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