Among the Ruins and the Forest Passage

Roman Theater in Taormina by Louise-Joséphine Sarazin de Belmont
currently on view at the Morgan Library and Museum 

"It shows a healthy instinct that today’s youth is beginning to show new interest in religion. Even if the churches should prove themselves unable to cater to this instinct, the initiative is important because it creates a framework for comparisons. It reveals what was possible in the past, and hence what one may be justified in expecting from the future. What was possible is still recognizable today in only a single limited field, that of art history. Yet the futurists were at least right about one thing: that all the paintings, palaces, and museum cities mean nothing in comparison with the primal creative force. The mighty current that left all these creations in its wake like colorful seashells can never run dry—it continues to flow deep underground. If man looks into himself, he will rediscover it. And with that he will create points in the desert where oases become possible." ~ Ernst Jünger, The Forest Passage, Telos, 2013, p.64

Navigating the ruins of modernity we sometimes catch glimpses of perennial beauty amidst the decadence and squalor. In New York City, an effort must sometimes be made to reach these rapidly disappearing oases, but the reward is often edifying and invigorating. In fact, the experiences are usually heightened by the clashing and antithetical tumult surrounding them.

Sign promoting the Into the Woods
exhibition outside the Museum

Consider our recent venture to the Morgan Library and Museum in Midtown Manhattan to view the ongoing exhibits: Sketching Among the Ruins and Into the Woods: French Drawings and Photographs from the Karen B. Cohen Gift. A cultural refuge of relative peace and tranquility, the stark contrast between the museum and its modern urban surroundings quickly becomes evident when entering the galleries. The artwork on display evokes a long-forgotten world, seemingly alien to many of the current denizens of Gotham.

Located in the lower level gallery is Sketching Among the Ruins, a small collection of oil paintings by various landscape artists jointly given to the Morgan Library and Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2009 by Eugene V. Thaw, a trustee of both institutions. 

Focusing mainly on studies of the Roman Campagna and its many ruins, the highlight of the collection is clearly The Roman Theater in Taormina, Sicily (1825), by Louise-Joséphine Sarazin de Belmont (1790-1870). Oil on paper and mounted on board, the painting was executed during her travels through the Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies between 1824 to 1826.

Interestingly, she made a similar painting in 1828 with a more active Mount Etna and two Capuchin monks giving alms to a beggar. This version can be found in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

Roman Theater in Taormina by Louise-Joséphine Sarazin de Belmont
at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

Opposite the landscape sketches in a glass showcase on the wall is A Focus on the Figure: Selections from the Karen B. Cohen Gift. This assemblage of figurative drawings celebrates the 139 works (42 drawings, 95 photographs and two letters) generously given to the Morgan Library and Museum by Karen B. Cohen.

Among the works presented here is a chalk drawing of the Death of Alcestis (ca. 1814) by the renowned French painter Pierre-Narcisse Guérin (1774–1833). A hauntingly beautiful piece, it masterfully depicts the (once-)popular myth of the tragic death of Queen Alcestis, who willingly sacrificed her life in exchange for her husband’s (King Admetus of Thessaly). In the ancient Hellenic world, she came to personify the feminine virtues of selflessness, loyalty and devotion.

Portrait of Mrs. J.P. Morgan, Jr.
by John Singer Sargent

Between the two installations hangs a Portrait of Mrs. J.P. Morgan, Jr. (nee Jane “Jessie” Norton Grew, 1868-1925) by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). The painting is flanked by bronze busts of Anne Morgan (1873-1952), the youngest of J.P. Morgan’s four children, by Malvina Hoffman (1885-1966); and Reverend William Stephen Rainsford (1850-1933), rector of St. George Church in New York City from 1883 to 1906, by Daniel Chester French (1850-1931).

On the second floor, in the Engelhard Gallery, we viewed Into the Woods: French Drawings and Photographs from the Karen B. Cohen Gift, a selection of over fifty works on paper depicting rural landscapes and their inhabitants.

Losing ourselves in the woods, metaphorically speaking, we circled the gallery several times, returning to the most interesting pieces and marveling at the evocative beauty of a bygone age. My favorites were Moonlit Landscape (1862) by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875), Study for Forest of Fontainebleau: Hunters (ca. 1866) by Paul Huet (1803-1869), and Fisherwoman Holding Nets (ca. 1865-75) by Jules Breton (18227-1906).

Fisherwoman Holding Nets by Jules 
Breton, p. 11 of the exhibit brochure

While scrolling through the digitized sketchbook of Charles François Daubigny (1817-1878), which focused on the newly expanded railway that brought 19th-century landscape artists from Paris to the wilds of Fontainebleau Forest seeking unexplored sceneries and agrarian laborers, it suddenly dawned on me that I haven’t taken a proper holiday this year and that Central and Prospect Parks aren’t cutting it lately. I need to pack my sketchpad and set off on a verdant excursion posthaste! 

