Flashback Friday: Last Summer’s Exhibition, ‘Gilded’

As we prepare for the opening of our summer exhibition, Great Provenances: Exceptional Antiques from Notable Collections, we thought it was fitting to have a brief travel back to last summer when we hosted our exhibition, Gilded: Golden Treasure of Georgian Furniture.     For the exhibition last summer, we ran a series entitled 'Anatomy of an Exhibition.'  …

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The Tradition of the Torchere

The term torchère comes to us from France and translates to 'torch lamp.'  Its purpose is simple (to hold a lamp or light), yet its form is often elaborate and highly decorative.  This painting of Medea, the granddaughter of the sun god Helios in Greek mythology, by the Dutch artist Paulus Bor in the 1640s places …

Anatomy of an Exhibition: Halfway There!

It is hard to believe we are now halfway through our exhibition, Gilded: Golden Treasures of Georgian Furniture.  For our next Anatomy of an Exhibition feature, we are focusing on the exhibition as it looks today.  The exhibition has been a great success so far, with curious and enthusiastic visitors each day, including museum curators, international …

Gilt Gesso: The Technique from A to Z

With our exhibition on gilt gesso furniture now underway, it is time to dig deeper and focus on the extraordinary and fascinating technique behind gilt gesso decoration. Gesso is a type of plaster that is prepared of finely ground chalk and a type of adhesive and water.  This material is applied onto the wooden surface …

Anatomy of an Art Exhibition: Starting at the Beginning

We were excited to announce our forthcoming exhibition this morning in our latest Gallery Newsletter this morning (interested in receiving a copy? Email us and we will add you to the list!).  The exhibition is entitled Gilded: Golden Treasures of Georgian Furniture, which will run at our St. James's gallery from June 22 to July …