Edward Mitchell Bannister (1828-1901) was born in New Brunswick, Canada. His parents were Edward Bannister of Barbados and Hannah Alexander of Canada.  After their deaths, Edward and his younger brother lived on the Ontario farm of the wealthy lawyer and merchant Henry Hatch. Bannister attended an integrated school in Canada. His interest in art was stimulated by copying art in the Hatch home. He and his brother emigrated to American and settled in Boston in 1840. They worked on ships as mates and cooks. By 1850 they were working as barbers, giving them status as middle-class professionals.

Bannister desired to be an artist, but his mixed-race status prevented him from attending art school. He was self-taught: “Whatever may be my success as an artist is due more to inherited potential than to instruction…All I would do I cannot…simply for the want of proper training.” Nevertheless, his talent was recognized; he received his first commission in 1854 from the African-American Dr. John V. DeGrasse “Rhode Island Seashore” (1856) (17.5’’x22’’) is one of the earliest extant Bannister paintings. His love for the sea coast and Rhode Island landscapes was his constant subject, and it proved very popular. The panoramic view of the seashore includes sand, sea, waves, rocks, green lawn, a dock, two people walking at the edge of the waves, and several holuses nestled among trees under a light filled sky. He was influenced by the French Barbizon landscape painters. The canvas shows his mastery of the media and the subject matter.

Bannister married Christina Carteaux (1819-1902), of African and Native American descent. She was a well-known hairdresser and wig maker. Christina was an entrepreneur who owned several hairdressing establishments. Her substantial income allowed Bannister to become a full-time painter by 1870. They settled in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1869. Bannister credited her with much of his success: “I would have made out very poorly had it not been for her, and my greatest successes have come through her, either through her criticisms of my pictures, or the advice she would give me in the matter of placing them in public.” Bannister received national recognition when “Under the Oaks’’ (1876) (location unknown) won first prize at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition.

“Oak Tree” (1876) (34’’x60’’) (Smithsonian American Art Museum) is thought to be similar to his first-class prize winner, and it is the standard comparison used today. Bannister landscapes evoked the things he loved about the New England countryside. The male figure with the fishing pole, walks down the path toward the row boat. Bannister often depicts cows grazing in a field. The entire panorama pays attention to local flowers, distinct types of trees, and an interesting distant landscape.

The award for “Under the Oaks” caused controversy. Bannister submitted the painting anonymously as “Number 45,” with only a signature. Banister wrote, “I was and am proud to know that the jury of award did not know anything about me, my antecedents, color or race. There was no sentimental sympathy leading to the award of the medal.” He described the experience when he entered the exhibition hall to claim his prize: “As I jostled among them, many resented my presence, some actually commenting within my hearing in the most petulant manner: What is that colored person in here for?” At the judge table, he was ignored until he told them who he was. “[A]n explosion could not have made a more marked impression. Without hesitation he apologized to me, and soon everyone in the room was bowing and scraping to me.” Some wanted the award to be rescinded, but they were overruled.

Bannister purchased the sloop yacht Fanchon in the 1880’s, and spent his summers painting and sailing from Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, to Bar Harbor, Maine.

“Moonlight Marine” (1885) (22”x30’’) is an example of Bannister’s continued love of the sea and the various moods of nature. The prosperous shipping industry along the coast gave him ample opportunity to paint dramatic seascapes in daylight, or as in this case, at night. The moon, surrounded by hazy clouds, provides just enough light to see the silhouette of the distant ship and to light the breakers that crash against the rocks in the foreground.

From 1876 onward, Bannister received many commissions, won medals, and exhibited widely. He was one of the co-founders of the Providence Art Club (1880), the third oldest art club in America. It was the first to admit women. The Club remains active today.

Bannister did not submit work to the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in1893. The paintings would be pre-judged before they were sent to Chicago. From his experience with an1885 exhibition at the New Orleans Cottom Exhibition, Bannister knew his work would be segregated, and ignored. Bannister and his wife were extremely active in the abolitionist movement. Although they were well known for participating in many abolitionist projects, he did not carry this theme into his paintings. “Hay Gatherers” (1893) (18”x24’’) is an exception. The figures in this landscape are African-American field workers. Art historians speculate that the setting could be the South Country Plantation, Rhode Island’s largest plantation, and where Bannister’s wife was born. Regardless of the location, the painting depicts his later style which trended toward Impressionism. The brush strokes are more suggestive than realistic, the atmosphere is moist. The day is hot and long.

Bannister suffered a heart attack on January 9, 1901, during an evening prayer meeting at his church, the Free Baptist Church. His wife and their extensive circle of friends, black, white, and members of the Providence Art Club, held a memorial exhibition in 1901. “His gentle disposition, his urbanity of manner, and his generous appreciation of the work of others, made him a welcome guest in all artistic circles…He painted with profound feeling, not for pecuniary results, but to leave upon the canvas his impression of natural scenery, and to express his delight in the wondrous beauty of land and sea and sky.” (Exhibition pamphlet)

The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s generated new interest in Bannister’s work, in both his painting and his role in the abolitionist movement. Several exhibitions of his work have been held, and his work can be found in several museums. Many of his paintings are now in the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection in Washington. DC. Magee Street in Providence, originally named after a Rhode Island slave trader, officially was changed to Bannister Street in 2017 to honor Edward and Christina Bannister. The bronze sculpture “Edward Mitchell Bannister” (2023) (Gage Prentiss, sculptor) was placed in Providence’s Market Square in September 2023.

“I have been sustained by an inborn love of art and accomplished all I have undertaken through the severest struggles.” (Edward Mitchell Bannister)

Note: During the Civil War, Bannister painted a portrait of Robert Gould Shaw, commander of the African-American 54^th infantry regiment. Bannister and his wife organized a fair to raise funds to pay the Massachusetts African-American 54^th, 55^th, and 5^th calvary regiments, who chose to go without pay for 18 months, rather than take less than white soldiers. Among other causes, Christina Carteaux Bannister founded a home for Aged Colored Women in Providence for house servants who became too old to work, and who often died alone and in poverty.

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

The violet is the flower for those born in the month of February. The violet is a symbol of modesty, faith, loyalty, love, and devotion. It was mentioned in a Greek text in 400 BCE. The symbol of Athens, violets were grown in special nurseries. Violets play a role in several Greek and Roman myths, including tales of Aphrodite, Apollo, and Persephone.  Although the violet is small, its scent is sweet and powerful, and it was used as a perfume. Pliny and Horace wrote about the sweet scent of violets. Made into a tincture, violets helped with headaches, insomnia, fevers, sore throat, and many infections. The violet was used to make wine, salads, and cosmetics.  The violet first became significant in Europe during the middle-ages.   

“Violet Bouquet” (1505), a watercolor by the famous German artist Albrecht Durer, is one of several detailed studies he made of things he found interesting in nature. The heart-shaped and veined leaves encircle a small bouquet of the five-petaled purple flower. As a result of the small size of the flower, artists have chosen to paint them in a cluster. Leonardo da Vinci, also known for his intense interest in the study nature, made drawings of violets and other flowers.

