- European Paintings Department
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10028
Maryan W Ainsworth
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, European Paintings, Department Member
- Maryan Wynn Ainsworth, Alvaro Saieh Curator Emerita of European Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ... moreMaryan Wynn Ainsworth, Alvaro Saieh Curator Emerita of European Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NYMaryan Ainsworth received her B.A. and M.A. degrees at Oberlin College and her Ph.D. at Yale University. She has spent her entire forty-year career at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where since 2002 she has served as the Curator of Early Netherlandish, French, and German painting in the European Paintings Department. In this position and previously as Senior Research Fellow in the Sherman Fairchild Paintings Conservation Department, she has specialized in an interdisciplinary approach to the investigation of northern Renaissance paintings, uniting technical investigations with art historical inquiries. She has published numerous articles and lectured widely on her work. She is the editor of several books on art history methodology, and a frequent contributor as well as principal author of a number of exhibition catalogues, among them Petrus Christus Renaissance Master of Bruges (1994, Finalist Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Award)edit
This article reconsiders the presentation, function, and meaning of the donors as saints in Gerard David's "Nativity with Donors and Saints Jerome and Leonard" (The Met, 49.7.20a-c).
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Durer and Beyond presents a selection of 100 works from the Metropolitan Museum's outstanding collection of German, Swiss, Austrian, and Bohemian drawings. Featured are numerous drawings by Albrecht Durer, including his celebrated... more
Durer and Beyond presents a selection of 100 works from the Metropolitan Museum's outstanding collection of German, Swiss, Austrian, and Bohemian drawings. Featured are numerous drawings by Albrecht Durer, including his celebrated study sheet with a self-portrait. In addition to drawings by major artists such as Martin Schongauer, Albrecht Altdorfer, Urs Graf, Hans Holbein the Younger, Friedrich Sustris, and Wenceslaus Hollar, the selection also highlights work by lesser known but equally superb draftsmen from the 14th to the end of the 17th century. Richly illustrated and fully documented with artist biographies, comparative illustrations, and enlightening commentary on the variety, quality, and purpose of the featured drawings, this book makes a significant scholarly contribution to a field that has not been widely explored.
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inent painters of the Northern Renaissance. A corpus of technical documents has now been assembled for some of the major Netherlandish artists (Rogier van der Weyden, Robert Campin, Hieronymus Bosch, Gerard David, Petrus Christus, Jan van... more
inent painters of the Northern Renaissance. A corpus of technical documents has now been assembled for some of the major Netherlandish artists (Rogier van der Weyden, Robert Campin, Hieronymus Bosch, Gerard David, Petrus Christus, Jan van Scorel, and Lucas van Leyden among them) that provides essential insights into their working methods and may be used to reconsider basic questions of attribution and dating.2 This informed reassessment of individual works is accompanied by more general queries into the production of paintings in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries in the Netherlands, particularly with regard to the demands of the patron class and to the notion of artistic individuality versus the anonymity of workshop
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Hans Memling was one of the most important, prolific and versatile painters active in 15th-century Bruges, and one of the leading artists of the Early Netherlandish School. Commissioned by Abbot Jan Crabbe, one of Memling's most... more
