A true revelation, this exhibition is the first in France devoted to Renaissance jewelry, forty after that organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 1980 under the title of “Princely Manifice: Court Jewels of the Renaissance, 1500-1630”.
Could it take place elsewhere that at the Hôtel d’Etretat, the most beautiful building linked to pastel, built from 1555? Impossible. The Bemberg Foundation Allied at the National Museum of Renaissance – Château d’Écouen, also an exceptional monument of the architecture of the French Renaissance. The exhibition takes place from the April 4 to July 27. It is in the same event vein that was the exhibition, in 2016 in these places, of the treasures of the German goldsmith of the 16th century.
The Bemberg Foundation and her director Ana Debenedetti are particularly grateful to the National Museum and its director Thierry Crepin-Leblond as well as to the curator in charge of the goldsmith’s collections, Julie Rohoualso a scientific commissioner of this exhibition for the loan of his Renaissance jewelry fund, one of the most important in France. These parts have an average of four to five centuries, and we are “baba“ of admiration in front of each. But if you want to appreciate them even more, you must have the entrance to the catalogue, outstanding Moreover, in which each part presented is explained, detailed to the accidents. Indeed, we would almost forget that these masterpieces of goldsmithery present a certain fragility which, over the centuries, has not facilitated the maintenance of their integrity. With the work, you will then become unbeatable on each element of the collection presented. As it is a part of the complete collection you will only have to go to the Château d’Écouen to see the rest. But before, you will have the obligation to see or review each of these wonders and take advantage of the scenography that highlights them so intelligently. In a word, it’s five stars.
We do not forget the fragility of each of these parts, the modifications he has undergone, from its creation and during its path traveled to us. We will be surprised to be able to admire it again. We suspect that he was able to serve as an adornment but also as a currency of exchange as a table present suggests so well. We are re -taking in other times that the jewel was not reserved only in the fairer sex and that the man wore jewelry and showed them that it was rings, necklaces and others. Thus, from the jewelry, we will be interested in fabrics, clothing to enhance them, new treatments of precious materials as well as those concerning precious and semi-precious stones. It will be necessary to dwell on the tables presented, invaluable if one thinks of the past time. And if we linger on today’s consumer goods, we will not fail to be surprised that some are still there and can make our admiration, even dazzle us.
The exhibition begins with a very beautiful painting of a Dutch goldsmith, who knows, perhaps Bartholomeus J-Jansz van Assendendelft? One among his colleagues and companions and apprentices, who participated in the new impetus in the manufacture of jewelry in all their forms with the new size of the diamond which, by simple pebble or almost gave it this new brilliance, this final brilliance which completely modified the ordering of stones, gems and other elements.
Take the case of this portrait of Cleves Sibylle which is part of the exhibition and at the same time which is part of the collection of the Foundation since 1997. It is a perfect summary of so many lessons. This oil on wood is from Lucas Cranach the old and dated 1535 with a perfectly established provenance, which is not always the case! More than four hundred years for all those exposed … We are fascinated by the adornment, carried indifferently by men as by women, the pendant, the pearls in abundance. We are educated on the character, his social position, his uses and his beliefs. The renaissance jewel is a kind of mirror from its owner. To the city as in the court, signetic swines, pendants with initials or insignia are added and thus reflect the identity.
We can distinguish the so -called feeling jewelry brought during weddings or engagement. Loyalty is translated by parrots or doves or joined hands in faith. There are protective and use jewelry without forgetting those that can have a hygiene function as a toothpick or cure-ear, yes! Worn like jewelry by women and men. Without forgetting the smells necessary for various titles and the managers conveyed in pendants and buttons. It is necessary to purify the air, to remove the miasmas. And the perfume is never in the skin.
Devotion jewelry is not well seen by the church but are diverted and brought to the glory of God which is related to the importance of the jewel, the size of such or such precious or pearl, or dimensions of the cross. But we do not forget the rosaries, the pendants-religions. Protestantism and Catholicism will compete at this level and Savonarole will have a certain aura by preaching the destruction of everything that can constitute this magnificence before ending miserably hanged at the top of a pyre.
THE Memento Mori also had their hour of glory in Renaissance societies and were also entitled to an exhibition here itself.
But, the exhibition would be said, incomplete if it was not mentioned the art of the false! This is the case with this during which long considered to be the archetype of the renaissance jewel is now attributed to Reinhold vasters, goldsmith, restaurateur and active counterfeit in Aix-la-Chapelle between 1853 and 1909. He collaborated with a man named Spitzer, one of the most important art traders, collector and merchant. A kind of luxury crook, but great culture! Capable of demanding that we age this or that enamel, to remove a stone to age it for a few centuries, etc … furiously captivating !! You will also have to look at another during: the nave of love, or another called Saint Georges fighting the dragon, all this universe where the counterfeiters have as much talent as the artist recognized from where all the knowledge and insight of the one who must isolate one of the other. I recommend that you exercise on the pendant in the shape of a dromedary or that of the parrot in a circle.
The catalog will prove to be a high quality precious help: it is undeniable.
It is time to close these few lines but let us also note this portrait of a gentleman, an oil on wood of a French anonymous anonymous, an incredible work, the perfect reflection of the splendor of the beautiful, the work in the clothes themselves, in that of the jewelry, darker, hill cape, sword pommel, gloves, toque, double-row collar, medallion, rings … (Sorry for the reflections on the painting, which will motivate you even more to go and see more closely !!!).
Michel Grialou
Fondation Bemberg
Expositions
