Houghton Hall
Houghton Hall is a country house just north of Houghton in Norfolk, England. It is the home of David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley and it was built for the de facto first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, and it is a key building in the history of Palladian architecture in England. It is a Grade I listed building surrounded by 1,000 acres of adjacent to Sandringham House. The house has a main block which consists of a rustic basement at ground level, with a piano nobile, bedroom floor. There are two lower flanking wings joined to the block by colonnades. To the south of the house there is a quadrangular stable block. The exterior is both grand and restrained, constructed of fine-grained, silver-white stone, the Gibbs-designed domes punctuate each corner. In line with Palladian conventions, the interiors are more colourful. The parklands surrounding Houghton was redesigned in the 18th century by Charles Bridgeman, in the process, the village of Houghton was demolished and rebuilt outside the park, with the exception of the medieval parish church, which was heavily restored.
This new building was placed on the site of earlier Walpole family houses, construction began in 1722 and was completed in 1735. Walpole was an extravagant host, hunting parties with local Norfolk gentry would last for weeks at a time, visits from Royalty were common and his fellow politicians, particularly members of his Cabinet, held their meetings each spring over a three week period in the rooms at Houghton. These meetings were known as the Norfolk Congress, a grand Palladian pile, Houghton was intended to be the permanent home for more than 400 of his Old Master paintings, including works by Van Dyck, Rubens and Velázquez. Sir Robert Walpole became the 1st Earl of Orford in 1742, ownership passed to his son and grandson, the second and third earls. On the death of the earl in 1791, it reverted to his uncle the 4th Earl of Orford. On his death in 1797, possession passed to the family of his sister, Lady Mary, Countess of Cholmondeley, colonel Robert Walpole borrowed a book about the Archbishop of Bremen from the Sidney Sussex College library in 1667 or 1668.
The overdue library book was discovered at Houghton in the mid-1950s, the house has remained largely untouched, having remained unimproved despite the Victorian passion for remodelling and redecorating. Houghton still belongs to the Marquess of Cholmondeley, and parts of the structure, included in the current collection of paintings is Thomas Gainsboroughs oil painting of his own family -- Thomas Gainsborough, with His Wife and Elder Daughter, Mary. Walpoles collection of marble Roman busts was noteworthy, in the early 1990s, Hans Holbeins Lady With a Squirrel and a Starling was removed from the walls of Houghton where it had hung since 1780
Godfrey Kneller
Kneller was born Gottfried Kniller in the Free City of Lübeck, the son of Zacharias Kniller, a portrait painter. Kneller studied in Leiden, but became a pupil of Ferdinand Bol, the brothers came to England in 1676, and won the patronage of the Duke of Monmouth. He was introduced to, and painted a portrait of, Charles II, in England, Kneller concentrated almost entirely on portraiture. His portraits set a pattern that was followed until William Hogarth, nevertheless, he established himself as a leading portrait artist in England. When Sir Peter Lely died in 1680, Kneller was appointed Principal Painter to the Crown by Charles II, in the 1690s, Kneller painted the Hampton Court Beauties depicting the most glamorous ladies-in-waiting of the Royal Court for which he received his knighthood from William III. He produced a series of Kit-cat portraits of 48 leading politicians and his paintings were praised by Whig luminaries such as John Dryden, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, and Alexander Pope.
On the landing in Horsham Museum hang works of art from the Museums extensive painting collection, featuring a large 18th-century portrait of Charles Eversfield and his wife, in the painting Eversfield is giving his wife some violets which signifies fidelity and honesty. It is likely that the picture was cut down at some time as it was unusual to stop just below the knee and he married a widow, Susanna Grave, on 23 January 1704 at St Brides Church, London. She was the daughter of the Reverend John Cawley, Archdeacon of Lincoln and Rector of Henley-on-Thames, Kneller died of fever in 1723 at Great Queen Street and his remains were interred at Twickenham. He had been a churchwarden at St Marys, Twickenham when the 14th-century nave collapsed in 1713 and was active in the plans for the reconstruction by John James. His widow was buried at Twickenham on 11 December 1729, a memorial was erected in Westminster Abbey. Knellers will gave a pension of £100 a year to his assistant Edward Byng, Byng inherited the drawings in Knellers studio.
