Limoges enamels, named after the town in central France in which they were was produced, are one of the most distinctive art forms of the French Renaissance. Director Ian Wardropper has authored the first book dedicated fully to the important collection of Limoges enamels housed at The Frick Collection. Reflective of the jewel-like character of these exquisite objects, the publication shows the broad range of applications to which this brilliant but delicate medium was applied in 15th, 16th, and early 17th century France: from secular objects, such as portraits, caskets and tableware, to objects of religious association, such as devotional triptychs. Featured in the publication are major examples by some of the leading masters of the art, including Jean I and Nardon Pénicaud, Léonard Limousin, Pierre Reymond, and the Master of the Large Foreheads. In addition to full-page images of 43 key pieces from this collection, each accompanied by a brief commentary and illustrated with new photography, the volume includes an illustrated essay by Wardropper on the wider artistic significance, stylistic qualities, and consummate craftsmanship of the collection, its history, and re-display at the Frick, together with an illustrated glossary of terms by associate conservator Julia Day.
“I have very much enjoyed the chance to spend time studying these brilliantly colored and quite personal works. The French Renaissance was my first specialty, and I hope that this book will entice others to enjoy the art of this period,” said Wardropper. In honor of the publication, which is co-published by D Giles Limited, London, the Frick is creating a special installation in the Enamels Room that will open in mid-September. Works that have not been on view in several years will be shown along with major highlights.
Enamels are composed of powdered glass fused to a metal substrate. Created by adding metal oxides to clear glass when molten, color is affected by both the composition of the glass and the concentration of the metal oxide used, as well as the atmospheric conditions in the kiln. A translucent blue is produced when copper oxide is mixed with an alkali glass composition, while green is produced when it is combined with lead glass. An artist’s palette is restricted to those materials that can survive high temperatures in the kiln.
Sixteenth century Limoges enamels have their roots in the Middle Ages but were unmistakably a Renaissance phenomenon. Artists evolved techniques that permitted an approach closer to painting on wood panel or canvas, and classical mythology and portraits became subjects in addition to religious themes. The growing circulation of woodcuts, engravings, and etchings furnished models to the Limoges artisans who were less innovators in composition than exquisite craftsmen. The craftsmen worked in close family circles within Limoges, but their work was exported throughout Europe.
Henry Clay Frick as a collector of enamels
Collecting decorative arts came late in the life of industrialist Henry Clay Frick (1849–1919). When he moved in 1905 to New York from Pittsburgh (where he had made his fortune in coke and steel), his passion was Old Master paintings. Crowning this activity was the West Gallery of the house he was building on Fifth Avenue, which would be NYC’s largest private space for showing paintings. As plans for the house developed, Frick acknowledged the need to furnish it with works of art comparable to his paintings and so he set out to acquire them. Italian Renaissance chests (cassoni), French 18th-century marquetry and veneered furniture, and Sèvres porcelain began to enter the collection. In 1916, two years after moving into his newly constructed mansion, Henry Clay Frick vacated his personal office to make room for a collection of painted enamels. The majority of Frick’s enamels were actually assembled by the American financier and art collector John Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913). In the first decade of the 20th century, Morgan purchased enamels from several art dealers, including Murray Marks, a partner in Durlacher Brothers, and Charles J. Wertheimer, both in London; the French dealer Jacques Seligmann; and Duveen Brothers in London, New York, and Paris. Morgan’s enamels collection rapidly became one of the most important of its kind in private hands and was on loan to the Victoria & Albert Museum until 1912.
In orchestrating the dispersal of this extraordinary collection after Morgan’s death, Joseph Duveen played an important role in the selection of objects for his clients. In June 1916, Frick acquired from Duveen 40 works from Morgan’s collection. Morgan and Henry Walters in Baltimore were among the first to collect Limoges in America. When Frick was acquiring his enamels, fellow American collectors included William Randolph Hearst (whose works are now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art), Philip and Robert Lehman (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), Peter A. B. Widener and his son Joseph (Philadelphia Museum of Art), and Charles Phelps and Anna Sinton Taft (Taft Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio).
Along with museums in London, Paris, and a few other centers, The Frick Collection stands today as one of the major museums housing important Limoges enamels. Representing most of the notable artists and covering many of the characteristic types and subjects, this New York collection constitutes a comprehensive survey of painted enamels at a distinguished level of quality.
This exquisitely illustrated book with new photography, hardcover volume (80 pages, 75 color illustrations) retails for $19.95, member price $17.96. It has been published by the Frick in association with D Giles Limited and is available at the Museum Shop of the Frick, by phone at 212-547-6848, and through the institution’s website at www.shopfrick.org/index.htm.