Huntington Art Gallery: Mantel Clock (Front)
1:25
This is one of a suite of five silent videos that focus on an object or architectural element on view in the first-floor period rooms of the Huntington Art Gallery. This video focuses on the front of the mantel clock on view in the small drawing room. Another video in this suite focuses on the clock’s back. The clock, the most significant one in The Huntington’s collection, has an esteemed pedigree. It was made for Prince Maximilian of Habsburg, the last elector and archbishop of Cologne, who is depicted in the upper medallion wearing ermine-trimmed robes. As brother to Marie-Antoinette of France, Maximilian developed a taste for Parisian luxury goods, particularly porcelain-mounted objects like this clock. Bought by Henry Huntington more than a century later, the clock became a suitable addition to the memorial collection he formed in honour of his wife Arabella, a devotee of the ill-fated queen. Several other versions of this clock were produced, each with slight differences. The variations between the clocks result from their production within the guild system of 18th-century France, which dictated what craftspeople were permitted to make. A clockmaker, for example, was permitted to make one thing only – the movement that ran the clock. The clock’s decorations – from the gilt-bronze figures to the porcelain plaques – were made in several different workshops led by different masters. All of the clock’s parts were brought together for assembly in the shop of a clock merchant, called a “marchand-mercier.”
The Huntington Similar Videos
-
Highlights from the Fielding Collection of Early American Art: Collecting
3:10
Jonathan and Karin Fielding talk about their collection focus on American ingenuity manifested in utilitarian American art by craftspeople in rural New England from the 18th through 19th centuries.
-
Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Calligraphy and Painting
5:53
June Li, co-curator of the exhibition Gardens, Art, and Commerce in Chinese Woodblock Prints, explains how the “Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Calligraphy and Painting” directly relates to founder Henry E. Huntington’s scholarly mission.
-
Alexander Calder’s Jerusalem Stabile at The Huntington
5:43
Sandy Rower, president of the Calder Foundation, discusses the process and creation of Alexander Calder's last signed stabile, which was lent to The Huntington in 2015. Learn more about this work.
-
Still Looking
15:50
Still Looking is a series of moments with these two master photographers, Bruce Davidson and Paul Caponigro, in their homes.
-
Highlights from the Fielding Collection of Early American Art: Portrait of Albert G. Gilman
2:06
Jonathan Fielding describes A. Ellis’s 1831 painting of Albert G. Gilman. Of the fifteen known portraits by Ellis, many of those are in disrepair. Fielding says this particular work is an “exceptional piece” with vibrant colours and a modern flair.
-
Highlights from the Fielding Collection of Early American Art: Tall Case Clock
1:39
Jonathan Fielding discusses his “Tall Case Clock,” circa 1820, by Riley Whiting of Winchester, Connecticut. While Whiting painted the face and made the works, says Fielding, someone else worked on the case.