Violets were often illustrated in early medieval Books of Hours, personal devotional guides commissioned by the wealthy. The books, often dedicated to the Virgin Mary, included flower illustrations, because many flowers were symbolic of Mary’s many virtues. Violets were symbols of Mary’s humility as a result of their small size and because they were purple, the color of royalty. St Bernard (1090-1153) wrote of Mary as “the violet of humility, the lily of chastity, the rose of charity, the Balm of Gilead, and the golden gillyflower of heaven.” 

The painted manuscript page (c.1585) by Jacques Moyne de Morgues is part of Paintings of Flowers, Butterflies, and Insects. De Morgues (1533-1588) was a French artist who in later life moved to England and became a well-regarded botanical artist. The five violets are symbols of Mary and the number of wounds Christ received on the cross. The butterfly is a symbol of Christ’s resurrection.

“Bouquet of Violets’’ (1863) (9.5’’x7.25’’) (watercolor) is by French painter Leon Bonvin (1834-1866). Bonvin was not well known during his short life, but he was appreciated by a prestigious, but small group of connoisseurs and collectors. A bouquet of white and purple violets is placed in a simple glass vase. The white violets, like most white flowers are symbols of innocence and purity.  For Bonvin, a product of the Victorian era, the simplicity of the setting, the small size of the work, and the small bunch of violets, does much to show the humility but respect for the flower. The painting was commissioned by William T. Walters, the father of Henry Walters, founder of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. The works collected by William Walters were placed in deluxe leather-bound albums. He purchased Bonvin’s paintings between 1862 and1891. The Bonvin collection includes 56 watercolors and one oil painting, the largest collection of Bonvin’s work known today. 

“Black Hat with Bouquet of Violets” (1872) is a portrait of Berthe Morisot, painted by Manet. In Victorian France and England, violets were one of the favorite flowers to paint in portraits of young women. Berthe Morisot and her sister were Manet’s students, and he featured her in several of his paintings.  The bouquet of violets is pinned to her jacket, and its simplicity adds a touch of innocence and modesty. Morisot became an important Impressionist artist. As painted by Manet, Morisot is no “shrinking violet.” She confidently confronts the viewer head on.  Portraits by other well-known French artists such as Chasseriau and Tissot, and the American Lily Cabot Perry, include violets as the only accessory.

For those born between February 19 and March 20, the Native American totem animal is the wolf. Throughout history, the wolf has been recognized as a symbol of both good and evil. Native American tribes associate the wolf with loyalty to family, courage, strength, and success, especially as a hunter. The wolf is regarded with respect and reverence, and songs, stories, and dances include wolf medicine. Wolves also are thought to have supernatural powers. 

“Tlingit Wolf Helmet and Collar” (18th Century) (wood, seashells, and mane) was worn when hunting wolves. The fierceness of the image was a tribute to the courage, power, and cunning of the wolf during the hunt. The Tlingit set traps and pitfalls to capture the wolves. After the hunt, they prayed over the dead bodies to ask the wolf spirit to forgive them. Praying to the spirit of the animal to be hunted to give itself to the hunter, or praying after the hunt, was a Native American tradition. 

The story of the founding of Rome begins with the two brothers Romulus and Remus (753 BCE), sons of Mars, the god of war and Rhea Silvia, a vestal virgin. Ordered to be killed by the reigning king, the twins were put in a basket and set adrift on the Tiber River. Tiberinus, god of the Tiber, rescued them, and a she-wolf suckled them. Later, they were raised by a shepherd and his wife. “She Wolf” (5th Century Etruscan) (30” x 45”) (bronze) (Capitoline Museum, Rome) celebrates this story and the wolf who saved Romulus and Remus. The city of Rome was built where they were found. The image of the watchful wolf is a larger-than-life 5th Century Etruscan work. The statue became the iconic symbol of Rome and was placed in a prominent location, duplicated on coins, and continues today to represent Rome.  Romulus and Remus were added by the Italian Renaissance artist Pollaiuolo in the 15th Century. 

With the development of animal husbandry and the raising of flocks, wolf hunts became a necessity. Because wolfs travel in packs, they presented a greater danger to animals. The Roman poet Virgil (70-19 BCE) wrote in the Georgics that a wolf’s howl caused terror and that the frightened bleating of lambs would only encourage wolves. Wolves were cast as evil, cunning, and lacking any moral restraint in the New Testament.  The Book of Matthew 7:15 warns, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” “St Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio” (1437-1444) (fresco) refers to an interesting tale. The Italian city of Gubbio was under siege from a savage wolf who had turned from killing sheep to killing humans. No weapon could kill it. Francis made the sign of the cross and commanded the wolf to stop its attacks. The wolf came up to Francis, lay at his feet, and put its head in his hand. Francis made a pact with the wolf to end the battle with the town, and the wolf agreed. To the people of the town with the tame wolf, Francis said, “How much we ought to dread the jaws of hell, if the jaws of so small an animal as a wolf can make a whole city tremble through fear?” The “miracle” held, and the wolf and the people lived peacefully together. 

In every country where there were wolves, there also were legends of the wolf’s courage, strength, and loyalty to the wolf pack or family.  Fairly or unfairly, the reputation of the wolf as vicious predator has endured throughout the centuries. Ovid’s Metamorphoses (8 CE) tells of the King of Lycaon, a cruel and blood thirsty ruler who challenged Zeus and was turned into a wolf, thus the first werewolf. 

“A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” is a woodcut by Francis Barlow, published in Aesop’s Fables (1687). A wolf found a sheep skin and dressed in it to better kill the sheep. When it was captured, it was hung on a tree for all to see and celebrate. 

In 1973, Congress placed the gray wolf on the endangered species list. As of February 10, 2022, gray wolves in 48 states and Mexico are protected under the Endangered Species Act. The International Wolf Center tracks wolf attacks on humans world-wide. The likelihood of a wolf attacking a human is not zero, but too small to calculate. Wolves in some areas of Europe have been extinct for over a century. The World Wildlife Federation and other organizations have been working to bring wolves back from extinction because they are a necessary part of the biosphere.

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

 

 

Jean Honore Fragonard (1732-1806) was one of the most popular painters of the French Rococo. The court of Louis XV sought painting that depicted a fantasy world of pleasure. Wealthy private patrons commissioned large paintings that depicted lush formal gardens such as those at the Palace of Versailles, inhabited by beautiful, richly dressed people or gods and goddesses enjoying every earthly pleasure. Paintings were in pastel colors that evoked a world seen through rose-colored glasses. The stories ranged from the playful to the delightfully erotic.

