Art Eyewitness Close-up: Mahamayuri on Peacock, from The Met's "Recasting the Past" Exhibition

 

Mahamayuri on Peacock 

Recasting the Past: the Art of Chinese Bronzes Exhibition

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Text by Ed Voves

Original photography by Anne Lloyd and Ed Voves

In an Art Eyewitness post earlier this year, I promised a return visit to Recasting the Past: the Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100-1900, on view at The Met until September 28, 2025.

The Met's remarkable exhibition convincingly demonstrates that the casting of bronze works of art in China was much more than a long postscript to the glorious Shang bronzes created in China's distant antiquity. Amazingly, this belief was held by a number of reputable scholars.

Having more than proved its point that the long tradition of Chinese mastery in casting bronze and metal alloy works of art extended to modern times, Recasting the Past concludes on a surprising, almost unsettling note. 

   Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)  Mahamayuri on Peacock,1426-35

The last work on display looks distinctly uncharacteristic of China's artistic conventions. It is a masterpiece so spectacular, so uniquely expressive that it seems more of a stand-alone display than the grand finale of an exhibition detailing the Chinese devotion to fugu, the "return to the past."

                      Ed Voves, Photo (2025)                                 

                    Gallery view of the Recasting the Past exhibition at The Met

This singular masterpiece is entitled Mahamayuri on Peacock. It dates to 1426-35, a cultural high point of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). One of the highlights of Berlin's Ethnologisches Museum, Mahamayuri is making a rare visit to the U.S. and its presence in The Met exhibit is deeply significant, as well as a wonder to behold.

 

The spiritual ideals which which led Chinese artisans of the Ming-era to create Mahamayuri on Peacock can be traced to three of Asia's great "awakenings." In this single work of art can be traced the birth of Buddhism in ancient India, its migration to the kingdoms of the Himalayan region and, finally, the integration of Buddhism within the traditions of Chinese culture.

Mahamayuri is a bodhisattva, a being striving toward enlightenment or Buddhahood.  An important aspect of this process of "becoming" is the bodhisattva's compassion for humanity and indeed all fellow creatures.

Mahamayuri is a Sanskrit name meaning "Great Peahen", in token of the reputation of these extraordinary birds for devouring snakes. One of the principal tasks of Mahamayuri is to safeguard people from poisonous snakes and to help cure those who fall victim to these dangerous reptiles.

Mahamayuri, it should be noted, is viewed as a protector against spiritual poisons, as well as snake venom. At some point in the journey of Buddhism from India to China and further into East Asia, Mahamayuri changed from peahen to peacock. But Mahamayuri remained a female wisdom figure.

Like the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, who was renamed Guanyin upon reaching China, so Mahamayuri gained a new name in China, Kongque Mingwang (Peacock Wisdom King). And just as the beloved Guanyin was revered for her mercy and benevolence, so the Peacock Wisdom King was extolled as a protector against dangers and calamities, poisonous snakebites as noted above, but also natural disasters, floods and droughts.

According to the accompanying text provided by The Met curators:

 This esoteric Buddhist icon reflects an imaginative fusion of Chinese and Tibetan iconographies in the imperial Ming workshop. In the Chinese Buddhist tradition, the icon has only one face and four arms, while the icon in Tibetan Buddhism does not usually ride a peacock. This new representation of Mahamayuri continued into later centuries.

The Ming-era Mahamayuri/Kongque Mingwang on view in The Met exhibition is thus a synthesis of spiritual traditions from across Asia. 

The three faces, with their benevolent expressions, beam with the wisdom and compassion of a bodhisattva, so cherished by devout Buddhists and other spiritually-motivated people throughout the world.

In the six hands of the Peacock Wisdom King we see some of the symbolical instruments of her protective power - a sword, a scepter, a casket for holding jewels.

In the other hands, a lotus flower, a small piece of fruit, peacock feathers would also have been displayed. All speak of compassion for suffering humanity. All are symbols - and potent ones - for those who seek spiritual enlightenment.

This soul-nurturing work of art made a powerful impression on me on each of my two visits to Recasting the Past. It is the latest in a line of truly inspiring Asian exhibitions at The Met, beginning with the 2014 exhibition, Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia.

Part of the reason that Mahamayuri on Peacock registered so powerfully on me is its appeal on a first-time viewer. But I was no less enthralled the second time I beheld this wondrous work of art. If I'm fortunate to make a third visit, I think my reaction will be the same.

