New photography by Ed Pollard captured with a digital camera-2007.

Painting and Music

Artist Francesco Bertos (Italian, 1678 - 1741)

CultureItalian

Dateca. 1710

MediumBronze

Dimensions42 1/2 x 22 x 18 in. (108 x 55.9 x 45.7 cm)
Base: 20 1/2 x 18 in. (52.1 x 45.7 cm)

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.2608

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 205

DescriptionAt the base of THE DRAMA bronze sculpture are figures with painter's brushes and palettes, musical instruments and scores, quills and manuscripts. These figures personify the arts of painting, music and poetry, all of which contribute to a dramatic production. Also at the base is the winged figure of Time, portrayed as a defeated, kneeling figure. A centauress rears from a pedestal in the center. Surely he alludes to the eternal power of the drama and to the triumph of art over time. At the apex of the sculpture the female personification of Drama holds aloft a theatrical mask, balanced on the centauress back.

Label TextFrancesco Bertos Italian, 1678–1735 Painting and Music, ca. 1710 Bronze Like daredevil acrobats in the Cirque du Soleil, the figures in Francesco Bertos’ sculptures balance themselves atop one another in dizzying displays that draw the eye up and around in broad spirals. These breathtakingly complex sculptures originally served as table centerpieces and were meant to be viewed in the round. Their subjects are equally complex. Using the witty, allegorical language so beloved by Baroque artists, Bertos celebrates the arts of Painting and Music (behind you) and Sculpture, Arithmetic, and Architecture (behind you, at left). In the process, he gives shape to the intricate interplay of aesthetic ideals and human endeavor needed to bring those arts to fruition and to lift them to the pinnacle of creative perfection. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.2608 ProvenanceMr. Lionel Harris; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1971. Exhibition History"Large or Small, Bronze or Wood, Painted or Plain: Problems and Solutions in Sculpture," The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, July 9 - Sept. 13, 1981. "Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum," North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, April 9, 2013 - February 2, 2014. Published ReferencesW.L. Hildburgh. "Some Bronze Groups by Francesco Bertos," _Apollo_. XXVII. London: The Field Press Ltd. 02/1938:pp. 81-85, figs. IV and V. David W. Steadman. _Large or Small, Bronze or Wood, Painted or Plain: Problems and Solutions in Sculpture_. The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA. 1981: p. 18 (SCULPTURE illustrated). Chrysler Museum. _Selections from the Permanent Collection: The Chrysler Museum_. Norfolk, VA: Chrysler Museum of Art. 1982: p. 44. Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, 1991, p. 64-65, #49.