Earth and Space News: January 2017

Monday, January 30, 2017

Rigoletto Is the Feb. 4, 2017, Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast

Summary: The Feb. 4, 2017, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is Rigoletto, a three-act tragic opera by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi.

Verdi's Rigoletto airs as the Feb. 4, 2017, Saturday matinee broadcast during the 2016-2017 Met Opera season: Meet Me At The Opera @MMATOpera, via Twitter Jan. 20, 2017

Rigoletto, a three-act, tragic opera concerning the horrific fulfillment of a curse by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901), is the Feb. 4, 2017, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast.

Italian librettist Francesco Maria Piave (May 18, 1810-March 5, 1876) wrote the Italian libretto. The literary source is Le Roi s’amuse, a five-act play by French dramatist, novelist and poet Victor Marie Hugo (Feb. 26, 1801-May 22, 1885). Hugo’s play, set in 15th century Paris, concerns the excessive amorous exploits of François Ier (Francis I, Sept. 12, 1494-March 31, 1547) ninth of the 13 kings of France’s House of Valois dynasty who reigned from April 1, 1328, to Aug. 2, 1589.

Rigoletto’s triumphant premiere took place March 11, 1851. The venue was Teatro La Fenice in the San Marco sestiere (“area”) of Venice in northeastern Italy. Opened Dec. 26, 1837, as replacement for the first, destroyed in a fire Dec. 13, 1836, La Fenice’s second building hosted all five of Verdi’s Venice premieres. Rigoletto marked La Fenice’s third Verdi premiere.

The composer and his librettist set Rigoletto in the 16th century. The locale is the Duchy of Mantua in northwestern Italy’s Lombardy region. The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-2017 production fast forwards Rigoletto to Las Vegas, Clark County, southeastern Nevada, in 1960.

The Saturday matinee broadcast of Cyrano de Bergerac begins at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (6 p.m. Coordinated Universal Time). The estimated run time for the performance is about 3 hours 2 minutes. The performance, sung in the original Italian, comprises three acts and two intermissions.

Act I is timed at 57 minutes. A 27-minute intermission follows Act I.

Act II is timed at 32 minutes. A 32-minute intermission follows Act II.

Act III is timed at 34 minutes. The Saturday matinee broadcast performance ends with Act III’s final notes.

Pier Giorgio Morandi conducts all performances, including the Saturday matinee broadcast, of Rigoletto. Pier Giorgio Morandi’s appearance on the conductor’s podium marks his Metropolitan Opera debut.

Željko Lučić appears in the title role as the Duke of Mantua’s humpbacked jester, who learns, at a terrible price, the lesson of what goes around comes around. He was born in Zrenjanin, Vojvodina, northern Serbia. Serbian operatic baritone debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2006 as Barnaba in La Gioconda by Amilcare Ponchielli (Aug. 31, 1834-Jan. 16, 1886). Željko Lučić also appears this season in the title role of Verdi’s Nabucco and as Jochanaan in Salome by Richard Georg Strauss (June 11, 1864-Sept. 8, 1949).

Olga Peretyatko appears as Gilda, Rigoletto’s trusting daughter whose misplaced love for the libertine Duke of Mantua, her father’s womanizing patron, impels her to sacrifice her life. Her birthplace is St. Petersburg, northwestern Russia. The Russian operatic soprano debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2014 as Elvira Walton in I Puritani by Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (Nov. 3, 1801-Sept. 23, 1835).

Stephen Costello appears as the Duke of Mantua, who unscrupulously seduces his jester’s naïve daughter. His birthplace is Philadelphia, southeastern Pennsylvania. The American operatic tenor debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2007 as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor by Italian opera composer Domenico Gaetano Donizetti (Nov. 29, 1797-April 8, 1848). Stephen Costello also appears this season as Roméo in Roméo et Juliette by French composer Charles-François Gounod (June 17, 1818-Oct. 18, 1893).

Stephen Costello appears in January performances and in the Saturday matinee broadcast. He shares the role of the dissolute duke this season with Joseph Calleja.

Born in Attard, central Malta, Joseph Calleja appears in all April performances. His appearance as the unfaithful Duke marks the Maltese tenor’s Metropolitan Opera debut.

Andrea Mastroni appears as Sparafucile, an assassin who promises his sister to spare the Duke’s life if another target appears by midnight. He was born in Milan, Lombardy, northwestern Italy. The Italian bass’s appearance as Sparafucile marks his Metropolitan Opera debut.

Andrea Mastroni appears in all January performances as well as in the Saturday matinee broadcast. He shares the role of Sparafucile this season with Štefan Kocán, who appears in all April performances.

Born in Trnava, western Slovakia, Štefan Kocán debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2009 as the King of Egypt in Verdi’s Aida. The Slovak operatic bass also appears this season as the Commendatore in Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791) and as Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (May 7, 1840-Nov. 6, 1893).

