Grapevine

Item Information

Title:
Grapevine
Description:
Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, a French artist living in Elizabethan England, specialized in naturalistic florilegia. While living in Blackfriars, London during the 16th century, Le Moyne painted dozens of plants and animals native to English gardens; however, his work remained largely undiscovered until the 20th century. These meticulous recreations of Le Moyne's watercolor and gouache pieces highlight the balance between science and art during the sixteenth century. Le Moyne masterfully captures the subject in his watercolor and gouache piece "Grapevine", c. 1580. "Grapevine" began as part of a series of botanicals presumably created for a wealthy English patron, though Le Moyne also painted similar pieces, including "Grape-vine" in the Victoria and Albert Museum. By painting reflected lights and dappled shadows from life, Le Moyne creates convincingly round grapes. In comparison, the curved leaves lack the impressive three-dimensionality of the globular grapevine. Twined vines at the top produce interesting negative space, though the narrow path between the leaves and border causes tension. Though it would be another century before Italian painters popularized the technique of chiaroscuro, Le Moyne's juxtaposition of shadowed grapes against a pale vellum background creates the same dramatic effect. "Grapevine" exhibits one of the best watercolor studies of light during the sixteenth century.
Artist:
Le Moyne de Morgues, Jacques, 1533?-1588
Date:
[ca. 1580]
Format:
Paintings
Genre:
watercolors (paintings)
Location:
Northeastern University Library
Collection (local):
Botanical Watercolors
Subjects:
Grapevine
Florilegia
Elizabethan era
European art
Grapes
Vitaceae
Plants
Fruit
Link to Item:
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20129109
Terms of Use:
No Copyright. The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Contact host institution for more information.
Notes:
DuMarry
Identifier:
botanical_morgues_002