Incollect Magazine - Issue 3

Issue 3 18 www.incollect.com T he extraordinary Bleriot XI Monoplane Weathervane made its final flight from the collection of Michael and Patricia Del Castello to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a journey that was coordinated by Folk Art dealer Allan Katz, who is also widely known as a regular presenter on PBS’s Antiques Roadshow. Katz’s relationship as advisor and friend to the Del Castellos goes back over 40 years, and as a member of the selection committee for the recent exhibition American Weathervanes: The Art of the Winds at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City, he recommended the Bleriot weathervane’s inclusion. At the conclusion of the show in January 2022, the Del Castellos told Katz of their desire to find a permanent home for this outstanding example of American vernacular sculpture so it could be shared with a wider audience. Katz proposed The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with its thousands of daily visitors as the perfect place, the Del Castellos concurred, and Mr. Katz initiated and coordinated the donation. This article was commissioned by Katz from curator and author of the book coinciding with The Art of the Winds exhibition Robert Shaw, for presentation to the Metropolitan Museum to provide a history of the piece. Announcement of the gift was made on September 23, 2022. “The gift marks an important development as the Museum continues to evolve the breadth of its collection, especially as the American Wing approaches its centennial year in 2024. We are deeply grateful to Michael and Patricia Del Castello for their generous gift of this unique work of art,” stated Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director of The Met. According to local tradition corroborated by Louis Blériot’s granddaughter, the Blériot XI Monoplane Weathervane was specially made for and installed on the Poland Spring House in Poland Spring, Maine to celebrate races between a crack team of French aviators flying their Blériot XI airplanes and American aviators flying Blériot XIs they had purchased or made from kits, held in Poland Spring and Portland, Maine, not long after Blériot’s historic flight across the English Channel. Louis Blériot did not participate in the races, as he stopped competitive flying after a crash in December 1909. Louis Blériot’s flight, which marked the first ever crossing of the English Channel in this newly invented air machine, electrified the world and made the aviator an international celebrity. His twenty- five-mile flight from Calais, France to Dover, England, powered by a 25-horsepower engine took thirty-six minutes and thirty seconds. In a 2005 PBS documentary about Blériot’s historic flight, Dr. Tom Crouch, Curator Emeritus of the National Air and Space The Bleriot Model XI Monoplane Weathervane, American, circa 1909-1913. Unidentified maker. Copper with traces of original gilding. 10" x 57¼" x 55". Poland Spring House, Poland Spring, Maine. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, from the collection of Michael and Patricia Del Castello. This singular American weathervane is a carefully rendered representation of the small, fragile monoplane that pioneering French aviator Louis Blériot created and flew over the English Channel on July 25, 1909. No other airplane weathervane remotely like this sculptural rendering is known. The Bleriot Model XI Monoplane Weathervane The Metropolitan Museum of Art Receives a Rare American Weathervane