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Originally part of a large equestrian monument, this head allows us to imagine what was a common sight for the ancient viewer: imposing public statuary that embodied the civic values of imperial Rome. Military officials were often depicted on horseback, and the rider that was represented on the monument was likely a member of the imperial family. Such statues contained large amounts of bronze, and most were melted down for reuse in weapons and other implements in later times of crisis.
Roman
H: 24 x W: 17 15/16 x D: 7 in. (61 x 45.6 x 17.8 cm)
medium: gilt bronze
culture: Roman
dynasty: Julio-Claudian
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Locked in a passionate embrace, the male Buddha Kalachakra and his female partner, Vishvamata, manifest the ideal of complete enlightenment, the supreme knowledge that leads to spiritual liberation. In Buddhist thought, male deities are identified with compassionate action and intention, while female deities embody wisdom. Since the union of these qualities is essential to the enlightened state of a Buddha, the sexual union of such deities forms a powerful visual metaphor for Buddhahood. Kalachakra wears an elephant-skin cape, symbolizing the destruction of ignorance, and a tiger-skin loincloth, symbolizing the destruction of hatred. Together, the deities trample personifications of anger (holding a trident and drum) and desire (holding a bow and arrow). With arms radiating outward and faces looking in all directions, they are all-powerful and all-knowing.
H: 16 × W: 11 1/2 × D: 8 in. (40.6 × 29.2 × 20.3 cm)
medium: gilded copper alloy with traces of paint
given to Walters Art Museum, 2016.
John Vanderlyn
American, Kingston, New York 1775–1852 Kingston, New York
12 x 165 ft. (3.6 x 49.5 m)
medium: Oil on canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 52.184 1952
Gift of the Senate House Association, Kingston, N.Y., 1952
Extracts from Alfred Jacob Miller’s original text, which accompanied his images of Native Americans, are included below for reference.
"Among the wild animals of the West, none gave us so much pleasure, or caused such excitement, as the bands of wild horses that at intervals came under our view. The beauty and symmetry of their forms, their wild and spirited action,- long full sweeping manes and tails - variety of color, and fleetness of motion,- all combined to call forth admiration from the most stoical. One of the greatest difficulties we experienced was to get near enough. They fought shy and held us at a long range,- shewing that they were prudent and sensible, in addition to other fine qualities;- often we had to resort to a telescope. The wheel like trained columns of cavalry, charge, scatter, and form again;- again they are seen in battalions scampering across the prairie, stopping for a moment,- snuffing the breeze,- taking a final look at the intruders from the last undulation, and are gone. The sketch will convey to the observer some idea of this glorious scene,- but it is almost impossible to catch such magic convolutions and secure the spirit of such evanescent forms under the excitement and difficulties that may be readily imagined to transpire at the moment." A.J. Miller, extracted from "The West of Alfred Jacob Miller" (1837).
In July 1858 William T. Walters commissioned 200 watercolors at twelve dollars apiece from Baltimore born artist Alfred Jacob Miller. These paintings were each accompanied by a descriptive text, and were delivered in installments over the next twenty-one months and ultimately were bound in three albums. Transcriptions of field-sketches drawn during the 1837 expedition that Miller had undertaken to the annual fur-trader's rendezvous in the Green River Valley (in what is now western Wyoming), these watercolors are a unique record of the closing years of the western fur trade.
H: 8 1/4 x W: 12 15/16 in. (21 x 32.9 cm)
medium: watercolor on paper
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Baltimore artist, Alfred Jacob Miller was a prolific sketcher. He filled many journals with drawings and captions from the time he was studying in Paris and Rome (1833) until the 1870's. In 1969 a collection of 100 of these sketches was generously donated to the Walters Art Museum by J. William Middendorf II. The interests of Miller are clearly reflected in these sketches: the theater (a large portion being quick figure drawings of the Ravel Pantomime Troupe), childhood memories, Baltimore scenery, and witty scenes of characters. (See The Walters Art Gallery Bulletin, April, 1969, Vol. 21, No. 7, Pages 3-4).
"The Lady Apothecary gets along very well, until a 'new style' Bonnet passes when she incontinently loses her head, picks up the wrong bottle & poisons the patient!" -Miller
with frame: 12 7/8 x 11 1/2 in. (32.7 x 29.2 cm)
medium: wash on paper
Walters Art Museum, 1973, by gift.