THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 1, 1995 TAG: 9511010468
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
A brilliant blend of music and art will take place Friday and Saturday nights at the Chrysler Museum, with the McCullough Chorale singing 16th century music in Huber Court.
It is the sort of event that P.T. Barnum would announce in boxcar letters of rainbow colors.
The concert heralds the opening of a display of two huge religious paintings, nearly 10 feet tall, by Venetian Renaissance artist Paolo Caliari, who is known as Veronese.
The masterpieces in oil are being reunited after two centuries apart during the exhibition that will continue in Norfolk until Jan. 14.
``It is a multimedia tribute in sound, light and color to the genius of Venice,'' said Jefferson C. Harrison, the museum's chief curator, who organized the exhibition.
The yoking of 16th century painting and music in one show began nine months ago, said conductor Donald J. McCullough. At the organ will be Dudley Oakes and Thomas Marshall.
For one portion of the concert, the 24-member chorale will be distributed at four stations on three levels of the court's grand staircase, their voices reverberating through the lofty court and into corridors and alcoves.
``What I'm hoping is that people in the visual arts will be drawn to the music and vice versa,'' McCullough said Tuesday.
``We tend to pocket ourselves and go to the symphony and not be drawn to the stage, and what we're trying to do this weekend is set up a cross-pollination of the arts.
``If the various arts can reach out to one another's constituencies, they can become even stronger. If we don't have a vigorous, well-balanced cultural offering in the region, I don't think any of the arts can survive.''
At 7:30 p.m. each night, a half-hour before the concert begins, visitors may go to the Renaissance Skylight Gallery and view the paired paintings, both done in 1562.
``The Consecration of St. Nicholas'' is on loan from the National Gallery in London. ``The Virgin and the Child with Angels Appearing to Saints Anthony Abbot and Paul'' was given to our museum by Walter Chrysler, who purchased it in Paris in the 1950s.
Each dramatic painting features divine intervention honoring the devout saints. Gifted in both composition and color, Veronese pulled out all the stops on his palette in painting the story of Saint Nicholas.
The Lord had alerted the clergy one evening, through a heavenly voice, that he had chosen as the new bishop the first person who entered the abbey next morning.
So when Nicholas showed up, they were set to consecrate him on the steps. He huddles at their feet.
He appears surprised, the reporter observed. ``Yes,'' said the curator, ``he was very surprised, but he's handling it well. I think he wanted what he's being offered.''
The painting, an urban scene crammed with excited personages, is an active tumult of color.
By contrast, the lower half of the canvas depicting the two saints, who have spent years in prayer and penance, is done in subdued, earthy tones. Their steady piety is rewarded by a vision of the Virgin and child with two inquisitive angels peering at the mortals.
Mary, clad in shining silver, is enveloped in a voluminous wrap of heavenly blue, all the more striking in shining above the drear desert and her startled worshipers.
The two saints are nearly in shock. Anthony Abbot, gaping, holding up a rosary, is leaning on his staff. Paul the Hermit, Bible open on his lap, grabs his chest with one hand and with the other the rock on which he is seated as he kicks out his leg.
Veronese did three paintings as altarpieces for the abbey of San Benedetto Po, near the town of Mantua. Seized by Napoleon's troops in the late 1790s, they were dispersed.
The third altarpiece, depicting ``Saint Jerome in the Wilderness with the Madonna in Glory,'' was destroyed by fire in 1836 in a London gallery.
This is the first in a series of focus exhibitions connecting paintings in Norfolk with their relatives cherished among museums around the world, Harrison observed.
What a pity Walter Chrysler is no longer here to tell us his exploits in collecting them.
The concert will feature works by Giovanni Gabrieli and include madrigals of Claudio Monteverdi and sacred works of Jewish composer Salamone Rossi.
Single ticket prices range between $12.50 and $18, with discounts for senior citizens and students. For information, call Emily Dale at 627-8375. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
The McCullough Chorale will be on hand Friday and Saturday night to
herald the opening of Chrysler Museum's exhibition of Veronese's
paintings The Consecration of Saint Nicholas, far left, and The
Virgin and Child with Angels Appearing to Saints Anthony Abbot and
Paul, left.
by CNB