I could continue with personal reflections, but I will refrain. The most telling comment on the appeal and attraction of such an astonishing work of art comes from Andre Malroux's The Voices of Silence. And to this great French sage, we will now turn:

The supreme power of art, and of love, is that they urge us to exhaust in them the inexhaustible! The eagerness to enjoy art to the full is no new thing; what is new is that it is leading to the rediscoveries of works whose message fascinates us alike, whether their values seem friendly to us or hostile.

Hostility is not a word I would apply to Mahamayuri on Peacock. Exotic. Uncanny Extraordinary. Difficult to understand. Yes, all of these attributes are a factor, as I grapple with comprehending it.

Yet, when I stood before Mahamayuri on Peacock at The Met and, now, when i look-over the photos which Anne and I took, it is the "inexhaustible" power, warmth and empathy of this astonishing work of art which I feel. 

I want to go back to The Met and try to exhaust the Peacock Wisdom King's inexhaustible store of spiritual treasures ... which, of course, I will never succeed in doing. 

***

Text: Copyright of Ed Voves, all rights reserved                                                   Original photography, copyright of Anne Lloyd and Ed Voves

 Introductory Image (and all subsequent photos by Anne Lloyd and Ed Voves):

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)  Mahamayuri on Peacock, Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Xuande mark and period (1426–35). Gilt copper alloy: H. 57 1/16 in. (145 cm); W. 47 1/4 in. (120 cm); D. 25 9/16 in. (65 cm); Wt. 196.4 lb (89.1 kg) Collection of Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Art Eyewitness Review: From Paris to Provence at the Barnes Foundation

                            From Paris to Provence:                     

French Painting at the Barnes Foundation

June 29 - August 31, 2025 

Reviewed by Ed Voves

Original Photography by Anne Lloyd

Art museums are oases of cultural and creative expression. On hot summer days, when throngs of vacationing art lovers make the trek in search of masterpieces, an art museum often is a literal oasis.The air conditioned galleries and cold drinks in the cafeteria are a welcome - and very needed - relief.

So it was, on a scorching late June morning, when we attended the press preview of the summer exhibition at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. It was fairly early in the morning, but an intensive heatwave was setting-in. It was "mad-dogs and Englishmen" weather, with hours to go until the "noon-day sun."

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 The press preview of Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes 

The subject of the summer exhibition is From Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes. As the assembled journalists and photographers gathered to hear Dr. Cindy Kang provide a brilliant lecture on these signature Barnes art works, everyone looked positively revived. But when we reached the third gallery of the exhibition, dedicated to Van Gogh's paintings during his sojourn in Arles, I felt an irresistible urge to put my sunglasses back-on.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Gallery view of Paris to Provence at the Barnes Foundation,

 showing four paintings by Vincent van Gogh, 1888-1890.

There, set against the glaring backdrop of a Mediterranean summer hue, were four Van Gogh icons - and I don't use that word lightly.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 The four Van Gogh paintings shown above: Still Life (1888),

 The Smoker (1888), The Postman (1889), Houses and Figure (1890).

Dr. Albert Barnes, with the advice and assistance of his friend, the artist William Glackens, purchased this select group of Van Gogh paintings. Because of the unique criteria of the Barnes Method, these Van Gogh paintings are rarely shown together. Indeed, this is likely the only time that they have ever been publicly displayed in this manner.

It was positively electrifying to see the four Van Gogh works at the press preview. Predictably, when my wife Anne and I returned for a follow-up visit, the number of art lovers lingering in front of these remarkable paintings never seemed to diminish.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 "Crowd pleasers" of the Paris to Provence exhibition, 

Vincent van Gogh's The Smoker (1888) & The Postman (1889).

As unique as is the opportunity to view these Van Gogh paintings in their present setting, the motivation for this splendid exhibition is rather prosaic. The Barnes opened its doors on May 12, 2012. The wear-and-tear of ceaseless foot traffic necessitated a major rehab of the gallery floors.

Last summer's Matisse and Renoir exhibition presented an insightful look at the relationship of these two artists. All of the works on display came from the walls of second-floor galleries at the Barnes, while the floors were refurbished. This summer, it is the turn of the first floor galleries.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2024)

 View of a first floor gallery at the Barnes Foundation, the display of art works reflecting the principles of the Barnes Method.

The Barnes Method of display emphasizes the relationship of works of art based on "light, line, color and space." The arrangement of the "ensembles" of paintings, sculptures, ceramics, metalwork and hand-crafted furniture certainly encourages visitors to the Barnes to view these works from unconventional perspectives.

