm, Strossmayer Gallery, Zagreb
© L’Académie croate des Sciences et des Arts, La Galerie Strossmayer des Maîtres anciens, Zagreb, Croatie
2. Fra Angelico (c. 1400-1455)
Thebaid
Tempera on wood, 75 x 208 cm, Uffizi Gallery, Firenze
© 2011. Photo Scala, Florence - courtesy of the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali
13
3. Fra Angelico (c. 1400-1455)
Cedri Madonna
Circa 1423, tempera on wood, 102 x 58 cm
National Museum of San Matteo, Pisa
© 2011. Photo Scala, Florence - courtesy of
the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali
4. Fra Angelico (c. 1400-1455)
Madonna and Child
1428-1430, tempera on wood, 128 x 68 cm
National Gallery, Parma
© 2011. Photo Scala, Florence - courtesy of
the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali
5. Fra Angelico (1387-1455)
Madonna and Child
Circa 1450, tempera on wood, 99,5 x 66,8 cm
Sabauda Gallery, Torino
© 2011. Photo Scala, Florence - courtesy of the
Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali
14
6. Fra Angelico (1387-1455)
The Coronation of the Virgin
1434-1435, tempera on wood, 114 × 113 cm
Uffizi Gallery, Firenze
© 2010. Photo Scala, Florence - courtesy of the
Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali
7. Fra Angelico (1387-1455)
Triptych of the Last Judgement
Tempera on wood, 73 x 105 cm, National Gallery
of Antique Art in the Corsini Palace, Roma
© 2011. Photo Scala, Florence
8. Fra Angelico (1387-1455)
Episodes from the Life of St Nicholas:
Birth, Vocation and Gift to Three Poor
Young Girls
Circa 1437, tempera and gold on
wood, 35 x 61,5 cm
Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome – Vatican
Museums, Vatican City
© 2011. Photo Scala, Florence
15
9. Fra Angelico (1387-1455)
Predella of the altarpiece of Bosco ai Frati
Circa 1450, tempera on wood, 26 x 174 cm
San Marco Museum, Firenze
© 2011. Photo Scala, Florence - courtesy of the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali
10. Gentile da Fabriano (circa 1370-1427)
St Francis receiving the stigmata
Circa 1415, tempera on wood, 89 x 65 cm
Magnani Rocca Foundation, Parma
© 2011. Photo Scala, Florence
11. Paolo Uccello (1397-1475)
Saint Georges and the dragon
Circa 1440, Tempera on wood
62,6 x 102 cm
Musée Jacquemart-André – Institut de
France, Paris
© Studio Sébert Photographes
16
12. Masolino (1383 - circa 1440)
Saint Julian
Circa 1423-1426, tempera on wood, 135 x 54 cm
Archdiocese of Florence, Diocesan Museum of
Santo Stefano al Ponte, Florence
© 2011. Photo Scala, Florence
13. Zanobi Strozzi (1412-1468)
Madonna of Humility with Two Musician Angels
Circa 1448-1450, tempera on wood, 83,5 x 56,8 cm
Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan, donation by Antonio
and Bianca Leonardi 2001
© Milano, Museo Poldi Pezzoli
14. Domenico di Michelino (1417-1491), Zanobi Strozzi
(1412-1468) et Giovanni di Consalvo (active in Florence
between 1436 and 1439)
Three predella panels with St Jerome the penitent, the
Dormition of the Virgin and St Francis receiving the
stigmata
1441-1442, tempera on wood
17,3 x 44 cm / 17,6 x 46,8 cm / 17,5 x 47 cm
Museo Civico, Prato
© 2011. Photo Scala, Florence
17
15. Alesso Baldovinetti (circa 1427-1499)
Sacred Conversation
Tempera on wood, 174 x 166 cm
Uffizi Gallery, Firenze
© 2011. Photo Scala, Florence - courtesy of
the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali
16. Lorenzo Monaco (1370-1424)
Saint Nicholas Saves a Ship
Before 1424, tempera on wood, 26 x 58,5 cm, San Marco Museum, Firenze
© 2011. Photo Scala, Florence - courtesy of the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali
18
This exhibition was organised thanks to relationships forged in Italy over several years by
Culturespaces
Culturespaces produces and manages, with an ethical and professional approach, monuments,
museums and prestigious historic sites entrusted to it by public bodies and local authorities. These
include the Jacquemart-André Museum in Paris, the Ephrussi de Rothschild and Kerylos Villas on the
French Riviera, the Roman Theatre of Orange, the Château des Baux de Provence, the Nîmes Arena,
the National Automobile and Train Museums in Mulhouse and the Waterloo Battlefield.