The Progress of Love was commissioned by the Comtesse du Barry (1743-1793), the last mistress of Louis XV, for the pavilion at her Chateau in Louveciennes. The first of four canvases is “The Pursuit” (1770-72) (10 feet x 7 feet). Three comely young ladies in light colored silk dresses are enjoying an afternoon in a lavish park. A handsome young man suddenly appears   from behind the pillar supporting a profusion of roses and topped by a large urn with palm branches. With proper courtly grace, he sweeps off his hat and bows, offering the young woman a single pink rose, the symbol of first love. Raising her arms in a moment of surprise, she tries to run away. Her two companions awkwardly try to support her. A fountain at the top right corner of the painting sports two cupids sitting on a dolphin and watching the event. Their positions echo the awkward arrangement of the young woman’s two companions.

The second canvas in The Progress of Love is “The Meeting.” The beautiful young girl, alone in another part of the garden, awaits her new lover for a secret meeting. She looks cautiously to her left to make sure no one is near as her lover climbs over the wall. They are surrounded by clusters of roses, the flowers of love, growing in gardens and pots. A large marble statue of Venus and Cupid stands above them. Venus’s pose suggests she is also on watch, making sure their meeting is not interrupted.

All is well in the third scene. In another part of the garden, the two lovers have spent the afternoon together. The presence of a tambourine and sheet music suggests a musical interlude. The young woman has made a crown of roses, and she is about to place it on her lover’s head. No need for secrecy, their love is an open book. An artist has accompanied them to the garden and is busy making a drawing of the young couple. The pedestal behind them holds the sculpture of a sleeping cupid; his job has been well done.

The final scene depicts the couple happily together. She sits on the base of a large stone column, and he stands comfortably next to her. For the first time they touch, his arms encircling her waist and his head resting on her shoulder. They read love letters. They have settled into a happy state of togetherness. Domesticity and marriage are suggested by the white and tan King Charles Spaniel lying comfortably at their feet. In the three previous canvases, foliage and flowers were set behind the figures. In scene four the figures are set in a sunny area between the trees.

The clothed statue of a goddess, possibly Hera, goddess of marriage and childbirth, looks down on the couple. In the same joyful position as in scene two, Cupid perhaps celebrates a child on the way.

Madame du Barry decided to return the paintings, in effect rejecting them, and ordered a set from Joseph Marie Vien (1716-1809). Her actions have puzzled art historians ever since. Vien painted in the newly popular style of Neoclassicism. Fragonard’s Rococo style was going out of favor. Did the figure in red climbing over the wall in the second scene look too much like Louis XV? The chateau at Louveciennes was Louis’s first gift to Madame du Barry. She was his sixth mistress following the very popular Madame de Pompadour, who recently had died in 1764. Du Barry came from humble origins, but she had become the trend setter for the French court. She was known to meddle notoriously in the details of every work she commissioned, and frequently changing her mind.

Whatever the reason, Fragonard’s The Progress of Love series was rejected.  He was paid in full, but he took the paintings with him. Fragonard painted an additional two large paintings: “Love Triumphant” and “Reverie” and several smaller paintings of cupids. In 1792 Fragonard installed the paintings for the first time in his godfather’s Villa Maubert, in Grasse, France.

J. Pierpont Morgan purchased the paintings in Grasse and hung them in his London house. On his Morgan’s death in 1914, Henry Clay Frick purchased and installed them in a specially designed room in his home in New York City. “Love Pursuing a Dove,” hung over the door at the left of the room, and “Love the Avenger” were included in the installation. Two other Fragonard cupids from the group, “Love as Folly” and “Love the Sentinel,” are hung in the National Gallery in Washington, DC,

Fragonard’s paintings are filled with cupids and flowers, particularly roses. Roses are the flowers of love, but they also have thorns. After the death of Louis XV, du Barry was exiled from the court, and she retired to her chateau at Louveciennes with her companion the Duke of Brissac.  She was caught in the grasp of the 1779 revolution and was sent to the guillotine for treason in 1793. Her last words were, “De grâce, monsieur le bourreau, encore un petit moment!”  “One more moment, Mr. Executioner, I beg you!”

Note: The Frick Museum is currently being renovated, and the crown of the collection, The Progress of Love, will have a prominent place in the collection.

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

    The Chinese New Year, the year of the Dragon, begins on February 10, 2024, and ends on January 28, 2025. There are twelve sacred animals, one for each year, in the Chinese zodiac cycle.  A person’s sign is determined by the year of birth in the twelve-year cycle. There are several colors of dragons that also cycle by year. The most unusual dragon is the wood dragon which appears in the zodiac every 60 years. The Chinese zodiac attributes to individuals born in 2024 charisma, confidence, intelligence, and luck. The wood dragon represents fire, one of the five natural elements. In the year of the wood dragon, the planting of tree is encouraged to replenish the forest. From the beginning, dragons also were associated with water. The ancient story of Four Dragons tells of a blight on the land. Dragons brought water to the dry land, and as a result the four great rivers of China were formed. There are more than forty rivers in China with the word dragon in their names.

Chinese dragons are an amalgam of several animals. Characteristics of dragons include long serpentine bodies with fish scales and sharp claws like eagles, but without wings.  The dragon’s head is like a crocodile’s, with a large bump on the top that enables the dragon to fly. Cow’s ears and multiple antlers of the stag give dragons a remarkable sense of hearing.

The “Bronze Dragon” stands guard in front of the Palace of Gathering Excellence in the Forbidden City in Beijing. The Palace was the residence of one of the most important Chinese women, the Dowager Empress Cixi (1835-1908). The dragon holds a flaming pearl in its left claw. The pearl represents spiritual energy and immortality. Because pearls are white, they represent the moon, thunder, and power. It was believed dragons control not only rivers, but also rain, floods, and typhoons.

Symbol of great power, good luck, and authority, the dragon was associated with the Chinese Emperor, who was called “son of dragon.” The Nine Dragon Wall in Beijing (1406-1420) (Forbidden City) represents the nine sons of the Dragon King, wisest and most powerful of the dragons. The Nine Dragon Wall is made of glazed ceramic tile. It is one of many similar walls that can be found across China.

Two dragons often are seen tossing a ball representing the earth between them. The blue dragon coils above waves of water. The ball representing the earth, surrounded by golden rays, will be passed between the dragons.

More than 50,000 carvings and paintings of dragons can be found on rain spouts, beams, walls, and stairways. The Forbidden City complex covers 178 acres, and there are 980 extant buildings containing 8,886 rooms.

Pairs of Huabiao Columns with depictions of coiled dragons and auspicious clouds stand at the entrances of palaces, tombs, and other important locations across China. This Huabiao column is one of four at the entrance to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The entrance is called the Gate of Heavenly Peace. The dragons are guardians, and they bring good luck.

Although Chinese artists and artisans have depicted dragons for centuries, Chen Rong, a painter and politician of the Song Dynasty (960-1127), is considered to be one of the greatest masters of dragon painting. His “Nine Dragon Scroll” (1244) (ink drawing) (18 inches tall x 49 feet long) depicts dragons flying over mountains, land, and rivers, engaging with each other in a dramatic panorama.

One of the oldest dragon images was found carved on a First Century CE tomb. Dragon images were common on bowls and plates, such as this Dragon from the Ming Dynasty (1426-1435).

Dragon images were woven into cloth. The Woman’s Imperial Longpoa Dragon Robe from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) is one more example of the important role of the dragon in China. Woven of silk satin brocade, the dragons are embroidered with two types of gold threads. This gold dragon is surrounded by blue clouds, the common symbol of the dragon’s ability to cause rain to replenish the earth. The robe contains images of the nine dragons and other imperial symbols.

The dragon is a masculine symbol that represents yang energy of heat, light, and action. The phoenix is a female symbol that represents yin energy of coolness, darkness, and repose. They are the Imperial pair, and together represent completion.

Kung Hei Fat Choi (Best wishes for a happy new year!)

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

Charles Ethan Porter (1847-1923) was born in Hartford, Connecticut. His free African-American family was poor. Illness and the American Civil War took seven of his siblings between the years 1858 and1868. Porter was the first member of the family to graduate from high school (1865). He worked at odd jobs and saved enough money to study painting at the Wesleyan Academy, now Wilbraham Academy, in Massachusetts.  He was at first denied admission because he was black, but later he was admitted. He went on to study (1869-1873) at the prestigious National Academy of Design in New York City. Porter was the first African-American student at the Academy.

Porter’s skill is evident in an early drawing “Civil War Soldier” (1872) (pencil) (8.25’’x 6’’). His brothers Joseph and William enlisted in the Union Army and joined Colored regiments in Rhode Island and Connecticut. Joseph died in Virginia in 1864. The family received a letter from him before he was killed, in which he wrote, “Justice, truth, and right must triumph, though it cost my life and friends.” William contracted a serious case of malaria and was discharged in 1865. Porter’s drawing may not be of either brother, but this sketch of a black soldier warming himself by a fire lets the viewer into a brief moment of the Civil War. The Academy praised Porter’s work. He was one of eight art students whose drawings were mentioned in a May1870 New York Times article about the large student exhibition.

Porter began selling paintings in 1873. One of them is recorded as selling for the very good price of $175. He set up his studio in Hartford in1878, where he specialized in still life. The community was growing, and the educated population appreciated Porter’s classical style. Mark Twain, a Hartford resident, purchased several Porters and hung them in his dining room. “Apples on the Ground” (1878) was not the usual still life painting at the time, but it was a commercial success. He would continue to paint apples throughout his career. The three red and three green apples are arranged by color on a bed of yellow wheat. The composition and subject matter are simple. The apples look delicious.

The prominent landscape artist Frederick Edwin Church saw Porter’s work and visited his studio in 1879. He purchased several paintings and declared Porter to “have no superior as a colorist in the United States.” Art Amateur  (June 1879) reported that “Charles E. Porter, a negro artist of Hartford [makes] admirable pictures of flowers, fruit, butterflies and other insects, all have a finesse and accuracy of touch that would do credit to the microscopic finish of the old Flemish painters.”

Porter traveled to London and Paris to further his studies. He carried letters of introduction from Mark Twain and other prominent Hartford citizens. He enrolled in the French National Academy of Decorative Arts and the Academy Julian. Porter lived near Henri Fantin-Latour, one of the most celebrated French still life painters of the time. Latour encouraged Porter to paint more freely. “Peonies in a Bowl” (1885) (21”x29’’) is one of Porter’s largest works and is an excellent example of his style. Pink and white peonies spill out of a round bowl. The brush was charged with paint, just the right amount to create a fresh, delicate, and appealing petal. Porter often chose a non-distinct container to hold the flowers. It was just enough to let the flowers tumble to the table.

In a letter to Mark Twain from Paris in1883, Porter expressed his thoughts about his art: “I am aware that there are a goodly number of my Hartford friends and others who are anxious to see how the colored artist will make out. But this is not the motive which impresses me. There is something of more importance, the colored people—my people—as a race I am interested in, and my success will only add to others who have already shown wherein they are capable of the same as other men.”

Porter returned home to Hartford in December 1884 because he lacked funds. As he had done before, he held an exhibition and auction of his paintings. A prolific artist, he offered over100 paintings to be sold. The Hartford Evening Post advertised the exhibition, noting the artist’s “broader, freer style.” Porter’s “Thistles with Butterfly” (1888) (20’’x12’’), recently purchased by the Delaware Art Museum, illustrates his new style. The asymmetrical composition depicts thistles and foliage floating on an undecipherable mass of yellow and white paint that transforms into a rich brown background. Two thistles and a Clouded Sulphur butterfly stand out in the composition. Porter’s early paintings often included insects, not a common practice at the time. However, in the 1880s, the study of wildflowers was popular.

When in America, Porter spent the summers painting in the Adirondacks and teaching art classes in Connecticut. Thistles were not a common flower in gardens, but they were found in the wild. Despite their spikey petals, thistles are a source of nectar for bumblebees and foliage for butterfly larvae. Porter may have observed that butterflies are drawn to red flowers.

While in Paris, Porter saw the landscape paintings of the Barbizon and Impressionist painters. On a visit to the Adirondacks in the 1880s, he had thought to concentrate on landscape painting because landscapes brought in more money. He would paint still-lifes only on commission. He painted several landscapes during his career, but they were not as popular as he had hoped. “Autumn Landscape with Pumpkins and Haystacks” (1890-1891) (17’’x23’’) demonstrates his skill. The fields of yellow and orange hay, haystacks, stream, fall foliage, and the barn all convey the quiet beauty of an autumn day.

Unfortunately, Porter’s style of painting and his subject matter were slowly becoming less popular, along with many other artist. His last years were hard. Porter died from kidney disease in 1923 at the age of 75.

Porter was re-discovered by art dealers and art historians in the1980s.  An exhibition at Hartford’s Old State House in 1987 brought Porter renewed attention and appreciation.  By 2008, Porter’s work had entered the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum, and others. The Porter retrospective at the New Britain Museum of American Art (2008) traveled to The Studio Museum of Harlem and the North Carolina Central University Art Museum in Durham. A New York art dealer Michael Rosenfield summed up Porter’s place in art history in 1980s: “If you turn the clock back 30 years, or 20 years, there weren’t so many people interested in African American art, and certainly not historic works.”

Phillip Johnsons Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut presented an exhibition titled A Colored Garden (2022) presenting nine Porter still life paintings. The Glass House, now part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has begun to develop new projects for the Museum. Porter and the Glass House have a reputation for gardens. A new circular garden was designed on the southern meadow with peonies, chrysanthemums, and other flowers featured in the nine Porter paintings. Porter now is considered an American master, a reputation he well deserves.

Note: The Delaware Museum of Art in Wilmington will exhibit the work of Porter and 10 Black artists in 2024.

