Saturday, February 6, 2016

European artifacts of curiosity, 15th-20th centuries

Giovanni Bernardino Azzolino
Damned Soul
1620s
miniature wax relief
Victoria & Albert Museum

These are pieces that have got isolated from any others that are like them. Each one of such orphans can sometimes speak in a voice all the more spontaneous and idiosyncratic when the chorus of context happens to be absent.

French sculptor
St. Roch
early 16th century
carved & painted oak
Metropolitan Museum

Netherlandish sculptor
Statuette of a Male Saint
c. 1610
carved boxwood
Victoria & Albert Museum

Italian engraver
Woman in Chariot pulled by Centaurs
c. 1599-1622
engraving
Metropolitan Museum

Oscar Gustave Rejlander
Ariadne
1857
albumen silver print
Metropolitan Museum

Staffordshire pottery
Reclining Lucretia
c. 1800-1830
Victoria & Albert Museum

Tina Modotti
No. 1
1925
platinum print
Getty

Achille Etna Michallon
The Tiber with the Temple of Vesta & the Ponte Rotto, Rome
early 19th century
drawing
Metropolitan Museum

Eugène Atget
Vieille Empire
1902
albumen silver print
Getty

Venetian furniture-maker
Rococo Commode
c. 1745-50
painted oak
Getty

Venetian foundry
Baroque Door Knocker with figures of Prudence & Fortitude united by Eternity
late 16th century
bronze
Metropolitan Museum

Bartolommeo Melioli
Portrait Medal of Francesco II Gonzaga
before 1484
bronze
Victoria & Albert Museum

Julia Margaret Cameron
Cupid & Psyche
1864-65
albumen silver print
Victoria & Albert Museum

Gaetano Giulio Zumbo
Damned Soul
c. 1700
miniature wax relief
Victoria & Albert Museum