In 18 years, in close collaboration with curators and art historians, Culturespaces has organised many
temporary exhibitions of international standing in Paris and in the regions. Culturespaces manages
the whole chain of production for each exhibition, in close collaboration with the public owner, the
curator and the exhibition sponsor: programming, loans, transport, insurance, set design,
communications, partnership and sponsorship, catalogues and spin-off products.
Today Culturespaces works with some of the most prestigious national and international museums
in the world.
Recent exhibitions organised at the Jacquemart-André Museum:
2011 The Caillebotte brothers’ private world. Painter and photographer
2010 Rubens, Poussin and 17th century artists – 150,000 visitors
2010 From El Greco to Dalí. The great Spanish masters. The Pérez Simón collection – 200,000 visitors
2009 Bruegel, Memling, Van Eyck… The Brukenthal Collection – 240,000 visitors
2009 The Italian Primitives. Masterpieces of the Altenbourg Collection – 160,000 visitors.
2008 Van Dyck – 200,000 visitors
2007 Fragonard – 200,000 visitors
2006 The Thracians’ Gold – 150,000 visitors
2005 David, intimacy and grandeur – 150,000 visitors
19
The Curatorial Team
The “Fra Angelico and the Masters of Light” exhibition is being curated by Giovanna Damiani,
Superintendant of the Province of Parma and Piacenza and the Museums of Venice, and Nicolas
Sainte Fare Garnot, Curator of the Jacquemart-André Museum. It is also supported by Cristina Acidini
Luchinat, Superintendant of Florence Museums, Antonio Paolucci, Director of the Vatican Museums,
and Magnolia Scudieri, Director of the San Marco Museum in Florence
Giovanna Damiani, a specialist in the art of the Middle Ages and modern art, has a degree in
archaeology and history of art from the University of Siena. She also has a Master’s degree in public
and institutional communication and specialises in the digital archiving of cultural heritage.
She is currently the Superintendent of the Polo Museale Veneziano and of the historical, artistic and
ethno-anthropological heritage of Parma and Piacenza.
From 1980 to 1998 she taught several classes at the University of Siena, particularly in the field of the
history of art and the application of IT in analysing and managing cultural heritage.
In 1990 she joined the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities where she held several positions in
commissions and working groups. She was particularly involved in the MINERVA project.
She has conducted several restoration works of paintings, miniatures, sculptures and works of art by
Agnolo Gaddi, Fra Angelico, Fra’ Bartolomeo, Antonio Sogliani, Correggio, Giovan Battista Naldini,
Pietro Benvenuti, Giuseppe Bezzuoli, Giovanni Duprè, Giovanni Fattori, Medardo Rosso, Bruno
Innocenti and Felice Carena, as well as fabrics and tapestries from the 11th to the 18th century,
including the Sacred Paraments of Bernardo degli Uberti (11th-12th century), ivories, majolicas and
lapidary items.
