People love mysteries — just look at book sales — and I always think that the art world should take more advantage of that thirst (see here and here, for example). That’s why I’m highlighting an exhibition that just started at the Yale Center for British Art.
“Seeing Double” is built around a 1829 painting called “Interior of the British Institution” by John Scarlett Davis. YCBA says Davis “sought to make a splash on the London art scene” with it. He made not only a visual puzzle but also “an exploration of the art world in the 1820s London.”
An image of a 19th-century art exhibition, the painting is also an elaborate puzzle that includes miniature works by famous British artists….Long recognized as a valuable record of a period exhibition venue, “Interior of the British Institution Gallery” represents canvases by Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough, among other British artists. What is less known is that the figures that chat amiably or stoop to examine canvases are themselves replicas of paintings. Davis copied the figures from pre-existing portraits, most notably by Sir Thomas Lawrence.
Take a look:
Yale hopes “Seeing Double” will reveal new connections among works in its permanent collection — any maybe other collections. Yale asks visitors to help decode the picture and thus learn about display and replication.
This puzzle may be too difficult for casual viewers or even regular museum-goers that are not expert in 19th British art. But people who read and love mysteries don’t always solve them, either — and they come back for more. There’s a model in this, for occasional use.
Photo Credit: Courtesy Yale Center for British Art