Kneller and his wife had no children together, the site of the house Kneller built in 1709 in Whitton, near Twickenham, became occupied by the mid-19th century Kneller Hall, home of the Royal Military School of Music. As to thinking better or worse of mankind from experience, some cunning people will not be satisfied unless they have put men to the test, there is a very good story told of Sir Godfrey Kneller, in his character of a Justice of the peace. In his hometown Lübeck there are works to be seen in the St. Annen Museum and his former works at St. Marys Church were destroyed by the Bombing of Lübeck 1942. A large oil portrait of James VII of Scotland hangs on the staircase of private members Club, The Caledonian Club, in Belgravia
Pope Clement IX
Pope Clement IX, born Giulio Rospigliosi, was Pope from 20 June 1667 to his death in 1669. Giulio Rospigliosi was born in 1600 to the Rospigliosi family, a family of Pistoia in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany to Giacomo. He studied at the Seminario Romano and at the University of Pisa as a pupil of the Jesuits and he would receive doctorates in theology and both canon and civil law in 1623. After receiving his doctorates, he taught there as a professor from 1623 to 1625. Later Rospigliosi worked closely with Pope Urban VIII where he worked in the corps as the Referendary of the Apostolic Signatura. He was appointed as the Titular Archbishop of Tarsus in 1644, Rospigliosi served as the Apostolic Nuncio to Spain from 1644 until 1653 when he decided to retire from that post. He lived in retirement throughout the pontificate of Pope Innocent X who disliked and distanced himself from those associated with his predecessor and he was made vicar of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Rospigliosi was a man of letters who wrote poetry and libretti, as well as what may be the first comic opera, namely his 1637 libretto Chi soffre.
He was a patron of Nicolas Poussin, commissioning A Dance to the Music of Time from him and dictating its iconography. Pope Alexander VII appointed him to the cardinalate in 1657 as the Cardinal-Priest of San Sisto Vecchio and was appointed as the Cardinal Secretary of State in 1655 which he held until 1667. Pope Alexander VII died in 1667 and a conclave to choose his successor was called, on 20 June 1667 he was elected as pontiff and took the pontifical name of Clement IX. The new pope was crowned on 26 June 1667 by the protodeacon and he took possession of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran on 3 July 1667. He was mediator during the 1668 peace of Aachen, in the wars of succession between France, Spain and the Netherlands. He was popular with the people of Rome, not so much for his erudition and application to business, as for his charity and his affability towards great. Two days each week he occupied a confessional in St. Peters church and he frequently visited the hospitals, and was lavish in his alms to the poor.
In an age of nepotism, he did little or nothing to advance or enrich his family, in his aversion to notoriety, he refused to permit his name to be placed on the buildings erected during his reign. Clement IX confirmed the cultus of Margaret of Savoy on 9 October 1669 and he beatified Rose of Lima on 15 April 1668. On 28 April 1668, he canonized Magdalena de Pazzi and Peter of Alcantara and he elevated 12 new cardinals in three consistories
Catherine the Great
Catherine II of Russia, known as Catherine the Great, was a Russian monarch. She was the female leader of Russia, reigning from 1762 until her death in 1796 at the age of 67. She came to following a coup détat when her husband. Russia was revitalised under her reign, growing larger and stronger than ever, in both her accession to power and in rule of her empire, Catherine often relied on her noble favourites, most notably Grigory Orlov and Grigory Potemkin. In the west, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, ruled by Catherines former lover, king Stanisław August Poniatowski, was eventually partitioned, in the east, Russia started to colonise Alaska, establishing Russian America. Catherine reformed the administration of Russian guberniyas, and many new cities, an admirer of Peter the Great, Catherine continued to modernise Russia along Western European lines. However, military conscription and the continued to depend on serfdom. This was one of the reasons behind several rebellions, including the large-scale Pugachevs Rebellion of cossacks.
The period of Catherine the Greats rule, the Catherinian Era, is considered the Golden Age of the Russian Empire. The Manifesto on Freedom of the Nobility, issued during the reign of Peter III and confirmed by Catherine. Construction of many mansions of the nobility, in the classical style endorsed by the Empress and she enthusiastically supported the ideals of The Enlightenment, thus earning the status of an enlightened despot. Catherine was born in Stettin, Kingdom of Prussia as Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, she was nicknamed Figchen. Her father, Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, belonged to the ruling German family of Anhalt, two of her first cousins became Kings of Sweden, Gustav III and Charles XIII. In accordance with the prevailing in the ruling dynasties of Germany, she received her education chiefly from a French governess. She once wrote to her correspondent Baron Grimm, I see nothing of interest in it, although Catherine was born a princess, her family had very little money.