Oksana Volkova appears as Maddalena, who besottedly extracts a promise from her brother, Sparafucile, that has devastating consequences. Her birthplace is Minsk, Republic of Belarus. The Belarusian mezzo-soprano reprises the role she debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2013.

Oksana Volkova appears in all January performances as well as in the Saturday matinee broadcast. She shares the role of Maddalena this season with Nancy Fabiola Herrera, who appears in all April performances.

Born in Caracas, north central coastal Venezuela, to Canadian parents, Nancy Fabiola Herrera debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2015 as Suzuki in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. The Spanish mezzo-soprano also appears this season as Fenena in Verdi’s Nabucco and as Herodias in Richard Strauss’s Salome.

Operabase, an online database, places Giuseppe Verdi in first place in a ranking of 1,281 most popular composers for the five seasons from 2011/2012 to 2015/16. Rigoletto occupies 10th place in the list of 2,658 most popular operas.

The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016 Repertory Report gives performance statistics through Oct. 31. Rigoletto holds sixth place, with 878 performances, for the period from first Met performance, Nov. 16, 1883, to last performance, Dec. 17, 2015. The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-2017 season falls outside the report’s parameters.

The takeaway for Rigoletto as the Feb. 4, 2017, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is the horrible fulfillment of a curse flung as Rigoletto’s naïve daughter sacrifices her life to save her father’s dissolute patron. Unlike Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Verdi’s serial seducer eludes accountability.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Verdi's Rigoletto airs as the Feb. 4, 2017, Saturday matinee broadcast during the 2016-2017 Met Opera season: Meet Me At The Opera @MMATOpera, via Twitter Jan. 20, 2017, @ https://twitter.com/MMATOpera/status/822520648165519360

The 2016-2017 Met Opera season's performances of Verdi's Rigoletto mark the third revival of Michael Mayer's staging, which debuted as a new production at Met Opera Jan. 28, 2013: Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Jan. 20, 2017, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532.229232.20807115532/10158228862185533/

For further information:

"Composers: Composers Ranked by the Number of Performances of Their Operas Over the Five Seasons 2011/2012 to 2015/16." Operabase > Opera Statistics.
Available @ http://operabase.com/top.cgi?lang=en

Meet Me At The Opera @MMATOpera. "Plans tonight in #NewYork? Verdi's Rigoletto @MetOpera." Twitter. Jan. 20, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MMATOpera/status/822520648165519360

Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "Olga Peretyatko is Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto. Tickets from $25: bit.ly/2jtqHyP Photo by Richard Termine//Metropolitan Opera." Facebook. Jan. 20, 2017.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.134969600532.229232.20807115532/10158228862185533/

“Performances Statistics Through October 31, 2016.” MetOpera Database > The Metropolitan Opera Archives > Repertory Report.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/Database%20Opera%20Statistics.xml

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Helleborus ‘HGC Lady Freckle’ Has Red Purple-Spotted White Flowers

Summary: Helleborus ‘HGC Lady Freckle,’ a Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis) variety by German hybridizer Joseph Heuger, has red purple-spotted white flowers.

side view of flower of Helleborus ‘HGC Lady Freckle’ in images included in Joseph Heuger’s patent application, filed Monday, June 28, 2004, as application number 10/878416, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); United States Plant Patent No. US PP15,618; Date of Patent March 1, 2005; color scans via Plant Patents Image Database, Digital Collections @ University of Maryland Libraries

Helleborus ‘HGC Lady Freckle,’ a Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis) variety by German hellebore hybridizer Joseph Heuger, has red purple-spotted white flowers.

On June 28, 2004, Heuger filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a patent for Helleborus ‘HGC Lady Freckle.’ Primary examiner Kent Bell and assistant examiner Wendy C. Haas reviewed Heuger’s application. On March 1, 2005, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office assigned plant patent number 15,618 to Helleborus ‘HGC Lady Freckle.’

Helleborus ‘HGC Lady Freckle’ has its origins in a breeding program established in January 1999 by Joseph Heuger at his family’s nursery, Heuger Gartenbaubetriebe, in Glandorf, Lower Saxony state, northwestern Germany. Unnamed, unpatented female and male Helleborus orientalis seedlings were cross-pollinated in a controlled environment. The inventor discovered and selected the flowering plant now known as Helleborus ‘HGC Lady Freckle’ from among the cross-pollinated parents’ offspring.

The new variety displayed distinctive traits, such as attractive flower and leaf colorations; a mounded, upright habit; relatively early flowering. Propagation by divisions, begun in March 2001, confirmed the retention and true reproduction of the new cultivar’s unique features over successive generations.