 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2022)

An ensemble at the Barnes Foundation, showing

 Van Gogh's The Postman displayed Renoir's Nude with Castenets (1918), Renoir still-lifes and a Windsor chair from the 1700's. 

Originality of thought is, obviously, a good attitude to cultivate. Moreover, Dr. Barnes aimed to promote a democratic approach to culture. To Barnes, a carved Windsor chair from the 1700's was as worthy of study and appreciation as a Van Gogh portrait. 

However, when one of the latter, in this case The Postman (Joseph-Etienne Roulin), is wedged in a corner to achieve the desire Barnes Method configuration, that can pose problems.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Vincent van Gogh’s The Postman (detail), 1889

Van Gogh painted six portraits of Roulin during the years, 1888-89, and the Barnes version is arguably the finest. The skill with which Van Gogh depicted Roulin's eyes is on such a transcendent level that clearly it was based on much more than technical skill. But if you wish to subject The Postman to prolonged appraisal in its usual setting, you risk a "crick" in the back or eye strain.

Paris to Provence provides a precious opportunity to encounter The Postman "face-to-face." At the same time, you can attempt to fathom the intangible bond between Van Gogh and Roulin which is reflected in this astonishing - yes, "iconic" - portrait.

This holds true for the other nearby Van Gogh paintings, including (or perhaps, especially) Houses and Figure which seems to be shrinking in the intense summer heat.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Gallery views of Van Gogh’s Houses and Figure, 1890

From Paris to Provence is much more than a golden opportunity to display signature works from the Barnes collection in a popular summer offering. It is a brilliantly curated exhibition charting the rise and progress of modern art in Belle Époque France. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Pierre-August Renoir's Girl with a Jump Rope (detail), 1876

The exhibition begins with a series of Renoir portraits from the 1870's and several works by Manet, an artist seldom associated with the Barnes collection. These highly accomplished works symbolize the rapid recovery of the self-confidence and prosperity of France following the disastrous Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Claude Monet's The Studio Boat (detail), 1876

Impressionism, the "new painting", spread from Paris to the surrounding countryside. The Barnes exhibit takes note of this trend with a painting of Claude Monet working in his Studio Boat near Argenteuil on the River Seine. From there, the Impressionists and post-Impressionists sought new subjects in Normandy and Brittany. The next, bold move was southward to Provence, where the tragic Van Gogh/Gauguin episode took place.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Gallery view of Paul Cézanne's Bathers at Rest, 1876-77

At this point in Paris to Provence, the reclusive Cézanne takes center stage. Choosing wisely from the incomparable holdings of Cézanne's oeuvre in the Barnes collection (61 oil paintings and 8 of his works on paper), Dr. Kang was able to illustrate the extraordinary scope of Cézanne's genius.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Two Cézanne paintings on view in Paris to Provence: 

Terracotta Pots and Flowers, 1891-92, & Bibemus Quarry, c. 1895

This brief synopsis of the exhibition is hardly "breaking" news for art enthusiasts. What is worthy of remark is the way that this time-honored narrative of early Modernism is illustrated with works from the Barnes. The result is a striking visual reinterpretation which presents a familiar story in a new light.

The selection of works of art for presentation in a special exhibition is always a complex process. In one sense, the task of the Barnes curatorial staff is both simplified and complicated by the fact that only paintings from the first floor galleries could be used. It says a lot about the strength of the Barnes collection that - under these restrictions - fifty outstanding works could be selected to illustrate the Paris to Provence theme.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 View of the Paris to Provence exhibition: (from left) Henri Matisse's

 Blue Still Life (1907) & Renoir's Nude in a Landscape, c. 1917

Yet there was a further challenge in the selection process. One of the leading figures in the southward shift was Henri Matisse. Along with Renoir, Matisse was the protagonist of last summer's exhibit, as noted earlier. Although there are several Renoir paintings in From Paris to Provence, the decision was made to limit Matisse's contribution to just one.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Henri Matisse's Blue Still Life, 1907

The choice was a wise one: Matisse's Blue Still Life. Painted in 1907, it is a sensational "balancing act", contrasting the bright Mediterranean light with deep shadow. Additionally, Blue Still Life has several of the defining hallmarks of Matisse's oeuvre, notably his love of fabrics and astute interior design sense.

