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How would you pose to say to the world that you are in command and powerful? Look closely at the subject.

Ferdinand Voet’s painting is sophisticated in its pictorial fluency and vitality—as shown by the angle of the face, which gazes to the left and away, beyond the frame of the picture. Its 1998 restoration established the artist’s use of tempera paint for both the red curtain and the background as well as light, diluted brushstrokes to emphasize the figure in the foreground. The piece, which exists in several copies, epitomizes the official image of Alexander VII’s “cardinal nepote,” or cardinal nephew. Flavio Chigi, together with his cousin Agostino, were Voet’s most important patrons.

“Bernini and the Roman Baroque: Masterpieces from Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia” is organized by Glocal Project Consulting and is toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC.

Ferdinand Voet
“Portrait of Cardinal Flavio Chigi,” 1670
Oil on canvas
Palazzo Chigi, Ariccia

A high-profile acquisition funded by “Ten Seventy-Two — A Campaign for Collecting and Conserving Art” is already slated for a monumental survey in 2021.

In January, curators will exhibit “Dream Girl with Woven Camisole” by Emma Amos at the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens in an important new exhibition. From there, “Emma Amos: Color Odyssey” will travel to the Munson-Williams Proctor Art Institute in Utica, New York, and then to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Pennsylvania. Curators are producing a major research publication to accompany the tour, which includes approximately 60 works produced over the last 60 years.

By making a year-end gift towards collecting and conserving art, you support a purposeful initiative to increase representation in the museum’s collections and increase these touring opportunities. Additionally, campaign funds raised to date will also help acquire works by Lavett Ballard, Delita Martin, Faith Ringgold and Carrie Mae Weems.

There are other significant museum purchases available in this focus; however, charitable giving is essential to secure these works for exhibition and study.

Will you further enhance this collection strength and create a space for critical conversations? Make a gift today.

Share your enthusiasm for museum education. Contact Ellen Killough, development officer, at 334.844.7032 or ellen.killough@auburn.edu.

With more than 100 prints, the Louise Hauss and David Brent Miller Audubon Collection is one of the southeast’s finest and a cornerstone of the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University. Many of the works are hand-colored, and as works on paper, they are fragile and especially susceptible to light, whether from the sun or artificial sources.

To provide the utmost care and to extend the life of the pieces for as long as possible, museum staff implemented gallery improvements while closed. Now, a new motion-activated light sensor system leaves the gallery dark until someone walks in, and modified gallery doors limit further exposure. Preparators also are using an even higher value UV protective glazing in the framing process. These measures reflect the university’s stewardship responsibilities and allow curators to exhibit these and other Audubon prints on a more regular basis. A new exhibition, “Nurture: Audubon’s Nesting Imagery,” is now on view.