She has participated in numerous conferences in Italy and abroad on Italian art from the 15th to the
19th century. She has also acted as curator for several exhibitions:
- Lorenzo Ghiberti, matter and reasoning
- Gothic in Siena
- A school for Piero
- In the light of Piero
- Ottoman charm in the public Florentine collections of the Medici in the Savoy
- Islam: Mirror of the Orient) Rare and precious objects from the Florentine state collections
- The Palazzo Pitti, Ottocento and Novecento gallery of modern art: Acquisitions 1990-1997
- The Pistoia school between the two wars
- An episode from the Novecento Italiano
- Fra Bartolomeo and the school of Saint Mark
- The image of Leonardo
20
- Figurative testimonies from the 16th to the 19th century
- Fausto Zonaro: From the lagoon of Venice to the banks of the Bosphorus – an Italian painter at the
Sultan’s court
- Living in the Middle Ages: Parma in the time of the cathedral
- The arts in Florence between Gothic and Renaissance
- Out of necessity or out of pleasure, “Citizens” in the city
She is also the author of several publications reflecting her interests in the arts of the 11th to the 20th
century. The most important include:
- Saint Niccolò Oltrarno, The Church: a family of antique dealers
- The urban fabric, books of the heart
- Observation of Siena
- For the automation of the Photographic Institute of the superintendency for the historical and
cultural heritage of Florence
- Methodological notes on the computerisation of the Fond Jacquier
- The first corridor in “The pictorial discoveries in the San Marco Museum: traces of the former
convent factory”
- Investigations and surprises: the case of a portrait of a woman by Bargello
- Fra Bartolomeo and Saint Mark
- Saint Mark, the museum and its works
- Leonardo: an illustrated biography
- Cultural heritage and new technology: the documentation centre of the Superintendency of
Florence
- The Palazzo Pitti, Ottocento and Novecento gallery of modern art: Acquisitions 1990-1997
- The portrait of the daughter-in-law of Giovanni Fattori. From restoration to systematic investigation
- Between Italy and Turkey. Variety and complexity in the painting of Fausto Zonato in “From the
lagoon of Venice to the banks of the Bosphorus: Fausto Zonaro, an Italian painter at the Sultan’s
court”
- The National Gallery of Parma
- Goya for the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Parma in “Goya and the Italian tradition”
- Florentines outside of Florence: Agnolo Gaddi’s painting on wood in the National Gallery of Parma in
(“Governor of art: writings for Antonio Paolucci of the Superintendency of Florence”)
- Florence, a city populated with exceptional individuals in all fields in “The arts in Florence between
Gothic and Renaissance”
- The pencil and the brush. Giovanni Fattori: investigations and restorations of the paintings of the
Palazzo Pitti Gallery of Modern Art
- Villa Medicea of Cerreto Guidi
- From literary otium to entertainment at court: living in a city villa, “a personal paradise”, in “Out of
necessity or out of pleasure, “Citizens” in the city.”
21
Nicolas Sainte Fare Garnot, an art historian specialising in seventeenth-century French
painting, has been curator at the Jacquemart-André Museum since 1993. Since his appointment, he
has reorganised the distribution of the collections according to the original programme and has
initiated various restoration and inventory campaigns. Together with Culturespaces he has helped to
create a new dynamic within the Museum by bringing his scientific approach to bear on temporary
exhibitions whose subjects offer an opportunity to get to know the artists contained in the
permanent collections.
We would particularly like to thank Dr. Cristina ACIDINI LUCHINAT, Superintendent of the Museums of
Florence, Professor Antonio PAOLUCCI, Director of the Vatican Museums and Dr Magnolia SCUDIERI,
Director of the San Marco Museum in Florence.
We would also like to thank Milly LEVI PASSIGLI, consultant for Culturespaces Italy.
