Final known work of Maria Cosway given to Nelson-Atkins from James and Virginia Moffett Collection
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Tuesday, October 8, 2024


Final known work of Maria Cosway given to Nelson-Atkins from James and Virginia Moffett Collection
Maria Cosway (English, b. Italy, 1759-1838), A Religious Allegory on the Death of a young Woman, painted in Paris 1801-2. Oil on panel 18 x 20 inches, (45.8 x 50.8 cm) Gift of James and Virginia Moffett, 2023.45.



KANSAS CITY, MO. .- A major painting by an esteemed 18th-century female artist was gifted to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Realized in 1801-1802, A Religious Allegory on the Death of a Young Woman is the last known work by celebrated painter Maria Cosway (English, born Italy, 1759-1838), and the second known work by the artist in a North American public collection. It is the gift of longtime museum supporters Virginia and James Moffett.

“This singularly important work is the last painting ever completed by Maria Cosway,” said Julián Zugazagoitia, Director & CEO of the Nelson-Atkins. “This, along with the Rachel Ruysch painting given by the Moffetts several years ago, has significantly enriched the diversity of our European collection, and we are most grateful to them. Thanks to their extraordinary generosity, we can provide visitors and scholars with a much deeper insight into the lives of two immensely significant women artists. Their inclusion in the collection enables us to explore their history more extensively and present a more comprehensive picture of European Art.”

The nocturnal scene portrays a young woman in white on her deathbed surrounded by three mourners and one angel at her head, who leans forward with her arms extended toward the light. Three additional figures appear at her feet representing Charity, Faith, and Hope. Influenced by neoclassicism, Cosway's composition resonates with the works of her contemporaries Jacques-Louis David, John Flaxman, William Blake and Antonio Canova.

“This final painting illustrates the summation of Cosway’s artistic journey, religious fervor, and the profound loss of her only child,” said Aimee Marcereau DeGalan, Louis L. and Adelaide C. Ward Senior Curator, European Arts.

“It is a major statement in Cosway’s career, embodying her intense Catholicism and personal grief,” added Stephen Lloyd, curator of the Derby Collection at Knowsley Hall, England, a specialist in Cosway’s work.

It is also the only known composition to have survived that Cosway realized in multiple media: painting, drawing, and etching.

Born in Italy in 1759, Maria Cosway exhibited artistic talents from an early age. Her multifaceted career included exhibiting at the Royal Academy in London- a feat at the time for a female artist- and opening an art academy for women. This composition stands as her sole known painting executed in Paris.

This is the second major European gift to the Nelson-Atkins from the Moffett collection. Their painting Still Life of Exotic Flowers on a Marble Ledge by late seventeenth/early eighteenth-century Dutch artist Rachel Ruysch (Dutch, 1664-1750) hung in the museum’s European galleries, on loan, for 20 years. Virginia and her husband James Moffett came to the museum every Sunday afternoon during those two decades to visit the painting and they were struck by the affection with which museum visitors admired the delicate work. They decided to make the loan a gift in 2017, and it became the first example by Ruysch to enter the collection. A mature work featuring many exotic flowers from India, Peru, South Africa, and North America, it remained in the artist’s immediate family for at least 10 years, leading scholars to speculate that the painting held special meaning for her.

The Cosway and Ruysch paintings greatly enrich the European collection and join significant works by fellow 18th-century women artists Elisabeth Louise-Vigée LeBrun, Maria Luigia Raggi, and Adélaïde Labille-Guiard. The Moffetts have been similarly generous with gifts to the museum’s American collection.










Today's News

March 14, 2024

Asia Week New York celebrates a decade and a half of cultural and artistic diversity

Museum of Chinese in America names new leader

Princess Catherine apologizes, saying she edited image

Nations agree to refine pact that guides the return of Nazi-looted art

Smithsonian American Women's History Museum names new director

Final known work of Maria Cosway given to Nelson-Atkins from James and Virginia Moffett Collection

Bard Graduate Center honors Eli Wilner with the Iris Foundation Award

The Met receives gift From Pinkowitz Collection of more than 300 prints by Mexican artists and 31 Chinese woodcut prints

Audience snapshot: Four years after shutdown, a mixed recovery

'Ancient Egypt & the Napoleonic Era: Masterworks from the Dahesh Museum of Art' at Vero Beach Museum of Art

Frick to launch video series, online programs, and more

Independence Seaport Museum to unveil new entryway and introductory gallery exhibition

A 'Perfect Monolith' appears in Wales

It's never too late to be a style influencer

$1,780 to spend the night in a 'Cocoon'? Hotels are betting on sleep tourism.

With pride and hope, Ukraine celebrates Oscar win for Mariupol documentary

Marnia Lazreg, scholar of Algeria and the veil, dies at 83

Kahil El'Zabar, spiritual jazz's dapper bandleader, keeps pushing ahead

Fighting through art: A Kurdish dancer's journey to New York stages

Juli Lynne Charlot, creator of the Poodle Skirt, dies at 101

Baronian opens new exhibition entitled 'Trickle-down Economics'

James Cohan Gallery announcing the representation of Kelly Sinnapah Mary

First building of axially loaded portico system by Jean Prouvé, 1939-1940, for auction




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful