15th Century sculpture falls from Met Museum doorway
At the Metropolitan Museum of Art last night or early this morning, a late-15th Century glazed terra cotta relief sculpture of Saint Michael the Archangel by Andrea della Robbia “came loose from metal mounts that have long held the framed lunette securely to the wall above a doorway in its European Paintings and Decorative Arts Galleries,” according to a statement issued by the Met.
More details from the museum’s statement:
The 62-x-32-inch relief, which has been on view in its current location since 1996, fell to a stone floor and suffered some damage. Preliminary inspection indicates that the relief has not been irrevocably harmed and that it can be repaired and again presented to the public.
Museum curators and conservators are at work this morning fully assessing the situation, trying to determine the cause of this accident, and considering next steps. The sculpture is expected to be transferred soon to a conservation area within the building for a full assessment, at which time the gallery will be reopened to the public. While the Metropolitan routinely and thoroughly inspects its pedestals and wall mounts to re-confirm their structural integrity, it will initiate a reinvigorated museum-wide examination as expeditiously as possible in the days that follow this unfortunate accident.
The blue-and-white della Robia lunette of Saint Michael, dressed in armor and holding a sword and the scales of justice, was commissioned ca. 1475 for the church of San MicheleArcangelo in Faenza, a small town between Bologna and Ravenna. The church was dismantled around 1798. Later owned by private collectors, the Saint Michael was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum in 1960 at the auction sale of the Myron C. Taylor Collection.
Update: The New York Times has more information, including the detail that the “sculpture and frame rested atop the doorway on a steel shelf, with additional steel bolts to secure the top, and there were no apparent signs of rust or water damage behind the piece.”
Image source: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Andrea della Robbia, 1435–1525
Saint Michael the Archangel
Italian (Florence) 15th century (ca. 1475)
1470 – 1480,
Glazed terracotta
Frame, wood
31-1/8 × 61-7/8 in. (79.1 × 157.2 cm)
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1960
60.127.2
NewYorkology contributor John Rambow is a travel writer and editor based in New York. He's worked for such publications as Gridskipper, Zagat, and Fodor's Travel Guides.
As we slowly (and sweatily) make our way through the heat toward August and the controversial summer Olympics in Beijing, it seems like a good time to take a look at some of the cultural heritage of China and nearby regions. All the Asian art treasures here can be seen without boarding a plane or anything more ambitious than the subway. (OK, there will be a ferry involved.)
Asia Society
725 Park Avenue
Last year the Asia Society announced a new effort to start buying Asian and Asian-American contemporary art, but it will have quite a challenge to match the masterpieces already in its permanent collection, most of which were donated by Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd. Their donation only included 300 objects, but they're broadly sourced -- and choice.
China Institute
125 E. 65th Street (between Park and Lexington)
The gallery at this institution here host changing exhibitions throughout the year. The current one, which opens on 12 June, is devoted to the past, present, and future of Beijing.
Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art
338 Lighthouse Avenue, Staten Island
This unique museum is named for its founder, Edna Koblentz, a woman who changed her name to the manly "Jacques Marchais" in her work as an art collector during the 1920s-40s. Located in the scenic neighborhood that's the highest natural point in the five boroughs, the museum may be the hardest one for most people to get to, but the surroundings are a large part of its beauty. Built with terraced meditation gardens, the museum resembles a Tibetan monastery.
Metropolitan Museum
1000 Fifth Avenue
The Met needs no introduction, but it's a good bet that not even many repeat visitors have ever paid a call on its Chinese Art sections. Among the highlights are a T'ang Dynasy "Seated Buddha" from the 7th century as well as the Astor Court, a re-creation of a scholar's garden made with Chinese materials and craftsmanship. And while you're there, be sure to also check out the South Asian collections, recently the subject of a NYT article about "hidden treasures" in local museums.
Alexander Hamilton's house moved to St. Nicholas Park
The Hamilton Grange finally made its move Saturday, all 298-tons of the historic house.
The national monument was the home of Alexander Hamilton from 1802 - 1804 and the new location is within part of his original property line.
In May at its old home on Convent Avenue, the house was slowly lifted nearly 40 feet in the air on a jenga-like system of steel rails and wooden towers called cribbing. It was moved out into the middle of the street and this past Saturday, rolled around the corner and down the hill where it was slipped into Saint Nicholas Park among tall shade trees, grass and rocky outcroppings.
The next step is to slide the house over onto its new foundation and complete interior and exterior repairs.It will reopen to the public in 2009. (However, the The Friends of Hamilton Grange have filed suit in hopes of forcing the National Park Service to turn the house in another direction.)
