Creative Artist - Issue 10_

The Sackler Wing of Galleries

This is the first
UK exhibition
to be devoted
to the Swiss
artist Jean-
Etienne Liotard
(1702-1789),
who attained
international
recognition
as one of the
most highly
accomplished
portraitists
of eighteenth-
century
Enlightenment
Europe.

Gallery

L

iotard was the master of pastel on vellum

that few could emulate, and his time in

Constantinople provided him not only with his

own ‘brand’ – Turkish garb and a long beard which

he wore for most of his life – but also subject matter

that contributed to the establishment of the novel

taste for Orientalism.

The exhibition focuses on ive key aspects

of the artist’s career: his time spent in

Constantinople (1738-42); his two sojourns in

London in 1753 and in 1773, when he exhibited

works at the Royal Academy; his engagement with

the royal courts of Europe; and his life in Geneva,

where he settled in1757.

This is a rare opportunity to view a wide

selection of Liotard’s exceptional pastel pieces,

as well as oil paintings, drawings, and miniatures

from public and private collections in Europe and

the UK.

This exhibition was organised by the

Royal Academy of Arts and the

National Galleries of Scotland.

Royal Academy of Art, London

Photo © Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Image

Above: Jean-Etienne Liotard, Laura Tarsi, c. 1741

watercolour and bodycolour on ivory, 9.6 x 7.7cm

Lent by the Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

W

hat makes a French frame French?

Drawn from The Getty Centre’s

substantial collection, this exhibition

presents a survey of the exquisite carved and

gilded picture frames from ive periods—Louis

XIII, Louis XIV, Régence, Louis XV, and Louis XVI.

Tracing their development from restrained to

elaborate, dynamic forms to classically inspired

style, the array presents a splendid compendium

of French design, ornament, craftsmanship, and

construction and gilding techniques.

This exhibition, along with other displays at

the Getty, commemorates the 300th anniversary

of the death of Louis XIV, France’s magniicent

Sun King.

Curators: Davide Gasparotto,

Gene Karraker, and Anne Woollett

1610–1792 The Getty Centre,

Los Angeles

Image

Left: Maurice-Quentin de

La Tour (French, 1704 -

1788)

Portrait of Gabriel Bernard

de Rieux, 1739 – 1741

French

Pastel and gouache on paper

mounted on canvas

Unframed: 200.7 x 149.9cm

Framed (Display): 317.5 x

223.5 x 38.1cm

Drawing with wooden sup-

por t: 18.6kg

Frame Top: 49.0kg

Frame Side A: 31.3kg

Frame Side B: 31.3kg

Frame Bottom: 23.1kg

Chamber with glass: 136.1kg

Accession No. 94.PC.39, ©:

The J. Paul Getty Museum,

Los Angeles

Louis Style: French Frames