ACQUISITIONS FROM THE FIGDOR COLLECTION

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ACQUISITIONS FROM THE FIGDOR COLLECTIONAuthor(s): M. R. ROGERSSource: Bulletin of the City Art Museum of St. Louis, Vol. 15, No. 4 (OCTOBER, 1930), pp. 60-64Published by: St. Louis Art MuseumStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40714010.

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Bulletinof theCityArtMuseum of St. LouisTheseemingnfinitearietyfformndlinehas beenheldwithinimits f anharmoniousrrangement,he erceptionofwhichddsgreatlyothe leasurenefindsnthe tatue.Little anbedefinitelytated stotheprovenancef thisVirgin nd Child.Formerlynthe ollectionfEmilWau-ters,1fParis,t sknown o have omeearly n thepresententuryromheSeminaryf theCity fMeaux. n thiscity,whichies ome hirty iles astofParis, here till tands splendidathe-dral,begunnthetwelfthenturyutnot ompletedntil wo enturiesater,dueapparentlyo ackoffunds.n theearlyyears f the fourteenthentury,however, generous equestwas re-ceived rom eanne 'Evreux, ueen fFrance nd ofNavarre,wife f KingCharles, fterwhich hebuilding ro-gressed apidly.2t is nterestingo notethat his amequeenhas elsewhereeftevidence f her interestn the arts.Among he treasuresf SaintDenis san admirablepolychromedwoodenstatueof theVirgin, earinghedate1339 nd nscribedsa giftf heQueenJeanne 'Evreux,nd anotherf whitemarble, imilarlynscribed nd dated1340,which s at presentnSaint-Ger-main-des-Pres.3hese facts, ombinedwith reference4o a numberf tatuesof the tyle fthe atefourteenthen-tury,ecapitatedrobablys a resultfthepillagingf thecathedral y theHuguenotsn1 62, emptne tospecu-lateuponthepossibilityhat hisverystatuemayhaveoriginallyeenoneofthosenthe athedralf aint tienneeMeaux, rovidedor y heQueen'swill.M. WUERPEL.

1PublishedyFrederic ees ntheBurlington aga-zine,August,911.2Porter,ArthurKingsley.MedievalArchitecture,p. 326.3AndreMichel. Histoire e l'Art, ivreV,pp. 719-720.4Mlle. Louise Pillon. Les Sculpteurs rancaisdu13me icle, . 244.

ACQUISITIONS FROM THEFIGDOR COLLECTIONIn these aysof ntenseompetitionbetweenollectorsndmuseumsor heeverdwindlingumberffineworksfancientrtwhich nnuallyomeuponthemarket,t sseldomhat pportuni-ties re ffordeduch s were ccasionedbytheFigdor ale inViennaast sum-mer.Dr. Albert igdor fter lifetimeof ffortadgatheredogetherhatwasperhapshefinestroup fGothic ndRenaissance urniturehen n privatehands.Hardly recentook nthe ub-ject butdrew omeofits illustrationsfromis ollectionnd twasonly fterlongnegotiationndsomereservationsthat heAustrianovernmentermittedit obe catteredbroadtpublicuction.Byvery ood ortuneheMuseum asabletoacquiretthis aletwo utstand-ing xamplesfthewoodworker'sraft,bothmostwelcomedditionsothefinegroup lreadyn theMuseum's ollec-tion.The more mportantfthese c-quisitionss probablyhe monumentaltable chest1which,ccordingo tradi-tion,waspresentedo sottada Riminibyhernotorioususband, igismondoMalatesta, ot ongbefore is death n1468.In additionobeing neoftherela-tivelyew erfectlyuthenticatediecesoffifteenthenturytalianfurniturex-tant, he hest as the dded lamourfintimateonnectionithwo f hemostromantic,fnotorious,haractersf theearly talianRenaissanceSpace doesnotpermitven noutlinefSigismon-do's pectacularareersone f he reatmercenaryaptainsfthefifteenthen-tury, isrepeatedesertionsnd recon-ciliations ith uccessiveopes,hisac-complishmentss a humanistndpoet,and his career s a violentDon Juanduring hich edisposed f twowives

1L. 78H ,H. 38',W. 28'.Pub.P. Schubring,assoni, l.CXXVIII andp.351.P. Kristeller,unstundKunsthandwerk,916,p. 149.F. Schottmller,urnituref he talianRenaissance, 47.[6o]

