SALON: Christopher Monkhouse, Eloise W. Martin Curator of European Decorative Arts at the Art Institute of Chicago on “Cabinets for Collections: From Wunderkammer to the Athenaeum,” exploring the history and design of masterwork cabinets for collections.
Often as fascinating as the objects they were created to contain, these cabinets reproduce the Wunderkammer — the Renaissance “wonder-room” — in miniature form, magnifying the artistic and intellectual value of their contents. Of particular interest are the Providence Athenaeum’s tour-de-force Egyptian Elephant Folio Cabinet, conceived and executed in the 1830s by John Russell Bartlett and Frederick Catherwood, and the frame/cabinet of the Athenaeum’s Malbone ivory. Special thanks to the Wheaton College Friends of Art.
Sponsored by Dr. Joseph A. Chazan.