Heuger’s patent application describes plants, at about 6 months of age, grown indoors in 15-centimeter (5.90-inch) containers during winter. During production, the day temperature in the glass-covered greenhouse in Glandorf registered about 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 degrees Fahrenheit). The night temperature was about 14 degrees C (57.2 degrees F).

Helleborus ‘HGC Lady Freckle’ has a temperature tolerance that ranges from minus 12 to 36 degrees C (10.4 to 96.8 degrees F).

The new cultivar’s moderately vigorous growth yields a mounded, upright plant habit, with basal leaves and single flowers. Plant height measures about 25 centimeters (9.84 inches). Width, or spread, measures about 40 centimeters (15.748 inches).

Basal foliage is palmately compound. Five to six leaflets radiate from the leaf’s single attachment point at the distal, or far, end of the petiole, or leaf stalk.

Leaflet lengths range from 6 to 9.5 centimeters (2.36 to 3.74 inches). Widths range from about 2.2 to 3.5 centimeters (0.86 to 1.37 inches).

Lanceolate, or lance-shaped, leaflets have serrated margins. Glabrous surface textures are hairlessly smooth.

Upper surfaces of fully expanded leaflets are dark green (Royal Horticultural Society colour chart color 147A). Lower surfaces are brown green (RHS 147B). Venation of upper and lower surfaces is brown green (RHS 146D).

Helleborus ‘HGC Lady Freckle’ has a relatively early and long natural blooming period. Intermittent flowering stretches from November to February in Glandorf. On the plant, flowers last about 10 days.

The new variety’s floral type and habit reveal single, outwardly drooping, rounded flowers, each in a single arrangement on short peduncles, or floral stems. Peduncles are about 4.5 centimeters (1.77 inches) in length, with a diameter of about 2 millimeters (0.07 inches).

Despite their bent orientation, peduncles are moderately strong. Their glabrous texture is hairlessly smooth. Coloring is light green (RHS 145A).

A freely flowering habit encourages about 15 developed flowers per plant over the blooming period. Typically each plant has more than one flowering stem.

Ovoid, or egg-shaped, flower buds measure a diameter of about 1 centimeter (0.39 inches) and a height of about 1.5 centimeters (0.59 inches). Bud coloring is light green (RHS 145C to 145D).

Flowers have minute petals that form inconspicuous nectaries. Sepals typically number five per flower, forming a single whorl.

Sepal length and width have identical measurements. Sepals measure 3 centimeters (1.18 inches) in length and also in width.

Broadly ovate, or egg-shaped, sepals have smooth, untoothed margins, described as entire. Glabrous upper and lower surface textures are hairlessly and satiny smooth.

Upper and lower surfaces of developing and fully expanded sepals are white (RHS 155C). Spots toward the center of upper surfaces are dark purple red (RHS 59B).

The takeaway for Helleborus ‘HGC Lady Freckle’ is the lengthy opportunities, via the new Heuger hellebore’s early and extensive blooming period, for enjoyment of red purple-spotted white flowers that top light green floral stems and contrast attractively with dark green leaves.

closeup of Helleborus ‘HGC Lady Freckle’ flower in images included in Joseph Heuger’s patent application, filed Monday, June 28, 2004, as application number 10/878416, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); United States Plant Patent No. US PP15,618; Date of Patent March 1, 2005; color scans via Plant Patents Image Database, Digital Collections @ University of Maryland Libraries

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Burrell, C. Colston; Judith Knott Tyler. Hellebores: A Comprehensive Guide. Portland OR: Timber Press, 2006.

“Helleborus Plant Named ‘HGC Lady Freckle.’” United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). March 1, 2005.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP015618

International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. “Document TGP/14: Glossary of Technical, Botanical and Statistical Terms Used in UPOV Documents. Section 2: Botanical Terms: Subsection 3: Color: (2): Color Names for the RHS Colour Chart.” UPOV (Union Internationale Pour la Protection des Obtentions Végétales). Dec. 9, 2006.
Available @ http://www.upov.int/edocs/mdocs/upov/en/tc_edc?2007/tgp_14_draft_1_section_2_3_2.pdf

Marriner, Derdriu. “Helleborus ‘COSEH 210’ Has Large White Flowers and Sells as ‘HGC Joel’®.” Earth and Space News. Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/helleborus-coseh-210-has-large-white.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Helleborus ‘COSEH 710’ Has Light Green Flowers With Reddish Pink Flushes.” Earth and Space News. Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/11/helleborus-coseh-710-has-light-green.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Helleborus ‘COSEH 740’ Has White Flowers and Dark Green Leaves.” Earth and Space News. Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/11/helleborus-coseh-740-has-white-flowers.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Helleborus ‘HGC Double Surprise’ Has Purple-Spotted White Double Flowers.” Earth and Space News. Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/helleborus-hgc-double-surprise-has.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Helleborus ‘HGC Josef Lemper’ Has White Flowers and Dark Green Leaves." Earth and Space News. Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/helleborus-hgc-josef-lemper-has-white.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “A Helleborus Plant Named ‘COSEH 700’ Has Large Light Green Flowers.” Earth and Space News. Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/11/a-helleborus-plant-named-coseh-700-has.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “A Helleborus Plant Named ‘HGC Jacob’ Has White to Light Green Flowers.” Earth and Space News. Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2016/11/a-helleborus-plant-named-hgc-jacob-has.html