Catherines rise to power was supported by her mothers relatives who were both wealthy nobles and royal relations. Catherine first met Peter III at the age of 10, based on her writings, she found Peter detestable upon meeting him. She disliked his pale complexion and his fondness for alcohol at such a young age, Peter still played with toy soldiers
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums in the world, it was founded in 1754 by Catherine the Great and has open to the public since 1852. Its collections, of only a small part is on permanent display. The collections occupy a complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace. Apart from them, the Menshikov Palace, Museum of Porcelain, Storage Facility at Staraya Derevnya, the museum has several exhibition centers abroad. The Hermitage is a state property. Since July 1992, the director of the museum has been Mikhail Piotrovsky, of the six buildings in the main museum complex, namely the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage and Hermitage Theatre, are open to the public. The entrance ticket for foreign tourists more than the fee paid by citizens of Russia. However, entrance is free of charge the first Thursday of every month for all visitors, the museum is closed on Mondays.
The entrance for visitors is located in the Winter Palace. A hermitage is the dwelling of a hermit or recluse, the word derives from Old French hermit, ermit hermit, from Late Latin eremita, from Greek eremites, literally people who live alone, which is in turn derived from ἐρημός, desert. Originally, the building housing the collection was the Small Hermitage. Today, the Hermitage Museum encompasses many buildings on the Palace Embankment, apart from the Small Hermitage, the museum now includes the Old Hermitage, the New Hermitage, the Hermitage Theatre, and the Winter Palace, the former main residence of the Russian tsars. In recent years, the Hermitage has expanded to the General Staff Building on the Palace Square facing the Winter Palace, the Western European Art collection includes European paintings and applied art from the 13th to the 20th centuries. It is displayed, in about 120 rooms, on the first and prints are displayed in temporary exhibitions. Since 1940, the Egyptian collection, dating back to 1852 and it serves as a passage to the exhibition of Classical Antiquities.
A modest collection of the culture of Ancient Mesopotamia, including a number of Assyrian reliefs from Babylon, Dur-Sharrukin, the collection of Classical Antiquities occupies most of the ground floor of the Old and New Hermitage buildings. Its floor is made of a marble mosaic imitating ancient tradition, while the stucco walls
Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford — known as Horace Walpole — was an English art historian, man of letters and Whig politician. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, south-west London and his literary reputation rests on his Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto and his Letters, which are of significant social and political interest. He was the son of the first British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole, as Horace Walpole was childless, on his death his barony descended to his cousin of the same surname, who was created the new Earl of Orford. Walpole was born in London, the youngest son of British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole, like his father, he received early education in Bexley, he was educated at Eton College and Kings College, Cambridge. Walpoles first friends were probably his cousins Francis and Henry Conway, to whom Walpole became strongly attached, at Eton he formed with Charles Lyttelton and George Montagu the Triumvirate, a schoolboy confederacy. More important were another group of friends dubbed the Quadruple Alliance, Thomas Gray, Richard West, at Cambridge Walpole came under the influence of Conyers Middleton, an unorthodox theologian.
Walpole came to accept the nature of Middletons attitude to some essential Christian doctrines for the rest of his life, including a hatred of superstition. Walpole ceased to reside at Cambridge at the end of 1738, according to one biographer his love for his mother was the most powerful emotion of his entire life. the whole of his psychological history was dominated by it. Walpole did not have any relationships with women, he has been called a natural celibate. Walpoles sexual orientation has been the subject of speculation, many contemporaries described him as effeminate. Biographers such as Timothy Mowl explore his possible homosexuality, including a passionate, some previous biographers such as Lewis and Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer, have interpreted Walpole as asexual. Upon coming of age he became Comptroller of the Pipe and Clerk of the Estreats which gave him an income of £300 per annum, Walpole decided to go travelling with Thomas Gray and wrote a will whereby he left Gray all his belongings.
