The Golden Wedding
Artist
Cesare Agostino Detti
(Italian, 1847-1914)
CultureItalian
Date1880
MediumWatercolor on paper
DimensionsOverall: 28 1/2 x 51 1/2 in. (72.4 x 130.8 cm)
InscribedSigned at lower right: C. Detti 80
Credit LineGift of the Mowbray Arch Society, 1999
Object number99.24
Not on view
DescriptionThis is a watercolor depicting an imaginary, idyllic scene of aristocratic pageantry set in Renaissance Italy, in which an elderly couple - a duke and duchess cloaked in ermine and silk - mark their fiftieth wedding anniversary with a second, "golden" wedding ceremony performed in the midst of their family and courtiers.Label TextCesare-Auguste Detti Italian, 1847-1914 The Golden Wedding, 1880 Watercolor and bodycolor on paper, 28½" x 51½" Gift of the Mowbray Arch Society 99.24 Detti's exceptionally large watercolor is a prime example of academic genre painting, a strain of late Victorian art that focused not on scenes of modern, 19th-century life, as the Impressionists prescribed, but on vignettes drawn from earlier Western history-- from ancient Greece and Rome, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance. These works reflected a clear nostalgic longing to escape the complexities of 19th- century industrial, urban life and seek refuge in an earlier, more gracious, and presumably simpler time. The Golden Wedding depicts an imaginary, idyllic scene of aristocratic pageantry set in Renaissance Italy. The elderly couple at center-a duke and duchess cloaked in ermine and silk- mark their 50th wedding anniversary with a second, "golden" wedding ceremony performed in the midst of courtiers and family. Despite its 16th-century setting, the work serves as a Victorian paean to the virtues of marriage and family. Italian by birth, Detti moved by 1876 to Paris, where he established an international reputation for his brilliantly crafted oils and watercolors. The present work--executed in watercolor and bodycolor (watercolor mixed with white to make it opaque)--is a genuine tour de force, a vituoso demonstration of the artist's technical abilities. It was purchased from Detti in 1880 by the celebrated New York collector William Henry Vanderbilt and descended through the Vanderbilt family. Written By: MTH Edited By:ProvenanceThis painting was on deposit to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1886-1903. It also was in the collection of the artist; to Mr. William H. Vanderbilt, New York, 1880; to George Washington Vanderbilt, New York and Biltmore, North Carolina; to Cornelius Vanderbilt, III; to Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, April 19, 1945, Lot 178; to private collection.Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc.; Gift of the Mowbray Arch Society to the Chrysler Museum of Art, 1999. Exhibition History"Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006. "Come Together, Right Now: The Art of Gathering," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 11, 2020 - January 3, 2021.Published ReferencesEdward Strahan, ed., The Art Treasures of America (1880), p. 108 (as the collection of Mr. William H. Vanderbilt). Chrysler Museum of Art. "Cesare-Auguste Detti's THE GOLDEN WEDDING 1999 Gift of the Mowbray Arch Society," CMA CALENDAR OF EVENTS. Mar/Apr 2000. Norfolk: Chrysler Museum of Art. 03/2000: 4. Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 94, fig. 111. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1
19th century
Giovanni Cesare Testa
Pauly et Cie