One of the reasons for restricting the number of Matisse paintings and thereby conserving available wall space becomes apparent in the last gallery. Here paintings by emigre artists like Amadeo Modigliani, Chaim Soutine, Georgio de Chirico and Joan Miro are displayed.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 The final gallery of Paris to Provence, showing (from left) Modigliani's  Girl with a Polka-Dot Blouse (1919), Soutine's Woman in Blue (1919)

and Modigliani's Portrait of the Red-Headed Woman (1918)

Dr. Cindy Kang explained one of the important results of widening the focus of French art beyond the orbit of Paris. This was to create works of art which appealed to and influenced a new generation of artists at the dawn of the twentieth century. Many of these artists reversed the "southward shift" and made Paris their base of operation.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Dr. Cindy Kang at the press preview of Paris to Provence

Much of the work of this new "School of Paris" would prove unintelligible and infuriating to the French artistic establishment and public-at-large. De Chirico's cryptic Sophocles and Euripides perhaps explains why.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Giorgio de Chirico's Sophocles and Euripides, 1925

As alien and unsettling as some of the paintings in the final gallery of Paris to Provence may appear, their presence should not be unexpected. The late 19th century in France is known as the Belle Époque, but much of the beauty and joie de vivre of the era was dearly bought. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Vincent van Gogh's The Factory, 1887

Along with the four sun-drenched Provencal paintings, there is another Van Gogh which shows a grim industrial site in the suburbs of Paris. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Detail of Cézanne's Young Man and Skull, 1896-98

Nor can the sobering sight of human skulls in two of the Cézanne paintings be ignored. This was a reference to the omnipresence of death even in paradise-like surroundings - Et in Arcadia ego. For Cézanne, who aimed to paint works of art worthy of display in the Louvre, this was likely an homage to the famous paintings by Nicholas Poussin (1637-38) on this grim theme.

It would, however, be quite inappropriate to end this review of Paris to Provence on a melancholy note.

 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Visitors to the Paris to Provence exhibition,

 admiring Édouard Manet's Laundry, 1876

The French painters, whose works are so beautifully displayed in this wonderful exhibition, traveled the road from Paris to Provence in search of light. The foreign artists who responded - Modigliani, Soutine, Miro, De Chirico and others (like Chagall) not represented in the exhibit - chose to paint in Paris because it was the City of Light.  

And where there is light, there is art and life.

***

Text: Copyright of Ed Voves, all rights reserved.                                                 

  Original photography, copyright of Anne Lloyd, all rights reserved. 

Introductory Image:

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Pierre-August Renoir's Luncheon, 1875. Oil on canvas: 19 3/8 x 23 5/8 in. (49.2 x 60 cm) BF45

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) The press preview of From Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Gallery view of Paris to Provence at the Barnes Foundation, showing four paintings by Vincent van Gogh, 1888-90.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Four paintings by Vincent van Gogh: Still Life (1888), The Smoker (1888), The Postman (1889) and Houses and Figure (1890).

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)  "Crowd pleasers" of the Paris to Provence exhibition, Vincent van Gogh's The Smoker (1888) & The Postman (1889)

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) View of a first floor gallery at the Barnes Foundation, the display of art works reflecting the principles of the Barnes Method.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) An ensemble at the Barnes Foundation, showing

 Van Gogh's The Postman displayed Renoir's Nude with Castenets (1918), Renoir still-lifes and a Windsor chair from the 1700's.    

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Detail of Van Gogh's The Postman (Joseph-Etienne Roulin), 1889. Oil on canvas: 25 7/8 x 21 3/4 in. (65.7 x 55.2 cm). BF37

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Gallery views of Van Gogh’s Houses and Figure, 1890. Oil on canvas: 20 1/2 x 15 15/16 in. (52 x 40.5 cm). BF136

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Girl with a Jump Rope: Portrait of Delphine Legrand (detail), 1876. Oil on canvas: 42 1/4 x 27 15/16 in. (107.3 x 71 cm) BF137

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Detail of Claude Monet's The Studio Boat. Oil on canvas: 28 5/8 x 23 5/8 in. (72.7 x 60 cm) BF730

 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Gallery view of Paul Cézanne's Bathers at Rest, 1876-77. Oil on canvas: 32 3/8 × 39 13/16 in. (82.2 × 101.2 cm) BF906

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Two Cézanne paintings on view in Paris to Provence: Terracotta Pots and Flowers, 1891-92 (Oil on canvas: 36 3/8 × 28 7/8 in. (92.4 × 73.3 cm) BF235 ), & Bibemus Quarry, c. 1895 (Oil on canvas: 36 1/4 × 28 3/4 in. (92 × 73 cm) BF 34)

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) View of the Paris to Provence exhibition: (from left) Henri Matisse's Blue Still Life (1907) & Renoir's Nude in a Landscape, c. 1917.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Henri Matisse's Blue Still Life (1907). Oil on canvas: 35 5/16 × 45 15/16 in. (89.7 × 116.7 cm) BF185

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) The final gallery of Paris to Provence, showing (from left) Modigliani's  Girl with a Polka-Dot Blouse (1919), Soutine's Woman in Blue (1919) and Modigliani's Portrait of the Red-Headed Woman (1918).

