Of Meissen men…and women at the Frick

Editorial Staff Art, Exhibitions

Vitreous, white, and often delicately translucent, porcelain was invented in China as early as the seventh century, but Western attempts to reproduce the Chinese miracle failed until the dawn of the eighteenth century, when the Saxon ruler Augustus the Strong pressed into his service the young Berlin alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger and commanded him to enrich the Saxon coffers by …

The Victoria and Albert’s new look at “Europe 1600–1815”

Editorial Staff Art, Furniture & Decorative Arts

By Joan DeJean   Neptune and Triton  by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, c. 1622– 1623, as installed in the newly reopened Europe 1600–1815 galleries at the V&A. Except as noted, all images © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.       In December 2015 the Victoria and Albert Museum’s European galleries were opened to the public for the first time in nearly …