They left Dover on 29 March and arrived at Calais that day and they travelled through Boulogne and Saint-Denis, arriving at Paris on 4 April. Here they met many aristocratic Englishmen, in early June they left Paris for Rheims, in September going to Dijon, Dauphiné, Aix-les-Bains and back to Lyons. In October they left for Italy, arriving in Turin in November, going to Genoa, Parma, Modena, and in December arriving at Florence. Here he struck up a friendship with Horace Mann, an assistant to the British Minister at the Court of Tuscany and wrote Epistle from Florence to Thomas Ashton, tutor to the Earl of Plymouth, a mixture of Whig history and Middletons teachings. In February 1740 Walpole and Gray left for Rome with the intention of witnessing the papal conclave upon the death of Pope Clement XII, Walpole wanted to attend fashionable parties and Gray wanted to visit all the antiquities. At social occasions in Rome he saw the Old Pretender James Francis Edward Stuart and Gray returned to Florence in July
Pope Innocent X
Pope Innocent X, born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj, was Pope from 15 September 1644 to his death in 1655. Trained as a lawyer, he succeeded Pope Urban VIII on 15 September 1644, as one of the most politically shrewd pontiffs of the era, Giovanni Battista Pamphili was born in Rome on 5 May 1574, the son of Camillo Pamphili, of the Roman Pamphili family. The family, originally from Gubbio, was descended from Pope Alexander VI. In 1594 he graduated from the Collegio Romano and followed a conventional cursus honorum and he served as a Consistorial lawyer in 1601, and in 1604 succeeded his uncle, Cardinal Girolamo Pamphilj, as auditor of the Roman Rota, the ecclesiastical appellate tribunal. He was a canonist of the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary, a second tribunal, in 1623 Pope Gregory XV sent him as nuncio to the court of the Kingdom of Naples. In 1625 Urban VIII sent him to accompany his nephew, Francesco Barberini, in January 1626 Pamphili was appointed titular Latin Patriarch of Antioch. The 1644 conclave for the election of a successor to Urban VIII was long and stormy, the large French faction led by Pope Urbans nephews objected to the Spanish candidate, as an enemy of Cardinal Mazarin, who guided French policy.
They put up their own candidate but could not establish enough support for him and agreed to Pamphilj as an acceptable compromise, bearing the French veto of Cardinal Pamphilj, arrived too late, and the election was accomplished. Soon after his accession, Innocent X initiated legal action against the Barberini for misappropriation of public funds, the brothers Francesco Barberini, Antonio Barberini and Taddeo Barberini fled to Paris, where they found a powerful protector in Cardinal Mazarin. The French parliament declared the ordinance void in France. In 1653, Innocent X with the Cum occasione papal bull condemned five propositions of Janseniuss Augustinus, inspired by St. Augustine, as heretical and close to Lutheranism. The death of Pope Urban VIII is said to have been hastened by chagrin at the result of the First War of Castro, a war he had undertaken against Odoardo Farnese, the duke of Parma. Hostilities between the papacy and the Duchy of Parma resumed in 1649, and forces loyal to Pope Innocent X destroyed the city of Castro on 2 September 1649, the protests were ignored by the European powers.
Olimpia Maidalchini, who had married to his late brother, was believed to be Innocent Xs mistress because of her influence over him in matters of promotion. The relationship between Olimpia and Innocent X, both before and during his papacy, is the concern of the book Mistress of the Vatican by Eleanor Hermann. The less-than-subtle political statement still hangs in a chapel of the Capuchin friars Church of the Conception in Rome. During the papacy of Pope Urban VIII, Giovanni Battista Pamphilj was the popes most significant rival among the College of Cardinals, Antonio Barberini, the popes brother, was a cardinal who had begun his career with the Capuchin brothers. He raised Colegio de Nuestra Senora del Santisimo Rosario to a University in November 20,1645 during his pontificate, in 1650, Innocent X celebrated a Jubilee
Anthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England, after enjoying great success in Italy and Flanders. He painted biblical and mythological subjects, displayed outstanding facility as a draughtsman, the Van Dyke beard is named after him. Antoon van Dyck was born to parents in Antwerp. By the age of fifteen he was already an accomplished artist, as his Self-portrait, 1613–14. He was admitted to the Antwerp painters Guild of Saint Luke as a master by February 1618. His influence on the young artist was immense, Rubens referred to the nineteen-year-old van Dyck as the best of my pupils. At the same time the dominance of Rubens in the small and declining city of Antwerp probably explains why, despite his periodic returns to the city, van Dyck spent most of his career abroad. In 1620, at the instigation of George Villiers, Marquess of Buckingham, van Dyck went to England for the first time where he worked for King James I of England, receiving £100. After about four months he returned to Flanders, but moved on in late 1621 to Italy and he was already presenting himself as a figure of consequence, annoying the rather bohemian Northern artists colony in Rome, says Giovan Pietro Bellori, by appearing with the pomp of Zeuxis.