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Dr. Cindy Kang at the press preview of Paris to Provence.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Giorgio de Chirico's Sophocles and Euripides, 1925. Oil on canvas: 28 7/8 × 23 5/8 in. (73.3 × 60 cm) BF575

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Vincent van Gogh's The Factory, 1887. Oil on canvas: 18 1/8 x 21 7/8 in. (46 x 55.6 cm) BF303

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Detail of Cézanne's Young Man and Skull, 1896-98. Oil on canvas: overall: 51 3/16 x 38 3/8 in. (130 x 97.5 cm) BF929

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Visitors to the Paris to Provence exhibition, admiring Édouard Manet's Laundry, 1876. Oil on canvas: 57 1/4 x 45 1/4 in. (145.4 x 114.9 cm) BF957

 Cézanne

Art Eyewitness Review: Julia Margaret Cameron & Jane Austen Exhibits at the Morgan Library and Museum

Julia Margaret Cameron & Jane Austen at the Morgan

Arresting Beauty: Julia Margaret Cameron

 May 30-September 14, 2025 

A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250

 June 6-September 14, 2025  

Reviewed by Ed Voves

Whether by chance or design, the Morgan Library and Museum is currently presenting parallel exhibitions detailing the lives of two of Great Britain's most accomplished women. Spanning the era of Britain's greatest global influence, the Morgan exhibitions show how these extraordinary individuals played key roles in shaping the development of literature and photography. 

Both Jane Austen and Julia Margaret Cameron made mighty contributions in exploring and depicting human emotion in naturalistic terms. Though their chosen forms of expression, word and image, were very different, there is an amazing continuum of creative energy and vision in the lives of Austen and Cameron. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

 Gallery views of A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250 and Arresting Beauty: Julia Margaret Cameron, showing a replica of Jane Austen’s writing table & Julia Margaret Cameron’s lens

Jane Austen with her quill pen, Julia Margaret Cameron with a bulky, wooden box camera steered the development of English fiction and the nascent science of photography toward the realistic modalities we know today.

If, perchance, Jane Austen and Julia Margaret Cameron never struck you as kindred souls, the thought never occurred to me, either. On the surface, their lives were marked by few things in common besides the fact that these two women resided in southern England.

Miniature Portrait of Jane Austen, 19^th century.

 The Morgan Library and Museum.

Jane Austen (1775-1817) was the gentile daughter of a Church of England clergyman. She lived a very insular life in the county of Hampshire. Austen seldom traveled far from her birthplace, Steventon, and the village of Chawton, where she spent her final years, quietly writing and revising her six novels. 

A visit to the nearby resort of Bath or to London was a very big deal for Jane Austen.

If Austen personified the "Little England" temperament, Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) embodied the expansive attitudes of the British Empire. 

George Frederic Watts, Julia Margaret Cameron, 1850-52

Cameron was born in India, the daughter an official of the Bengal Civil Service. She married another member of the Anglo-Indian elite, twenty years her senior, by whom she had five children. Five orphaned children of relatives and an Irish beggar child named Mary Ryan were added to her brood, quite a difference from the life style of the unwed, childless Austen.

Julia Margaret Cameron was a take-charge person of decided opinions and not shy about expressing them. Overflowing with energy and ambition - and generosity - Cameron was a true memsahib.

The two exhibitions, each occupying one of the first floor galleries at the Morgan, brilliantly complement each other. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) 

Gallery view of Arresting Beauty: Julia Margaret Cameron

 at the Morgan Library and Museum.

Arresting Beauty draws on the vast holdings of Cameron photographs from the Victoria and Albert Museum. The exhibition has been shown at a number of other museums before coming to the Morgan. An especially notable feature of the exhibit is the display of Cameron's bronze camera lens, made in France. 

Many of the iconic images which Cameron first beheld with her camera lens are on display, along with lesser known though equally impressive ones. When Arresting Beauty concludes at the Morgan, the exhibit photos will return to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The V&A curators will withdraw the pictures from public view as part of a multi-year conservation process.   

