Collection of the University of Pittsburgh Art Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA. Purchase of Miss Helen Clay Frick
2016.1.14
The Resurrection of Christ
circa 1911 – 1948 (Date created)
Pigment
Fresco
Paintings
124.75 in L
x
96 in W
(Image)
Russian;Italian
Painted after Piero della Francesca's The Resurrection of Christ (early 1450s). In this paitinging Christ stands upon his sarcophagus and, surrounded by sleeping soldiers, proclaims his resurrection. Lochoff made another version of this painting which is displayed in the auditorium of the Cathedral of Learning.
Nicholas Lochoff (d. 1948), after Piero della Francesca (Umbrian, 1415-1492). Original (Early 1450s) in the Town Hall, Borgo San Sepolcro. Fresco.
The foreshortening of the sleeping soldiers visually pulls the spectator into this scene. Christ stands firmly with one food planted upon his sarcophagus, proclaiming that he is resurrected. His militant standard reinforces this. The powerful and order-keeping Christ is supported by the strong horizontals, verticals and diagonals of the composition. To seal Christ's dominance, the figures form a pyramid with Christ at the top. Vasari said that Piero drew from clay models; this may have helped him with the varied and unusual positions of his figures.
The little town of Borgo San Sepolcro lies up the Tiber valley from Arezzo and in the fifteenth century gave birth to two key figures of Renaissance thought, the Minorite friar, Luca Paciolo, and the artist, Piero della Francesca. About 1460 Fiero was given the commission to adorn the council chamber of the two hall and this figure of the Resurrection in an awesome rendering of the subject. It is a perfect fusion of idea and form, the great preoccupation of twentieth-century exponents of the school of abstract painting. An axis is established within a suggested circle and a pyramidal emphasis puts the subject beyond time or place. The magnificently foreshortening drawing of the sleeping soldiers somehow pulls the spectator into the picture plane so that he too has a vision of an overwhelming force (Walter Read Hovey, The Nicholas Lochoff Cloister of The Henry Clay Frick Fine Arts Building, 1965).
The foreshortening of the sleeping soldiers visually pulls the spectator into this scene. Christ stands firmly with one food planted upon his sarcophagus, proclaiming that he is resurrected. His militant standard reinforces this. The powerful and order-keeping Christ is supported by the strong horizontals, verticals and diagonals of the composition. To seal Christ's dominance, the figures form a pyramid with Christ at the top. Vasari said that Piero drew from clay models; this may have helped him with the varied and unusual positions of his figures.
The little town of Borgo San Sepolcro lies up the Tiber valley from Arezzo and in the fifteenth century gave birth to two key figures of Renaissance thought, the Minorite friar, Luca Paciolo, and the artist, Piero della Francesca. About 1460 Fiero was given the commission to adorn the council chamber of the two hall and this figure of the Resurrection in an awesome rendering of the subject. It is a perfect fusion of idea and form, the great preoccupation of twentieth-century exponents of the school of abstract painting. An axis is established within a suggested circle and a pyramidal emphasis puts the subject beyond time or place. The magnificently foreshortening drawing of the sleeping soldiers somehow pulls the spectator into the picture plane so that he too has a vision of an overwhelming force (Walter Read Hovey, The Nicholas Lochoff Cloister of The Henry Clay Frick Fine Arts Building, 1965).
In Collection
Purchased by Miss Helen Clay Frick for the University of Pittsburgh (1959-present)
Boris Lochoff (until 1959); By 1917 Lochoff had only finished and sent back to his home country 8 of these paintings. That same year there was a revolution in Russia. Lochoff was therefore stranded in Italy and cut off from the support previously provided by the Moscow Museum of Art. He was forced to sell the remaining paintings to other buyers. These buyers included Harvard University, the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, and the Frick Art Reference Library in New York. After Lochoff's death, Helen Clay Frick, the woman who started the Fine Arts Department at the University of Pittsburgh and donated the Frick Fine Arts building to the University, acquired this collection with the help of critic and connoisseur, Bernard Berenson. She then donated it to the University of Pittsburgh to adorn the walls of this cloister.
