Articles by John F McGuigan Jr.
Friends of the Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome Newsletter, 2018
EVENTS, SEMINARS, TALKS, AND LECTURES DELIVERED by John F McGuigan Jr.
International symposium held in conjunction with "In Light of Rome: Early Photography in the Capital of the Art World, 1842–1871", 2023
An international symposium on early Italian photography in Rome held at the Bowdoin College Museu... more An international symposium on early Italian photography in Rome held at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, presented in conjunction with "In Light of Rome: Early Photography in the Capital of the Art World, 1842–1871," 5–6 May 2023
While Amasa Hewins (1795-1855) is largely forgotten today as a painter, he is perhaps best rememb... more While Amasa Hewins (1795-1855) is largely forgotten today as a painter, he is perhaps best remembered as a man of fortunate associations: having formed part of an estimable colony of American artists in Florence on three different occasions; having traveled throughout Italy with two of America's most prominent artists; having been appointed United States Commercial Agent to Florence, essentially performing the duties of consul; and, ultimately, having been buried in the famous "English Cemetery" at Florence. Had these interesting events not transpired, history would likely never have given Hewins-whose known painting oeuvre is quite small-a second thought. We are, therefore, fortunate that they did occur because an examination of the life of Amasa Hewins pleasantly reveals a rich history and the extent to which he was inextricably linked to Florence, a city he dearly loved.
2019. Gli Stati Uniti e Firenze (1815–1915): Modelli Artistici, Inspirazione, Suggestioni. Una co... more 2019. Gli Stati Uniti e Firenze (1815–1915): Modelli Artistici, Inspirazione, Suggestioni. Una convegna in onore per i 200 anni del consolato generale americano a Firenze, 23–24 Settembre 2019, Auditorium Vasari, Le Gallerie degli Uffizi.
2019. The United States and Florence (1815–1915): Artistic Models, Inspirations, and Influences. ... more 2019. The United States and Florence (1815–1915): Artistic Models, Inspirations, and Influences. A Conference Held in Honor of the Bicentenary of the U. S. Consulate General in Florence, 23–24 September 2019, Vasari Auditorium, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.
2019. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Gallery Conversation: “Getting the Art Idea.” Mary K. McGuig... more 2019. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Gallery Conversation: “Getting the Art Idea.” Mary K. McGuigan and John F. McGuigan Jr., art historians, discuss nineteenth-century American works by Elihu Vedder and John Adams Jackson, in conjunction with the exhibition The Nineteenth Century: American and European Art. 2 October 2019.
A PAINTER AND A DIPLOMAT
THE TWO CAREERS OF JAMES E. FREEMAN AND THEIR CORRESPONDENCES
By
John... more A PAINTER AND A DIPLOMAT
THE TWO CAREERS OF JAMES E. FREEMAN AND THEIR CORRESPONDENCES
By
John F. McGuigan Jr
James Edward Freeman (1810–84) is celebrated today as an exceptionally talented painter of fancy pictures that depict humble, yet ennobled, Italian peasants and children. He is also remembered, in certain circles, for his heroic deeds when he served as Acting U.S. Consul to Rome during the waning days of the Roman Republic of 1849. Freeman’s decisive and selfless actions—harboring revolutionaries, manufacturing travel documents ensuring safe conduct under the auspices of the United States government, and personally interceding with the French occupiers of Rome––are credited with saving the lives of more than 3,000 Italian patriots. How did an American artist, born on an isolated island off the coast of Maine and raised on a remote farm in rural Upstate New York, come to play such a pivotal role at this critical point in Italian history? His body of paintings, I believe, provides the visual evidence. From his earliest student days in Rome, 1836–1837, when he painted Masaniello, to the body of work created after his final expatriation to Rome in 1841––from his large exhibition piece, Italian Beggars (1844), to The Savoyard Boy in London (1865)––Freeman’s poignant representations of Italian people attest to his enduring and fervent support for Italian self-rule and independence. A consideration of Freeman’s parallel careers speaks not only to his singular accomplishments but to the broader perceptions of, and sympathies for, the Risorgimento held by the American community resident in Rome in this era.