He was mostly based in Genoa, although he travelled extensively to other cities. In 1627, he went back to Antwerp where he remained for five years, a life-size group portrait of twenty-four City Councillors of Brussels he painted for the council-chamber was destroyed in 1695. He was evidently very charming to his patrons, like Rubens, well able to mix in aristocratic and court circles, by 1630 he was described as the court painter of the Habsburg Governor of Flanders, the Archduchess Isabella. In this period he produced many religious works, including large altarpieces. King Charles I was the most passionate and generous collector of art among the British monarchs, and saw art as a way of promoting his elevated view of the monarchy. In 1628, he bought the collection that the Gonzagas of Mantua were forced to dispose of. In 1626, he was able to persuade Orazio Gentileschi to settle in England, to be joined by his daughter Artemisia and some of his sons. Rubens was a target, who eventually came on a diplomatic mission, which included painting, in 1630.
He was very well-treated during his visit, during which he was knighted
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D. C. located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was established in 1937 for the American people by a joint resolution of the United States Congress. Andrew W. Mellon donated an art collection and funds for construction. The Gallery often presents temporary special exhibitions spanning the world and the history of art and it is one of the largest museums in North America. In 1930 Mellon formed the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, when quizzed by Abbot, he explained that the project was in the hands of the Trust and that its decisions were partly dependent on the attitude of the Government towards the gift. Designed by architect John Russell Pope, the new structure was completed and accepted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on behalf of the American people on March 17,1941. Neither Mellon nor Pope lived to see the completed, both died in late August 1937, only two months after excavation had begun.
At the time of its inception it was the largest marble structure in the world, as anticipated by Mellon, the creation of the National Gallery encouraged the donation of other substantial art collections by a number of private donors. The Gallerys East Building was constructed in the 1970s on much of the land left over from the original congressional joint resolution. It was funded by Mellons children Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon Bruce, designed by famed architect I. M. Pei, the contemporary structure was completed in 1978 and was opened on June 1 of that year by President Jimmy Carter. The new building was built to house the Museums collection of paintings, sculptures. The design received a National Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects in 1981, the final addition to the complex is the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. Completed and opened to the public on May 23,1999, the National Gallery of Art is supported through a private-public partnership. The United States federal government provides funds, through annual appropriations, to support the museums operations, all artwork, as well as special programs, are provided through private donations and funds.
The museum is not part of the Smithsonian Institution, noted directors of the National Gallery have included David E. Finley, Jr. John Walker, and J. Carter Brown. Rusty Powell III is the current director, entry to both buildings of the National Gallery of Art is free of charge. From Monday through Saturday, the museum is open from 10 a. m. –5 p. m. it is open from 11 –6 p. m. on Sundays and it is closed on December 25 and January 1. The museum comprises two buildings, the West Building and the East Building linked by an underground passage
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough FRSA was an English portrait and landscape painter and printmaker. He surpassed his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds to become the dominant British portraitist of the half of the 18th century. He painted quickly, and the works of his maturity are characterised by a light palette and he preferred landscapes to portraits, and is credited as the originator of the 18th-century British landscape school. Gainsborough was a member of the Royal Academy. He was born in Sudbury, the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woollen goods, and his wife, the artist spent his childhood at what is now Gainsboroughs House, on Gainsborough Street. The original building survives and is now a dedicated House to his life. Gainsborough was allowed to leave home in 1740 to study art in London and he assisted Francis Hayman in the decoration of the supper boxes at Vauxhall Gardens, and contributed to the decoration of what is now the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children. In 1746, Gainsborough married Margaret Burr, a daughter of the Duke of Beaufort.
The artists work, consisting of landscape paintings, was not selling well. He returned to Sudbury in 1748–1749 and concentrated on painting portraits, in 1752, he and his family, now including two daughters, moved to Ipswich. Commissions for personal portraits increased, but his clientele included mainly local merchants and he had to borrow against his wifes annuity. The Artists family and Self-Portrait In 1759, Gainsborough and his moved to Bath. There, he studied portraits by van Dyck and was able to attract a fashionable clientele. In 1761, he began to work to the Society of Arts exhibition in London. He selected portraits of well-known or notorious clients in order to attract attention, the exhibitions helped him acquire a national reputation, and he was invited to become a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1769. His relationship with the academy was not a one and he stopped exhibiting his paintings in 1773. In 1774, Gainsborough and his moved to London to live in Schomberg House. A commemorative blue plaque was put on the house in 1951, in 1777, he again began to exhibit his paintings at the Royal Academy, including portraits of contemporary celebrities, such as the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland
Jean-Baptiste Oudry
Jean-Baptiste Oudry was a French Rococo painter and tapestry designer. He is particularly known for his naturalistic pictures of animals. Jean-Baptiste Oudry was born in Paris, the son of Jacques Oudry, a painter and art dealer and his father was a director of the Académie de St-Luc art school, which Oudry joined. At first, Oudry concentrated on portraiture, and he became a pupil and he graduated at only 22 years of age, on 21 May 1708, at the same time as his two older brothers. The next year, he married Marie-Marguerite Froissé, the daughter of a miroitier to whom he gave lessons in painting, Oudry became an assistant professor at Académie de Saint-Luc in 1714, and professor on 1 July 1717. He was inducted as a member of the prestigious Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1719, the series was called The Pastoral Amusements, or Les Amusements Champêtres. Through this connection, he was commissioned to produce the painting made his reputation. Oudry was granted a workshop in the Tuileries and an apartment in the Louvre. M.