Hans Memling was one of the most important, prolific and versatile painters active in 15th-century Bruges, and one of the leading artists of the Early Netherlandish School. Commissioned by Abbot Jan Crabbe, one of Memling's most signifcant and erudite patrons, the triptych of the Crucifi xion - in particular its wings, with their complex and meticulously conceived background landscapes and the convincing realism of the portraits - ostentatiously demonstrate Memling's skills and ambitions. Completed around 1470, the triptych was dismembered in the 18th century. Two panels from the altarpiece are among the finest paintings owned by the Morgan Library& Museum, New York, where they are on permanent view in Pierpont Morgan's Study. The exhibition brings together the scattered elements of the famous triptych, reuniting the Morgan inner wings with the central panel now owned by the Musei Civici in Vicenza, Italy, and the outer wings from the Groeningemuseum in Bruges, Belgium. Hans Memling: Portraiture, Piety, and a Reunited Altarpiece accompanies the first museum exhibition to explore the reconstructed masterpiece in context. It has long been observed that the donor portraits are the most outstanding aspect of the Crabbe Triptych, especially the portrait of Anna Willemzoon in the left wing, an extraordinary image of old age, and representative of the merging of the sacred and secular realms that is often present in the work of Memling and his contemporaries. Memling was notable as a painter of portraits, and his work in this field revolutionized portrait painting across Europe. To present the artist's extraordinary ability to capture a likeness, a number of his independent portraits will be examined, including the Morgan's compelling Man with a Pink. The volume also highlights links between panel painting and manuscript painting in 15th-century Flemish art, drawing connections, for example, between the grisaille Annunciation on the outer wings of the altarpiece and the grisaille figures that decorate so many manuscripts painted in Bruges during Memling's lifetime. Underscoring this great artist's impact, the book also examines Early Netherlandish drawings from the Morgan's collection, works ranging from the early compositional studies and fi gure drawings to a group of portrait drawings made in the generation after Memling and under his influence.
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Drawing on the growing interdisciplinary activity and burgeoning scholarship in the field, the essays in this volume offer to shed light on the circumstances underlying the creation of early Netherlandish paintings. The contributors, all... more
Drawing on the growing interdisciplinary activity and burgeoning scholarship in the field, the essays in this volume offer to shed light on the circumstances underlying the creation of early Netherlandish paintings. The contributors, all scholars of Netherlandish art, emphasize the importance of socioeconomic factors, especially the impact of art markets in the late-15th and early-16th centuries on the production of altarpieces. They also focus on information gleaned from the technical investigation of works of art, demonstrating that their meaning often lies in their method of manufacture as well as in the function they originally served for their intended audience. Other topics addressed in this volume include the relationship of text and image, archival work, and economic/art market developments. Each topic is considered in two parts: the first summarizes the history of the approach so far, along with suggested guidelines for current research, and the second charts new territory for future investigations.
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The beauty of art is the result of complex intuitive and cognitive choices made by the artist. Understanding the genesis of these choices can be as illusive as the resulting imagery, but great art seems to initiate in us a curiosity about... more
The beauty of art is the result of complex intuitive and cognitive choices made by the artist. Understanding the genesis of these choices can be as illusive as the resulting imagery, but great art seems to initiate in us a curiosity about the ideas, methods, and materials used by the creators. Connoisseurship in this century has been enriched by the application of scientific-analysis methods. The results of these investigations into the physical properties of art have shed new light on their authenticity and individual histories as well as on the craft in general. Developments in the fields of physics and chemistry have allowed us to understand more about how we perceive and interact with works of art. The articles in this issue of MRS Bulletin describe the choices made by the artist and the techniques used to analyze works of art ranging from cave paintings to pastels on paper.This issue of the Bulletin had its genesis in an interdisciplinary course at Cornell University, “Art, Isotopes, and Analysis.” Stan Taft and James Mayer taught the course with guest lectures by Maryan Ainsworth, Richard Newman, and Dusan Stulik. Michel Menu, Debora Mayer, Dusan Stulik, Richard Newman, and Arleyn Simon have carried on the guest-lecture tradition at Arizona State University (ASU). They also participated in a symposium, “Revelations Beneath the Surface: The Science of Art,” held June 14, 1996 at ASU. The photograph (Figure 1) shows the symposium speakers.