No visit would be complete without seeing the interior of J. Pierpont Morgan’s stately library and study. Filled with priceless literary works, musical manuscripts, and works of art, the jewels of the collection are the illuminated manuscripts, among which are the Crusader Bible (1240s), Farnese Hours (1546), and Glazier Codex, a 5th century Coptic manuscript containing the first half of the Acts of the Apostles.

Though currently not on view, the library’s collection of Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts and letters from Naples will certainly be of interest to many of our readers. In a cursory search online I found: Fasciculus temporum (ca. 1498); In laudem neapolitane civitatis (ca. 1480); Psalter, prayerbook of Ferdinand I of Aragon (late 15th century); and De sphaera Mundi (last quarter of the 15th century); among many others.

Also in the archives can be found drawings from a veritable who’s who of celebrated artists from the Kingdom of Naples, such as Francesco Solimena, Luca Giordano, Mattia Preti, Francesco de Mura, Andrea Vaccaro, Aniello Falcone, Paolo De Matteis, Salvator Rosa, Massimo Stanzioni, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and Giacinto Gigante.

J.P. Morgan's Library (photo from previous visit)

What’s more, they have a bronze Hellenistic sculpture of Eros holding a torch (second or first century BC), unearthed from a Roman villa at Boscoreale, Naples, and a bronze bust of Alfonso II d’Avalos (1502-1546), Marquis of Pescara and Vasto, by Annibale Fontana (1540-1587).

Running Eros with Torch
(photo from previous visit)

The fact that so many of our ancestral treasures are at our fingertips and readily available for study and research mere miles away is utterly mind-boggling. Alluding to the malicious vandalization of the Archivio di Stato di Napoli by the retreating Germans in late September 1943, a friend pointed out, in a strange twist of fate many of these Neapolitan masterpieces probably survive today because the preeminent American financier and collector J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) accumulated them before the massive destruction of WWII.

Another quick search and I discovered that the Fascículos temporum was acquired at the Aldenham Library sale in London, at Sotheby’s on March 1937; In laudem neapolitane civitatis with the Aragonese library was brought to Spain in 1550 by Ferdinand of Aragon, Duke of Calabria; and the De sphaera Mundi was purchased in July 1910 from Alexandre Imbert (1865-1943), a French antiquarian (born in Naples and based in Rome) who devoted most of his time between 1907-1912 helping J.P. Morgan build his prodigious collection.

I’m not sure if any of these items were once part of the State Archives of Naples, but even if one historical document or drawing was rescued from that spiteful act of barbarity it was a blessing.

 

Sign promoting the Ferdinand Hodler
exhibition outside the museum

Needless to say, art institutions (like all others) are not free from modern decadence, the pernicious long march through them was implacable. Unfortunately, for every Sketching Among the Ruins and Into the Woods, there is a Ferdinand Hodler and Bridget Riley exhibit. It could be these are just reminders that there is no beauty without ugliness or perhaps there’s just no accounting for taste, but I’m inclined to think there is something more insidious behind them. Otherwise, the cultural upheaval we are witnessing in the arts would be inexplicable. 

Maybe it’s just me, but considering J.P. Morgan never collected modern art and there is an enormous amount of unseen treasures kept in storage, I would like to see more of the great bibliophile’s wondrous collection put on display. After all, there is no shortage of museums and galleries in the city to see modern art—heck, just look at every defaced building. This is not to say they shouldn’t have any visiting exhibits, after all, I absolutely loved the Tolkien: Maker of Middle Earth exhibit back in 2019, I just think the installations should just better reflect J.P. Morgan’s grand vision.

Before leaving I grabbed a free Into the
Woods brochure as a keepsake and
bought a handful of postcards from
the gift shop for my collection

Until the progressive rot that poisoned the art world is reversed, I’ll take whatever I can get. These types of exhibitions can still be invaluable connections to our past, with the caveat that you separate them from the modern adulterations surrounding them. For me, they not only serve as a brief escape from the modern world, they are a tangible link to our pre-modern culture, which as an anti-modern is crucial to passing on a healthier and saner worldview to future generations. They should be encouraged and supported whenever possible.

Worth scheduling a visit, Into the Woods: French Drawings and Photographs from the Karen B. Cohen Gift runs till October 22, 2023, and Sketching among the Ruins runs till November 12, 2023.

~ Giovanni di Napoli, July 26th, Feast of Sant'Anna

Upcoming exhibitions:

• Seeds of Knowledge: Early Modern Illustrated Herbals — October 6, 2023 through January 14, 2024

• Morgan's Bibles: Splendor in Scripture — October 20, 2023 through January 21, 2024

• Spirit and Invention: Drawings by Giambattista and Domenico Tiepolo — October 27, 2023 through January 28, 2024

• Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality — November 10, 2023 through March 10, 2024