Between Two Heads: executions, burials and disinterment, 1649-1960: Delaroche, Cranch, Cromwell and Charles 1st at the Musee de Beaux-Arts de Nimes.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Brighton
Department Name: Sch of Arts and Media
Abstract
This is both practice-based fine art research and an historical research project. Its context derives from a 'genre' of art practice which has emerged over the last fifteen years; that of artists intervening into, researching and rearranging collections or objects in the public spaces of museums; thereby creating a collision between the contemporary and the old, generating through a mixed genre of art practice and curatorship new knowledge, perceptions and meanings about the past, the museum and the way in which images and objects are displayed and used in history and over time.
The context of this project is a large salon history painting in the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Nimes painted by Paul Delaroche in 1831 depicting Cromwell contemplating and gazing at the beheaded corpse of Charles 1st in his coffin in Whitehall after execution and prior to his burial. The painting was presented to Nimes in 1834 where it still is on display. This depicted incident is described by a number of authors among them Dickens and Guizot (an historian, French government minister and friend of Delaroche) and in the memoirs of Sir Thomas Herbert, personal groom and servant to Charles 1st.
One aim of this 'intervention project' is to present, opposite or next to the Delaroche picture, a digital projection of Cromwell's own head as it appears in photographs taken of it in the 1950's. (Cromwell, after his death and burial in 1658, was disinterred at the restoration of 1660 and posthumously executed. His head was displayed in a number of places, eventually becoming a curiosity. It was painted in 1799 by an artist called Cranch, and photographed both in the 1930's and 1950's, eventually being reburied in a secret location in the grounds of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in 1960. This exhibition presents a collision not only between two different art media (a digital projection and a 19th century painting) but also between the image and history of two heads, hence the main title of this project Between Two Heads.
Through this use of visual artefacts and display, a further objective is to reflect on a series of dates between 1649 and 1960 central to this bizarre narrative and its history. Items from the Muniment Room in Sidney Sussex Cambridge and the Museum of London will be used and placed in the gallery with the video projection and Delaroche's painting. Two items in particular will be displayed, Cranch's painting of Cromwell's head made on the occasion of its display in rooms off Bond Street in 1799 and an anonymous painting of the 1660's depicting Charles 1st with his head sown back on accompanied by grieving female allegorical figures representing England, Scotland and Ireland.
In addition a small publication is planned consisting of four essays and a small number of illustrations. This publication is part of the exhibition but, rather than being a catalogue, will accompany the exhibition and develop in more discursive ways the themes and ideas presented in visual form. The publication will consist of an introduction and essays by different authors, the maximum length of each essay being approximately 5000 words. They will cover the history and historiography of Cromwell's head, the iconography of heads and gazing, the tradition of relics, the practice of museological interventions and curation, literary influences and an analysis of Delaroche's picture and approach to history, particularly British history. It will be presented in separate English and French volumes and accompanied by a CD of the publication texts and illustrations of the exhibition.
The research project will contribute to the use of curatorial devices by artists within a fine art museum in order to question and redefine the historical constructions and aesthetic assumptions normally found there and will demonstrate historiographical practice in the spaces and institutions of the art museum/gallery.
The context of this project is a large salon history painting in the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Nimes painted by Paul Delaroche in 1831 depicting Cromwell contemplating and gazing at the beheaded corpse of Charles 1st in his coffin in Whitehall after execution and prior to his burial. The painting was presented to Nimes in 1834 where it still is on display. This depicted incident is described by a number of authors among them Dickens and Guizot (an historian, French government minister and friend of Delaroche) and in the memoirs of Sir Thomas Herbert, personal groom and servant to Charles 1st.
One aim of this 'intervention project' is to present, opposite or next to the Delaroche picture, a digital projection of Cromwell's own head as it appears in photographs taken of it in the 1950's. (Cromwell, after his death and burial in 1658, was disinterred at the restoration of 1660 and posthumously executed. His head was displayed in a number of places, eventually becoming a curiosity. It was painted in 1799 by an artist called Cranch, and photographed both in the 1930's and 1950's, eventually being reburied in a secret location in the grounds of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in 1960. This exhibition presents a collision not only between two different art media (a digital projection and a 19th century painting) but also between the image and history of two heads, hence the main title of this project Between Two Heads.
Through this use of visual artefacts and display, a further objective is to reflect on a series of dates between 1649 and 1960 central to this bizarre narrative and its history. Items from the Muniment Room in Sidney Sussex Cambridge and the Museum of London will be used and placed in the gallery with the video projection and Delaroche's painting. Two items in particular will be displayed, Cranch's painting of Cromwell's head made on the occasion of its display in rooms off Bond Street in 1799 and an anonymous painting of the 1660's depicting Charles 1st with his head sown back on accompanied by grieving female allegorical figures representing England, Scotland and Ireland.
In addition a small publication is planned consisting of four essays and a small number of illustrations. This publication is part of the exhibition but, rather than being a catalogue, will accompany the exhibition and develop in more discursive ways the themes and ideas presented in visual form. The publication will consist of an introduction and essays by different authors, the maximum length of each essay being approximately 5000 words. They will cover the history and historiography of Cromwell's head, the iconography of heads and gazing, the tradition of relics, the practice of museological interventions and curation, literary influences and an analysis of Delaroche's picture and approach to history, particularly British history. It will be presented in separate English and French volumes and accompanied by a CD of the publication texts and illustrations of the exhibition.
The research project will contribute to the use of curatorial devices by artists within a fine art museum in order to question and redefine the historical constructions and aesthetic assumptions normally found there and will demonstrate historiographical practice in the spaces and institutions of the art museum/gallery.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Peter Seddon (Principal Investigator) |