Give Now
 
 

Category Archives: Instagram

Object of the Month: February 2025

Head of Christ

Oil on panel, signed and dated lower right: A Scheffer 1849

Ary Scheffer

Dutch, active in France, 1795-1858

Ary Scheffer first studied art with his parents, later studying at the Amsterdam Drawing Academy. When his father died, Scheffer moved with his family to study in Paris with the neoclassical painter Pierre Guerin which set Scheffer on the road to Romanticism. A year later, he debuted at the Royal Academy’s Salon Exhibition. Five years after the move, he won his first medal which garnered him patronage by a supporter of the royal family.

The French would call this work an étude—a study made of a model to reference and work out details for a later painting. As such, collectors consider them valuable works. A glance at his oeuvre (body of work) reveals that Scheffer uses this model repeatedly for the Christ figure in several of his works largely during his religious period at the end of his career. Dated 1849, M&G’s study likely influenced later works, such as The Temptation of Christ (1854) in the National Gallery of Victoria and perhaps Christ Weeping over Jerusalem (1849) in the Victoria & Albert Museum (which he repeated in an 1851 version at the Walters Art Museum).

Scheffer’s popularity did extend to England but with a marked division in how the British received his works. The members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, just at the start of their own movement (1848), varied in their reactions: William Holman Hunt did not approve, unlike Thomas Woolner. In fact, Hunt convinced D.G. Rossetti that Scheffer’s works were “worthless” (Morris 180).

The Royal Academy in London criticized nearly all the technical aspects of his work, especially his coloring, possibly feeling vulnerable from the acclaim that he was receiving in the industrial North. The growth in the middle class through textile factories in cities such as Manchester and Liverpool made art collecting a mark of affluence and social status. These “barons” were already comfortable with Europe due to product exportation; the importation of ideas from there was a natural consequence. Scheffer was championed by the author Elizabeth Gaskell and collected by the “intensely pious John Heugh” (Morris 186). John Ruskin called him “one of the heads of the mud sentiment school,” but admitted that Scheffer “does draw and feel very beautifully and deeply” (Morris 180).

So if technical excellence was not the draw, what was? Edward Morris states that “it was above all spiritual and emotional exaltation particularly in expression that Scheffer’s English friends admired in his art” (176).  This Head of Christ evidences the coloring that drew criticism: the palette is limited to creams and browns with little distinction between Christ’s clothing and His skin. But Christ’s face is what draws attention. Kindness, introspection, firmness of purpose, along with a far-seeing gaze, create the impression that the God-man is on an eternal mission. “Emotional idealism” can easily cross the line into sentimentality, especially in religious works. However, the appeal to sentiment often leads to contemplation, a result that all artists desire. And anything more than a passing glance at Scheffer’s Head of Christ compels the viewer to ponder the Savior of the world.

 

Dr. Karen Rowe Jones, M&G board member

 

Work Cited:

Morris, Edward. French Art in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Yale UP, New Haven. 2005

 

Old Testament Characters: Pietro Negroni, called Il Giovane Zingaro

Roughly the same size, these beautifully rendered panels painted by Pietro Negroni most likely came from an altarpiece in a convent church in the Calabrian city of Cosenza.

Bringing the Ark to Jerusalem

Bringing the Ark to Jerusalem

Peter Paul Rubens (and studio)

Below the image, click play to listen.

 

Preparing to Depart for Canaan: Leandro Bassano, called Leandro da Ponte

This vibrant painting depicting Abraham and his family’s departure for Canaan features many of the details that the Bassano family were skilled in painting.

Esau and Jacob Presented to Isaac

Esau and Jacob Presented to Isaac

Benjamin West, P.R.A.

Below the image, click play to listen.

 

You can learn more about the entire series by West and M&G’s significant collection from the series HERE.

Object of the Month: January 2025

Madonna and Child with Angels

Tempera and oil on panel

Master of the Greenville Tondo

Umbrian, active late 15th century

This mystery painting was once attributed to the young Umbrian, Raphael as possibly one of his early works (Giuseppe Fiocco, 1937), which could “aid in the studies of the formation of Raphael’s personality” (Mario Salmi). Then, it was suggested as characteristic of Raphael’s teacher in Umbria, Pietro Vannucci, called Perugino (William Suida, 1941 and Wilhelm von Bode, 1921). But it was the great historian Federico Zeri in 1959 and later followed by Everett Fahy, former Metropolitan Museum of Art curator and Director of the Frick, who suggested a different old master entirely.

This tondo (Italian for “round”) is puzzling, but understanding the cultural context of patronage, traditional artistic training, and the workshop setting can help explain some of the mystery.

In the Middle Ages through the early Renaissance, workshop practice was the only common form of artistic instruction in Italy beginning with the religious orders, monasteries, and convents. The Trades (sculptor, mason, architect) were taught from father to son or from an older family member to a younger. Formal apprenticeships emerged in the 13th century in the context of the craft guild system when workshop or bound apprenticeship became a fully regulated system for lay artists. Then, during the 15th century, the dislike for the guild system’s restrictions and process led to an adapted concept of artistic training, called the Academy. The specific training process for artists is further developed in the article about M&G’s painting, A Sibyl by female Old Master, Ginevra Cantofoli.

