Rienzi is the house museum and collection of European paintings and decorative arts at the MFAH. Our articles highlight elements of the collection, discuss additions and changes to the house or gardens, and review events held at Rienzi for those of you not able to be here in person. Feel free to e-mail rienziblog@mfah.org with questions, comments, and suggestions. Welcome!
Posts Tagged Painting, page 2
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03 JulTue / 2012
This summer we are wishing "buenas vacaciones” to one of Rienzi’s paintings: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s The Nativity is on holiday, loaned to the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, Spain. This three-part blog series discusses The Nativity and its unusual medium, and chronicles the painting’s journey overseas to the Prado with Rienzi’s director, Katherine Howe.
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19 DecMon / 2011
For some, the Christmas season is not only a very festive time of year, but one of devotion and reflection. Rienzi has several paintings pertaining to the reflective nature of Christmas. One of these paintings is Saint Joseph and the Christ Child, painted by the Italian Guido Reni between 1638 and 1640, is on view year round in Rienzi's Library.
Reni created many remarkable devotional paintings during the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Against his father’s wishes, Reni became an...
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15 DecThu / 2011
This past Tuesday, Christie’s New York auction house held a sale of Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry, 80 pieces totaling a whopping $116 million. At the top of that list, was a necklace featuring one of the most celebrated pearls known in the world – La Peregrina.
The pearl is familiar in Rienzi’s gallery, where it is prominently depicted in a full-length portrait of Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain from 1605. The jewel made its way to...
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07 JulThu / 2011
If you step into the Breakfast Room at Rienzi you might come across two guests of the house – Sir Francis and Lady Dashwood have been residing along the far wall for the past few months. Sir Francis and Lady Dashwood at West Wycomb Park, by Nathaniel Dance from 1776, is part of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Collection managed by the MFAH, and is on temporary loan to Rienzi.
We are lucky to host such a prominent...
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01 JulFri / 2011
One of the challenges in designing the interior of Rienzi’s foyer has been that the room is asymmetrical, with sharp bend midway down the hall. In order to preserve the look of an eighteenth century room, we sought to create a balanced the hallway featuring furniture and paintings from the Neoclassical era.
The foyer has traditionally featured a pair of gilded pier tables, one of the best examples of Neoclassical design in Rienzi’s collection. Just as...
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22 AprFri / 2011
Of the many examples of English portraiture in Rienzi’s collection, a favorite is that of Rienzi’s youngest sitter, Esmé Stuart, 5th Duke of Lennox and 2nd Duke or Richmond—a grand title for a small boy of about 3 or 4 years old. The painting, attributed to Jan Weesop, a Flemish painter active in England around 1650, was the topic of a recent Gallery Talk in Rienzi's Ballroom.
Helga Aurisch, curator of European art at the MFAH, spoke...
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