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The essays in this Art Journal defy neat or tidy categorization. The breadth of issues addressed is matched by a breadth of periods, materials, and methods. Indeed, the periods discussed in some of these papers fall outside the nominal... more
The essays in this Art Journal defy neat or tidy categorization. The breadth of issues addressed is matched by a breadth of periods, materials, and methods. Indeed, the periods discussed in some of these papers fall outside the nominal area of the Art Journal, but in every instance wide-ranging methodological concerns are raised. This, we believe, is a function of placing the object itself at the center of investigation. The object and its physical history thus become a source of both broad questioning and detailed inquiry. The disciplines identified in the prosaic title “Conservation and Art History” are served by the various methods represented in these papers. Both are greatly enriched by the efforts, often collaborative, of such investigations.
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ABSTRACT:" This publication is issued in conjunction with the exhibition... held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from March 27 to June 20, 1993"--Tp verso. Includes bibliographical references (p. 385-389) and index.
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Fig. I Diagram of principles of autoradiography. In this crosssection of a hypothetical painting after neutron activation, only paint layer 2 contains radioactive elements (for example, manganese). The following events are shown: a) gamma... more
Fig. I Diagram of principles of autoradiography. In this crosssection of a hypothetical painting after neutron activation, only paint layer 2 contains radioactive elements (for example, manganese). The following events are shown: a) gamma rays (y) emitted from layer 2 in the decay of radioactive manganese escape without interacting with film emulsion; b) electrons (e -) emitted from layer 2 in the decay of radioactive manganese do not reach film emulsion; c) electrons interact with film. After development and fixing, the film will be darkened only in the area directly above the paint layer that contains manganese. An important aspect of this technique is that the paint layer may be either far below or quite near the surface. Even though paint layer 2 is masked from view by paint layer I, its image would be clearly visible on the film. -FILM EMULSION
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Drawing on the growing interdisciplinary activity and burgeoning scholarship in the field, the essays in this volume offer to shed light on the circumstances underlying the creation of early Netherlandish paintings. The contributors, all... more
Drawing on the growing interdisciplinary activity and burgeoning scholarship in the field, the essays in this volume offer to shed light on the circumstances underlying the creation of early Netherlandish paintings. The contributors, all scholars of Netherlandish art, emphasize the importance of socioeconomic factors, especially the impact of art markets in the late-15th and early-16th centuries on the production of altarpieces. They also focus on information gleaned from the technical investigation of works of art, demonstrating that their meaning often lies in their method of manufacture as well as in the function they originally served for their intended audience. Other topics addressed in this volume include the relationship of text and image, archival work, and economic/art market developments. Each topic is considered in two parts: the first summarizes the history of the approach so far, along with suggested guidelines for current research, and the second charts new territory ...
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... The text benefitted from the careful editing of Patricia Godfrey and Barbara Burn, who with cheerful encouragement and great diligence ... Barbara Bridgers and her staff in the Photo Studio, especially Bruce Schwarz,]uan Trujillo, and... more
... The text benefitted from the careful editing of Patricia Godfrey and Barbara Burn, who with cheerful encouragement and great diligence ... Barbara Bridgers and her staff in the Photo Studio, especially Bruce Schwarz,]uan Trujillo, and Susanne Cardone, provided an invaluable ...
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This article discusses changes made to paintings subsequent to their completion and the possible reasons for these alterations. It also considers the interpretation of works thought to have been altered but were not. The key to these... more
This article discusses changes made to paintings subsequent to their completion and the possible reasons for these alterations. It also considers the interpretation of works thought to have been altered but were not. The key to these interpretations is the technical examination of the paintings as a starting point for discovery.
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These excerpts from the 2014 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, exhibition catalogue "Grand Design: Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Renaissance Tapestry" include Maryan Ainsworth's essay on "Pieter Coecke van Aelst as a Panel Painter" and... more
These excerpts from the 2014 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, exhibition catalogue "Grand Design: Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Renaissance Tapestry" include Maryan Ainsworth's essay on "Pieter Coecke van Aelst as a Panel Painter" and seven catalogue entries on his paintings. See Elizabeth Cleland in Academia.edu for her opening essay "Recognizing Pieter Coecke van Aelst". The entire catalogue may be consulted at MetPublications at metmuseum.org.
