Getty Center

The Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, USA, is the current home of the J. Paul Getty Museum as well as a research institute, the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), grant program, and leadership institute. The museum opened on December 16, 1997. It is owned and operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust. Text from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getty_Center

Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe June 17 - September 7, 2003 April 16, 2003 Los Angeles--Some of the most stunning works of art of the Renaissance are among the least well known. They can be found within the pages of illuminated manuscripts, books that were both written and painted by hand. Flemish illuminators transformed the appearance of the illustrated page with a new naturalism and scintillating illusionistic details that captured the imaginations of art collectors across Europe. The international exhibition Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe is the first comprehensive look at the greatest epoch in Flemish illumination. It will debut at the Getty Center from June 17 through September 7, 2003, in its only U.S. appearance before traveling to the Royal Academy of Arts, London. Illuminating the Renaissance features some of the finest and most ambitiously illuminated manuscripts produced between 1470 and 1560 in the region of modern-day Belgium and northern France. The exhibition brings together more than 130 objects from a total of 49 lenders from 14 countries worldwide. This international effort assembles a large body of masterworks that have never been seen together, including dazzling manuscripts, drawings, and paintings from the Getty's collection and the collections of the British Museum and the British Library, London; the Louvre and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. Most of the manuscripts are rarely exhibited due to their fragile nature. "Flemish Renaissance illumination is so refined in style and so sumptuous in color that it can take one's breath away," says Deborah Gribbon, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. "The Getty's collection of Flemish manuscripts is among the best in the world; and now, after years of work by curators at the Getty and at the British Library, we are able to assemble the most beautiful and important Flemish objects produced over a period of nearly 100 years. Visitors will find this exhibition a revelation. It opens up a new perspective on the Renaissance." The remarkable period of Flemish illumination covered in the exhibition marked the last great phase of the art form, before the rise of the illustrated printed book made books produced by hand obsolete. Flemish illuminators introduced into their works a painterly mastery of light, texture, and space, and displayed an unsurpassed naturalism in their miniatures. Flowers, jewels, and other objects cast their own shadows, creating the illusion that they were laid directly onto the page. This sense of naturalism is one of the greatest artistic achievements of its time. "Poised on the cusp between the medieval and modern worlds, Flemish illuminators bridged both eras, playing a pivotal role in an interchange between manuscript illumination and other visual art forms, particularly painting," says Thomas Kren, curator of manuscripts at the Getty Museum. "In the process, they left an indelible mark on art history. This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see the works of great illuminators and painters side-by-side, including masterpieces by such celebrated figures as Rogier Van der Weyden and Pieter Bruegel the Elder." Innovators of this new style, including artists such as Simon Marmion, the Vienna Master of Mary of Burgundy, and Simon Bening, worked under the patronage of the most powerful ruling families of Europe. The pages of their manuscripts captured the glamour of court ceremony with sumptuous colors and depictions of finely woven brocades and extravagant jewels. A luxurious Flemish manuscript was a vehicle of politics, social status, and piety. In Alexander Takes the Hand of Roxanne, an image from a history of Alexander the Great that was made for the Duke of Burgundy, the artist pays great attention to the details of the magnificent court costumes, and to the exquisite features of the noblewom

Title: Christ in Majesty Artist/Maker: Unknown maker, Limoges School Culture: French Place: France (Place created) Date: probably 1188 Medium: Engraved and gilt copper, champleve enamel, and colored glass Dimensions: 45.4 cm (17 7/8 in.) Department: Sculpture & Decorative Arts Classification: Sculpture Object Type: Sculpture Object Number: 2007.6 The son of God is represented seated on heaven's throne, with his right hand raised, palm faced outward with three fingers extended. This gesture communicated a particular message to medieval Catholics in Western Europe. It is part of an iconographic pose called in Latin the "Maiestas Domini," or "Christ in Majesty," to symbolize his role in presiding over the human souls of all time. Images like this decorated altar frontals in Romanesque churches as a somber reminder of the coming Day of Judgment. In this gilded copper representation, Christ holds a jeweled Bible and his feet rest on an ornate enamel plaque. This Christ in Majesty served as the centerpiece of an ensemble of 52 saint and apostle figures. Together they were commissioned for the high altar of a cathedral in Orense, Spain, a stop along a famous pilgrimage route. Artisans in Limoges, France, a renowned center for the production of enamel, created this plaque and its ensemble. Most of the surviving figures lack inset pieces of glass that decorate Christ's tunic, but have similar, bead-like eyes. Visually they all relate to one another, with highly ornamental enameled backgrounds, similar to the plaque at Christ's feet. Their patterns are also dark and light blue, with white, gold, green, and red-brown accents. Text from: www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/239081/unknown-maker-limoges-school-christ-in-majesty-french-probably-1188 This figure was formed from a single sheet of copper hammered on the reverse side to create the raised design in front. Features such as the beard, mustache, and folds of the tunic are etched into its surface. Large areas of gilding have worn away, primarily on the raised surfaces, suggesting that this object was touched over many centuries by the faithful who prayed before it.

Title: Saint Sebastian Artist/Maker: Unknown maker, German Culture: German (?) Place: Germany (Place created) Date: about 1520 - 1530 Medium: Colorless glass, vitreous paint, and silver stain Dimensions: 19.5 x 1 cm (7 11/16 x 3/8 in.) Department: Sculpture & Decorative Arts Classification: Decorative Arts Object Type: Stained glass Object Number: 2003.67 Text from: www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/220333/unknown-maker-german-saint-sebastian-german-about-1520-1530

Title: Plate with Hero and Leander Artist/Maker: Unknown Culture: Italian Place: Faenza, Emilia-Romagna, Italy (Place created) Date: about 1525 Medium: Tin-glazed earthenware Dimensions: 3.8 x 44 cm (1 1/2 x 17 5/16 in.) Inscription: Inscription: Marked with a swan on the reverse. Department: Sculpture & Decorative Arts Classification: Decorative Arts Object Type: Plate Object Number: 84.DE.113 An unknown artist painted the center of this large display plate with a scene of the lovers Hero and Leander, who lived on opposite sides of the strait separating Asia and Europe. According to this myth, every night Leander swam to visit his beloved in her tower. When Leander was drowned in a storm, Hero threw herself into the sea in despair and also drowned. Leander is painted three times on this plate, so that his story unfolds in a continuous narrative. The tower from which Hero watches Leander's approach rises awkwardly from the sea; its lower half is visible beneath the painted water. The artist miscalculated the composition and had to paint over part of the tower in order to widen the patch of water enough to show Leander both drowned and swimming. This interesting mistake results from the artist's unwillingness to completely wash off the entire scene and start again, which would have been the only way to make imperceptible changes after having applied pigments and glaze. Text from: www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/967/unknown-maker-plate-with-hero-and-leander-italian-about-1525