Museum Acquires "Holy Family"

The Georgia Museum of Art recently acquired “Holy Family,” an oil-on-copper painting by an artist in the circle of Lavinia Fontana (1552 Bologna – 1614 Rome). Purchased in honor of former museum director William Underwood Eiland and his late partner Andrew Ladis, the work showcases Fontana’s influence and impact in Bologna and beyond. Ladis taught art history at the Lamar Dodd School of Art from 1987 to 2007, where his scholarship focused on Renaissance artists. Together with Eiland, he helped make the University of Georgia and its art museum well known for research on Italian art of the period.

Fontana trained with her father, Prospero Fontana, and quickly achieved independent success in Bologna, a city that boasted a thriving artistic scene. From the 1580s until the early 1600s, Fontana was the portraitist of choice among Bolognese nobility. Later, when she moved to Rome, she became a painter at the papal court and the recipient of numerous honors. Her legacy extended beyond her lifetime and Italy, and her art has sparked renewed scholarly attention and collector interest; a major exhibition, “Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, Rule Breaker,” was held at the National Gallery of Ireland in 2023.

This painting shows the lasting impact of Parmigianino (1503 – 1540), an artist known for his graceful and inventive compositions who had been active in Bologna and whose work Fontana would have surely studied. The work also points to the influence of Northern Italian artists such as Antwerp-born painter Denis Calvaert (1540 – 1619), who apprenticed under Fontana’s father and specialized in paintings on copper.

This oil resembles one of Fontana’s paintings of the same subject, also on copper, and was likely made by an artist working within her close circle. Mary, standing at the center of the composition, turns her head toward the sleeping infant Jesus while lifting a translucent veil to cover him. The young St. John the Baptist holds a reed cross and bows over the child, while St. Joseph appears in the left background in prayer. This image beautifully evokes both the tender bond between mother and son and the Christ Child’s destiny. The small scale further enhances the intimate nature of the scene and suggests that it was created for private devotion. The artist masterfully rendered the lavish quality of the figure’s garments, and the copper support lends a particular luminescence to the picture.

Curious about other recent acquisitions? In 2021, an exhibition at the museum entitled “”Inside Look: Selected Acquisitions from the Georgia Museum of Art” showcased many of the new acquisitions that were meant to fill gaps in the museum’s permanent collection. The exhibition was a collaboration among all of the museum’s curators that showcased the museum’s growing collection:

The exhibition “Inside Look: Selected Acquisitions from the Georgia Museum of Art” highlights works of art recently added to the museum’s permanent collection, many of which are on view for the first time. The exhibition, shown throughout five galleries, was a collaboration among four of the museum’s curators: Nelda Damiano, Shawnya L. Harris, Asen Kirin and Jeffrey Richmond-Moll.

The gallery of Russian works, which are gifts from the Belosselsky-Belozersky family and recent acquisitions added to the collection of Bill Parker, displays portraits ranging from miniature to large and from formal to intimate. The display features paintings, prints and photography. Kirin, the Parker Curator of Russian Art, said the variety of types of portraits allows for the “opportunity to look into the phenomenon of the portrait and see its broader cultural meanings.” In developing his part of the exhibition, Kirin explained that his main priority was to “always opt for the display that provides the richest context to appreciate the complexity of the meanings conveyed by portraits.” For this reason, the exhibition includes photographs next to the portraits, adding to the art historical study of portraiture.

Another section of the exhibition highlights some of the museum’s works by Black artists. The works range in style from abstraction to folk art. “The variety reflects the growth of interest in those [African American] artists in private collections over the last few decades,” said Harris, the Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Curator of African American and African Diasporic Art. The commentary accompanying these works expands this sentiment, emphasizing the museum’s efforts to share diverse traditions in American art, which has involved increasing its collection of work by Black artists.

“Inside Look” marks the first time a large selection of photographs by Arthur Tress and Milton Rogovin donated in 2020 are on view at the museum. Collectively titled “Images of Appalachia,” they document similar communities in Appalachia during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Richmond-Moll, curator of American art, said he chose to display the photographs by Tress across the gallery from those by Rogovin “as it allows for paired perspectives of a particular place in time, while also allowing viewers to discern the nuances and differences in their photographic style and approaches to the same subject matter.”

The exhibition also features photographs by Lewis Morley that capture well-known names and faces of the 1960s, such as Eartha Kitt, Anthony Hopkins and Peter O’Toole. These photographs are surrounded by 21st-century contemporary works, all of which have some sort of 3D element to them. Damiano, the Pierre Daura Curator of European Art, explained that she approaches curation as crafting a visual argument and the idea of putting celebrities who construct their public perception in dialogue with contemporary art was “visually very compelling.” Damiano also spearheaded the acquisition of 10 Sophie Taeuber-Arp prints, made possible by funds given by Martha Randolph Daura, which are also included in “Inside Look.” The exhibition will be up through Sunday, January 30, 2022.

In conjunction with the 2021 exhibition, Shawnya Harris, Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Curator of African American and African Diasporic Art, gave a curator talk focusing on examples from the “Femfolio” portfolio, featuring prints by artists such as Faith Ringgold and Miriam Schapiro. Take some time to learn more about Black artists that have been added to the collection in recent years in Harris’ curator talk.

Zoom Curator Talk: “Inside Look: Selected Acquisitions from the Georgia Museum of Art” from Georgia Museum of Art on Vimeo.

The Georgia Museum of Art acquires new works to add to the permanent collection fairly frequently. If you’re curious about new additions, be on the lookout for more posts here or in our quarterly newsletter, Facet, which you can find at the museum, select venues in Athens and at UGA and in your inbox by joining the Friends of the Museum for free. As a museum, we are always evolving and excited to share new works with museum patrons and visitors. Stay tuned for more new acquisitions in the future. For daily content and updates, follow us on Instagram: @GeorgiaMuseum.

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