Scenography by Hubert Le Gall
Hubert Le Gall, born in 1961, is a French designer, creator and sculptor of contemporary art. His
work has formed the subject of numerous exhibitions throughout Europe. Since 2000 he has
produced original scenographies for exhibitions, including:
2011 –Jacquemart-André Museum, Paris – “The Caillebotte brothers’ private world. Painter and
photographer“
2011 – Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris – “Odilon Redon, prince of dream”
2011 – Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris – “Aimé Césaire, Lam, Picasso“
2011 – Musée Maillol, Paris – “Miró sculpteur“
2010 – Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris – “Monet“
2010 – Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris – “France 1500, from the Middle Ages to the
Renaissance“
2010 – Jacquemart-André Museum, Paris – “Rubens, Poussin and the 17th century artists“
2010 – Musée d’Orsay, Paris – “Crime and Punishment“
2010 – Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris – “From El Greco to Dalí. Les grands maîtres espagnols. La
collection Pérez Simón“
2009 – Musée d’Orsay, Paris – “See Italy and Die. Photography and Painting in 19th Century Italy”
2009 – Musée du Luxembourg, Paris – “Louis Comfort Tiffany. Colors and Light”
2009 – Jacquemart-André Museum – “Bruegel, Memling, Van Eyck… The Brukenthal collection”
2009 - Jacquemart-André Museum – Paris “The Italian Primitives. The Altenburg collection”
2008 - Jacquemart-André Museum – Paris “Van Dyck”
2008 - Musée d’Orsay – Paris “Picasso-Manet, lunch on the grass”
22
The exhibition site www.expositionfraangelico.com
- Clear and detailed descriptions of twenty major works.
- Large-format images for appreciating works in the tiniest detail.
- The opportunity to learn more about the exhibition through audio podcasts and photo reports.
- Regular quizzes to win catalogues and tickets for the exhibition
Tour commentary on iPhone/iPad and Android
This tour guide, available in French and English, offers a full introduction and an
audio commentary on selected works.
The variety of content (video, audio, image) and smooth “cover flow” navigation
make this an indispensable tool for a detailed tour of the exhibition.
The Jacquemart André Museum offers on-site downloading facilities without the
need for a 3G connection thanks to Wi-Fi access dedicated exclusively to
downloads from App Store.
NEW
Jacquemart-André Museum apps are now available on Android Market.
Audio guide
An audio guide describing a selection of major works is available in 3 languages (French, English and
Italian) and costs € 3.
23
Visitor’s booklet
To add to your visit, this booklet is available at the entrance to the
Museum and offers a step-by-step guide to the exhibition with a general
description and comments on major works. It is on sale at the museum
ticket office and costs € 2.
For the little ones: the activity booklet
Offered free of charge to every child who visits the exhibition, this
booklet is a guide for young children that explains the main works of art
in the exhibition in an entertaining way through different mystery words
and various puzzles to be solved.
Produced by: Au clair de ma plume
24
The catalogue
A 240-page catalogue has been produced for the Fra Angelico
and the Masters of Light exhibition by the Jacquemart-André
Museum, and the publisher Fonds Mercator.
This richly illustrated book provides a detailed analysis of each
of the works presented in the exhibition. Essays by the top
specialists on the artist will enable the visitor to better
understand the key role played by Fra Angelico in art during
the first Florentine Renaissance.
On sale in the Jacquemart-André Museum gift shop at 39 €.
Connaissance des Arts – special edition
This special edition of Connaissance des Arts dedicated to the exhibition
conjures up the unique story of Fra Angelico and the splendours of the
Masters of Light. It also offers a commentary on the works of the Master,
which are exceptionally being exhibited in Paris.
On sale in the museum gift shop at 9 €.
Figaro magazine – special edition
This special edition aims to demonstrate the unique position that Fra Angelico
held at the heart of the first Italian Renaissance and to show the artistic
context in which he moved.
On sale in the museum gift shop at 7.90 euros.
25
Beaux Arts magazine - exhibition report
Beaux Arts magazine is dedicating an "exhibition report" to Fra Angelico and
the flourishing of Florence at the start of the 15th century. It also focuses on
the technique of perspective and the studio secrets of the Masters of Light.
On sale in the museum gift shop at 4.50 €.
Découvertes Gallimard
The Gallimard Découvertes book dedicated to Fra Angelico traces the unusual
career of this "painter of light" through his masterpieces.
On sale in the museum gift shop at 14 €.
26
Cultural access for all and sustainable development
at the core of the sponsorship policy of GDF SUEZ
GDF SUEZ, key sponsor of the Jacquemart-André Museum, is delighted and proud to be a partner of
the "Fra Angelico and the Masters of Light" exhibition. We wish to develop this partnership in two
directions: cultural access for all and sustainable development.
