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Feinblatt (Ebria) Research Papers
970034  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Arrangement
  • Biographical/Historical Note
  • Access
  • Acquisition Information
  • Preferred Citation
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Processing History
  • Separated Materials
  • Publication Rights

  • Contributing Institution: Special Collections
    Title: Ebria Feinblatt research papers
    Creator: Feinblatt, Ebria
    Identifier/Call Number: 970034
    Physical Description: 9.3 Linear Feet (24 boxes)
    Date (inclusive): 1943-1989
    Abstract: Curator Ebria Feinblatt's research papers document her studies in seventeenth-century Bolognese ceiling painting and the development of quadratura illusionistic painting. The collection focuses on the work of Girolamo Curti, Domenico Maria Canuti, Angelo Michele Colonna and Agostino Mitelli, as well as their relationships with other artists and collaborators.
    Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record  for this collection. Click here for the access policy .
    Language of Material: Collection material is in English with some Italian.

    Arrangement

    The collection is arranged in three series: Series I. Artists, 1948-1989; Series II. Sites, 1952-1985; Series III. Topics, 1943-1989.

    Biographical/Historical Note

    Ebria Feinblatt (1913-1990) founded the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's department of prints and drawings in 1947. She served a distinguished career as the County Museum's curator for 38 years. Feinblatt studied, collected and wrote on topics ranging from ancient art to German Gothic to modern art, but she was best known for her studies in Bolognese seventeenth-century quadratura painting. Feinblatt's interest in quadratura painting and the Bolognese Seicento artists associated with it originated during a trip to Rome in the early 1950s on a Fulbright grant. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art's collection of seventeenth-century Italian drawings was one of the best represented collections during Feinblatt's tenure as curator. She also wrote a seminal book in the field, Seventeenth-century Bolognese Ceiling Decorators.

    Access

    Open for use by qualified researchers.

    Acquisition Information

    Transferred from the Photo Study Collection, Getty Research Institute, in 1997.

    Preferred Citation

    Ebria Feinblatt research files, 1943-1989, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 970034
    http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa970034

    Scope and Content of Collection

    Ebria Feinblatt's research papers are comprised of manuscript notes, typescripts and manuscript essays (many with annotations), photographs (chiefly commercial reproductions), photocopies, reprints and offprints, letters sent and received, and bibliographies and bibliographical notes. The collection materials were assembled to aid the curator in her research of seventeenth-century Bolognese ceiling painting, also known as quadratura or prospettiva. Feinblatt's specific interest was in a quadratura style of ceiling painting that was architecturally illusionistic. The bulk of Feinblatt's research files were to be used for her publication, Seventeenth-century Bolognese Ceiling Decorators.
    Series I is comprised of artist files. The series contains research files on artists, such as Rembrandt and Picasso, whom Feinblatt researched as part of her curatorial responsibilities. However, the series mainly focuses on the work of the Bolognese ceiling decorators Girolamo Curti, Domenico Maria Canuti, Angelo Michele Colonna, Giuseppe Maria Rolli and Agostino Mitelli as well as their relationships with other artists and collaborators.
    Series II focuses on relevant sites where Bolognese quadraturisti executed ceiling paintings, primarily in northern Italy, but also in locations outside of Italy such as France and Spain. Often more than one specialist in the field of quadratura contributed to a particular site.
    Series III focuses on topics ranging from Jesuit church painting to tarsia to theater, which Feinblatt assembled thematically in her research. Large research files are comprised of surrogates for archival documents and reproductions of drawings that were used in order to settle artist attribution questions. This series includes early drafts and annotated drafts for components of Feinblatt's book, Seventeenth-century Bolognese Ceiling Decorators. Feinblatt's personal writings, including plays, fiction, and academic papers are also found in this series.

    Processing History

    In 2009 Laura Schroffel processed the collection, made an inventory, devised the arrangement and wrote the descriptive notes under the supervision of Karen Meyer-Roux.

    Separated Materials

    One book from the collection was separated to the library.

    Publication Rights

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Gelatin silver prints
    Ceilings -- Italy -- Bologna
    Mural painting and decoration, Italian
    Black-and-white negatives
    Painting, Baroque -- Italy -- Bologna
    Interior decoration -- Italy
    Painting, Italian -- Italy -- Bologna -- 17th century
    Color slides
    Canuti, Domenico Maria, 1626-1684
    Mitelli, Agostino, 1609-1660
    Colonna, Angelo Michele, 1600 or 1604-1687
    Curti, Girolamo, approximately 1570-1631 or 1632