Throughout all of these training methods to become a master of one’s own workshop, imitation was the most important component of artistic training. Master painters employed a workshop of assistants to copy or paint in his style and to help meet the incoming demand of commissions by patrons. These points are critical to understanding why it is difficult to attribute a specific artistic personality to today’s enduring Old Master paintings. Besides, most painters well into the late 1400s and early 1500s did not autograph their finished works, and finding the original documents commissioning paintings can be challenging.

However, when the artist is unknown, yet there is an entire group of works that look to be by the same master’s hand, the experts (as in this case) will suggest a pseudonym—create a name for the artist after the place or location where his best or most representative work resides. Zeri and Fahy chose M&G’s painting as the namesake for the painter, “The Master of the Greenville Tondo,” meaning this tondo in Greenville, SC.

According to historian Carrie Baker, this painter, subject, and style reflect the “prevailing visual tastes of the period.” Workshop practice utilized multiple assistants and collaborative work to fill commissions that looked like the master’s hand. The assistants were all skilled artisans but working for the key master. Not knowing the assistants’ names isn’t an issue as this was their occupation: to reproduce works at the request of clients in the consistent style of the master to meet customer expectations. Today, we can photograph and print our favorite originals, but then artists could only copy and repeat. Works like M&G’s Madonna and Child with Angels reflect a popular subject and shape of the period, and providing paintings like M&G’s at a client’s request was the master’s way of “positioning . . . his workshop at an economic advantage.”

Many of the masters and their assistants were truly “Renaissance” men—able to tackle the design of many things, not just paintings but manuscripts, reliquary, sculpture, fabrics, architectural features, etc. The anonymous artist as Baker notes, “was probably an active participant of a working-class system of many trades.” The artist is unknown, but by comparing similar characteristics, experts have connected at least 32 works as having come from this same artist’s hand found in places including Pancole, Italy, the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg in Florida, Princeton University Art Museum in New Jersey, the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, and the Estensi Gallery in Modena, Italy.

Regardless of this painting and many others not being attributed to a specific, known personality—such as a respected influencer like Perugino or a major name of the Renaissance like Raphael, this master’s work was just as valuable in shaping Umbria’s artistic identity. And, more than that, our painting is shaping the estimation of our own community through the designation “Master of the Greenville Tondo”—bringing honor and recognition to the city of Greenville throughout the world where other works by this unknown master are displayed.

 

Erin R. Jones, Executive Director

 

Published 2025

Living Gallery 2025

Join Greenville’s leading Easter tradition–attend the annual Living Gallery!

The program varies from year to year. So, come and be challenged and inspired by the drama, uplifting music, and life-size re-creations of great masterpieces (with live models) that make up the Living Gallery, an annual Upstate tradition since 1998.

This Same Jesus

Where do we find shelter and comfort when our lives are shaken?  Living Gallery 2025 reveals the safe haven from the storms of life through a compelling drama, beautiful music, and life-sized masterworks of art filled with real people.  The program includes sculpture, a Rembrandt etching, M&G’s Christ and the Samaritan Woman by Francois de Troy, and stained glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

 

Location: Rodeheaver Auditorium, campus of Bob Jones University

Parking: Parking is available on the campus of Bob Jones University.

Performance Times: 

Thursday, April 17, 2025 at 4:30 and 7:30 PM

Friday, April 18, 2025 at 4:30 and 7:30 PM

Saturday, April 19, 2025 at 2:00, 4:30, and 7:30 PM

 

Living Gallery Tickets:

Adults & Teens: $21.03 and Children (Ages 6-12): $18.92

  • Tickets are on sale at Programs & Productions, in the lobby of Rodeheaver Auditorium, campus of Bob Jones University
  • Box Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 12PM to 5PM
  • You may purchase tickets HERE.
  • Call (864) 770-1372, Monday-Friday, 12PM to 5PM
  • Children must be 6 years or older to attend.
  • Learn more about the program HERE.

 

Related Offerings:

FREE Public Tour: Benjamin West Collection

War Memorial Chapel, campus of Bob Jones University

On Good Friday, April 18 from 3-4 PM, join M&G Executive Director, Erin Jones for a private guided tour of Benjamin West’s monumental royal painting commission, The Progress of Revealed Religion, in the War Memorial Chapel on the campus of Bob Jones University. The tour is free, open to the public, and will conclude in time for guests to attend the 4:30PM program. No registration required.

 

The Easter Story in Art: An M&G Scavenger Hunt for Kids (K5-8th grade)

Available February 17–April 19, 2025 (Monday-Saturday, 10AM-5PM)

To celebrate Easter, families are invited to begin at the Welcome Center for a campus search of special art objects related to the Easter story. This self-guided, informative activity (45-60 minutes long) is designed to captivate your child’s imagination and expose them to the life and times of Old Master painters. Return to the Welcome Center with your finished worksheet for a free prize! This M&G activity is FREE!

 

Bringing a church group? Schedule a tour to see selections of M&G’s collection here.

Want to see works from M&G’s Collection? See the campus locations displaying selections here.