So if Cameron's photo of a bored, peevish little girl dressed-up like an angel by Raphael is one of your favorites, see it now!

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

 Julia Margaret Cameron’s I Wait, 1872 

It should be noted - not by way of criticism - that all the works in Arresting Beauty are by Cameron. The absence of photos by her contemporaries, Roger Fenton, Clementina Hawarden and others, somewhat mutes the revolutionary impact of Cameron's pictures. But other exhibitions, such as From this Moment, Painting is Dead at the Barnes Foundation (2019), frequently provide such a comparative focus.

By contrast, A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250 is a vintage Morgan enterprise.  Walking through this enchanting evocation of Austen's world brings to mind similar tributes at the Morgan to Charlotte Brontë and other literary masters.  Morgan exhibitions of this caliber deserve to be treasured, not merely enjoyed.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

 Gallery view of A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250, showing a letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen and a replica of Jane Austen’s Pelisse

Surviving artifacts once owned by Jane Austen are so rare, that several of the most notable items on view in the Morgan exhibit are reproductions. The actual objects are carefully preserved at Jane Austen's House, Chawton, England. 

Jane Austen’s silk pelisse, detail. Reconstruction created by

 Hilary Davidson, 2018. Photography by Luke Shear.

Given the exactitude with which the copy of Austen's silk pelisse was created, as shown by a fascinating video, the display of a replica is not a significant omission. Of course, every "Janeite" would love to see the original, while skeptics of the Jane Austen "cult" are quick to note that the 100% provenance of this elegant garment has yet to be absolutely proven.

However, untoward negativity about Austen memorabilia, along with churlish rebukes of Cameron for getting finger prints on her glass plate negatives, will simply not be tolerated in this review! 

Jane Austen,  Letter to Cassandra Austen, Bath, June 2, 1799.

 Morgan Library and Museum, Photography by Janny Chiu

There are a number of autograph letters and other authentic documents written by Jane Austen. But these are few in number, of necessity. This brings us to a painful head-shaking moment, which ultimately confronts all Austen scholars and enthusiasts: the destruction of the greater part of her letters.

Cassandra Austen, the author's sister, carefully sifted through her impressive archive of Austen's letters. She kept 160 and burned the rest. This occurred late in Cassandra's life, during the 1840's. By then, the identity of  "A Lady" was established as the author of Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and the rest of the immortal novels. Austen's reputation was beginning to soar. Why destroy her letters?

The motivation was certainly not sibling envy or anger. The wall text of the Morgan exhibit quotes Cassandra on the day following Jane's death, "She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow. It is as if I have lost a part of myself."

The act of destroying correspondence after a person's death was actually a routine matter during the 1800's. But Cassandra Austen's action perfectly illustrates the law of unintended consequences. In seeking to safeguard her sister's privacy, she created the mystery and mystique of Jane Austen.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

 Gallery views of A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250

In a surviving letter, Jane Austen stated that she wrote for "fame" not financial profit. This remark may well have been a joke between sisters, considering that her name did not appear on the title pages of her novels. We do know that Austen had a wonderful sense of humor, richly endowed with an awareness of the human comedy. 

The Regency Age, in which Austen lived, certainly supplied abundant grist for the mill of ironical commentary. Here are two examples from the Morgan exhibition.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) 

French language translation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility

 by Isabelle de Montolieu, 1815

One of the fascinating objects on view at the Morgan is the French translation of Sense and Sensibility. A then-famous Swiss novelist, Isabelle de Montolieu, largely rewrote the novel to suit her taste, making Marianne Dashwood the main character, rather than her sister, Eleanor. De Montolieu boldly placed her name under the title of what she admitted was a "free translation." Austen was not consulted and likely never knew of this outrageous act of literary piracy. 

Another Regency-era scandal infiltrated the quiet world of Jane Austen. It is documented in the exhibition by an engraving made by William Blake of the celebrated "Mrs. Q". Austen saw the original painting in 1813. She was much taken by the portrait, believing it to be a fair resemblance of Jane Bennet (aka Mrs. Bingley) in Pride and Prejudice.

William Blake, Portrait of Mrs. Q., 1820 

The Morgan Library & Museum.

"Mrs Bingley is exactly herself," Austen wrote, comparing her protagonist to the visage of Mrs Q, "size, shaped face, features & sweetness; there never was a greater likeness... 