Cultural access for all: this requirement is at the core of our sponsorship policy; our social
responsibility expressed through the support of exhibitions and the promotion of access to them
by disadvantaged audiences.
This exhibition is an opportunity to rediscover an exceptional artist. It underlines the extreme
cultural wealth of Italy and the deep-rootedness of the Group in this country. Italy is actually one of
the key countries for GDF SUEZ in Europe: it is number one in the field of energy services through its
subsidiary Cofely, the third largest natural gas operator with more than 1.2 million customers and the
fourth largest electricity operator. SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT also has a strong position with more than
2.4 million users of its environmental services.
The GDF SUEZ Corporate Foundation also demonstrates this commitment to cultural access for all by
giving young people who do not have opportunities nearby the chance to discover art.
Sustainable development is also at the core of the sponsorship policy of GDF SUEZ.
Going further than providing just the conventional support for organising an exhibition, the Group is
teaming up with the Jacquemart-André Museum in the capacity of an innovative partner: a sponsor
with the expertise to renovate the air conditioning in the museum's exhibition rooms to meet
conservation and presentation requirements for the works and allow visitors to appreciate the art in
optimum conditions. This project is being conducted by teams from the Energy Services branch.
GDF SUEZ is today a global player in the areas of energy and the environment. Its 218,000 employees
provide essential services every day. Acting as a bridge between the corporate world and its various
audiences, the company's sponsorship policy marks the concrete involvement of the Group,
illustrates the values it possesses that are devoted to the common interest and bears witness to its
social commitments.
Gérard MESTRALLET
C.E.O of GDF SUEZ
27
France 3 loyal partner of the Jacquemart-André Museum.
France Télévisions is proud to be associated with the "Fra Angelico and the
Masters of Light" exhibition at the Jacquemart-André Museum, the first
museum in France to devote a museum to this artist, a key figure of the
Quattrocento.
With the support of the channel France 3 and true to its mission of public
service broadcaster, France Télévisions will report on the riches of this
exhibition with the constant goal of making culture accessible and
intelligible to the masses, focusing once again on cultural events.
France 3 is a partner of all types of culture. Whether via national or
regional channels, with numerous reports and magazines or online, culture
exists in many forms, both at a national and a regional level. France 3
enhances the status of cultural initiatives that are open to the masses and
available throughout France.
France 3 provides all the latest news about art, particularly in the weekly
programme “Ce soir ou jamais” presented by Frédéric Taddéï, in its
national, regional and local information publications and also on
Culturebox, its website dedicated to culture.
France Télévisions is proud to continue its partnership with the
Jacquemart-André Museum on the occasion of this exhibition.
www. francetelevisions.fr
Following its support of “From El Greco to Dalí. The great Spanish masters.
The Pérez Simón collection" and "Rubens, Poussin and 17th century artists"
exhibitions last season, France Inter continues the adventure by
supporting the new exhibition at the Jacquemart-André Museum entitled
"Fra Angelico and the Masters of Light".
The Jacquemart-André Museum is the first museum in France to devote an
exhibition to Fra Angelico,
a key figure of the Quattrocento. It is a homage to a great Italian painter
who listeners will have the pleasure of finding out about on air. Immerse
yourself in 15th century Italy with France Inter and discover the "painters of
light". An event to discover, experience and explore on the airwaves of
France Inter and on the Internet.
www.franceinter.fr
28
Paris Match has been a partner of the Jacquemart-André Museum for
many years. This loyalty to cultural commitments unites the magazine
with the teams at the Museum and at Culturespaces.
The passion for the "human adventure" is one of the values that has been
driving the editorial agenda of Paris Match for more than 60 years.
The exhibition "Fra Angelico and the Masters of Light" highlights the often
mysterious force of the creative genius that artists are capable of.
Paris Match is France’s leading news magazine and fifth in the world
according to the FIPP.
www.parismatch.com
Music, exhibitions, films, theatre, literature, Le Parisien reviews all the
latest cultural events in its “Les spectacles” section, with many of its
pages being filled with exhibitions.
