Reveals the intriguing story behind the commission, rejection, and rehousing of masterpiece The Progress of Love.

Join the curators of the Frick as they present engaging histories of works of art paired with creatively inspired cocktails—a crash course in art history and a delightful introduction to the treasures of the esteemed New York collection. Based on the critically acclaimed video series of the same name, Cocktails with a Curator is a collection of lively and informative essays. Paintings, sculpture, furniture, and porcelain—from medieval times through the glorious Renaissance to the early twentieth century—are discussed for their exemplary status. The creators are some of the greatest artists and include Rembrandt, Vermeer, Whistler, Manet, Velázquez, and Veronese, and the stories (of both artists and subjects) are tantalizing. Cocktails, with recipes, are thematically paired with the works: a Jaded Countess (absinthe, vodka, lemon juice, and simple syrup) with Ingres’s portrait Comtesse d’Haussonville; a classic Pimm’s Cup with Gainsborough’s depiction of English beauty Grace Dalrymple Elliott; and a Bloody Mary (named after the last Catholic regnant queen of England) with Holbein’s painting of Sir Thomas More, who opposed the Reformation of Mary’s father, Henry VIII. The perfect addition to any art connoisseur’s library, this book is an innovative and intoxicating way to enjoy the treasures of a world-renowned art collection.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) was a French painter whose late manner is distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. A prolific artist, Fragonard produced more than 550 paintings. The J. Paul Getty Museum's Fragonard masterpiece, The Fountain of Love, is part of a series of his most striking works called the Allegories of Love, exquisite paintings that convey an atmosphere of intimacy and eroticism. This lavishly illustrated book compares and analyzes the compositions, iconography, and sources of the Allegories in the context of ancien régime Preromanticism. The author discusses the transcendental aspect of love in the Allegories and the concept of Romantic love and painting on the eve of the French Revolution. The book accompanies Consuming Passion: Fragonard's Allegories of Love, an exhibition of the artist's work that opens at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute on October 28, 2007, and at the J. Paul Getty Museum on February 12, 2008.

This handsome volume documents the temporary installation of The Frick Collection in its temporary home, with stunning photographs by Joseph Coscia Jr. and a reflective foreword by Roxane Gay.

The romantic and enigmatic character of this picture has inspired many theories about its subject, meaning, history, and even its attribution to Rembrandt. Several portrait identifications have been proposed, including an ancestor of the Polish Oginski family, which owned the painting in the eighteenth century, and the Polish Socinian theologian Jonasz Szlichtyng. The rider's costume, his weapons, and the breed of his horse have also been claimed as Polish. But if The Polish Rider is a portrait, it certainly breaks with tradition. Equestrian portraits are not common in seventeenth-century Dutch art, and furthermore, in the traditional equestrian portrait the rider is fashionably dressed and his mount is spirited and well-bred. The painting may instead portray a character from history or literature, and many possibilities have been proposed. Candidates range from the Prodigal Son to Gysbrech van Amstel, a hero of Dutch medieval history, and from the Old Testament David to the Mongolian warrior Tamerlane. It is possible that Rembrandt intended simply to represent a foreign soldier, a theme popular in his time in European art, especially in prints. Nevertheless, Rembrandt's intentions in The Polish Rider seem clearly to transcend a simple expression of delight in the exotic. The painting has also been described as a latter-day Miles Christianus (Soldier of Christ), an apotheosis of the mounted soldiers who were still defending Eastern Europe against the Turks in the seventeenth century. Many have felt that the youthful rider faces unknown dangers in the strange and somber landscape, with its mountainous rocks crowned by a mysterious building, its dark water, and the distant flare of a fire.