NewYorkology toured the site in May with Stephen Spaulding, the chief of NPS’ northeast architectural preservation division.
This weekend's sleepover -- along with the June 20 event -- long ago sold out, but the new open dates are set for four Fridays this summer: July 11, July 25, August 8 and August 15.
The price is $129 per person and that gets you a cot under the museum's famous 94-foot-long blue whale, or next to the Alaskan brown bear, or at the base of a volcanic formation. You need to bring your own sleeping bag and pillow.
It also comes with admission to the IMAX film, live-animal special exhibition and fossil exploration by flashlight. Plus an evening snack and light breakfast.
The sleepovers are only open to kids 8- to 12-years old, but one adult is required for every one to three children.
The Bronx Zoo also does a couple Family Overnight Safaris during the summer -- you bring your own tent for that one -- but the June 14 event has filled up and there's a waitlist for September 20.
The Central Park Zoo hopes to resume its Snooze in the Zoo program in fall, but no dates are scheduled for this summer, a spokesperson told NewYorkology.
Shoppers' update: Monogramouflage, Opera Shop sale
The Metropolitan Opera Shop will close its online operations June 20 "for an update." Leading up to that, you can get 33 to 67 percent discounts on all CDs and DVDs.
The Brooklyn Museum's Louis Vuitton shop is already selling out of some of its new Monogramouflage stock, but more is on the way. (The apparently hard to track down direct line for the LV shop is 718-783-1690.)
The Library Shop is offering 20 percent discounts to all Friends of the Library through June 13. Even if you're not a member, check out their exclusives page, which features a Reading Room Ceiling box, a poster map of Central Park in 1863, and replicas of the Reading Room lamps, (pictured.)
The Times Square Virgin Megastore, -- which calls itself "the largest entertainment store in the world!" -- will close in the first quarter of 2009, Reuters reports. (Previously, Feb. 1 was announced as the closing date for the Union Square megastore.) "We bought the Virgin business to wind it down to get a hold of the real estate," Vornado's executive vice president told Reuters.
Boing Boing raves about Idlewild Books a new travel bookstore north of Union Square that shelves guidebooks with travel literature related to that place.
Carefully-edited kitsch shop Mr. Pink is closing on July 31st, Racked reports.
Speaking of pink, New York's second Kira Plastinina store is under construction at 22 W. 34th St., according to Racked.
Ivanka Trump's new Madison Avenue shop carries "a well-curated collection of diamonds, black onyx and pearls" says Time Out.
A slew of stores are renovating their NYC flagships, including Saks, Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Lord & Taylor, Bergdorf Goodman and Ralph Lauren, Women's Wear Daily reports. (via Shophound.)
Barneys is also looking at opening a store on West 13th Street, according to The Real Deal, (via Shophound.)
Long lines for free culture seekers at Museum Mile Fest
Huge crowds turned out for the 30th annual Museum Mile Festival, as lines snaked down the blocks for the nine Upper East Side museums that opened their doors for free.
The Neue Galerie Museum for German and of Austrian Art, which is only open for free one day a year, had about 500 people in line at one point -- starting at the 86th Street entrance near Fifth Avenue and stopping just a few feet shy of Madison.
The star at the Neue, which charges $15 for admssion, is “Gustav Klimt: The Ronald S. Lauder and Serge Sabarsky Collections" exhibition. The exhibition runs through June 30, but Klimt's "Adele Bloch-Bauer I" is on permanent display.
Most of the other participating museums are open for free for a few hours each week or operate on a suggested donation admission. See the current list of NYC museums with free hours.
Many New York City museums set aside at least a few hours each week when the public is allowed in for free.
That's in addition to the museums that are always free, or operate under a not-well-advertised “suggested donation� admission, which allows everyone to pay whatever admission price they like anytime. For example, at the Met Museum, you're required to pay only a penny for full access, but their website does carry this request: “To help cover the cost of special exhibitions, for which there is no additional charge or special ticketing, we ask that you please pay the full suggested amount.�
Tuesdays Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free all day Tuesday, all year around (normally $8) China Institute Gallery - free from 6 to 8 p.m. (normally $7) Wave Hill gardens - Free all day during off-peak months (January–April, July–August, November–December) and free 9 a.m. to noon during peak months (May–June, September–October) (normally $6) Morgan Library & Museum - Free access to the McKim rooms (Mr. Morgan’s library and study) from 3 to 5 p.m. (full museum access $12)
Neil deGrasse Tyson's office at the American Museum of Natural History has sent over the dates for Manhattanhenge 2008, when the sun sets in alignment with Manhattan's street grid.
