Necrophiliacs and dancing bears: meet the wild artists of the Society of Dilettanti
A series of works on show at Sir John Soane’s Museum was funded by an 18th-century group who were truly mad, bad and dangerous to know
20 May 2021 • 5:00am
In their cups: various members of the Society of Dilettanti (1778), as painted by Joshua Reynolds
Credit: Alamy
All the boisterous patrician privilege of the Bullingdon Club crossed with the artistic hunter-gatherer instincts of the Tate trustees: that was, approximately, the Society of Dilettanti, founded in 1734 by some aristocratic courtiers around Frederick, the Prince of Wales who would predecease his father, George II. They had returned reluctantly from their classical tours in Italy “desirous of encouraging at home a taste for those objects which had contributed so much to their entertainment abroad”.
Kasmin exhibits Robert Polidori s photographs of the ancient frescoes found among the ruins of Pompeii
Installation view.
NEW YORK, NY
.- A new exhibition by Robert Polidori presents the artists large-scale color photographs of the ancient frescoes found among the ruins of Pompeii, Italy. Taken in 2017 and exhibited in North America for the first time, the works continue Polidoris lifelong investigation into the spiritual and psychological resonance of architecture and interior spaces. The exhibition is on view at 297 Tenth Avenue in New York from April 22 to May 15, 2021.
Depicted in many of the works in the series is the Villa dei Misteri, a well-preserved dwelling on the outskirts of the city famous for its exquisite frescoes clustered in one room. These artworks, originating from 70-60 BC and restored between 2013-15, are among the best known of the relatively rare survivals of Ancient Roman painting and are understood to portray the rites of a young woman as she is ind
The Daily Universe
Janalee Emmer became the first female director of BYU’s Museum of Art on April 26.
Emmer hopes to showcase new voices and artists that aren’t normally seen in the museum world while continuing the “rich and wonderful traditions” the Museum of Art already has.
Emmer is the fourth director of the Museum of Art, the first female director and the first single director.
“I am really pleased to be the first woman to take this role. I hope it gives young girls, young women and BYU students a signal that there are so many possibilities for them in the future,” Emmer said.
Last modified on Thu 29 Apr 2021 10.52 EDT
It was bought by the National Gallery in the 1820s as a painting by Nicolas Poussin, the 17th-century French master. But The Triumph of Silenus â a bacchanalian revel â has long been relegated to the storerooms, having been repeatedly rejected by some of the 20th-centuryâs foremost experts as a mere copy.
Now doubts about the picture have been dispelled and it will hang in the main galleries with a new label bearing Poussinâs name.
It will also receive pride of place in a forthcoming Poussin exhibition organised by the National Gallery in London and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.