“PP15618 -- Helleborus Plant Named ‘HGC Lady Freckle.’” University of Maryland > Plant Patents Image Database.
Available @ http://www.lib.umd.edu/plantpatents/id/11584

Rice, Graham; Elizabeth Strangman. The Gardener’s Guide to Growing Hellebores. Newton Abbot, England: David and Charles, 2005.

Saturday, January 28, 2017

Helleborus ‘HGC Josef Lemper’ Has White Flowers and Dark Green Leaves

Summary: Helleborus ‘HGC Josef Lemper,’ a Helleborus niger cultivar by German helleborist Joseph Heuger, has large white flowers and dark green leaves.

side view of flower of Helleborus ‘HGC Josef Lemper’ in images included in Joseph Heuger’s patent application, filed Monday, June 28, 2004, as application number 10/878417, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); United States Plant Patent No. US PP15,615; Date of Patent March 1, 2005; color scans via Plant Patents Image Database, Digital Collections @ University of Maryland Libraries

Helleborus ‘HGC Josef Lemper,’ a Christmas rose, or black hellebore (Helleborus niger), cultivar by German hellebore hybridizer Joseph Heuger, has large white flowers and dark green leaves.

On June 28, 2004, Heuger filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a patent for a Helleborus plant named ‘HGC Josef Lemper.’ Primary examiner Kent Bell and assistant examiner Wendy C. Haas reviewed Heuger’s application. On March 1, 2005, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office assigned plant patent number 15,615 to Helleborus ‘HGC Josef Lemper.’

Helleborus ‘Josef Lemper’ has its origins in a breeding program conducted in November 1997 by Heuger at his family’s nursery, Heuger Gartenbaubetriebe, in Glandorf, Lower Saxony state, northwestern Germany. Unnamed, unpatented female and male Helleborus niger seedlings were cross-pollinated. The inventor discovered and selected the flowering plant now known as ‘HGC Josef Lemper’ from among the program’s progeny.

Helleborus ‘HGC Josef Lemper’ displayed distinctive traits of upright habit, dark green foliage and relatively early blooming of large white flowers. Propagation by divisions, begun in March 2000, revealed the retention and true reproduction of the new cultivar’s unique traits.

The patent application describes plants, about 6 months old, that were grown inside the Heuger nursery’s glass-covered greenhouse during winter in 15-centimeter (5.9-inch) containers. During production, day temperatures were at about 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 degrees Fahrenheit). Night temperatures were at about 14 degrees C (57.2 degrees F).

The application indicates a temperature tolerance ranging from minus 15 to 36 degrees C (5 to 96.8 degrees F).

The upright plant has a moderately vigorous growth habit and a freely flowering habit. Height reaches about 27 centimeters (10.62 inches). Spread, or width, measures about 33 centimeters (12.99 inches).

Foliage emerges in a basal arrangement of palmately compound leaves. Six to nine leaflets radiate from the leaf’s single attachment point, the distal, or far, end of the petiole, or leaf stalk.

Leaflet length measures about 4.5 to 8 centimeters (1.77 to 3.14 inches). Leaflet width is about 2.5 to 3 centimeters (0.98 to 1.18 inches).

Leaflets are lanceolate, or lance-shaped. Their margins are serrated. Glabrous textures of upper and lower surfaces are hairlessly smooth.

Upper surfaces of fully developed leaflets are dark green (Royal Horticultural Society colour chart color 137A). Veins are colored brown green (RHS 146C).

Lower surfaces of fully developed leaflets are brown green (RHS 147B). Veins are colored brown green (RHS 146D).

Helleborus ‘HGC Josef Lemper’ has a naturally early flowering season. Intermittent flowering occurs from October to February in Glandorf. On the plant, flowers last about 10 days.

Buds are ovoid, or egg-shaped. Their height is about 2 centimeters (0.78 inches), with a diameter of about 1.2 centimeters (0.47 inches). Coloring is white (RHS 155A).

Single rounded flowers, with upright to outward faces, singly top upright peduncles, or floral stems. The slightly fragrant hellebore’s freely flowering habit yields about 15 developed flowers per plant at one time.