Never a greater likeness? On the surface, perhaps. Mrs Q was Georgiana Quentin, the wife of British cavalry officer, serving in the campaigns against Napoleon. While her hero husband was fighting at Waterloo, Mrs Quentin was serving the British government in another capacity  - as the mistress of the Prince Regent.

What these two less-than-admirable incidents illustrate is the kind of tawdry subject matter which might have infused the letters and other private writings of Jane Austen. Family gossip, anxiety over health, the price of dining in London  and, perhaps, the lack of a husband with a sizable income - these may also have figured in the many letters consigned to the flames.

Not exactly the stuff of literary immortality.

Instead of being remembered merely as a Regency-era figure, Jane Austen's reputation has grown with each generation until she has become revered like Shakespeare as "not of an age but for all time."

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

Gallery view of A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250, 

showing a display of modern editions of Pride and Prejudice 

The Morgan exhibit presents a fitting tribute to the"global" Jane Austen. A awesome array of popular editions of Pride and Prejudice testifies to the world-wide reach and enduring appeal of Austen and her beloved novels.

These wonderful books are on loan to the Morgan from an archive of Austen documents and memorabilia, collected by a great Jane Austen enthusiast named Alberta H. Burke. This collection was later donated to Goucher College in Baltimore.

The Pride and Prejudice display may also bring a smile or two to your lips, in keeping with Austen's remarkable comedic ability. I am still trying to decide which book cover is the funnier, the 1969 Italian edition which presents Eliza Bennet as a domintrix or the Serbian cover with an image of Jane Austen on what appears to be a 1950's black and white TV with bad reception.

Can the same glowing accolade that Ben Jonson bestowed on Shakespeare be extended to Julia Margaret Cameron, as well as Jane Austen? I certainly believe so. But rather than trying to prove this by a close study of Cameron's oeuvre, I will take a different approach.

Earlier in this essay, I stated that Jane Austen's reputation benefited from the "law of unintended consequences." So too, did that of Julia Margaret Cameron. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) 

Gallery view of Arresting Beauty: Julia Margaret Cameron

 at the Morgan Library and Museum.

Although Cameron had never touched a camera before receiving one as a Christmas present in 1863, she was not a complete amateur. She numbered the Swedish photographer, Oscar Gustave Rejlander, among her many friends. Before she began taking photos of her own, Cameron had practiced developing copies of Rejlander's from his glass-plate negatives.

Since Rejlander was famous for his tableau-vivant versions of Old Master paintings, it would have been natural for Cameron to follow suit. But it did not work out that way.

In a famous quote - which the Morgan uses in the exhibition title - Cameron proclaimed "I longed to arrest all beauty that came before me, and at length the longing has been satisfied."

Ed Voves, Photo (2025)

 Julia Margaret Cameron’s Angel at the Tomb (detail), 1870

Try though she might, and Cameron did try, "beauty" resisted her "arrest."

Cameron's attempts to use Bible stories and Arthurian legends as her theme seldom worked. When she tried to reprise Michelangelo's Erythraean Sibyl from the Sistine Chapel, the result did not evoke the Renaissance. Nor did this strikingly modern picture, dating to 1864, correspond to mid-Victorian aesthetics.

 

Contrasting views of Michelangelo’s Erythraean Sibyl and Julia Margaret Cameron’s A Sibyl after the manner of Michelangelo, 1864.

In 1877, an article in the American news journal, Harper's Weekly, astutely commented upon the reception of Cameron's photos at a London exhibition.

Photographers particularly turned up their noses at them, and held them as examples of the very worst photographs possible; and yet withal there was a mysterious quality about them which one could scarcely explain without analyzing them carefully. There was an amount of art feeling so suggestive that it claimed attention and admiration in spite of the faults which were apparent, and this very suggestiveness tempted many art critics to go into raptures over her work as something beyond the range of ordinary photographic achievement.

The "mysterious quality ... beyond the range of ordinary photographic achievement" was a manifestation of Cameron's innate genius. Cameron's talent lay in unlocking the true character of the people posing before her camera. Not tableau-vivants or role playing, but the real people beneath the often ridiculous costumes she induced them to wear.

To pose for Cameron, according to her friend and neighbor, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was to be a "victim." But in the course of these agonizing photo sessions, Cameron's creative alchemy seldom failed. Drawing on her inner "mystery", Cameron portrayed an ancient sibyl in modern garb. Taking her talents a step further, Cameron infused a sense of the ethereal, ineffable human soul into her portrait of Alice Liddel, posing as St. Agnes.