Books by John F McGuigan Jr.
America’s Rome: Artists in the Eternal City 1800-1900, 2009
Published in conjunction with the first exhibition devoted to Rome as an art center for 19th-cent... more Published in conjunction with the first exhibition devoted to Rome as an art center for 19th-century American artists held at the Fenimore Art Museum from May 23–December 31, 2009. This lavishly illustrated catalogue includes a summary overview of the first three chapters of William L. Vance’s critically acclaimed book, America’s Rome, Volume I: Classical Rome, winner of the 1989 Association of American Publishers’ Prize for Most Outstanding Books in the Arts, Literature, and Language; as well as important new scholarship by Mary K. McGuigan, entitled “‘This Market of Physiognomy’: American Artists and Rome’s Art Academies, Life Schools, and Models, 1825–1870”; and John F. McGuigan Jr.’s critical overview, “American Open-Air Landscape Painting in Rome, 1825–1885.”
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Articles by John F McGuigan Jr.
EVENTS, SEMINARS, TALKS, AND LECTURES DELIVERED by John F McGuigan Jr.
THE TWO CAREERS OF JAMES E. FREEMAN AND THEIR CORRESPONDENCES
By
John F. McGuigan Jr
James Edward Freeman (1810–84) is celebrated today as an exceptionally talented painter of fancy pictures that depict humble, yet ennobled, Italian peasants and children. He is also remembered, in certain circles, for his heroic deeds when he served as Acting U.S. Consul to Rome during the waning days of the Roman Republic of 1849. Freeman’s decisive and selfless actions—harboring revolutionaries, manufacturing travel documents ensuring safe conduct under the auspices of the United States government, and personally interceding with the French occupiers of Rome––are credited with saving the lives of more than 3,000 Italian patriots. How did an American artist, born on an isolated island off the coast of Maine and raised on a remote farm in rural Upstate New York, come to play such a pivotal role at this critical point in Italian history? His body of paintings, I believe, provides the visual evidence. From his earliest student days in Rome, 1836–1837, when he painted Masaniello, to the body of work created after his final expatriation to Rome in 1841––from his large exhibition piece, Italian Beggars (1844), to The Savoyard Boy in London (1865)––Freeman’s poignant representations of Italian people attest to his enduring and fervent support for Italian self-rule and independence. A consideration of Freeman’s parallel careers speaks not only to his singular accomplishments but to the broader perceptions of, and sympathies for, the Risorgimento held by the American community resident in Rome in this era.
Books by John F McGuigan Jr.
THE TWO CAREERS OF JAMES E. FREEMAN AND THEIR CORRESPONDENCES
By
John F. McGuigan Jr
James Edward Freeman (1810–84) is celebrated today as an exceptionally talented painter of fancy pictures that depict humble, yet ennobled, Italian peasants and children. He is also remembered, in certain circles, for his heroic deeds when he served as Acting U.S. Consul to Rome during the waning days of the Roman Republic of 1849. Freeman’s decisive and selfless actions—harboring revolutionaries, manufacturing travel documents ensuring safe conduct under the auspices of the United States government, and personally interceding with the French occupiers of Rome––are credited with saving the lives of more than 3,000 Italian patriots. How did an American artist, born on an isolated island off the coast of Maine and raised on a remote farm in rural Upstate New York, come to play such a pivotal role at this critical point in Italian history? His body of paintings, I believe, provides the visual evidence. From his earliest student days in Rome, 1836–1837, when he painted Masaniello, to the body of work created after his final expatriation to Rome in 1841––from his large exhibition piece, Italian Beggars (1844), to The Savoyard Boy in London (1865)––Freeman’s poignant representations of Italian people attest to his enduring and fervent support for Italian self-rule and independence. A consideration of Freeman’s parallel careers speaks not only to his singular accomplishments but to the broader perceptions of, and sympathies for, the Risorgimento held by the American community resident in Rome in this era.