Peduncles have length ranges of about 15 to 25 centimeters (5.9 to 9.84 inches). Diameters range from about 4 to 7 millimeters (0.15 to 0.27 inches). Strong and upright, peduncles have glabrous textures that are hairlessly smooth. Peduncle coloring is light green (RHS 145B) with brown purple (RHS 183A) spots.

Flowers have tiny petals that form inconspicuous nectaries. Sepals typically number five, arranged in a single whorl.

Sepal length is about 4.5 centimeters (1.77 inches). Sepal width is about 4 centimeters (1.57 inches).

Broadly ovate, or egg-shaped, sepals have rounded apices, or tips. Entire margins are smooth and untoothed. Texture of upper and lower surfaces is described as satiny and glabrous, with hairless smoothness.

Upper and lower surfaces of fully expanded sepals is very white (whiter than RHS 155D). Toward the base coloring is light green (RHS 144B). With development, coloring nears dark green (RHS 144A).

Heuger’s 2015-2016 Helleborus catalog sells ‘HGC Josef Lemper’℗, described as having medium growth vigor, in containers sized 13 to 15 centimeters (5.11 to 5.90 inches). Heating, at a maximum of 14 degrees C (57.2 degrees F), should start at the end of November. Selling is targeted for the beginning of December.

The takeaway for Helleborus ‘HGC Josef Lemper’ is the large white flowered, dark green leafed cultivar’s availability, in fresh cut arrangements and in pots, over a lengthy, autumn to late winter blooming period.

closeup of flower and peduncle of Helleborus ‘HGC Josef Lemper’ in images included in Joseph Heuger’s patent application, filed Monday, June 28, 2004, as application number 10/878417, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); United States Plant Patent No. US PP15,615; Date of Patent March 1, 2005; color scans via Plant Patents Image Database, Digital Collections @ University of Maryland Libraries

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

closeup of Helleborus ‘HGC Josef Lemper’ flower and peduncle in images included in Joseph Heuger’s patent application, filed Monday, June 28, 2004, as application number 10/878417, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); United States Plant Patent No. US PP15,615; Date of Patent March 1, 2005; color scans via Plant Patents Image Database, Digital Collections @ University of Maryland Libraries, @ https://digital.lib.umd.edu/plantpatents/id/PP15615; (former URL @ http://www.lib.umd.edu/plantpatents/binaries/15600/pp15615.pdf)

For further information:

Burrell, C. Colston; Judith Knott Tyler. Hellebores: A Comprehensive Guide. Portland OR: Timber Press, 2006.

“Hellebore (Helleborus niger Gold Collection® Josef Lemper).” The National Gardening Association > Plants Database > Hellebores.
Available @ http://garden.org/plants/view/236933/Hellebore-Helleborus-niger-Gold-Collection-Josef-Lemper/

“Helleborus Plant Named ‘HGC Josef Lemper.’” United States Patent and Trademark Office > Program in Word (PIW). March 1, 2005.
Available @ http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=PP015615

“’HGC Josef Lemper’℗.” Heuger > Katalog Helleborus 2015-2016.
Available @ http://www.heuger.com/fileadmin/lookbook/page4.html#/18

“PP15615 -- Helleborus Plant Named ‘HGC Josef Lemper.’” University of Maryland > Plant Patents Image Database.
Available @ http://www.lib.umd.edu/plantpatents/id/11581

Rice, Graham; Elizabeth Strangman. The Gardener’s Guide to Growing Hellebores. Newton Abbot, England: David and Charles, 2005.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Vermeer Concert

Summary: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft gets an etching, two bronzes and 10 paintings, including the Vermeer Concert, as of March 18, 1990.

"The Concert," oil on canvas painted by Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer, depicts a trio of musicians; inserted into sedate musical scene is copy of Dutch Golden Age painter Dirck van Baburen's raucous "The Procuress" (upper right, above singer); "The Concert" numbers among 11 paintings stolen from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Sunday, March 18, 1990: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Vermeer Concert quickly ascends to the top 10 places on lists, including those by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), since the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Concert belongs in first place, at almost equivalent to the combined values of one etching, two bronzes and nine paintings missing since March 18, 1990. It counts among 34 paintings firmly attributed, not among those questionably attributed, to Delft-born painter Johannes Vermeer (Oct. 31, 1632-Dec. 15, 1675) of the Dutch Republic. It dates back to about 1665 and, like the similarly ferreted Rembrandt couple, draws viewers into a Dutch room that dwells within the second-floor Dutch Room.

The Concert epitomizes the four-story, 115-year-old, 2,500-piece Museum as Mrs. John Lowell Gardner's (April 14, 1840-July 17, 1924) first major auction purchase abroad Dec. 5, 1892.

An empty frame atop a table mount faces similarly empty wall-hanging frames and finds itself back-to-back with another empty frame, from thieves feigning Boston police employment.