Every Thursday, Le Parisien also offers its readers a “Sortir à” (going out)
section to give them ideas for the weekend and tell them about all the
new exhibitions.
Between 23 September 2011 and 16 January 2012, the Jacquemart-André
Museum is showing an exceptional exhibition: "Fra Angelico and the
Masters of Light". It was only natural that Le Parisien should once again
associate itself with the Jacquemart-André Museum for an exhibition that
promises to be the highlight of Autumn 2011.
www.leparisien.fr
Firmly anchored in the times, Arts Magazine approaches art in a manner
that is both accessible and straightforward. Painting, design and
architecture are interpreted from a playful angle.
Every month the editors offer readers the keys to understanding the
artists of yesteryear and of today with analysis of the various exhibitions
currently being held.
Since it was created, this monthly arts magazine has explored and
revisited the various movements, so it seems only natural that Arts
Magazine should be associated with the magnificent "Fra Angelico and
the Masters of Light" exhibition, which relates the exceptional story of Fra
Angelico and his influence on his contemporaries. A moment of grace
provided by the delicate nature of his strokes and colours.
www.artsmag.fr
29
Every Thursday, France’s leading news magazine, Le Nouvel Observateur
supplies comment on the latest political, economic and cultural news. It
analyses and deciphers what happens in society and predicts the
consequences.
Its supplement, TéléCinéObs, contains the week’s TV listings, along with a
complete rundown of the latest films with rave and damning reviews
from the editors, not to mention pages of multimedia news. On its Paris
pages it announces and comments on all the great cultural events:
exhibitions, plays, concerts, etc. Le Nouvel Observateur is delighted to be
associated with the Jacquemart-André Museum and to be a partner to
this beautiful exhibition.
http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com
Visioloisirs / Visioscène is an audiovisual production company that works
in the area of video content broadcasting in various media (Internet,
public transport, etc.) for cultural sites, entertainment and theatrical
venues.
Over the past few seasons, Visioloisirs / Visioscène has been working with
Culturespaces to bring the temporary exhibitions and permanent
collections of the Museum to the notice of the general public.
www.visioscene.com
Leading French distributor of leisure tickets and show tickets, every year
Fnac offers more than 60,000 events in France, Belgium and Switzerland:
museums, exhibitions, monuments, concerts, festivals, great shows,
theatre, comedy, dance, classical music, opera, cinema, sport, trade
shows/fairs, leisure parks, restaurants, leisure activities, etc. With 80
shops in France, its website, its telephone platform, its mobile website
and its Tick&live application for iPhone, Samsung Bada and Android, Fnac
allows you to reserve and obtain your tickets immediately. Fnac is also a
place where the public meets the artists: throughout the year, it organises
cultural meetings, debates and mini-concerts in its own Forums and
outside its walls. It associates itself with numerous events, thereby
fulfilling its role as both cultural player and promoter of curiosity.
By becoming a partner of the Jacquemart-André Museum, which is
hosting the “Fra Angelico and the Masters of Light” exhibition, it is
confirming its commitment to artistic creativity and its determination to
defend the right of everyone to access all types of culture.
www.fnac.com
30
The UGC Group is very proud and pleased to support the “Fra Angelico
and the Masters of Light” exhibition at the Jacquemart-André Museum in
partnership with the great Italian museums and internationally renowned
collections. A key figure at the start of the Italian Renaissance, this great
painter of sacred art combined the traditions of his time with modern
work on linear perspective, thereby giving rise to new forms of pictorial
creation. In cinema as in painting, the art of the image is developed by the
audacity of such visionaries. A cultural player in an editorial policy that is
in favour of creation and diversity, The UGC Group is delighted to be part
of the first exhibition celebrating Fra Angelico in a French museum. This
partnership also demonstrates UGC's goal to help open up access to highquality works to a larger audience, as it does in the area of cinema.