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

If you were born in the month of January, your birth flower is the carnation, one of the oldest known flowers. The Greeks and Romans made ceremonial crowns of carnations. The name dianthus was given to the flower by Greek botanist and philosopher Theophrastus (371-287 BCE). The Greek word dios meant god, and the word anthos meant flower. Thus, carnations were called the “flowers of the gods” and “flowers of love.”  As a birth flower it represents devotion, love, and fascination. Carnations were mostly pink and were called “pinks.” The scent of the carnation reminded people of cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and thus it also was known as “clove pink.”

Both the Greek myth about the goddess of the hunt Diana and the Christian story of Mary tell of the creation of the carnation. After a bad day of hunting, Diana came across a shepherd piping to his flock. She blamed his music for frightening away the animals, and in anger she took out his eyes and tossed them on the ground. Regretting her actions, she caused red carnations to appear where the eyes fell as a symbol of his innocence. Mary wept as Christ carried the cross, and red carnations grew where her tears fell. In both stories the red carnation is associated with the shedding of innocent blood, and with love.

“Madonna of the Carnation” (1478-80) (24’’x19’’) was painted by Leonardo da Vinci. The Madonna and Child are placed in a Renaissance interior. Double windows behind them open on the Italian landscape stretching toward the mountains. Mary is richly dressed in a red under gown, blue outer gown, and gold scarf. Her hair is set with white pearls, signifying her virginity. A large pin with a mirror-like surface decorates the bodice of her blue gown. The blue color of the gown and the mountains carries throughout the painting. Touches of yellow in the landscape, Mary’s blond hair, and the gold scarf, carry the yellow gold color through the composition.

The two figures create a triangular composition, introduced by da Vinci. The red of her sleeve echoes the curved position of the Child on her lap. The unique bunching of the gold scarf at the bottom, and the folds in Jesus’s flesh, because of the bent positions of his arms and legs, create an interesting match.

The principal figure in the painting is Jesus. Leonardo da Vinci was the only artist who depicted Jesus as a pudgy new born baby. Mary holds a red carnation, the most important symbol in the painting. Jesus is fascinated by it. His eyes are the slightly focused eyes of a new born. He most certainly will grab the carnation and put in his mouth. Catholic belief was that Jesus and Mary both knew His destiny from the moment of His birth. Accordingly, in reaching out for the red carnation, Jesus reaches out to fulfill His destiny. Mary’s face is impassive.

Raphael’s “Aldobrandini Madonna” (1510) (15”x13’’) depicts the same subject, but adds John the Baptist. The triangular composition, then popular, depicts the solemn trio, all wearing halos. Jesus grasps the red carnation, and John the Baptist, carrying a reed cross, reaches up to Jesus. Both accept their roles, and both will die.

In “Still-life with Carnations” (1886) van Gogh paints some of the many colors of carnations. Red carnations, beyond their religious symbolism, mean deep love. Pink carnations, often given on Mother’s Day, represent gratitude and love. White carnations represent purity, innocence, and good luck. The striped carnation is one of the new varieties, and the two multicolored carnations are van Gogh’s idea. French florists carried carnations in the 1800s. The American Carnation Society was formed in 1891.

“Still-life with Carnations” is one of van Gogh’s early works. In Paris for the first time from 1886 until1888, he was leaving behind the dark colors of his Dutch work and searching for the colors he saw in Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. In a letter to their mother (1886), Theo wrote that Vincent was “mainly painting flowers, with the aim of making future pictures brighter in color.” Theo also noted that Vincent’s friends gave him fresh flowers every week to help him with his work. In the still-life, van Gogh has painted the enlarged base of the green flower buds and the swollen sections where leaves are attached to the stems. He was beginning to use thick paint applied loosely. One of van Gogh’s favorite colors, cobalt blue, is used in the glass vase and dashed onto the background and foreground.

If you were born between January 20 and February 18, your Native American totem animal is the otter.  Otters are described as playful, kind, family oriented, creative, sociable, curious, and sometimes mischievous. An early example of the otter in art comes from the Late Kingdom in Egypt. The “Egyptian Otter” (664-30 BCE) is a small bronze sculpture of an otter, standing upright on its hind legs, paws raised, and described as worshipping the sun god while it rises in the morning. Wadjet, a goddess of Lower Egypt, appears in in front of a sun disc as a cobra on the otter’s head. The cobra appears on the crown of the Pharoah as a sign of absolute power, which is derived from the sun.

Otters were a part of many ancient cultures in China, Japan, India, North American. The Christian St Cuthbert (634-687 CE), a monk of Northumbria, was the patron saint of otters. It is said he prayed nightly, standing in the North Sea, while two otters warmed his feet. Otters were a source of food and fur pelts. They also were favored as pets because of their cute faces. The word otter came from Old English and Indo-European words for water.

“Sea Otter, Young Male” (1848) (22”x28”) (lithograph and watercolor) is a print by John Woodhouse Audubon (1812-1862), the second son of John James Audubon. His talent was recognized and encouraged by his father. Father and son took many trips together to study and paint animals, and when the senior Audubon was failing, his son continued painting, printing, and running the company. On their last expedition together in 1843 on the Missouri River, they depicted and documented the four-legged mammals of North American, including the otter.

John Woodhouse Audubon has captured the otter’s streamlined head and body, short legs, and sleek dark brown coat. The otter’s long tale helps propel him through the water. His large webbed feet have sharp claws that help catch fish, but they also are used to pick up sharp rocks and to crack open hard shells. Otters also have a very good sense of smell and hearing, and their whiskers help them sense prey in the water. They can stay underwater for up to eight minutes. Recent studies have discovered otters to be one of the most intelligent of the sea mammals.

The “Sea Otter” (19^th to 20^th Century) (bone) is a common North American animal fetish carving found in many of the Alaskan Tlingit, Haida, and American Indian cultures. Beyond their value as food and fur, they were observed to be happy and adorable. Otter carvings were children’s toys. This small amulet was worn on a cord around the neck. Otters were thought to bring good luck, and their spirit encouraged the wearer to enjoy the simple pleasures in life. If worn by an otter hunter, the amulet would help to draw the otters close for the hunt.

The position of the otter was a significant part of what was thought to be their personality. Otters sleep on their backs in the water. Otters do not have a layer of blubber for warmth. Their thick water-resistant coats, which they spend much of the day grooming, trapping air and heat next to the skin. When they sleep, otters huddle together in pairs or groups and hold “hands” to keep them from floating away in the night. In other words, they love to cuddle. Holding hands for humans is a sign of affection and caring, also one of the important aspects of the otter totem.