The Vermeer Concert, a 28.56-inch- (72.5-centimeter-) high, 25.5-inch- (64.7-centimeter-) wide oil on canvas, gets an estimated value of $200-plus million out of a total $500-plus million. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum provenance and purchase records have Mrs. Gardner, outside the Hotel Drouot sales room in Paris, France, handkerchief movement-coded messaging agent Fernand Robert. They indicate a purchase price of 31,175 French francs at the estate auction of art critic Étienne-Joseph-Théophile Thoré (called Théophile Thoré-Bürger, June 23, 1807-April 30, 1869).

The Vermeer Concert historically juggles, before the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft, a real painting within a Dutch room within the Dutch Room's Vermeer painting.

"The Procuress," 1622 oil on canvas by Dutch Golden Age painter Dirck van Baburen; Johannes Vermeer painted the example of the vrolijk gezelschap ("merry company") style of Dutch genre painting into two of his artworks, "The Concert" (ca. 1664) and "Lady Seated at a Virginal" (ca. 1670-1672); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Massachusetts' Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) keeps among its collection The Procuress of 1622 by Wijk bij Duurstede-born Dutch painter Dirck van Baburen (1595?-Feb. 21, 1624).

The Procuress looks out from the wall behind the trio in the Vermeer Concert just as the real painting presently looks out from the MFA's walls. The oil on canvas manipulates victimless interactions among one man and two women and measures 40 inches (101.6 centimeters) high by 42.4 inches (107.6 centimeters) wide. The Procuress nudges a landscape painting that nestles a windswept tree just above the heads of the man and the two women in the Vermeer Concert.

Provenance and purchase records offer among The Procuress' previous owners the mother-in-law of its copyist in Vermeer's Concert, an Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft casualty.

The oil on canvas owned by Maria Thins (1593?-Dec. 27, 1680), mother of Catharina Bolnes (1631?-Dec. 30, 1687), Vermeer's wife, peers at viewers of another Vermeer.

Vermeer queues up a canalscape on the painted underside of the instrument's top lid and The Procuress on the wall behind Lady Seated at a Virginal. The 20.3-inch- (51.5-centimeter-) high, 17.9-inch (45.5-centimeter-) wide canvas, regarded a firmly attributed Vermeer of 1670 to 1675, receives visitors to the National Gallery in London, England. Comparative viewing of the Baburen painting with its copy within a Vermeer artwork nowadays suggests a half-day flight to London, not a five-minute walk in Boston.

A renovated museum and a 70,000-square-foot (6,503.21-square-meter) addition teem with increased patronage while placeholders toll 2017 in without the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft casualties.

"A Lady Seated at a Virginal," one of two paintings into which Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer painted Dutch Golden Age painter Dirck van Baburen's "The Procuress"; with the theft of "The Concert," only Vermeer's "Lady Seated at a Virginal" remains to exemplify Vermeer's reproduction of "The Procuress"; National Gallery, London: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

"The Concert," painted by Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer, depicts a trio of musicians; the oil on canvas painting numbers among 11 paintings stolen from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Sunday, March 18, 1990: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vermeer_The_concert.JPG

"The Procuress," 1622 oil on canvas by Dutch Golden Age painter Dirck van Baburen; Johannes Vermeer painted the example of the vrolijk gezelschap ("merry company") style of Dutch genre painting into two his artworks; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dirck_van_Baburen_-_The_Procuress_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

"A Lady Seated at a Virginal," one of two paintings into which Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer Johannes painted Dutch Golden Age painter Dirck van Baburen's "The Procuress" in two of his paintings; with the theft of "The Concert," only Vermeer's "Lady Seated at a Virginal" remains to exemplify Vermeer's reproduction of "The Procuress"; National Gallery, London: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lady_Seated_at_a_Virginal,_Vermeer,_The_National_Gallery,_London.jpg

For further information:

"18 U.S. Code 668 - Theft of Major Artwork." Cornell University Law School > Legal Information Institute > U.S. Code > Title 18 > Part I > chapter 31 > 668.
Available @ https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/668?quicktabs_8=1#quicktabs-8

Baker, Billy. 10 March 2015. "Gardener Keeps Gardner Museum's Atrium in Bloom." Boston Globe > Metro.
Available @ https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/09/gardener-keeps-gardner-atrium-bloom/bbSZctlMtkEDy9UDYWrO4K/story.html

Boston Landmarks Commission. Report on the Potential Designation of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum as a Landmark under Chapter 772 of the Acts of 1975, as Amended.
Available @ https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/ISGM%20Study%20Report%20as%20Amended_tcm3-39717.pdf

"Collection." Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Available @ http://www.gardnermuseum.org/collection