AMERICAN LATIUM: American Artists and Travelers in and around Rome in the Age of the Grand Tour
Proceedings of the International Conference
Edited by
Christopher M.S. Johns, Tommaso Manfredi, Karin Wolfe
Centro Studi Americani Roma, Palazzo Mattei di Giove 7-8 June 2018
The authors examine the diverse transnational group of photographers who thrived in the cosmopolitan art center of Rome—and the pivotal role they played in the refinement and technical development of the nascent medium in the nineteenth century. The book ranges from the earliest pioneers—the French daguerreotypist Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey and the Welsh calotypist Calvert Richard Jones—to the work of the Roman School of Photography and its successors, among them James Anderson and Robert Macpherson of Britain; Frédéric Flachéron, Firmin Eugène Le Dien, and Gustave Le Gray of France; and Giacomo Caneva, Adriano de Bonis, and Pietro Dovizielli of Italy.
Lavishly illustrated with 112 plates, many never before published, by nearly fifty practitioners, this volume expands our understanding of the place of Rome in early photography. An exhibition of the same title, to open at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in December 2022, accompanies this study.
"Am Fuße der Pyramide. 300 Jahre Friedhof für Ausländer in Rom.” Bonn: Arbeitskreis selbständiger Kultur-Inst., 2016.
Published simultaneously as:
"Ai piedi della piramide. Il cimitero per gli stranieri a Roma - 300 anni.” Bonn: Arbeitskreis selbständiger Kultur-Inst., 2016.
John Gadsby Chapman (1808–1889) was one of nineteenth-century America’s most original and influential artists, and he is deservedly well regarded today for his paintings, drawings, book illustrations, and writing. In contrast, his accomplishments as America’s first artist-etcher—that is to say, the first to design and execute his own etchings—have been largely overlooked until now. This monograph is the first to appear on the Virginia-born Chapman for more than half a century and the first ever to consider the totality of his etching career and situate it within the broader context of his personal life and painting practice. Readers familiar with Chapman’s mural The Baptism of Pocahontas in the U.S. Capitol, his more than 1,400 designs for Harper Brothers’ landmark Illuminated Bible (1846), his American Drawing-Book (1847), and oeuvre of Grand Tour paintings will be delighted to learn more about his prolonged commitment to fine art etching.
Regina Soria (Rome 1911–2006) made an original contribution to nineteenth-century art history, assessing the careers and works of American artists in Italy and, on the other hand, of Italian artists in the United States. Soria’s ability to interpret the cultural relations between America and Italy arose from personal experience characterized by her exile to the U.S. as a result of the Italian racial laws of 1938, by decades of teaching and promoting Italian culture in Baltimore, and finally by long and productive years in constant pilgrimage between the two sides of the Atlantic. The texts in this volume are dedicated to Regina Soria, the work of friends, disciples, and colleagues, Italian and American, in their respective languages. Alongside the memories of Furio Colombo, Marta Knobloch, Guido Ceronetti, Claretta Cerio, Liliana Madeo, and many others, we find essays on the great literary and figural interpreters of the expatriate experience, whether physical or interior (Henry James, Henry David Thoreau, Ben Shahn, and Derek Walcott), and the Orientalist and biblical tendencies in American painting among some of the most famous nineteenth-century American artists who worked in Italy (Elihu Vedder, John Singer Sargent, James E. Freeman, Thomas Cole, and Frederic Crowninshield).
The essays in Sculptors, Painters, and Italy: Italian Influence on Nineteenth-Century American Art examine the influence of Italy in the works of nineteenth-century American sculptors and painters.
