Twenty sixth in a series of caches highlighting the art of Norfolk's Chrysler Museum, One Memorial Place, Norfolk, VA 23510. The Chrysler Museum is open Tues.- Sat. 10 am - 5 pm, Sunday from Noon - 5 pm. Admission is Free. Website: www.chrysler.org. This oil painting may be seen in Gallery 218 at the museum. <br ><br>
By performing in parades in New York, musicians from the Scottish Highlands served as colorful ambassadors for the British Army and drummed up support for America’s allies during World War I. Gari Melchers (1860–1932) records the details of their costumes with loose brushstrokes and thick layers of paint, using this bold double portrait to pay homage to an esteemed musical tradition. Nonetheless, the distinctive attire and instruments appear against an empty grey background, suggesting the growing irrelevance of such pageantry within modern, mechanized warfare.<br><br>
Julius Garibaldi Melchers was one of the leading American proponents of naturalism. He was a popular, if not particularly innovative, painter, who was trained in Europe. Born in Detroit, he studied art at age 17 in Dusseldorf, Germany. After 3 years he moved to Paris where he studied under famous French masters Lefevre & Boucher. Attracted by the pictorial side of Holland, he settled at Egmond. In 1882, Melchers presented "The Letter", at the Paris Salon the most prestigious art exhibition of the period, which was well received, as was "The Sermon" at the Salon of 1886.<br><br>
In 1889, he and John Singer Sargent became the first American painters to win a Grand Prize at the Paris Universal Exposition. His paintings from the World Columbian Exposition (1893) held in Chicago are now in the Library at the University of Michigan. In 1909 he was appointed Professor of Art at the Grand Ducal Saxony School of Art in Weimar, Germany. In 1915 he returned to New York City to open a studio. Gari and Corinne Melchers settled at Belmont in Falmouth, Virginia (a suburb of Fredericksburg) in 1916. <br><br>
Melchers was a member of the Virginia Fine Arts Commission and a trustee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. He served as chairman of the Art Committee of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. His best known works include the murals depicting War and Peace in the rotunda of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Melchers' work contributed to a general increase of interest in the fine arts in the United States. <br><br>
Gari Melchers Home and Studio is located just west of the center of Falmouth, on the south side of Route 17, (224 Washington St). The 27 acre property, provides access to the main house, a two-story wood frame structure built in the mid-to-late 18th century. After Mrs. Melchers died in 1955 the property was bequethed to the state; it includes most of the couple's possessions in the house, Unlike most historic homes in the commonwealth of Virginia, it is not furnished with antiques that correspond to the house's origins. Rather, it is a snapshot of the international tastes and lifestyle of a famous artist, and is fully furnished with the unusual European antiques and objects Melchers and his wife collected. It is also an art museum with about 1,600 works of art, about 500 of which are Melchers’ paintings. Other works of art include his sketches and studies, works by other artists he collected, and paintings by his wife. <br><br>
Other caches in this series include:<br />
Chrysler Treasures #1 - The Norfolk Mace (GC7C965) Located in Gallery 208<br />
Chrysler Treasures #2 - Man (GC7EAZX) Located in Gallery 221<br />
Chrysler Treasures # 3 - Angel Appearing to Shepherds (GC7EC96) Located in Gallery 211<br />
Chrysler Treasures # 4 - The Neophyte (GC7ECR7) Located in Gallery 214<br />
Chrysler Treasures # 5 - The Wounded Indian (GC7EMPZ) Located in Gallery 212<br />
Chrysler Treasures # 6 - Picasso (GC3B4KQ) Located in Gallery 219<br />
Chrysler Treasures # 9 - Veronese (GC7EYA3) Located in Gallery 204<br />
Chrysler Treasures #10 - The Last Judgement (GC7EYE5) Located in Gallery 202<br />
Chrysler Treasures #11 - The Vegetable Vendor (GC7EZM5) Located in Gallery 207<br />
Chrysler Treasures #12 - James Baldwin (GC7F3HN) Located in Gallery 222<br />
Chrysler Treasures #13 - Ganymede and the Eagle (GC7F4BK) Located in Gallery 208<br />
Chrysler Treasures #14 - Renoir (GC7F3PJ) Located in Gallery 217<br />
Chrysler Treasures #15 - Samurai Armor (GC7F6M8) Located in Gallery 106<br />
Chrysler Treasures #16 - Tiffany Glass (GC7F5WY) Located in Gallery 116<br />
Chrysler Treasures #18 - Naga Buddha (redux) (GC8A8PE) Located in Gallery 107<br />
Chrysler Treasures #19 - Sarcophagus (redux) (GC8A8X8) Located in Gallery 109<br />
Chrysler Treasures # 21 - Libenksy and Brychtova (GC7QFM0) Located in Gallery 223<br />
Chrysler Treasures # 22 - Abstract Expressionism (GC7QG86) Located in Gallery 223<br />
Chrysler Treasures # 23 - Hamlet Robot (GC7QG8E) Located in Gallery 223<br />
Chrysler Treasures # 24 - Here Kitty, kitty (GC89AWG)<br />
Chrysler Treasures # 25 - Bernini's Bust of Christ (GC8RZB5) in Gallery 205<br />
Chrysler Treasures # 26 - MacPherson and MacDonald (GC8ZXF5) in Gallery 218<br />
Chrysler Treasures # 27 - Karen Lamonte (GC8ZY3Q) in Gallery 108<br />
Chrysler Treasures # 28 - Amor Forgiven (GC90M9V) in Galley 216<br />
Chrysler Treasures # 29 - Standing Warrior (GC90VFT) in Gallery 105<br />
<br />
#Chryslercache<br />
<br />