Dylan Zhou I, “Scrutiny”
Evan Lim I, Dr. Frederick Ilchman, Dylan Zhou I, Quinn Ebben I, Dr. Sue McCrory, and Joshua Morris II standing before “The Dead Christ with Angels” by Rosso Fiorentino, c. 1525.
Art History class enjoys up-close study of original Renaissance works
O Dylan Zhou I, “Five Faces”
Dylan Zhou I, “Explode”
n 27 February, Dr. Sue McCrory’s AP Art History class paid a visit to the Harvard Art Museums to view several original works of art on paper. The majority were Italian drawings in chalk dating to the Renaissance, although they viewed three Northern Renaissance engravings (one by Dürer!) and a tiny etching by Rembrandt, a self-portrait. The single non-Western work they studied directly during this visit was an illuminated page from the exceptional Great IlKhanid Shahnama (Book of Kings) dating to the mid 14th-century and produced in a collaborative effort by Mongol artists at the Islamic Persian court. All works were specially selected by Dr. McCrory for their direct correlation to the AP curriculum, and the boys seemed taken with the directness of their encounter with these original works. What truly “wowed” them was when the art handler removed an early drawing after Giotto
from its temporary frame and flipped it over. Voilà! A new series of drawings appeared on the reverse, executed in brown ink and wash. Two days later the class traveled to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts for a meeting with Frederick Ilchman, Chair of the Art of Europe Department and Mrs. Russell W. Baker Curator of Paintings. Dr. Ilchman led an informative and charismatic tour of several Renaissance works on view in the galleries, while also speaking to the boys about museum careers and his specific responsibilities as a curator. Highlights of the visit included both Dr. Ilchman’s infectious passion for art and the opportunity to view a MFA conservator in action, cleaning a Rembrandt painting before the boys’ eyes. Dr. Sue McCrory teaches AP Art History to upperclassmen and the Class III elective, Art and Technology.
N e w s l e t t e r o f Th e R o x b u r y L at i n S c h o o l
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