How lovable are otters?  “Adeline and Millie” (2022) (bronze) are part of the Otter-ly Amazing Downtown Project in the Riverfront Park on the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Steven and Stewart Wegner, owners of Wegner Metal Arts, created seven bronze otter sculptures for the new park. Their foundry, opened in 1979, casts thousands of works of art. “Adeline and Millie” and the other sculptures are placed in the four-acre Park, and they are part of an interactive program to introduce everyone to the features of the park.  They are the objects of a scavenger hunt, that draws visitors to the features of the park. The Fredericksburg’s Otter-ly Amazing Scavenger Hunt brochure explains, “These furry river dwellers are a crucial indicator of an aquatic ecosystem’s health. Their presence is a sign of good water quality. Thanks to the cleanup efforts from local environmental organizations like Friends of the Rappahannock, otters have started returning to our river! The otter now proudly serves as a symbol of the health and vitality of our city.” (fxbg.com)

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

  

  

Chinese artist Lei Yixin was born in 1954 in Changsha, Hunan Province. His family name is Lei and his given name is Yixin. Lei’s family were scholars. During Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Lei spent seven years being “re-educated” as a farmer, working in the fields. He kept a sketchbook. When he was released in 1978, he presented it as his portfolio to support his application to the sculpture and painting departments of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. Impressed with the high quality of his work, both departments wanted him in their programs. He graduated in 1982 in sculpture. Lei won first prize in national competitions, three years running, and was recognized by the government as a master sculptor with a lifetime stipend. Lei and his workshop produce on average of six sculptures every year, and his works have been placed in over 150 cities.

“Passing Customs” (1999) (bronze) was Lei’s third National Prize and went to the National Art Museum of China. The work depicts three Chinese people who are about to cross the border out of China for the first time. The elderly man ahead of the group is dressed in a suit, but his pant legs are rolled up as a farmer would wear them. He wears sneakers and a baseball cap, and he pulls a small suitcase. He is followed by a man and a woman wearing the same mixed attire. The water bottles and cigarette boxes stuffed in their pockets are things they deemed necessary.  Lei commented, “I saw them when I went through customs and traveled abroad for the first time in my life, to Malaysia in the early 1990’s. Almost all the people around me, and also myself, were like them. I thought it to be a very interesting scene. It showed a phase in China’s history.”

“Liayang River” (2006) (45’ tall) (bronze) is placed in Lotus Square, a commercial area in Changsha, the capital and largest city in Hunan Province. The Liayang River meanders through 67 miles of the province. Lei’s curvy female with long, flowing hair is meant to depict the winding river. The figure is posed as if she is playing the violin, but there is no bow. The lyrical quality of the sound of flowing water is suggested.

The city of St Paul, hosted the first Minnesota Rocks! International Stone Carving Symposium in 2006. Artists from several countries participated. They had six weeks to carve their concepts from a block of Minnesota stone. The competition took place in the open air, and the public was invited to view the work in progress. Twelve of the sculptures were selected to be installed in St. Paul parks. Lei’s “Meditation” (2006) (7’ 7’’ tall) was placed in Phalen Lake Park. The sculpture depicts the elegant, elongated face of an Asian woman. Her shoulder-length hair surrounds her face. Her eyes are closed, and her chin rests on one hand in a meditative pose. Lei’s sculptures in China were considerably larger requiring assistance from his team. He said this was the first sculpture he had carved on his own.

Soon after Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968, a foundation was formed to plan and execute a memorial in Washington, D.C. The international design competition received over 900 proposals from 52 countries. After years, no decision was reached. The foundation finally selected the phrase “out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope” from King’s “I have a dream” speech to be the theme. They also decided the monument would be carved from a white granite found only in China. They were unable to find an artist to create the monument until three members of the foundation from Washington, DC, heard about the “Minnesota Rocks!” competition. They arrived their unannounced. Lei’s “Meditation” caught their attention, and it was decided to offer him the commission. Lei was relatively unknown in the west, but he was named head sculptor in 2007. He said, “At such a core location, carving such a special character is the highest honor for an artist.”

There were immediate protests about the race and nationality of the artist, as had been the case with many memorials. The Statue of Liberty was carved by a Frenchman. The commission in 2007 for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was given to Maya Lin, a woman of Asian descent. Lei was not an African-American, but Chinese, and he had carved Chairman Mao. So, why not an African-American sculptor or at least an American?

The stone selected was white Chinese granite; therefore, the major part of the sculpture was carved in China. A large boulder was cut into three parts. The mountain of despair was represented by two of the boulders. Fourteen quotations from King’s speeches are carved on the walls divided by the path between the two stones. The third stone, set in front of the others, depicts the standing figure of King, moving forward out of the mountains. Lei and his team carved the three major granite blocks and then divided them into 159 separate pieces. They were shipped to the Port of Baltimore, transported to the National Mall, and reassembled. This massive operation was accomplished by Lei and his Chinese team. American stoneworkers protested.

Lei studied hundreds of photographs of King in preparation for the project. His comments on his research reveal the great respect he held for Dr. King: “I can still remember the moment my father put me on his knee and we read the Chinese version of ‘I have a dream’ together. I was 10 at the time.” In the China Daily newspaper of August 2, 2007, Lei said, “I have suffered myself, so I know what suffering is. Though I was not tortured as much as the African-Americans, I can understand how they felt, and I adore the hero who fought for the equal right of all people.” Lei described King as has having on “unyielding spirit.” He was inspired by King’s message “the goal could only be achieved in the way of non-violence, which gave him more pressure and led to his death, but in the end preached a confidence in peace in this world.”

The pose, arms crossed, is intended to illustrate King’s determination. Lei’s original concept of King holding a pen in one hand had to be changed because the architects of the project had made a mistake. Lei had to change the pen into a scroll at the last minute. Both ultimately served to represent Kings writings. The pose of the figure was thought to be too severe and too confrontational because King believed in non-violence.

Lei presented a three-foot model to the committee in 2007. The facial expression on the first model was criticized because several people thought the face looked too Asian. Lei then made several portrait busts of King, each with a different expression. During the process, Lei consulted with the King family, who had final say. Martin Luther King III approved of the portrayal saying, “I’ve seen probably 50 sculptures of my dad, and I would say 47 of them are not good reflections—that’s not to disparage an artist. This particular artist—he’s done a good job.” The memorial was 80% completed when it arrived from China. Lei then finished the work on site. Lei said, “You can see the hope, but this serious demeanor also indicates that he’s thinking.”

The memorial was to be dedicated on August 28, 2011, the 48^th Anniversary of the March on Washington. It was postponed until October 16, because of Hurricane Irene.

One last controversy concerns the quotation carved on the memorial: “I was drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.” These words were spoken be King in a sermon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, two months before his assassination in a1986.  Maya Angelou and others said the truncated quote made King “look like an arrogant twit.” The full quote reads, “Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.” The decision to remove the controversial quote was made in 2012, and Lei returned in 2013 to remove it, carving striations that would blend with the rest of the structure.

“His dream is very universal. It’s a dream of equality. He went to jail. He had been beaten, and he sacrificed his life for his dream. And now his dream comes true.” (Lei Yixin)

Note: The fourteen King quotes are carved into the 450-foot wall of the memorial. The quotes were carved by Nick Benson of Rhode Island, a third-generation stone carver, who is responsible for texts carved at the National Gallery, Frankin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, the National World War II Memorial, and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, and other locations. “

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (1844-1910) was a famous French painter of the Naïve style.  A graduate of Laval High school, he was an average student, but he won some drawing and art prizes. He served in the army beginning in 1863, and then he moved to Paris in1868 to support his mother after the death of his father. He became a customs agent in 1871, and held that position until he took early retirement in 1893. He drew and painted as a hobby until his retirement.