Hultz, an adviser to the Académie de Peinture, commissioned Oudry to produce a buffet, or still-life combining silver plates and ewers and game, the work was exhibited in the Salon of 1737. Oudry timidly asked for ten pistoles for his work, but Hultz valued it much higher, Oudry was commissioned to produce a buffet for Louis XV, that went to the château de Choisy, the Kings favoured hunting residence. Hultz recommended Oudry to Louis Fagon, an intendant des finances and book collector, Fagon was charged with reviving the fortunes of the tapestry manufactory of Beauvais, which had flourished under Colbert, and he gave the task to Oudry and his associate, Besnier, in 1734. Oudry succeeded in his tasks, becoming wealthy in the process and his success at Beauvais led to a further appointment as inspector at the Gobelins manufactory in 1736, where his works were copied as cartoons for tapestries. Oudry used a camera obscura in an attempt to speed up the process of producing landscapes, but abandoned it when he saw that the perspective and he was often sent examples of rare birds to draw.
He purchased a series of paintings of animals from Louis XVs menagerie at Versailles. Oudrys initial motive for painting these works is obscure, the works are still at Schwerin. He turned down offers to work for the Czar Peter the Great and the King of Denmark, preferring to remain in France, Oudry lost some of his responsibilities when Fagon was replaced by de Trudaine. He suffered two strokes in quick succession, the second left him paralysed, and he died shortly thereafter, at Beauvais. He was buried in the Church of Saint-Thomas in Beauvais and his epitaph on the stone was lost when the church was demolished in 1795, but was found and placed in the Church of Saint-Étienne
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially the Met, is located in New York City and is the largest art museum in the United States, and is among the most visited art museums in the world. Its permanent collection contains two million works, divided among seventeen curatorial departments. The main building, on the edge of Central Park along Manhattans Museum Mile, is by area one of the worlds largest art galleries. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains a collection of art, architecture. On March 18,2016, the museum opened the Met Breuer museum at Madison Avenue in the Upper East Side, it extends the museums modern, the Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Oceanian, Byzantine and Islamic art. The museum is home to collections of musical instruments and accessories, as well as antique weapons. Several notable interiors, ranging from first-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870.
The founders included businessmen and financiers, as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day and it opened on February 20,1872, and was originally located at 681 Fifth Avenue. The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Oceanian, the museum is home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments and accessories, and antique weapons and armor from around the world. A number of interiors, ranging from 1st century Rome through modern American design, are permanently installed in the Mets galleries. In addition to its permanent exhibitions, the Met organizes and hosts traveling shows throughout the year. The director of the museum is Thomas P. Campbell, a long-time curator and it was announced on February 28th,2017 that Campbell will be stepping down as the Mets director and CEO, effective June. On March 1st,2017 the BBC reported that Daniel Weiss shall be the acting CEO until a replacement is found, Beginning in the late 19th century, the Met started to acquire ancient art and artifacts from the Near East.
From a few tablets and seals, the Mets collection of Near Eastern art has grown to more than 7,000 pieces. The highlights of the include a set of monumental stone lamassu, or guardian figures. The Mets Department of Arms and Armor is one of the museums most popular collections. Among the collections 14,000 objects are many pieces made for and used by kings and princes, including armor belonging to Henry VIII of England, Henry II of France, Rockefeller donated his more than 3, 000-piece collection to the museum. The Mets Asian department holds a collection of Asian art, of more than 35,000 pieces, the collection dates back almost to the founding of the museum, many of the philanthropists who made the earliest gifts to the museum included Asian art in their collections
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