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ART IN BROOKLYN From the time the Museum's Winter Scene in Brooklyn was first exhibited in 1820, observers have marveled at its beautiful atmospheric effects and the striking likenesses of its architecture and people. The painting entered the collection of the fledging Brooklyn Institute (the Museum's forerunner) in 1846 and quickly became a gallery favorite. Both of Guy's pictures were also reproduced in prints and in history books, a phenomenon that secured their aesthetic and documentary value for future generations. Originally, these two Winter Scenes were nearly identical, except for variations in the sky and some of the figural vignettes. In 1881, the Museum's canvas suffered damage from a fire and lost about two feet from its left side. This section is preserved in the other version on view here, as well as in the key, allowing us to appreciate the Museum's original composition. The American SceneWhen Francis Guy completed his Brooklyn scenes, landscape painting was a relatively new phenomenon in American art. During the colonial period, landscapes were uncommon and often depicted idealized subjects drawn from European artistic models rather than from nature. By the end of the eighteenth century, several artists, including Guy, began painting America's distinctive scenery with an eye to topographical accuracy. Their pictures of towns, architectural landmarks, and natural wonders celebrated the young nation's development and material prosperity. Landscape imagery also appeared in prints, books, and on decorative arts objects to meet popular demand for such subject matter—demand that was fueled not only by increased nationalism, but also by a growing tourism industry. With the ascendancy of the Hudson River School in the middle of the nineteenth century, landscape painting became a significant facet of American art. Brooklyn IdentitiesA feature that distinguishes Francis Guy's Brooklyn scenes from contemporary townscapes is the strong human dimension. His figures are not merely staffage—anonymous figures subordinated to the setting—but portraits of actual residents, who range in age, occupation, social status, national background, and race. Notably, several African American laborers (some of whom were probably enslaved) occupy prominent positions in the foreground—a testament to their vital role in the region's economy. Guy also alludes to the Dutch heritage of some Brooklynites: Abiel Titus's barnyard, which dominates the center of the composition, resembles the homesteads of early settlers. Well into the nineteenth century, communities across Long Island still largely retained the rural character of seventeenth-century Dutch settlements—with the exception of Brooklyn. By 1820, Brooklyn had developed into a commercial and manufacturing hub, an urban center with a large and varied population.
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 Francis Guy (American, 1760–1820). Winter Scene in Brooklyn, circa 1819–20. Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum, Transferred from the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences to the Brooklyn Museum, 97.13. The objects in this exhibition explore the different identities of the people who made Brooklyn their home. Picturing Place: Francis Guy's Brooklyn, 1820 was made possible by the American Art Council of the Brooklyn Museum. It was organized by Karen Sherry, Assistant Curator of American Art. Tree of Paradise: Jewish Mosaics from the Roman Empire, at the Brooklyn Museum
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Tree of Paradise: Jewish
Mosaics from the Roman Empire features
twenty-one Roman-period mosaics acquired by the Brooklyn Museum in 1905.
Twelve of the mosaic panels on display were part of the sanctuary floor
of the synagogue in Hammam Lif, Tunisia (the ancient Punic city of Naro,
later the Roman Aquae Persianae), the primary subjects of which are
Creation and Paradise. The Latin inscription on the floor panels
indicates that Julia of Naro gave the floor to the community. Two
menorahs flank the inscription. Included are depictions of a tree in
Paradise, sea animals and birds in a scene portraying Creation, and
symbolic birds and baskets that relate to the themes of Creation and the
coming of the Messiah. Decorative motifs include birds and fruits. The
remaining nine panels come from other rooms in the building and other
nearby buildings. They depict animals, a male figure, and a female
figure.The discovery of these mosaics, which were last on view in
Brooklyn in 1998, ushered in the birth of synagogue archaeology on
February 17, 1883, when the French army captain Ernest de Prudhomme
ordered soldiers under his command in Hammam Lif, Tunisia, to prepare
his backyard for a garden. Instead of planting vegetables, Prudhomme and
his men unearthed the first archaeological ruins of a Roman-period
synagogue. Eventually, synagogue archaeology would revolutionize modern
understanding of ancient Jewish life and religion. Modern scholars have
recognized that the gloomy depiction of Jewish life in later Roman
Empire texts must be viewed alongside a decidedly different picture
formed from archaeological evidence. Archaeological remains of ancient
synagogues from Turkey to Spain and from Hungary to Tunisia show that
many Jewish communities prospered in spite of official intolerance.
Other discoveries of ancient synagogues in modern Israel, Jordan, Syria,
Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Italy reveal the vitality of Jewish
life around the Mediterranean Sea during the Roman Empire and an
unexpected tolerance from their non-Jewish neighbors.Tree
of Paradise: Jewish Mosaics from the Roman Empire
has been organized by Edward Bleiberg, Ph.D., Associate
Curator in the Brooklyn Museum's Department of Egyptian, Classical, and
Ancient Middle Eastern Art. It is accompanied by a full-color catalogue
by Dr. Bleiberg, published by the Brooklyn Museum.