Mysterious Ginevra of Leonardo da Vinci in Washington DC

 Ginevra de’ Benci 1474/1478

Leonardo’s portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci is the only painting by the artist in America. The young Florentine lady, who was much admired by contemporaries for her culture, beauty, and character, appears on the front of a double-sided wooden panel. She sits before a juniper bush, on evergreen that not only provides a dark foil to enhance her pale features, bu also alludes to Ginevra’a name: the Italian word for juniper is ginepro.

On the back of the panel a wreath of laurel and palm branches encircling a juniper spring is depicted. Entwined around the plants is a scroll with a Latin inscription meaning “Beauty Adorns Virtue.” Together the plants and the text present an emblematic portrait of Ginevra: the laurel and palm are common symbols for intellectual and moral virtue, and the Latin word for beauty artfully twines about the juniper.

The wreath is truncated at the bottom, indicating that the panel was cut down at some time in the past. Her portrait on the front of the panel may originally have included the sitter’s hands. Despite its less than complete state, the picture is very well preserve.

Ginevra de'Benci 1474/1478
Portret Leonarda przedstawiający Ginevra de 'Benci jest jedynym obrazem artysty w Ameryce. Młoda florencka dama, podziwiana przez współczesnych za jej kulturę, piękno i charakter, pojawia się na froncie dwustronnego drewnianego panelu. Siedzi przed krzakiem jałowca, na zimozielonym, który nie tylko zapewnia ciemne tło, aby poprawić jej bladość, ale także nawiązuje do imienia Ginevry: włoskie słowo na jałowiec to ginepro.
Z tyłu obrazu przedstawiony jest wieniec z laurowych i palmowych gałązek otaczających wiosenny jałowiec. Wokół roślin znajduje się zwój z łacińskim napisem „Piękno ozdabia cnotę”. Razem rośliny i tekst przedstawiają symboliczny portret Ginevry: laur i palma są wspólnymi symbolami cnoty intelektualnej i moralnej, a łacińskie słowo „piękno” pomysłowo owija sie wokół jałowca.
Wieniec jest ścięty u dołu, co wskazuje, że obraz został kiedyś obcięty. Portret mógł początkowo zawierać dłonie Ginevry. Pomimo tego, obraz jest bardzo dobrze zachowany.


Information about the painting comes from the museum's publication.
Informacja o obrazie pochodzi z wydawnictwa muzeum w Washington DC.

Freer Gallery of Art - in search of a peacock

The Freer Gallery

An exceptional and amazing gallery in the center of National Mall in Washington DC. 

This gallery houses the remarkable collection of Asian art.

The Freer Gallery contains also significant collection of American art with the famous Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room by American artist James McNeill Whistler.

In the Freer Gallery there are also over 26,000 objects dating from Neolithic times 
to the early 20th century.

               

"Before the Peacock Room became a work of art by James McNeill Whistler, it was the dining room in the London mansion of Frederick Leyland. Its shelves were designed to showcase the British shipping magnate’s collection of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. Whistler completely redecorated the room in 1876 and 1877 as a “harmony in blue and gold.” Leyland was far from pleased with the transformation and the artist’s fee. He quarreled with Whistler, but he kept the room intact.

Charles Lang Freer purchased the room in 1904. He had it taken apart, shipped across  the Atlantic, and reassembled in his home in Detroit, Michigan. There, he gradually filled its shelves with ceramics collected from Syria, Iran, Japan, China and Korea. For Freer, the Peacock Room embodied his belief that “all works of art go together, whatever their period.”

Whistler’s extravagant interior has been on permanent display here since the Freer Gallery of Art opened in 1923. Located between galleries of Chinese and American art, the Peacock Room remains a place where Asia meets America."

information from Freer Gallery of Art

Charles Lang Freer - Museum founder was an American industrialist well known as a collector of Asian art.

The Freer Gallery has a great collection of Japanese screens. Nearly 200 screens are on the permanent rotating exhibition. They are dated from 15th century to the 19 century. 

Spring blooms in cherry blossoms on Japanese screens at the Freer Gallery of Art

Snow Japanese screens at the Freer Gallery of Art

The arts of South Asia and the Himalayas in Freer Gallery

The South Asia and the Himalayas is a region of many religious traditions and is the birthplace of Hinduism and Buddhism. 

This region includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet.

In Freer Gallery there are more than 1,200 objects showing the rich and diverse sacred traditions

of this region.

 

Early 2nd century BC - A Royal Couple Visits the Buddha

1097 - Shrine with Twenty-Four Jinas

Four Scenes from the Life of Buddha - late 2nd-early 3rd century

12th century - Nandi the Bull

National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC

The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution presents  the history of aviation and space travel. There are hundreds of amazing aircraft, spacecraft, missiles, satellites, and other aeronautical wonders, many of them literally hanging from the ceilings of this very interesting place.

The Gallery Apollo to the Moon represents manned space program beginning with Project Mercury (1961), then the Gemini Project (1965-66) and the Apollo Program (1967-1972). 

Apollo 17 was the last manned exploration of the Moon.

Polish engineer and scientist Mieczysław Bekker had a great part in the success of lunar landing programs. Mieczysław Bekker and his team designed and constructed the Lunar Roving Vehicle which was used by missions Apollo 15, Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 on the Moon.