The Boston Athenaeum Celebrates Marquis de Lafayette in an Exhibition of Rare Paintings, Sculptures, Engravings, Contemporary Documents, Manuscripts and Maps
Works come from its own collection as well as on loan from several important American museums and libraries. Exhibit runs from June 17 - September 27, 2015
BOSTON, June 16, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Lafayette: An American Icon has opened at the Boston Athenaeum. Curated by David Dearinger, Ph.D., The Susan Morse Hilles Curator of Paintings & Sculpture, this robust exhibition was inspired by the recent historic reconstruction of the Hermione, the Frigate of Freedom, that delivered the young Marquis de Lafayette in 1780 to General Washington with full French aid. Together they turned the tide of the American Revolution. An authentically reconstructed Hermione, 17 years in the making, will visit Boston on July 11 and 12, 2015.
Highlights of the exhibition include some of the Athenaeum's own treasures, notably Jean-Antoine Houdon's great bust of Lafayette, acquired in 1828 from Thomas Jefferson's descendants.
In addition there are several important works borrowed from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Massachusetts Historical Society, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the American Numismatic Society, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Cornell University, and Lafayette College.
Activities supporting the exhibition include; lectures by American Revolution scholars and Lafayette biographers; curatorial gallery talks; an audio gallery guide; and concerts of period French and American music. For more information on this four-month celebration of "Our Marquis" please visit: http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/exhibitions/lafayette-american-icon.
About the Boston Athenaeum: Founded in 1807, the Boston Athenaeum is one of the nation's oldest and most revered independent libraries and cultural institutions. It serves its members, the broader community, and scholars around the globe by sharing a comprehensive, and often rare, collection of books, paintings, sculptures, prints, photographs and maps. Today, after more than two centuries, it remains a leading voice in Boston's cultural landscape.
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SOURCE The Boston Athenaeum
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