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This is a technical study of Gerard David's workshop practices, focusing especially on the collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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This 2001 publication considers methodological approaches to early Netherlandish painting: the relationship of text to image, archival work, economic/art market developments, and technical examinations. Each of these areas is considered... more
This 2001 publication considers methodological approaches to early Netherlandish painting: the relationship of text to image, archival work, economic/art market developments, and technical examinations. Each of these areas is considered in two parts: the first summarizes the history of the approach thus far, and the second is a response concerning unexplored territory for future study. It is relevant for today's ongoing evaluations of approach to art history.
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This is a chapter from the 2004 exhibition catalogue "Byzantium, Faith and Power" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In an essay and twenty-six catalogue entries, it addresses the influence of Byzantine icons on Early Netherlandish... more
This is a chapter from the 2004 exhibition catalogue "Byzantium, Faith and Power" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In an essay and twenty-six catalogue entries, it addresses the influence of Byzantine icons on Early Netherlandish painting.
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Catalogue of an exhibition held at The Frick Collection (18 September 2018-13 January 2019). This book celebrates the reunion -- for the first time in twenty-four years and only the second time in their history -- of two masterpieces of... more
Catalogue of an exhibition held at The Frick Collection (18 September 2018-13 January 2019).
This book celebrates the reunion -- for the first time in twenty-four years and only the second time in their history -- of two masterpieces of early Netherlandish painting commissioned by the Carthusian monk Jan Vos during his tenure as prior of the Charterhouse of Bruges in the 1440s: The Frick Collection's "Virgin and Child with St. Barbara, St. Elizabeth, and Jan Vos", commissioned from Jan van Eyck and completed by his workshop; and the Gemäldegalerie's "Virgin and Child with St. Barbara and Jan Vos", painted by Petrus Christus. These panels are examined with a selection of objects that place them for the first time in the rich Carthusian context for which they were created. Drawing on recent technical examination and new archival research, this volume explores the panels' creation, patronage, and function in their rich Carthusian context.
The Carthusian order was one of the most austere strands of late medieval monasticism. In apparent contradiction to this asceticism, Carthusian monasteries became remarkable repositories of art, a material accumulation often attributed to lay patronage. However this explanation overlooks the ways in which the Carthusians themselves commissioned and used images for their daily devotions and liturgy, as well as their commemoration. The story of Jan Vos and his patronage of Jan van Eyck and Petrus Christus fundamentally informs our understanding of the role played by images in shaping monastic life and funerary strategies in late medieval Europe.
This book celebrates the reunion -- for the first time in twenty-four years and only the second time in their history -- of two masterpieces of early Netherlandish painting commissioned by the Carthusian monk Jan Vos during his tenure as prior of the Charterhouse of Bruges in the 1440s: The Frick Collection's "Virgin and Child with St. Barbara, St. Elizabeth, and Jan Vos", commissioned from Jan van Eyck and completed by his workshop; and the Gemäldegalerie's "Virgin and Child with St. Barbara and Jan Vos", painted by Petrus Christus. These panels are examined with a selection of objects that place them for the first time in the rich Carthusian context for which they were created. Drawing on recent technical examination and new archival research, this volume explores the panels' creation, patronage, and function in their rich Carthusian context.
The Carthusian order was one of the most austere strands of late medieval monasticism. In apparent contradiction to this asceticism, Carthusian monasteries became remarkable repositories of art, a material accumulation often attributed to lay patronage. However this explanation overlooks the ways in which the Carthusians themselves commissioned and used images for their daily devotions and liturgy, as well as their commemoration. The story of Jan Vos and his patronage of Jan van Eyck and Petrus Christus fundamentally informs our understanding of the role played by images in shaping monastic life and funerary strategies in late medieval Europe.
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Discusses the Eyckian Crucifixion drawing recently acquired by Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen