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| Canaletto. The Square of Saint Mark's and the Piazetti |
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| Tiepolo. The Charlatan. 1756 |
Using Casanova as a guide, the
current show at the Legion of Honor “Casanova, the Seduction of Europe” is a
look at the pleasures available to the upper class, which Casanova, womanizer,
gambler, and con man, eagerly embraced and enjoyed. Born in Venice to parents who were
both actors, Casanova wore the mask of an actor throughout his long
life as he reportedly seduced over 100 women, a man or two and conned an equal number of
wealthy European noblemen into supporting his schemes. If one can believe the stories in his 10 volumes of "My Life," he spoke several languages, knew everybody worth knowing and certainly tried to interest them all with his various schemes. All for the benefit of Casanova, of course.
Charles Demsaris, in the SF Chronicle wrote about the show, "The Legion and its museum partners in Boston and Fort Worth started planning the exhibition, which runs through May 28, several years ago. The curators could not have known that their tribute to the most famous womanizer of all time would open at the crescendo of a women’s empowerment movement to be called #MeToo."
"Nor could they have foreseen an ormolu presidency of regal pretension, its occupant yearning for the emoluments of a reign like Louis XVI’s (though not, we can be sure, for an end like that of the last king of France). Given that they are so prescient, do they predict a revolution soon as bloody as the one that followed the period covered by “Seduction of Europe”?
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| Casanova |
Casanova was in and out of trouble, even
in and out of prison. His escape from the notorious Venetian prison was amazing
and that incident is represented here by six Carceri d’invenzione, or “Imaginary
Prisons” etchings, by Piranesi.
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| Carceri, Wikipedia Commons |
Casanova traveled all over Europe, even making it to the Ottoman Empire,
meeting kings and queens, the great and the near great and making and losing fortunes. At the end
of his life, he ended up as the librarian to a minor German Count, which is
when he wrote his infamous memoirs. “Worthy or not, my life is my subject, and my
subject is my life," he remarked.
On display are more
than 80 works of art, including paintings, sculptures, works on paper, period
furnishings, delicate porcelains, and lavish period costumes, which re-create this
luxurious and sparkling aristocratic world of masked balls, palaces, theaters,
and operas. These stunning artworks are on loan from institutions including the
Musée du Louvre; the National Portrait Gallery, London; the National Gallery of
Canada; the National Galleries of Scotland; the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes;
and several prominent private collections.
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| Tiepolo. The Empire of Flora. 1743 |
This
exhibit cleans up the 18th century and leaves it to the viewers’
imagination to visualize the smells, the beggars, the poverty and the incurable
illnesses that were covered over by silk and power or in the case of the poor,
simply ignored. It's all about the pretty, the shallow and the sex - the 18th century seems to have been as obsessed with sex as ours is.
As you enter the first
gallery, the viewer will see paintings by Canaletto, Longhi and
Tiepolo, portraying Venice in all her serene and enchanting splendor. One painting is of St.
Marks Square with the Doge’s palace on the left next to another painting is of
the Grand Canal, busy with gondola traffic.
Canaletto’s Bacino
di San Marco, captures the reality of Venice as a capital of international
trade, its main harbor bristling with ships flying the flags of many different
nations.
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| Canaletto. Entrance to the Grand Canal. |
This gallery also
contains an elaborately decorated sedan chair, which was used to convey the
wealthy around. With poles threaded
through the square brackets of this elegant sedan chair, a pair of servants
carried their employer above the dirty streets. Some sedan chairs were even
used indoors, to save weary aristocrats from walking across their palace – just
so exhausting.
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| Tureen in the shape of a boar |
The
first gallery to the right of the entrance displays more objects of the elite
lifestyle – it is full of porcelain, both Sèvres and Meissen, silver
candlesticks, serving platters and a whimsical boar’s head soup tureen. The 18th century elite loved their food! After all, the first cookbook came out of this era. Through
an elaborate overhead video projection, visitors can sit at a “dining table”
onto which is projected or “served” a historically accurate, aristocratic
three-course feast, using period porcelain and silver pieces.
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| “Thalia, Muse of Comedy” (1739) by Jean-Marc Nattier. |
The
highlight in the next gallery is the Legion of Honor’s own “Thalia,
Muse of Comedy” (1739) by Jean-Marc Nattier. In the painting,
Thalia holds a mask in one hand and uses the other to lift a plush velvet
curtain and playfully invite us into the world of comedic theater. Charming and
playful, the mask she holds in her hand tells is that this is all a play and
let the playgoer enjoy the comedy. The price, never mentioned because that would not be cool, will come in the morning.
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| Boucher. Venus at Vulcan's Forge |
Suit, ca. 1780, France. Silk voided velvet embroidered with silk and gold paillettes, glass, and metallic thread, jacket center back length: 43 1⁄2 in. (110.5 cm); breeches length: 26 1⁄2 in. (67.3 cm); waistcoat center back length: 23 5⁄8 in. (60 cm). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Elizabeth Day McCormick Collection, 43.644a–c
Fan, 1730s, Italy, Venice. Double paper leaf painted in gouache; ivory sticks, lacquered and gilded; mother-of-pearl, 20 7/8 in. (53 cm). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Oldham Collection, 1976.190
As
the exhibit continues, the walls are filled with paintings of courtesans, gods
and goddesses cavorting in idealized settings – seduction couched in
mythological terms with acres of silken flesh, beautiful people all intent on
pleasure but portrayed in a fashion so as to escape the censorious eyes of
the Church. There are several examples of Rococo furniture, gilded, curved and
decorated, Cases full
of exquisite tiny figurines and fans show how the elite surrounded
themselves with luxury, even to the smallest object. A few tableaux display the fashions of the era, with
elaborate gowns, waistcoats and handmade lace collars and cuffs, which could
bankrupt even the wealthiest.
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| ˙Houdin. Bust of Voltaire |
“Casanova, the Seduction of Europe” ends with portraits of the
significant intellectual figures of the age – from Voltaire (who dismissed him
as a parveneu) to Rousseau to the American Benjamin Franklin.
These paintings are a
sharp reminder that underneath the power and paint, a political earthquake was
brewing, fanned by the discoveries of the French enlightenment – one that overthrew Casanova’s world ten years after his death.
Tallyrand, French nobleman and statesman whose life spanned the 18th century into the 19th was rumored to have said, “Whoever did not live in the years neighboring 1789 does not know what the pleasure of living means.” But no matter how golden that age seemed in retrospect, the aristocrats' world of power, privilege and sex, sex, sex was on the edge of a precipice. The starving masses who watched the parties with sullen hate would not remain silent forever.
“Casanova: The Seduction of Europe”: 9:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m., Tuesdays-Sundays. Saturday, Feb. 10-May 28. $13-$28. Legion of Honor, Lincoln Park, 100 34th Ave., S.F. (415) 750-3600. http://legionofhonor.famsf.org
At a time of heightened awareness to the problems posed by 18th century art and attitudes, and in the era of #MeToo (Charles Desmaris, The Chronicle), the Legion of Honor has added programs that promise to take up such questions. All will be held in the museum’s Gunn Theater and all are free after museum general admission. See the museum website for details.
“Female Agency in the Age of Casanova”: With Charlotte Gordon and Fara Dabhoiwala. 10:30 a.m., Sunday, April 8.
“Reckoning with the Past: A Forum:” Led by Julia Bryan-Wilson. Saturday, May 12.