Julia Margaret Cameron, St. Agnes, 1872

The "mysterious quality ... beyond the range of ordinary" characterized the lives of Jane Austen and Julia Margaret Cameron. The origin of this "mysterious quality" is beyond the scope of an essay like this. But I have no doubt that the spiritual lives of Austen and Cameron instilled in them a sense of vision that raised their creative works to the status of high art.

In a beautiful touch, the Morgan curators have projected the words of Jane Austen's memorial from the north aisle of Winchester Cathedral on to the gallery floor of the Morgan.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) 

The words of the memorial for Jane Austen at Winchester Cathedral,

 projected on to the floor of the Morgan Library and Museum

Austen's memorial makes no mention of her literary talent or publishing success. Instead, it makes note of her "charity, devotion, faith and purity" which her family hoped would render "her soul acceptable in the sight of her Redeemer."

These heartfelt words are equally applicable to Julia Margaret Cameron who is buried in a neglected grave in Sri Lanka.

"Charity, devotion, faith and purity." Words to live by, words to create by, of an age and for all time.

***

Text and original images: Copyright of Ed Voves, all rights reserved.  

Unless otherwise noted all of the photos exhibiting in the Julia Margaret Cameron exhibition are from the Royal Photographic Society Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Introductory Image: Henry Herschel Hay Cameron (British 1852-1911) Julia Margaret Cameron, c. 1873. Albumen Print: 20 1/16 x 16 in. (50.96 x 40.64 cm.)  V&A

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Gallery views of A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250 and Arresting Beauty: Julia Margaret Cameron at the Morgan Library and Museum. Shown in the pictures are  replica of Jane Austen’s writing table from Jane Austen’s House, Chawton, U.K. and Julia Margaret Cameron’s camera lens, 5 ½ x 5 ½ x 11 13/16 inches ( 14 x 14 x 300 cm.) V&A collection.

Anonymous, Miniature Portrait of Jane Austen, 19^th century. The Morgan Library and Museum. AZ078

George Frederic Watts (British, 1817-1904) Julia Margaret Cameron, 1850-52. Oil on canvas: 24 x 20 in. (610 x 508 mm.) National Portrait Gallery, London. NPO 505046

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Gallery view of Arresting Beauty: Julia Margaret Cameron at the Morgan Library and Museum.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Julia Margaret Cameron’s I Wait, 1872. Albumen print: 24 x 19 15/16 in. (60.9. x 50.7. cm.) V&A

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Gallery views of A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250, showing a display of an autograph letter from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen  and replica of Jane Austen’s Pelisse

Jane Austen’s silk pelisse, detail view. Reconstruction created by Hilary Davidson, 2028. On loan from Jane Austen”s House, Chawton, U.K. Photography by Luke Shear.

Jane Austen (1775-1817) Autograph letter to Cassandra Austen, Bath, June 2, 1799. Morgan Library and Museum, MA 977.4 Photography by Janny Chiu

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Gallery view of A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250, at the Morgan Library and Museum

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) French language translation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility by Isabelle de Montolieu, 1815. From the Alberta H. Burke collection, Goucher College, Baltimore.

William Blake (1757-1827) Portrait of Mrs. Q. (Harriet Quentin), 1820. Stipple etching/engraving with mezzotint. The Morgan Library & Museum. 1998:36:4.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Gallery view of the A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250 exhibition, showing a display of modern editions of Pride and Prejudice in various European languages.

Art Eyewitness Image, showing Orgoglio e pregiudizio. (Milan: Editrice Piccoli, 1969), and Gordost I predasuda (Belgrade: Knjiga za Svakog, 1964) Both books from the Alberta and Henry Burke collection, Goucher College, Baltimore, Md.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Gallery view of Arresting Beauty: Julia Margaret Cameron at the Morgan Library and Museum.

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Julia Margaret Cameron’s Angel at the Tomb (detail), 1870.

Art Eyewitness Image. Contrasting views of Michelangelo’s Erythraean Sibyl and Julia Margaret Cameron’s A Sibyl after the manner of Michelangelo, 1864.

Julia Margaret Cameron (British, 1815-1879)  St. Agnes (Alice Liddel) 1872. Albumen print: 21 15/16 x 17 in. (55.7 x 43. cm.)

Ed Voves, Photo (2025) Gallery view of the A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250 exhibition, showing a projection of the words of the memorial for Jane Austen on the north aisle of Winchester Cathedral.