Orchestrating elegance
Subtitle: Alma-Tadema and the Marquand music room
By: edited by Kathleen M. Morris and Alexis Goodin ; with contributions by Kathleen M. Morris, Alexis Goodin, Melody Barnett Deusner, and Hugh Glover
Contributors: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
Publisher: Clark Art Institute
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 219
ISBN-13: 9780300226676; 9781935998280
Subjects: Greek influences; Johnstone, Norman & Co; Homes and haunts; Exhibitions; Music rooms and equipment; Art patronage; Decoration and ornament; History
Description: "During the 19th century, New York City's grand mansions on Fifth and Madison Avenues boasted sumptuous interiors, often with each room decorated in a different historic style. Financier, art collector, and philanthropist Henry Gurdon Marquand famously commissioned eminent British painter Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) to create the Greco-Pompeian music room for his home. This beautiful publication documents and examines the celebrated design, which included an elaborately decorated Steinway grand piano, a large suite of matching furniture, and an embroidery scheme for the upholstery and coordinated curtains. Alma-Tadema secured Frederic Leighton to create a major painting for the room's ceiling and Sir Edward Poynter to paint the piano's fallboard. One of Alma-Tadema's most famous paintings A Reading from Homer, was painted for this room."--Jacket.
Notes: "Published by the Clark Art Institute on the occasion of the exhibition Orchestrating Elegance: Alma-Tadema and Design, Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, June 4-September 4, 2017"--Colophon.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: A 'thoroughness of decorative design' : Alma-Tadema's London interiors / Alexis Goodin; title: Building a reputation : Henry Gurdon Marquand's New York mansion / Melody Barnett Deusner; title: A history of Johnstone, Norman & Co. / Kathleen M. Morris; title: Gallery : the Marquand music room; title: Unrivaled in originality : the Marquand music room / Kathleen M. Morris; title: Gallery : the Marquand furniture suite; title: The fate of the Marquand music room / Alexis Goodin and Kathleen M. Morris; title: The Marquand furniture suite : techniques and materials / Hugh Glover; title: The musical life of the Marquand piano / Alexis Goodin; title: Johnstone, Norman & Co. chronology / Kathleen M. Morris.