FBI. 15 November 2005. "FBI Announces Top Ten Art Crimes." Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) > News > Stories > 2005 > November.
Available via FBI @ https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2005/november/topten_art111505

FBI. 8 March 2013. "Gardner Museum in Boston Offering $5 Million Reward for Stolen Art." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DpD1HbcFfQ

FBI Boston Division. "Boston FBI Continues Hunt for Stolen Artwork." Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) > Boston Division > Press Releases > 2010.
Available via FBI @ https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/boston/press-releases/2010/bs031510.htm

FBI Boston Division. "FBI Provides New Information Regarding the 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Art Heist." Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) > Boston Division > Press Releases > 2013.
Available via FBI @ https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/boston/press-releases/2013/fbi-provides-new-information-regarding-the-1990-isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art-heist

"The Gardner Museum Theft." Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) > FBI Top Ten Art Crimes.
Available @ https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/5-million-reward-offered-for-return-of-stolen-gardner-museum-artwork

"Johannes Vermeer: The Complete Works." Vermeer Foundation.
Available @ http://www.vermeer-foundation.org/

Marriner, Derdriu. 20 January 2017. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Rembrandt Couple." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_20.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 January 2017. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Rembrandt Seascape." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_13.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 January 2017. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Rembrandt Self-Portrait." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art.html

Mashberg, Tom. March 1998. "Stealing Beauty." Vanity Fair > Culture.
Available @ http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/1998/03/biggest-art-heist-us-history

Mashberg, Tom. 26 February 2015. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Heist: 25 Years of Theories." New York Times > Arts > Art & Design.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/arts/design/isabella-stewart-gardner-heist-25-years-of-theories.html?_r=0

Murphy, Shelley. 17 March 2015. "Search for Artworks from Gardner Heist Continues 25 Years Later." Boston Globe > Metro.
Available @ https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/17/gardner-museum-art-heist-one-boston-most-enduring-mysteries-years-later/9U3tp1kJMa4Zn4uClI1cdM/story.html

"Reputed Mobster Arrested, Reportedly Tried to Fence Gardner Museum Art." The Boston Globe > Posted Apr 17, 2015 at 3:14 PM > Updated Apr 18, 2015 at 10:52 PM.
Available @ http://www.telegram.com/article/20150417/NEWS/304179654

"Thirteen Works: Explore the Gardner's Stolen Art." Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum > Resources > Theft.
Available @ http://www.gardnermuseum.org/resources/theft

Thomson, Jason. 3 May 2016. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Theft: Is the Massive Art Heist About to be Solved?" The Christian Science Monitor > USA > USA Update.
Available @ http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2016/0503/Isabella-Stewart-Gardner-theft-Is-the-massive-art-heist-about-to-be-solved

WBUR. 17 March 2010. "'The Concert' by Johannes Vermeer." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrPqiGIJYYs

WBUR. 12 March 2009. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irBRWMMHOI8

Williams, Paige. March 2010. "The Art of the Story." Boston Magazine > Gardner Museum > Gardner Museum Theft.
Available @ http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2010/03/gardner-heist/3/

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Canopus Reaches Northern Hemisphere Visibility in January and February

Summary: Second brightest star Canopus reaches Northern Hemisphere visibility in January and February at its northernmost extent over the 37th parallel north.

Canopus, February 2003: Donald R. Pettit, Expedition Six/International Space Station (ISS), Public Domain, via NASA Human Spaceflight

Second brightest star Canopus reaches Northern Hemisphere visibility in January and February at its northernmost extent over 37 degrees north latitude.

Second brightest star in the night sky after Canis Major’s Sirius, Canopus is the brightest naked eye star in the constellation of Carina the Ship’s Keel. The spectral type F supergiant marks the keel’s rudder, the primary control surface that steers the ship of the dismantled, former constellation of Argo Navis in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere.

Canopus has the astronomical designation of Alpha Carinae (α Carinae; Alpha Car; α Car) in Bayer stellar nomenclature, devised by celestial cartographer Johann Bayer (1572-March 7, 1625). Amateur astronomer Ian Ridpath refers to Athenian General Conon (ca. 444-ca. 394 BCE) and Greek geographer Strabo (65 BCE-23 CE) in the derivation of the bright star’s popular name from Greek mythology. The star’s namesake, Canopus (Ancient Greek: Κάνωβος, Kanobos), served as helmsman in Mycenaean King Meneleus’s rescue of his wife, Helen of Sparta, from Troy. Canopus also is credited as navigator for ancient Greek mythological hero Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece in the Black Sea’s ancient kingdom of Colchis.

In its northernmost reach during January and February, Canopus peaks above the horizon of four (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America) of Earth’s seven continents and two (Atlantic, Pacific) of Earth’s five oceans. It passes through the Mediterranean Sea and touches the southernmost extent of the Caspian Sea.