Boris Lochoff (until 1959); By 1917 Lochoff had only finished and sent back to his home country 8 of these paintings. That same year there was a revolution in Russia. Lochoff was therefore stranded in Italy and cut off from the support previously provided by the Moscow Museum of Art. He was forced to sell the remaining paintings to other buyers. These buyers included Harvard University, the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, and the Frick Art Reference Library in New York. After Lochoff's death, Helen Clay Frick, the woman who started the Fine Arts Department at the University of Pittsburgh and donated the Frick Fine Arts building to the University, acquired this collection with the help of critic and connoisseur, Bernard Berenson. She then donated it to the University of Pittsburgh to adorn the walls of this cloister.
Mary Logan Berenson, "A Reconstructor of Old Masterpieces", The American Magazine of Art. (November 1930), pp. 628-638.
Zoa Grace Hawley, "New Life for Old Masters", The Christian Science Monitor, Weekly Magazine section. (October 31, 1934), pp. 8-9; ill. p. 8.
Zoe Grace Hawley, "New Life for Old Masters: Nicholas Lochoff - captures aura of antiquity in exact copies of Italy's fading treasures". (1934)
Edgar Peters Bowron, "European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum". Harvard Art Museums. Cambridge, MA. (1990). pp. 131, not repr.
"[Unidentified article]". Fogg Art Museum Notes. Fogg Art Museum. Cambridge, MA. (February 12, 1921). p.6, repro. b/w.
"A Copy of Gozzoli's Masterpiece". The Harvard Crimson. Cambridge, MA. (February 12, 1921). p.6, repro. b/w.
Mary Logan Berenson. "Preserving the Old Masters by Copying", Transcript (December 31, 1930). p.5, reproduced b/w.
Mary Logan Berenson. "A Reconstructor of Old Masterpieces", The American Magazine of Art. (November 1930). pp. 628-638.
Royal Cortissoz. "Their Appeal to Lovers of our True Tradition". New York Herald Tribune. New York, NY. (March 15, 1931). p.8
Maurice Grosser. "Painter's Progress". C.N. Potter. New York, NY. (1971). Reproduced. p.32, fig. 10.
Edgar Peters Bowron. "European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum". Harvard University Art Museums. Cambridge, MA. (1990). p.110.
Bill Homisak. "Fabulous Renaissance fakes at Frick offer faux fun". Tribune-Review. (August 27, 1989).
Jonathon Keats. "Forged: Why Fakes Are the Great Art of Our Age". Oxford University Press. (2013).
Zoa Grace Hawley, "New Life for Old Masters", The Christian Science Monitor, Weekly Magazine section. (October 31, 1934), pp. 8-9; ill. p. 8.
Zoe Grace Hawley, "New Life for Old Masters: Nicholas Lochoff - captures aura of antiquity in exact copies of Italy's fading treasures". (1934)
Edgar Peters Bowron, "European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum". Harvard Art Museums. Cambridge, MA. (1990). pp. 131, not repr.
"[Unidentified article]". Fogg Art Museum Notes. Fogg Art Museum. Cambridge, MA. (February 12, 1921). p.6, repro. b/w.
"A Copy of Gozzoli's Masterpiece". The Harvard Crimson. Cambridge, MA. (February 12, 1921). p.6, repro. b/w.
Mary Logan Berenson. "Preserving the Old Masters by Copying", Transcript (December 31, 1930). p.5, reproduced b/w.
Mary Logan Berenson. "A Reconstructor of Old Masterpieces", The American Magazine of Art. (November 1930). pp. 628-638.
Royal Cortissoz. "Their Appeal to Lovers of our True Tradition". New York Herald Tribune. New York, NY. (March 15, 1931). p.8
Maurice Grosser. "Painter's Progress". C.N. Potter. New York, NY. (1971). Reproduced. p.32, fig. 10.
Edgar Peters Bowron. "European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum". Harvard University Art Museums. Cambridge, MA. (1990). p.110.
Bill Homisak. "Fabulous Renaissance fakes at Frick offer faux fun". Tribune-Review. (August 27, 1989).
Jonathon Keats. "Forged: Why Fakes Are the Great Art of Our Age". Oxford University Press. (2013).
Please note that cataloging is ongoing and that some information may not be complete.
Italians
Renaissance
Cloisters
Architectural decorations and ornaments
Resurrections
Umbrian
Renaissance
Cloisters
Architectural decorations and ornaments
Resurrections
Umbrian