Created in 1971 through the association of various regional networks of
cinemas, UGC underwent rapid development, becoming one of the largest
European groups of cinemas present today in all fields of the sector
(screening, distribution and production). UGC cinemas have 408 screens
between them and welcomed more than 40 million people in 2010.
www.ugc.fr
31
The Jacquemart-André Museum,
the home of collectors from the late 19th century,
offers the public, in this temple of art, numerous works of art bearing the most famous signatures of:
▪ Italian Renaissance art: Della Robbia, Bellini, Mantegna, Uccello, etc.
▪ Flemish painting: Rembrandt, Hals, Ruysdaël, etc.
▪ French painting of the 18th century: Boucher, Chardin, Fragonard, Vigée-Lebrun, etc.
together with significant items of furniture, indicative of Édouard André and Nélie Jacquemart’s taste
for the decorative arts.
This collection, unique in terms of both its quality and the diversity of the works it contains, boasts
exceptional visitor facilities which make it accessible to everyone. With more than 2 million visitors
since it reopened in March 1996, the Jacquemart-André Museum is one of the top museums in Paris.
The André mansion very quickly became the Jacquemart-André mansion, so great was the role which
Nélie Jacquemart was able to play in its evolution and development. This mansion and its collections
appear today as the legacy which this wealthy and childless couple, who dedicated their lives to the
finest aspects of art, wished to leave to posterity.
The beneficiary of this asset, the Institut de France, has since strived to ensure that Nélie
Jacquemart’s wishes are respected and to introduce her lovingly compiled collections to as many
people as possible.
Today there are fifteen magnificent exhibition rooms, the most intimate of reception rooms, still
exquisitely decorated, occupying almost 1,000 m2, which are open to visitors to the JacquemartAndré Museum.
The restoration and renovation work undertaken in 1996, with a view to reopening to the public, was
intended to make, as far as possible, the mansion feel like a home, so that visitors would find
themselves surrounded by the warmth of a living, welcoming, rather than educational, setting.
Art, the lifeblood of Édouard and Nélie André, enabled this pair of collectors to gather, in just a few
decades, almost 5,000 works, many of which are of exceptional quality.
To satisfy their eclectic tastes, the Andrés were able, with rigour and determination, to call on the
greatest antiques dealers and traders, travel the world in search of rare objects, spend considerable
sums of money on masterpieces, sacrifice second-rate pieces - and sometimes even return them to
the seller - in order to be true to their criteria of excellence, which makes the Jacquemart-André
mansion a top international museum.
Like the Frick Collection in New York, the Jacquemart-André Museum combines presenting an
exceptional 19th century collectors’ house with visitor facilities which meet the expectations of
people today.
32
Owned by the Institut de France, the Jacquemart-André Museum has been developed and managed
by Culturespaces since 1996.
33
OPENING TIMES AND RATES
Open 365 days a year from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Open every Monday and Saturdays evening until
9.30 p.m.
The tea room is open every day from 11.45 a.m. to
5.30 p.m. Brunch Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to
Exhibition audio guide: €3
Permanent collection audio guide: free
Free for children under 7 and the disabled.
Family Rate
Pay the admission charge for two adults and one child
15 p.m.
The cultural gift and bookshop is open when the
museum is open, including Sundays.
Individual
Group visits are only subject to reservation:
Fill rate: €10
[email protected]. Groups are
Reduced rate: €8.50 (students, children from 7 to 17,
not admitted to the exhibition rooms after 2.00 pm.
and the second child gets in free (7 to 17 years).
Groups
job-seekers)
ACCESS
Jacquemart-André Museum
158, boulevard Haussmann - 75008 PARIS
Tel. : + 33 (0)1 45 62 11 59
www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com
The museum is located 400m from place Charles de
Gaulle-Étoile.
Metro : lines 9 and 13 (Saint-Augustin, Miromesnil or
Saint-Philippe du Roule)
RER : RER A (Charles de Gaulle-Étoile)
Bus : 22, 43, 52, 54, 28, 80, 83, 84, 93.
Car park : Haussmann-Berri
Station Velib: rue de Berri
The temporary exhibition rooms are not accessible to
people with reduced mobility.
34