Rousseau began exhibiting his paintings annually at the Salon des Independents, organized in Paris on July 29,1884, in opposition to the formal French Academy. The slogan was “without jury nor rewards.”

“Tiger in a Tropical Storm (Surprise!)” (1891) (51”x64”) is the first jungle scene Rousseau painted. He was inspired by paintings he had seen in the Louvre, exhibitions at the 1889 and 1900 World’s Fairs in Paris, and illustrations in children’s books, magazines, taxidermy, and the Botanical Gardens in Paris. Rousseau was self-taught, the definition of a naïve painter.

The leaping tiger–teeth bared, claws out–focuses on prey that is outside the painting. Rousseau once said the tiger was going to pounce on a group of explorers. Even without the prey, the tiger is ferocious. It leaps through a richly colored jungle of long leaved plants, grasses, and trees with every kind of leaf, and in a rainstorm. To create the rainstorm, Rousseau painted a series of silver streaks running from left to right throughout the scene, the same direction of the tiger’s charge. The composition is held within the canvas by the large, dark green leafed plant at the lower right. “Surprise!” was Rousseau’s original title.

The painter Felix Vallotton commented, ’’…the tiger surprising its prey is a ‘must-see’; it’s the alpha and omega of painting and so disconcerting that, before so much competency and childish naïveté, the most deeply rooted convictions are held up and questioned.”

Rousseau served in the army for four years, and he lived through two traumatic wars, the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) and the Siege of Paris (1871). “War” (La Guerre) (1894) (45”x77”) was described in the 1894 catalogue of the Independents: “War; she passes terrifyingly, leaving despair, tears, ruin all around.” Riding side-saddle on a black horse, War charges through the scene. Her hair in wild spikes, she holds a sword in one hand and a flaming torch in the other. Her white dress, usually a symbol of virginity and innocence, is tattered at the hem. The galloping black horse has a spikey mane and tail. Black tree branches crisscross the blue sky. The clouds range in color from yellow to red.

The gray and brown earth is strewn with corpses. Some are naked, some clothed, and there are amputated limbs. Black crows pick at the dead bodies. Rousseau’s style in naïve. His figures and landscape are poorly painted, clearly not up to realistic Academy standards. However, this painting is neither simple nor unsophisticated with respect to its message.

Rousseau challenged himself with many themes.  “The Sleeping Gypsy” (La Bohemienne Endormie) (1897) (51”x79’’) (MOMA, N.Y.) illustrates his interest in North Africa. Although he was self-trained, he grew as an artist, developing greater technical skills.  The painting appears to be simple, but in fact the composition is complex. The gypsy woman, asleep in the desert, wears a colorful robe of horizontal stripes. Her hair is covered with a shawl, also painted in stripes. Her head rests on a striped pillow.

A walking stick and a lute are placed beside her. The horizontal strings of the lute stand out against the wood, while an orange circle surrounds the sound hole. The placement of the white full moon balances the white body of the lute. The white strings of the lute stand out against the black neck, and the fret board bends at a diagonal. The angle of the fretboard repeats the angle of the gypsy’s arm. A tall orange jug, the vertical stripes of the pillow, and the artist’s signature complete the right corner.

Standing behind the sleeping gypsy is a magnificent lion. Its mane, painted a soft gold color, flows in small ripples from its back to its head. The white color of the eye repeats the shape and color of the moon and the lute. The lion’s front legs are straight and its back legs are bent in the normal position.  The position of the gypsy’s feet repeats the diagonal design, but in the opposite direction. Her toenails stand out against her dark skin like the pegs on the fretboard. The lion’s tail curves upward and ends in a vertical tuft. The painting is a complex and interesting composition of verticals and horizontals.

“View of Sevres Bridge and the Hills of Clamant, Saint Cloud and Bellevue with Biplane, Balloon, and Dirigible’’ (1908) (32’’x39’’) is one of Rousseau’s landscape paintings of Paris and its environs. The inclusion of the three air ships, a biplane, balloon, and dirigible, is unusual, but represents Rousseau’s knowledge and interest in new inventions and current events.    

Rousseau found favor with the avant-garde artists of Paris and with a solid buying clientele. Picasso saw a Rousseau canvas for sale on the street, intended to be sold to a young artist to paint over, and immediately went to meet him. Picasso then held Le Banquet Rousseau described by American poet and literary critic John Malcolm Brinnin as “one of the most notable social events of the twentieth century. It was neither an orgiastic occasion nor even an opulent one. Its subsequent fame grew from the fact that it was a colorful happening within a revolutionary art movement at a point of that movement’s earliest success, and from the fact that it was attended by individuals whose separate influences radiated like spokes of creative light across the art world for generations.”

Among those celebrating Rousseau at Picasso’s party were Fernande Olivier, Guillaume Apollinaire, Jean Metzinger, Juan Gris, Marie Laurencin, Constantine Brancusi, George Braque, Daniel Kahnweiler, and Leo and Gertrude Stein, the crème de la crème of the avant-garde. The 64-year-old Rousseau was the friend of, accepted and admired by, and influenced many of the new artists of the 20^th Century.

Rousseau is most famous for his jungle paintings, but he did not return to them for seven years after his first success.  “Tropical Landscape: An American Indian Struggling with a Gorilla” (1910) (45’’x64’’) (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond) demonstrates his unique ability to combine the new and the old. Rousseau never traveled farther than Paris and nearby towns, but his imagination was unlimited. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show played in Paris in 1889. Indians were in the show, but they did not fight gorillas in the jungle. His jungle paintings include both Botanical Garden species and common house plants. Rousseau stated, “Nothing makes me so happy as to observe nature and to paint what I see.”

“The Dream” (1910) (81”x108’’) (MOMA, N.Y.) is one of Rousseau’s most celebrated paintings: “When I go into the glass houses and I see the strange plants of exotic lands, it seems to me that I enter into a dream.”

The jungle is teaming with animals and bright flowers. A gray bird has settled among the dark leaves, three brown monkeys are perched in the trees, an elephant’s head and trunk are obscured by leaves, an orange crested bird sits on a tree full of oranges, and two golden lions peer through the ferns. An African native plays a flute. Music was another of Rousseau’s great loves. He won prizes in music and art in high school. He played the violin in the streets to supplement his income until his art provided income to cover the cost of supporting his family. Although he did not paint musicians often, his work might be said to have a lyrical, musical quality. He said, “This woman asleep on the couch is dreaming she has been transported into a forest listening to the sound from the instrument of the enchanter.”