To view a selection of videos featuring Easter-themed works in the Collection, visit here.

 

News Room & Awards

M&G in the News

M&G Voted Best Art Gallery in 2024 Post & Courier Reader’s Choice Awards

See M&G works locally on exhibit in museum-compliant art gallery at First Presbyterian Church

M&G mentioned in #5 Greenville, SC in Best Life’s Top 10 US Cities to Visit if You’re Over 60  

M&G featured in Town Magazine May 2022 Arts Issue

Museum & Gallery at BJU celebrates 70 years

From Bonaparte’s home to M&G – tracing high art’s path through history

Marketplace Greenville: Museum & Gallery Tries to Keep Renowned Collection Accessible as It Seeks New Home in Downtown

Treasures from the Museum & Gallery at Bob Jones University: Five Centuries of Old Master Painting’ opens in Orlando.

The State: Bob Jones closed its art museum, sets eyes on new home for world-renowned collection

GVL Today: Exploring the Museum and Gallery at Bob Jones University

The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg: ‘Picture Books of the Past’ is an eye-opener at the Museum of the Bible 

ArtDaily: ‘Drama and Devotion in Baroque Rome’ celebrates Caravaggio’s influence

Greenvilleonline: After the Notre Dame fire, Erin Jones talks about preserving the Museum & Gallery’s artwork.

GoUpstate: Wofford exhibition, Sacred and Secular: Netherlandish Baroque Paintings from Regional Collections

WGAU: UGA teams with Russia on Museum Display

UGA Today:“Life of Nicholas II of Russia on view at museum”

ArtDaily: Objects from Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery collection help round out an exhibition at the Georgia Museum of Art focusing on the reigns of the last two Romanov rulers

“Framing History: The Greenville County Museum of Art presents the Old Masters works of the Museum & Gallery at Bob Jones University” Town Carolina

“Challenged to use their imaginations” (Museum on the Move from Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC, visited the 3rd graders at Foster Park Elementary School.)

WYFF on Demand: Bob Jones University makes a surprise announcement

BJU Museum & Gallery Loans Art to Museum of the Bible, Greenville Journal

BJU Museum & Gallery Prepares for Renovations

Dream Vacation Magazine:  25 Best Things to Do in South Carolina

The Culture Trip: Discover Greenville, South Carolina’s Hottest New Destination

US News and World Report: 10 Best Things to do in Greenville—M&G is #1 

National Geographic Traveler:  Going Greenville

New York Daily News:  Greenville, SC is a refined Southern City

WND.com:  Tear Your Eyes Away From Personal Electronics

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette: First Lady Talks of Arkansas Governor’s Mansion Repairs, Artwork Plans

Greenville Journal: M&G’s Most Recent Acquisition

South Carolina Living: Great Works of Art Are Closer than You Think  

 

Awards

Voted Best Art Gallery in 2023 inaugural Greenville Post and Courier Reader’s Choice Awards

Voted Best Art Gallery in the Upstate 2015 & 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 – Greenville News

M&G receives Southeastern Museum Conference Exhibition Award

TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence, 2012-2016

AAA Uncommon Travel Gems Award

Christmas-Themed Works of Art in the Collection

Enjoy this focused selection of short video clips and audio stops featuring M&G paintings depicting elements of the Biblical Christmas story.

Bethlehem Manger
The Annunciation: Pieter Fransz. de Grebber
The Presentation of Christ in the Temple
Antiphonary
Picture Books of the Past: Pieter Fransz. de Grebber
Juan Sanchez, the Younger
Picture Books of the Past: Carlo Dolci
Scenes from the Life of Christ
Jan Boeckhorst: Adoration of the Magi
St. Nicholas, the Wonderworker
Domenico Fiasella: The Flight into Egypt
Two Angels with Banner
Francesco Granacci: Rest on the Flight into Egypt
Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, called Sandro Botticelli (and studio): Madonna and Child with an Angel
Jan Swart van Groningen: Nativity Triptych
Jan Gossaert: The Madonna of the Fireplace
Carlo Francesco Nuvolone
Master of the Borghese Tondo
Johann Friedrich Overbeck
Frans Francken, the Younger

 

 

If you enjoyed these objects from M&G’s collection, visit here to see more!

Valentine Event: An Evening with Coveted Treasures of Kings and Queens

Friday, February 14, 2025 at 7PM

Hosted by the Museum & Gallery in the Davis Room, campus of Bob Jones University

Gems, pearls, and paintings have long been viewed as treasures by all. Bring a friend or a Valentine for an opportunity to trace these beautiful objects from medieval times through the Victorian era while experiencing some of the tastes and sounds of the past—with a Valentine twist.

To culminate the evening, the Charleston Silver Lady, Dawn Corley will present a fascinating glimpse into the world of pearls. Plus, enjoy an exclusive opportunity to purchase unusual pearls from some of the world’s richest diving fields—for yourself or your Valentine.

A portion of the proceeds will go toward M&G’s annual fund.

Registration: $25 per person

Heavy hors d’oeuvres and sweets will be served. Space is limited.

 

This M&G event is SOLD OUT! If you would like to be added to the event waiting list, please register HERE.