The focus is on their experience in Italy, their relationship with local workmen, their contact with Italian artists such as the Tuscan Macchiaioli, and the impact of their Italian experience on the formation of American art.
The papers in the volume discuss such artists as Horatio Greenough, Thomas Cole, Hiram Powers, Henry Kirke Brown, Elihu Vedder, Edmonia Lewis, and John Singer Sargent. The essays are written by scholars from American universities and museums, and they appear in the following order:
Elise Madeleine Ciregna, "'An Example in the Right Direction': Horatio Greenough's Life and Work in Italy";
John F. McGuigan Jr, "'A Painter's Paradise': Thomas Cole and His Transformative Experience in Florence, 1831-1832";
Rebecca Reynolds, "'No Ordinary Hands': Hiram Powers' Artistic and Professionally Related Family";
Karen Lemmey, "'I would just as soon be in Albany as Florence,' Henry Kirke Brown and the American Expatriate Colonies in Italy, 1842-1846";
Mary K. McGuigan, "A Garden of Lost Opportunities: Elihu Vedder in Florence, 1857-1860",
Marilyn Richardson, "Friends and Colleagues: Edmonia Lewis and Her Italian Circle";
and Kathleen Lawrence, "John Singer Sargent, Italy, and the American Paradox."
Editor Sirpa Salenius is the editor of OltreOceano-TransAtlantic Transitions book series on nineteenth-century American artists and writers in Italy. Her publications examine the Grand Tour and the influence of Italy on the lives and works of such American authors as James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, Henry James, and Constance Fenimore Woolson.
Utica, NY: Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, 2009. Softbound. Color glossy pictorial wraparound dustjacket over printed card covers. 165 pp., 100+ color plates and additional bw illustrations.
ISBN: 9780915895359
Published on the occasion of the exhibition at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, NY, September 13, 2009–January 17, 2010; and the Newington-Cropsey Foundation, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, 19 September–18 November 2011.
A student in the National Academy of Design’s inaugural class of 1826, Freeman began as a painter of bespoke portraits and the occasional fancy picture in central New York State. He first traveled to Italy in 1836 and remained a fixture of the vibrant art scene there until his death at Rome in 1884. In that time he forged a unique career painting engaging fancy pictures of humble Italian peasants for an international clientele. These sentimental character studies of impish street urchins, beatific mothers with children, and blind beggars were appealing for their artless beauty, an ideal closely allied to the 18th-century cult of sensibility. By resituating Freeman’s paintings amid their literary and historical sources, this project reveals the important rhetorical function of the fancy picture as a vehicle for social and political change in 19th-century America. Freeman’s dedication to the communicative potential of the fancy picture resulted in a remarkably cohesive oeuvre that constitutes his lasting legacy to American art.
A master's thesis that considers the twelve known wrapped orange paintings of William J. McCloskey (1858-1941).
The Hudson River School painters were the artistic successors of 18th Century Neo-classicism whose ideals of freedom and enlightenment sprang from ancient Rome. The artists' attraction to Italy inspired many to travel, study and recreate the Italian landscape through their distinctive style. A Defining Moment: The Hudson River School in Italy is a remarkable collection of paintings highlighting this unique aspect of American painters in Italy.
Karen Hembree
Curator of Art Education
Ellen Noel Art Museum
Books
Seventy years after a groundbreaking exhibition on early photography
in Rome, scholarship on the subject continues to advance.
The Idea of Italy: Photography and the British Imagination, 1840–1900 Edited by Maria Antonella Pelizzari and Scott Wilcox. 288 pp. incl. 180 col. ills. (Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, and Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2022), £40. ISBN 978–0–300–26383–1.
In Light of Rome: Early Photography in the Capital of the Art World, 1842–1871 By John F. McGuigan Jr and Frank H. Goodyear III. 272 pp. incl. 135 col. ills. (Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick MA, and Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park PA, 2023), £60.95. ISBN 978–0–271–09488–5.