In “The Dream,” the nude reclines on a dark red velvet couch with a carved wooden back. Her long brown hair flows over her body. She is buxom and curvy, but far from the reclining nudes of Titian, Rubens, or Ingres. The whole painting radiates innocence, simplicity, and charm.  Art critic Thadee Natanson commented in 1897, “Mention must be made of Monsieur Henri Rousseau, whose determined naiveté manages to become a style…with ingenuous and stubborn simplicity.”

Rousseau suffered from an inflammatory necrosis in his leg, turning into gangrene, and he died of a blood clot on September 2,1910. His funeral was attended by seven of his great friends, including Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Paul Signac, Apollinaire, and Brancusi, who composed the epitaph for his tomb stone;

We salute you Gentle Rousseau you can hear us.
Delaunay, his wife, Monsieur Queval and myself.
Let our luggage pass duty free through the gates of heaven.
We will bring you brushes paints and canvas.
That you may spend your sacred leisure in the
light and Truth of Painting.
As you once did my portrait facing the stars, lion, and the gypsy.

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

According to an early Christian legend, in 38 BCE oil gushed from the ground in the Trastevere (beyond the Tiber) district of Rome. Some early Christians thought this event was the annunciation of Christ’s birth. A second legend states that the oil gushed from the ground on the night Jesus was born. Roman Emperor Constantine made the Roman Empire Christian in 312 CE, and he began construction of Christian churches.  St Jerome (342-420) wrote that people in Trastevere believed the oil spring was a sign of God soon coming into the world. The spring became a meeting place for Roman converts to Christianity. In the 4th Century, Pope Callistus I began the building of Santa Maria in Fons Olei (oil spring). It was completed by Pope Julius I in 340, and it was one of the first Roman churches dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Pope Innocent II (1130-1143) reconstructed the church and named it Santa Maria in Trastevere. The octagonal fountain in the center of the piazza was originally designed by Bramante, the architect of the new St. Peter’s (1506). 

To decorate the enlarged Santa Maria in Trastevere, Pietro Cavallini (1259-1330), an Italian painter and mosaic artist, was commissioned to create mosaics depicting the “Life of the Virgin” in the apse. Very little is known about Cavallini personally, but his work was praised for its technical skill and human qualities.  

In the mosaic at the top of the apse, Christ has raised up Mary to be the Queen of Heaven, and they sit enthroned together. Below, twelve white sheep, representing Christ the Good Shepherd’s flock, walk toward the Lamb of God, identified by the large gold halo. Cavallini’s scenes of the “Life of the Virgin” are below the sheep. The series begins with Her birth at the far left, and end with Her death the far right. The Christmas story begins with the second panel, ‘’Annunciation.’’ 

Following the Byzantine tradition, the “Annunciation” takes place against the golden sky of Heaven. Cavallini depicts a bare-footed Angel Gabriel walking vigorously toward Mary, his multicolored wings stretched behind him. Gabriel’s right hand is raised in greeting Mary. Wearing a gold gown with a blue robe, Mary has been reading, and looks up with surprise. The face of God appears in the blue Heaven. The white dove represents the Holy Spirit. Three green plants grow are symbolic of the presence of the Trinity.  The vase containing three white lilies are symbols Mary’s joy at Christ’s birth, Mary’s sorrow at Christ’s death, and Mary’s glory as she is taken to heaven. The dish of green figs is symbolic of Mary’s divine fertility. 

Cavallini was able to depict credible facial expressions and to give his subjects reasonable body proportions for his time. He also demonstrated his skill depicting an elaborate architectural structure to hold Mary’s chair. Artists’ ability to create three-dimensional images was severely limited at the time. Cavallini clearly had been tackling the technique, and the “Annunciation” shows what he accomplished.

 

Cavallini followed the Byzantine tradition of placing the “Nativity” in a cave, rather than in a stable. The Greek Byzantine artists chose the cave because caves were used for the stables in the east. The eight-pointed Star of Resurrection appears in the blue globe of Heaven. In this setting it is called the Star of Bethlehem.  Having given birth, Mary lies beside Jesus. His halo represents the Trinity. The ox and the ass look at the Child, and He looks back at them. Joseph is portrayed in the classical pose used to represent contemplation.

Above the cave, two angels lean in to witness the scene. A single angel announces the birth to a shepherd, showing him a banner containing the words, “I bring you great joy.” The shepherd’s flock and dog are placed in the foreground. The sheep drink from a stream of water. A shepherd boy pipes a tune. The figures are nestled in a pocket of earth. 

A small yellow building labeled Taberna Meritoria refers to the location of the oil spring and the eventual site of Santa Maria in Trastevere. In the 3rd Century, early Christians asked Emperor Alexander Severus (reign 222-235) if they could build a retirement home for veterans on the site. Cavallini depicted black oil running from the front of the structure. 

 

The shepherd boy, cheeks puffed and eyes wide from blowing, plays his horn for the sheep. They seem to listen intently and perhaps smile.  Cavallini achieves a three-dimensional image by variations of skin tones on the boy’s face, neck, arms, and legs. His fingers are in the correct position for playing the flute. His calf muscles are delineated. His brown boots and purple tunic also have dimension. The white coats of the sheep are shadowed with gray, achieving a shaggy look. A small lamb and ewe, nuzzle each other. Cavallini’s skill is evident.

 

Mary, in her familiar blue cloak, holds Jesus on her lap, although He is suspended not sitting. Still learning to depict human anatomy, Cavallini has not been able to make Mary’s hand support the Child. Unlike other twelve-day old babies, Jesus typically was depicted as physically capable of responding to others. He reaches out His arms and recognizes the Magi. The eldest of the three, with a gray beard and hair, kneels to present his offering of gold. The middle-aged one, dressed in a gold robe, presents a chest of frankincense. The youngest bows and offers a container of myrrh. All three are elaborately dressed, especially in decorative white leggings and jeweled boots. Cavallini has depicted their dignity and their respect.

Twelve days have passed since the Nativity, and Cavallini has taken the opportunity to place the Holy Family in an architectural structure in the scene, rather than in the cave. The eight-pointed star of Bethlehem appears above.  The white marble structure has a Roman round arch doorway with two ledges that project from it. Cavallini has attempted to depict the room behind the door. He was successful in making the façade of the structure three-dimensional. However, all his figures are too large to enter the building. Joseph looks on quietly beside the structure. At the upper left, the walled town of Bethlehem sits on the top of a mountain. The brown road the Magi traveled from the city to see the Child is depicted. Fresh water springs forth at the lower end of the road.  

Cavallini’s commission at Santa Maria in Trastevere was significant because he was one of the most respected artists of his time. Pope Boniface VIII had designated the year1300 to be the first Jubilee of the Church. The churches to be visited by millions of pilgrims were St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s in Rome. Santa Maria in Trastevere was added specifically to include a church dedicated to Mary. Cavallini’s advances in naturalism and perspective influenced artists for decades. Despite his prestige, Cavallini signed his works modestly pictor romanus (Roman painter). 

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.