RON HENGGELER

March 8, 2018
Casanova in San Francisco at the Legion of Honor

Casanova: The Seduction of Europe explores the eighteenth century across Europe through the eyes of one of its most colorful characters, Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798). Renowned in modern times for his amorous pursuits, Casanova lived not only in Italy but also in France and England, and his travels took him as far afield as the Ottoman Empire and to meet Catherine the Great in Saint Petersburg. Gathering together paintings, sculpture, works on paper, furnishings, porcelain, silver, and period costume, The Seduction of Europe brings the visual wealth of Casanova’s world to life. Following its display in Fort Worth, the exhibition is now on view at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco from Feburary 10 until May 28, 2018.

Legion of Honor

Giacomo Casanova

In the dynamic world of mid-eighteenth century Europe, people, ideas, and aesthetics crossed national boundaries. For an intelligent, curious, confident, and lucky person like Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798), the possibilities must have seemed endless. Stretching the limits of both social and physical mobility, he traveled from his native Venice to Paris, London, Dresden, and even Russia and the Ottoman Empire. He charmed—and was charmed by—every level of European society, from scoundrels to kings.

From: Legion of Honor

Giacomo Casanova 1788

Casanova went everywhere, knew everyone, and wrote it all down. His twelve-volume autobiography—The Story of My Life—provides an unrivaled account of eighteenth-century society. Casanova was famously a womanizer and a cheat. He broke promises, perpetrated frauds, and skipped out on creditors. Many of his sexual exploits were scandalous and criminal in his own time, and, for different reasons, would be considered reprehensible today. But he was also a multitalented and multilingual intellectual and a keen observer of society, endowed with a surprisingly modern candor and capacity for self-invention. Many of the trends in our own society—from our obsession with celebrity culture to the confessions we make on social media—find precedents in Casanova’s writings and experiences.

From: Legion of Honor

The Courtyard of San Francisco's Palace of the Legion of Honor, with Rodin's The Thinker

Rodin's The Thinker

Casanova: The Seduction of Europe

February 10, 2018 – May 28, 2018

 

Box in the form of a gondola, 18th century

Italy, Venice

Walnut with gilding

 

 

Kitty Fisher, 1765

by Nathaniel Hone (Irish, 1718-1784)

Oil on canvas

The Lady's Last Stake, 1759

by William Hogarth (English 1697-1764)

Oil on canvas

Thalia, Muse of Comedy 1739

by JeanMarc Nattier (French 1685-1766)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: The Lady's Last Stake, 1759

by William Hogarth (English 1697-1764)

Oil on canvas

A Caricature Group, ca. 1766

by John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: A Caricature Group, ca. 1766

by John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: A Caricature Group, ca. 1766

by John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)

Oil on canvas

A Caricature Group, ca. 1766

by John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: A Caricature Group, ca. 1766

by John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: A Caricature Group, ca. 1766

by John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: A Caricature Group, ca. 1766

by John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)

Oil on canvas

 

The Grand Canal from Campo San Vio, 1730-1735

by Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto (Italian 1697-1768)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: The Grand Canal from Campo San Vio, 1730-1735

by Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto (Italian 1697-1768)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: The Grand Canal from Campo San Vio, 1730-1735

by Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto (Italian 1697-1768)

Oil on canvas

View of the Molo, ca. 1730-1735

by Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto (Italian 1697-1768)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: View of the Molo, ca. 1730-1735

by Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto (Italian 1697-1768)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: View of the Molo, ca. 1730-1735

by Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto (Italian 1697-1768)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: View of the Molo, ca. 1730-1735

by Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto (Italian 1697-1768)

Oil on canvas

The Porta Portello, Padua, ca. 1741-1742

by Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto (Italian 1697-1768)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: The Porta Portello, Padua, ca. 1741-1742

by Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto (Italian 1697-1768)

Oil on canvas

Bacino di San Marco, Venice, ca.1738

by Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto (Italian 1697-1768)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: Bacino di San Marco, Venice, ca.1738

by Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto (Italian 1697-1768)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: Bacino di San Marco, Venice, ca.1738

by Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto (Italian 1697-1768)

Oil on canvas

The Square of Saint Mark’s and the Piazzetta ca. 1731.

Oil on canvas, 26 × 40 1⁄2 in. (66 × 102.9 cm). 

Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto (Italian 1697-1768)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: The Square of Saint Mark’s and the Piazzetta ca. 1731

by Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto (Italian 1697-1768)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: The Square of Saint Mark’s and the Piazzetta ca. 1731

by Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto(Italian 1697-1768)

Oil on canvas

Sedan chair, ca.1750

Italy, Naples

Gilded-wood frame with painted panels, glass, gilt, metal fittings, and silk upholstery

Detail of: Sedan chair, ca.1750

Italy, Naples

Gilded-wood frame with painted panels, glass, gilt, metal fittings, and silk upholstery

Detail of: Sedan chair, ca.1750

Italy, Naples

Gilded-wood frame with painted panels, glass, gilt, metal fittings, and silk upholstery

 

David Garrick and Mrs. Pritchard in Benjamin Hoadly's "The Suspicious Husband" 1747

by Francis Hayman (English, ca. 1703-1776)

Oil on canvas laid to board

Detail of: David Garrick and Mrs. Pritchard in Benjamin Hoadly's "The Suspicious Husband" 1747

by Francis Hayman (English, ca. 1703-1776)

Oil on canvas laid to board

Chest of drawers ca. 1735-1740

Italy, Venice

Gilded pine, gilded metal, marble top

The Empire of Flora, ca. 1743

by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696-1770)

Oil on canvas

Detail of:

The Empire of Flora, ca. 1743

by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, 1696-1770)

Oil on canvas

The Charlatan, 1756

by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (Italian, 1727-1804)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: The Charlatan, 1756

by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (Italian, 1727-1804)

Oil on canvas

Tureen in the form of a boar's head, 1750

Hungary

Holitsch Manufactory (1743-1827), maker

Tin-glazed earthenware and enamel decoration

View of Dresden with the Hofkirche at Right, 1748

by Bernardo Bellotto, (Italian, 1721-1780)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: View of Dresden with the Hofkirche at Right, 1748

by Bernardo Bellotto, (Italian, 1721-1780)

Oil on canvas

Detail of:

Six mythological paintings, 1769

by Francois Boucher (French, 1703-1770)

Oil on canvas

 

View of Dresden with the Frauenkirche at Left, 1747

by Bernardo Bellotto, (Italian, 1721-1780)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: View of Dresden with the Frauenkirche at Left, 1747

by Bernardo Bellotto, (Italian, 1721-1780)

Oil on canvas

Detail of: View of Dresden with the Frauenkirche at Left, 1747

by Bernardo Bellotto, (Italian, 1721-1780)

Oil on canvas

View of Dresden with the Hofkirche at Right, 1748

by Bernardo Bellotto, (Italian, 1721-1780)

Oil on canvas

View of Dresden with the Hofkirche at Right, 1748

by Bernardo Bellotto, (Italian, 1721-1780)

Oil on canvas

 

 

San Cristoforo, San Michele, and Murano from Fondamenta Nuove, 1722-1723

by Giovanni Antonio Canal called Canaletto (Italian 1697-1768)

Oil on canvas

Self Portrait, 1770's

Johann Zoffany (German, 1733-1810)

Oil on canvas

The Parlatorio, 1746

by Francesco Guardi (Italian, 1712-1793)

Oil on canvas

Manon Balletti, 1757

by JeanMarc Nattier (French 1685-1766)

Oil on canvas

 

Detail of:

Six mythological paintings, 1769

by Francois Boucher (French, 1703-1770)

Oil on canvas

Detail of:

Six mythological paintings, 1769

by Francois Boucher (French, 1703-1770)

Oil on canvas

Detail of:

Six mythological paintings, 1769

by Francois Boucher (French, 1703-1770)

Oil on canvas

Catherine the Great, 1773

by Pierre-Etienne Falconet (French, 1741-1791)

Oil on canvas

Catherine the Great, 1773

by Pierre-Etienne Falconet (French, 1741-1791)

Oil on canvas

Self-Portrait, 1776

by Anton Raphael Mengs (German, 1728-1779)

Oil on canvas

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1766

by Allan Ramsay (1713-1784)

Oil on canvas

Benjamin Franklin, 1779

by Joseph Siffred Duplessis (French, 1725-1802)

Oil on canvas

George III, 1757-1758

by Allan Ramsay (1713-1784)

Oil on canvas

Voltaire, 1778

by Jean-Antonie Houdon

Marble

Voltaire, 1778

by Jean-Antonie Houdon

Marble

Detail of: Voltaire, 1778

by Jean-Antonie Houdon

Marble

 

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