55th Annual Delaware Show

In Fine Form: The Striking Silhouette places objects from the collections of Winterthur Library andWinterthur Museum in conversation with one another in order to uncover the history of this enduring art form. Exhibition highlights include the most luxurious and beautiful book to be published in the eighteenth century: Collection of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Honble. Wm. Hamilton. Throughout four rare and luminous volumes, black figures pose in striking contrast to red ochre backgrounds as they reveal the visual language of ancient Greece and Rome (figs. 3, 4). Published in Naples between 1766 and 1776, the set illustrates the antique vases collected by Sir William Hamilton during his tenure as the British envoy to Naples. Ancient vases had never before been documented with such thoroughness and precision. The influence of the illustrations in “Hamilton’s Vases” was amplified by the work of Josiah Wedgwood, whose enameled basalt wares were derived directly from the images in these volumes, the painted figures often appearing as precise replicas. Figs. 3, 4. From Pierre d’Hancarville, Collection of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Honble. Wm. Hamilton (Naples: W. Hamilton, 1766−76). Winterthur Library RBR NK4624 H22co PF In Fine Form: The Striking Silhouette places objects from the collections of interthur Library and interthur useum in conversation with one another in order to uncover the history of this enduring art form. Exhibition highlights include the most luxurious and beautiful book to be published in the eighteenth century: Collection of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Honble. m. Hamilton. Throughout four rare and luminous volumes, black figures pose in striking contrast to red ochre backgrounds as they reveal the visual language of ancient Greece and Rome (figs. 3, 4). Published in Naples between 1766 and 1776, the set illustrates the antique vases collected by Sir illiam Hamilton during his tenure as the British envoy to Naples. Ancient vases had never before been documented with such thoroughness and precision. The influence of the illustrations in “Hamilton’s Vases” was amplified by the work of Josiah edgwood, whose enameled basalt wares were derived directly from the images in these volumes, the painted figures often appearing as precise replicas. Figs. 3, 4. From Pierre d’Hancarville, Collection of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Honble. Wm. Hamilton (Naples: W. Hamilton, 1766−76). Winterthur Library RBR NK4624 H22co PF — 29 —