University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

Page 22 text:

Renaissance ' drive in ' piques student interest Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, oil on canvas, Luca Giordano, Italian (1632-1705). by MICHAEL SUTTER The first floor of the Harry Ransom Center pulsed with magnetic energy for both the scholar and the admirer. For on that floor, against the wall straight ahead from the entrance, flashed a scene more intoxicating than a Bruce Lee drive-in movie screen from the highway at night. There, upon a wall embracing au- diences as would an amphitheater, glowed tricks for the eye arranged by the Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery. And a glass case cradling a $2 million Gutenberg Bible drew the unsuspecting into what looked like a multi-screen Renaissance drive-in theater. And the main screen, directly in front of the case at an intimidating 8 feet by 12 feet, played Rebecca and Eliezar at the Well. A tender love story of a suitor trying through a surrogate to win the love of a pretty girl with treasurer, the scene was produced by Italian artist Santi di Tito. Considered the major Florentine paint er of the late 16th cen- tury, the artist probably premiered the piece in the late 1570s. But the appeal of the cinematic display lay behind the scenes. The drama of the new exhibit played on eight individual 16th and 17th cen- tury screens acquired by the gallery in the summer of 1984. The gallery ' s chief curator, Andrea Morris, bought the paintings after -

Page 21 text:

BLUEPRINT FOR THE SECOND CENTURY

Page 23 text:

scouting tours sent her once to Paris and twice to London, where the cast was trimmed to eight Old Master works by Italian and Netherlandish artists before the 1800s. Norris said the new attractions filled some of the gaps between the gallery ' s 1980 acquisition of 13 ancient Greek vases and its already extensive collec- tion of 19th and 20th century art. The paintings, dating from Rebecca and Eliezar at the Well in the 1570s to Luca Giordano ' s Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple from the 1690s, brought closer the gallery ' s goal of hav- ing every major time frame in art history represented, Norris said. In ad- dition to the vases and the contem- porary works, the gallery had on perma- nent loan from the New York Metropolitan Museum a selection of medieval paintings and sculpture. Norris said the new paintings would star as teaching aids in art, history and literature classes. Books in the library are the original sources for teaching literature, for example. And if you ' re teaching art ... the objects are original sources, she said. Gallery officials declined to say how much the stars of the show commanded, saying such information made them harder to guard against theft. Norris did say the purchase used the gallery ' s acquisition funding which was privately endowed for two years. Rebecca and Eliezar at the Well, oil on canvas. Santi DiTito, Italian (1536-1603). A Roemer, with Grape , a Pewter Place, and a Roll, oil on panel, Abraham van Beyeren, Dutch (1620-1690). Astrology, oil on canvas, Giovanni Francesco Bar- Bieri, known as II Guercino, Bologneoe, painted before 1658. All paintings reproduced courtesy of the Archer M. Huntington Gallery.