In Europe, the 37th parallel passes through the continent’s Mediterranean countries. In the Iberian Peninsula, the Canopus-viewing latitude passes through southernmost Portugal and Spain. The parallel’s passage through the Mediterranean Sea skims northeastern Algeria and Tunisia in North Africa. The circle of latitude passes through the southwestern province of Ragusa and the southeastern province of Siracusa in the Mediterranean’s largest island, Italy’s Sicily, and continues through the Peloponnese and Aegean islands of southern Greece. Latitude 37 north completes its traversal through Mediterranean Europe in southwestern Turkey.

The Canopus-viewing northern parallel begins its passage through the world’s largest continent, Asia, in southeastern Turkey and continues through Western Asia’s northeastern Syria, northern Iraq and northwestern Iran. In Central Asia, the 37th parallel north journeys through northeastern Iran, northern Afghanistan, south central and southeastern Turkmenistan and northern Tajikistan. Latitude 37 north crosses South Asia’s disputed Gilgit-Baltistan province, currently listed with Pakistan but counter-claimed by India.

In East Asia, the 37th parallel passes through northern China. It claims five Northwestern China provinces (Gansu, Ningxia, Qinhai, Shaanxi, Xinjiang), two North China provinces (Hebei, Shanxi) and one East China province (Shandong).

The 37th parallel north crosses the Yellow Sea, the northern part of the Pacific Ocean’s marginal East China Sea, to end its path across mainland East Asia in the southern Korean Peninsula. South Chungcheong, Gyeonggi, North Chungcheong and North Gyeongsang provinces in South Korea are located along latitude 37 north. The republic’s capital and largest city, Suwon (Seoul), lies on the 37th parallel north.

In the North Pacific, the Canopus-friendly latitude claims the East Asian island nation of Japan. Latitude 37 crosses Honshu, Japan’s largest and most populous island.

In the North Atlantic, the Canopus-friendly latitude claims Santa Maria Island in the eastern Azores archipelago. Latitude 37 north passes through northern portions of three (Vila do Porto, São Pedro, Santa Bárbara) of the island’s five parishes.

From the Pacific Ocean, the Canopus-friendly latitude makes landfall near Santa Cruz along California’s central coast. Its bicoastal path across the United States defines the borders of six states (southern Utah and northern Arizona; southern Colorado and northern New Mexico; southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma). From the Midwest to the Atlantic coast, the 37th parallel north passes through southern Missouri, southern Kentucky and southern Virginia. Latitude 37 north leaves the North American continent at Old Point Comfort at the Virginia Peninsula’s extreme tip to commence its watery path through the North Atlantic Ocean.

The takeaway for Canopus’s Northern Hemisphere visibility in January and February is its reach, via the 37th parallel north, to its northernmost extent above horizons over four of Earth’s seven continents and two of Earth’s five oceans.

Canopus as rudder in dismantled, former Argo Navis (“Ship Argo”) constellation, as depicted in 1551 celestial globe by Gerardus Mercator (March 5, 1512-Dec. 2, 1594), Mercator Globes, Harvard Map Collection; Canopus was assigned to new constellation Carina the Ship’s Keel, devised by French Jesuit astronomer Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille (28/29 Dec. 1713-March 21, 1762) in 1752 as hull portion of unwieldy ancient constellation Argo Navis: Gerardus Mercator, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Canopus, February 2003: Donald R. Pettit, Expedition Six/International Space Station (ISS), Public Domain, via NASA Human Spaceflight @ http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-6/html/iss006e28068.html

“Carina Constellation.” Constellation Guide > Constellation List.
Available @ http://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/carina-constellation/

Espenak, Fred. “Canopus.” AstroPixels > Stars.
Available @ http://astropixels.com/stars/Canopus-01.html

Howell, Elizabeth. “Canopus: Amazingly Bright Star.” Space.com > Skywatching. Sept. 18, 2013.
Available @ http://www.space.com/22858-canopus.html

Kaler, James B. (Jim). “Canopus (Alpha Carinae).” University of Illinois Astronomy Department > Star of the Week. Last updated June 26, 2009.
Available @ http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/canopus.html

Millás, Isolina V. “The Brightest Stars of the Southern Hemisphere.” Popular Astronomy, vol. 26 (June-July 1918): 387-391.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1918PA.....26..387M

Ridpath, Ian. “Argo Navis the Ship Argo.” Ian Ridpath > Star Tales.
Available @ http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/argo.htm

Ridpath, Ian. “Carina the Keel.” Ian Ridpath > Star Tales.
Available @ http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/carina.htm

Sessions, Larry. “Will You See Canopus?” EarthSky > Tonight. Feb. 4, 2016.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/few-know-the-second-brightest-star-canopus