Orchestrating Elegance

During the 19th century, New York Citys 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 (18361912) 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 rooms ceiling and Sir Edward Poynter to paint the pianos fallboard. One of Alma-Tademas most famous paintings, A Reading from Homer, was painted for this room. For the first time since Marquands death in 1902, the contents of this exceptional room have been brought together and considered in light of Marquands patronage, Alma-Tademas career, the firm that manufactured the furniture, and the social function of the music room. Distributed for the Clark Art Institute Exhibition Schedule: Clark Art Institute (06/04/1709/04/17)