From the e-mail:
For Manhattan, a place where evening matters more than morning, that special day comes on Thursday, May 29h this year, one of only two occasions when the Sun sets in exact alignment with the Manhattan grid, fully illuminating every single cross-street for the last fifteen minutes of daylight. The other day is Saturday, July 12th. These two days give you a photogenic view with half the Sun above and half the Sun below the horizon -- on the grid. The day after May 29th (Friday, May 30th), and the day before July 12 (Friday, July 11) will also give you Manhattanhenge moments, but instead you will see the entire ball of the Sun on the horizon -- on the grid. My personal preference is the half-Sun.
As you may know, had Manhattan's grid been perfectly aligned with the geographic
north-south line, then the days of Manhattanhenge would be the spring and autumn
equinoxes, the only two days on the calendar when the Sun rises due-east and sets
due-west. But Manhattan's street grid is rotated 30 degrees east from geographic north, shifting the days of alignment elsewhere into the calendar.
... IMPORTANT: For best effect, position yourself as far east in Manhattan as possible.
But ensure that when you look west across the avenues you can still see New Jersey.
Clear cross streets include 14th, 23rd, 34th. 42nd, 57th, and several streets adjacent to
them. The Empire State building and the Chrysler building render 34th street and 42nd streets especially striking vistas.
Arrive a half-hour earlier than the times given below.
MAY
Half Sun on grid: Thursday, May 29 -- 8:17 p.m. EDT
Full Sun on grid: Friday, May 30 -- 8:16 p.m. EDT
JULY
Half Sun on grid: Saturday, July 12 -- 8:25 p.m. EDT
Full Sun on grid: Friday, July 11 -- 8:24 p.m. EDT
Hamilton Grange literally up in the air for June 7 move
Hamilton Grange is on the move -- and that's no easy task for a 298-ton, 206-year old house wedged between a Romanesque church and a 1911 apartment building.
The house -- Alexander Hamilton's house to be precise -- is currently jacked up three stories in the air on thick wood beams in such a way that "it looks like they're playing Jenga," as one amused gawker pronounced into his cell phone while watching the work Friday afternoon.
The gawkers are indeed welcome on Convent Avenue, map, as the crews slide the planks in and jack up the house, slide the planks in, and jack up the house, leading up to the point this afternoon where they will slide the house out into the street. The next step is a delicate move around the corner at 141st, down a short block and then a right turn into St. Nicholas Park, map. That move, around the corner and down the hill, is set for June 7, from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
This past Friday, NewYorkology was lucky enough to take part in a tour of the exterior of the site with Stephen Spaulding, the chief of the architectural preservation division of the National Park Service's northeast region.
Here's a video clip of Spaulding explaining part of the Jenga-like process:
The Federal-style house was designed by City Hall-architect John McComb Jr. though it's clear that Hamilton himself had a hand in the process Spaulding said, as there is evidence of changes made during construction. "The house really reflects Hamilton," Spaulding said.
Hamilton, a Founding Father, first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and co-author of The Federalist Papers also founded the Bank of New York and the New York Post.
The Grange, named for Hamilton's grandfather's estate in Scotland, was the only house Hamilton ever owned, and unfortunately he only lived there two years as his plans were interrupted by that infamous 1804 duel with Aaron Burr across the Hudson in Weehawken.
The current move, which will keep the Grange on Hamilton's original property, aims to return it to a setting that replicates the original, which had front and back porches surrounded by greenery. The house - which was originally located on West 143rd Street (about a block and a half away from its current site,) was first moved in 1889 to save it from demolition. Eleven years after that first move, there was already public pressure to move it back. "It's almost a traditional use of the Grange to try to move it," Spaulding joked to his tour group, which was thick with experts in Manhattan history and architecture, including Manhattan borough historian Michael Miscione who assembled the group.
The original location afforded Hamilton views of the Hudson and Harlem Rivers, and was situated on the main road linking Albany to New York City. By carriage, it would have taken Hamilton abut an hour and half to reach Manhattan, Spaulding said. (The new location offers no river views, but you can see the cranes constructing the new Yankee Stadium.)
Parade of Ships underway in NY Harbor for Fleet Week
The parade of ship for Fleet Week 2008 took place in the New York Harbor this morning.
Click the video above to see the flyover from the Statue of Liberty toward the Hudson. They're Strike Fighter Squadrons VFA-143 and VFA- 211 out of NAS Oceana Virginia, according to the Navy news release.
