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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

A Visit to the Ringling Museum


Last week my friends Samson, Sue and Marie celebrated my birthday by taking me to the John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art, in Sarasota, Florida. It was built by the circus mogul to house his own collection of art, and opened to the public in 1931. John Ringling suffered financial setbacks during the Great Depression, but borrowed and persevered to complete the museum as a tribute to his then recently-deceased wife, Mabel.




As one wanders through the museum, it's immediately apparent that John Ringling liked all things Baroque, and he liked things on a BIG scale.


He bought lots of architectural details as he traveled through Europe (while also searching for prospective circus acts), and he sometimes bought entire rooms. This is a portion of the drawing room that came from the 1895 New York mansion of Mrs. Astor. It's in the Louis XV style and closely resembles several of the king's private quarters at Versailles.


Throughout the galleries, almost every passageway features monumental Baroque door frames or equally ornate columns.


Knowing John Ringling's taste and history, I was interested in this set of paintings that once graced an archway in the Church of Santa Croce in Reggio Emilia, near Bologna. It occurred to me that Ringling most probably bought the paintings unframed, and then had his own circus carvers create the carving that fills the arched space.


He did, after all, have access to the very best carvers in his own business. What do you think?


Did I mention that Ringling liked Baroque and BIG? The centerpiece of the museum's collection is a series of paintings that Peter Paul Rubens executed as cartoons for giant tapestries. The series is based on the story of the Eucharist. Now take a good look at the upper corners.


Here Rubens has very cleverly designed the scene to be a tapestry within the painting, which means that the final product would be a tapestry within a tapestry, a brilliant conceit, for sure.


I fell in love with this still life from the bottom corner of another cartoon; it probably represents one per cent of the entire painting, but it's a masterpiece unto itself.

As we left the museum to wander the rest of the grounds, we went a teeny bit astray and discovered something that most museum visitors will never know — hidden behind all the buildings is a statuary graveyard! And of course, because I love the illusion of antiquity, I had to record the scene for you.


My next posting will be on the house that John Ringling built for himself. And what a house it is!
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16 comments:

  1. Hello Mark:
    Big, Bold and Baroque....three words and we fell in love instantly. Yes, the Ringling Museum would be exactly our kind of place to visit. So much to see and such an eclectic collection. What a wonderful birthday treat!

    And, the architectural graveyard is so very atmospheric. How we too should have loved to wander amongst the pieces of statuary, imagining that we were following in the footsteps of Ringling with all the thrill of the circus and the intrigue of discovering new treasures on our travels!

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  2. Hello, Jane and Lance:

    It's interesting to look at high-brow art knowing (or at least imagining) the perspective of a circus magnate. Oversized, bold and bright all come into play, while if one looks at the collections of Mellon or Morgan, one might think more of small jewels. But then, I probably wouldn't have made that observation at all if I hadn't known Ringling's business.

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  3. Hi, I'm new to your blog and enjoying it. I love the statuary graveyard--that's one of my favorite things to see when wandering around Rome :-)

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    1. Hello, Deborah, and thanks for visiting my blog! I spent a week in Florence, but did not get to Rome, so I am very envious of your experiences. Stay tuned to the next posting of Ringling's house, which is decidedly Venetian.

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  4. Dear Mark - sending you belated birthday greetings.
    Your collages are great, and I have in turn tried to put into practice your advise to me re:collages.
    I am so pleased that you showed us the corners of the Rubens, what an incredible work of art. I too admire that detail of the still life.
    I wonder if there are wealthy people today, collecting in the same way as these earlier entrepreneurs did, who will in turn leave their collections for future generations? The main person that comes to my mind is Andrew Lloyd-webber who has a marvellous collection of Pre-rhaplite and Victorian paintings which he has promised to the nation.
    Did you by any chance come across the Wright of Derby painting at the Ringling?

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    1. Dear Rosemary - Thank you for the greetings; like ERII, I enjoy a season of celebrating, and much longer than four days!

      I work in the Adobe PhotoShop program, so I used picmonkey for only the statuary graveyard image. I made two collages in picmonkey, then spliced them together in PhotoShop.

      I knew you were going to ask about the Wright of Derby painting, and I didn't see it! But I must confess that we didn't make it all the way through the galleries, in part because my friends and I had an extended lunch midday. We all agreed that we would go back in July, though, when the Museum hosts a show on Japanese Art Deco (!), so maybe I'll see Wright then.

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  5. How I've always wanted to visit -this is magnificent! When I make it there I'll have to remember the statuary graveyard.

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    1. Hi, Stefan - You'll have to be a good detective to find the statuary graveyard! I haven't mentioned that the Ringling grounds also contain a circus museum. My favorite part — or at least the most memorable for me — is General Tom Thumb's miniature carriage.

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  6. Dear Mark,
    I just discovered your blog via Rosemary's site. I started blogging in February, and I am really enjoying it. Your blog title brought me over as I've always wanted to visit this home / museum. For many years, I worked at the Smithsonian Museum, and my manager was from Sarasota. He would always tell me about the Ringling Museum. I can't believe all those statuary / architectural odds-and-ends are just lying back there! What treasures! I'd love them for my antiques shop. Looking forward to your post on the house.
    Cheers from DC,
    Loi
    Tone on Tone

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    1. Dear Loi,

      I'm so glad you visited my blog! Working at the Smithsonian would be a dream job for me, and if you've looked at enough of my blog, you know I enjoy frequenting antique shops. Those old capitals would make great table bases, wouldn't they? I was most attracted to that eagle.

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    2. Mark, the eagle caught my eye as well! I love all things related to or depicting eagles. I used to collect Americana, and had lots of "eagle" items: statues, weathervanes, metal plaques, etc. I still can't believe those items are just laying there. Kind of amusing and strange! I will read check out your older posts.

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    3. Dear Loi - I meant to welcome you to the world of blogging. I've found that it's a very satisfying way to connect with a lot of interested and interesting people.

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  7. I'm constanlty amazaed at the number of museum you have in the US. I had no idea that Rubens painted on that scale how does an artist see the painting in its entirety? Like everyone moved and fascinated by statuary graveyards

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    1. It would certainly have been interesting to watch Rubens at work. One can imagine that he must have constantly been walking a good distance away from paintings in progress.

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  8. Hello Mark,
    Had my Ruffnerian fix and as usual, i'm filled with inspiration and contentment. Aren't you a lucky guy to have a custom made bag from Mrs. D! (actually it's well deserved). In regards to the archway painting that was re-framed - brilliantly done! A masterpiece framing a masterpiece.
    Anyes
    XX

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    1. Thanks for your nice compliment, Anyes, and I am thrilled to own a Mrs. D. original. You're the first to comment on that arched carving within the frame — I have a strong sense that Mr. Ringling art directed that framing job.

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