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BulletinoftheCityArtMuseum of St. Louisand numerousess legal connections,finally arryinghebeautifulnd, t issaid,accomplishedsottadegliAtti,ntheyear1456,when e wasthirty-nineyears ld. nspite fhis xceedinglyro-miscuous emperamentigismondooadored hefairsotta hat heChurchfSanFrancisconRimini,orhe ebuild-ing fwhich ehadengagedhe ervicesof hefamous eonBattista lberti,e-came neffect templeo herhonor,burst fpaganism hich howed cantregard or heChristianensibilitiesfhiscontemporaries,ut which esultedinthe reationf neof he arliest ot-ablemonumentsftheRenaissance.yMalatesta's illsottawas eftnregencyfor er ldest on.Shedidnot ong ur-vive,however,ut n1470fell victimsupposedlyo poison dministeredyoneofMalatesta'sllegitimateons.Thefine orkmanshipndmonumen-talproportionsfthis hest, rcassone,the ccurrencef heMalatesta rmsm-blazoned n theend consoles nd thevery ogentnscriptionll point o thetruth fits traditionalwnership.x-cept or fewminorepairs,t s evidentthat ittle as beendone nthewayofrestoration.he chest s practicallynits riginalondition,ufferingnly romthe avageshat ime ndwearhave n-flicted.Withoutverstretchinghe m-agination,herefore,t is easyfor s topicturehis uge offerccupyingplaceofhonor robably arkedy lowplat-formnthebedchamberf he ll-starredpair.Probablyhe nly thermportantarticle ffurniturentheroomwasthebed, simpletructureith r withoutcanopy, ependingortsdecorativef-fectmainly ponrich overs. he beditselfwas more han ikely lacedonaplatform,heprojectingdges f whichwere rrangedntheformf ow hests.Aroundhewalls wereprobablytherchests f ratherimplerndmore til-itarian haracternd the furnishingscompletedya few tools ndpossiblyoneortwoX-shapedhairs. he bare-

nessofthehighwallspiercedwith ewandrelativelymallwindows asprob-ablyrelieved ith rightlyoloredap-estriesrpatternedextiles. hosewhohavevisited heDavanzati Palace inFlorence,ecentlyestoredo itsorig-inal ondition,illhave very ood deaofthiskind f etting.Well nto he ifteenthenturyn talyand the ixteenthenturyntheNorththechestcontinuedo be almost heonly rticlef asefurniturendomesticuse.Chests fsmall ize such s are tobeseen ntheMuseum's ollection ereused as seatswhen not packedwiththeowners' ersonallothingndvalu-ables fortransportationnd storage.Chests ftheheightfthepresentx-amplewere lsoused s tables nd side-boards.Manyofthese ame as partofthebride's owryndwere ften eco-ratedwithpanelspainted ythe fore-most rtists f thetime s well s withelaboratearvingnd nlay. uchpieceshadspecial ases ntowhich heywereplacedwhen ndergoingransportation,for ine urnitureasnotplentifulndfrequentlyccompaniedhe owners ntheirourneys o supply he needsoftheway.Onexamininghe nteriorfthis as-sonewe findts tructuralase s a boxcomposedfplanks f lose-grainedoftwood f he inden amilyovetailedo-gethert thecorners. n thisbaseanenriched alnutpanelings laid as aheavy eneer. heprimitivehest ormis, therefore,reserveds a skeletonoverlaid ith henewertructuralormsthen omingntousewith hedevelop-ment fthecabinetmaker'sraft. hismethodf tructure asapparentlyd-hered o in Italybecause f tsgreaterdecorativelexibilityong fter he tileandrailconstructionad obtained ulldevelopmentntheNorth.nthenteriorwe find he mallbox-likeompartmentusually oundtoneend smissing,utincisionsn the wood how tsoriginalpresence.

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BulletinoftheCityArt Museum of St. LouisTheexterioresign fthe assones,of course, ts chief nterest rom nartistictandpoint.he motif sed isthat f completelassic rderwith ullentablature,ornice, rieze nd archi-travecrowningilasters nd consolesrestingn a podium. he interveningpanels, owever,re filled ith elicateGothic racery.his is particularlyn-terestingincen allprobabilityhede-

seems atherignificanthat his rownofvictoryr honorsa motifmuch sedinthe nteriorecorationf heChurchofSan Francisco.Byand argetmust econcededhatthisRimini assone n its severeyetsomewhat aive rchitecturalignitysanoutstandingonumentf arlyRen-aissancewoodwork arkingheheightofachievementt a timewhen here-

OAK CHEST, FLEMISH, XIV TO XV CENTURY(fromthe collection of dr. albert figdor,Vienna)signer as nfluencedy hemixed lassicandGothic haracterftheChurchfSan Francisco, hichwas thenunderconstruction,ndalsobythetendencyto retain arlier ormsharacteristicftheregion. his tracery,heconsoles,pilastersndfriezereall coveredwithgesso ndfinishedith ildingnd olor,the aised rnamenteing ildedndthebackgroundolored lue.Thisscheme,incombinationith hegolden rownsofthewalnutnlay,mustwhen freshhavegiven sense fgreat ichness,owmellowedy timeto very ubtlehar-monies. n theoutside he idis deco-ratedwith large rown foak leaveswith onventionalizedibbonsnlaid nlighterwoodson the darkwalnut. t

vived lassicmotifs ere aking firmhold nthe talianmagination.Thesecond ftheMuseum'scquisi-tionsfromheFigdorCollection2s instrikingontrasto theabove, hough,in itsway,especiallyn the scoreofstylisticevelopment,s importantnaddition o the collection. arlier noriginyalmost century,hismassiveoaken cofferepresentshe work f aFlemishraftsmant the nd f he our-teenthentury,robablyor churchrmonastery.racticallyll thechests fthismiddleeriodfGothicesign andfew ave urvivedhave beenfoundn2L. 69', H. 26%W. 22 .Pub. H. Stegeman, unst ndKunsthandwerk,907,p. 133.

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Bulletinof theCityArt Museum of St. Louisecclesiasticalstablishmentshich f-fordedreaterrotectionosuchpiecesthanwasgivenhose f imilarormnddesignundoubtedlyncontemporarysecularuse. The inscriptionarved nGothicetterscross he rontf his x-ample,AveMariagracia lenadominustecum ends olor o thetheoryfitsecclesiasticalrigin,houghuchwasthepiety fthe gethat t snot positiveproof.Save for he traceriedrcadingun-ning elow henscriptionnd cross heendpanels,heresnofurtherecorativetreatmentfweexcepthe uttingf heiron einforcementsfthe id andcor-ners.Asidefrom hevery reat harmofthis imple arving,he nterestndvalueofthepiece ies n tsrepresenta-tion fthe arlyGothic ormnuseap-parentlyhroughoutheearlierMiddleAges.Structurallyt consistsfheavylongitudinallankingonguednto toutcornerprightshichlso serve s feet.In the arliestxamples nownhe id,insteadfbeing inged, as ttachedypivots o theheavily einforcednds,makingfasteningifficulto break n-lessbydestroyingheentire tructure.Theconveniencef ron traphingesrhaspscausedthe abandonmentfthismore rimitiveethodtthe nd f hefourteenthentury.eanwhilemprovedmethodsf uttingccasionedythe n-ventionf he aw-millnthe ourteenthcentury adepossiblehe inal evelop-mentf tile ndrail tructureith anelfillings used n themajorityf aterGothic urniture.t is nterestingonotethat nthis ncienthest he riginalndboxis still n place.The bottom ownailed otheunder dgeofthe ides sprobably laterrestoration,hests fthisdate usually havingthe bottomplankinget nto he ides, greaterro-tectiongainst ossible urglary.

At ome atethe leurs-de-lisarvedneachspandrelfthe rcading ere ni-formlyutilatedossiblyy omewnerunwillingohaveornamentaleminders

oftheFrench rownmong isposses-sions.Whatthe actualuseofthechestwas s impossibleosay, ince, s notedabove, chest ervedn a multitudefcapacities in the medievalmenage,thoughmost fthem s repositoriesorplate,hangings, earing pparelandarmor,s well s the toragefmoneynthedaysbeforeeposit anking asincommonse.In spite ftheirmassivenessew x-amples fthese arlier hests ave sur-vived hangingashionndthe orrosionoftime.The corner ostscomingntocontactwith ampfloorsecayed irst,then hebottoms,eaving ut hedeco-rated rontsobe preservedytheen-tiquary. nder uchcircumstancesheMuseum sparticularlyortunatenbe-cominghepossessorf a completex-amplensuch omparativelyntouchedandorignalondition;nfact, hepieceisunquestionablyhemost ncientieceofEuropeanwoodworkow ntheMu-seum'spossession.t is not mprobablethat riginallyhe hestwaspaintedna few impleolors,ut, f o,they avelong ince isappeared,eaving otrace,theoak nowbeing lmost lackowingtosuccessiveoatsofoilandwax.M. R. ROGERS.

A LANDSCAPE ATTRIBUTEDTO ANNIBALE CARRACCIItalianpaintingnthe ate sixteenthcentury as dividednto hree chools,two ofwhich,he Manneristsnd theEclectics, ere irectlynder he nflu-ence f he reatmastersf he ifteenthcentury. thirdchool,heNaturalists,rebelledgainsthis raditionnd aughtan intensifiedealismnhancedyvio-lent ontrast.he Eclecticswere eallya classofManneristsho ttemptedocombinehebestqualities fthegreatmastersntheir anvases, nd,becausetheynsistedpon horoughrainingndstudy,werefairlyuccessful,houghmuch ftheirworkstrivial.

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ACQUISITIONS FROM THE FIGDOR COLLECTION

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