The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art

Over the winter vacation, I visited my mom who currently lives in St. Petersburg, Florida near Tampa. About an hour away in Sarasota is the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and is the State Art Museum of Florida. For a decent price, visitors are allowed access to the sprawling grounds of the Ringling property, as in John Ringling of the Ringling Brothers Circus.

John Ringling invested his money very wisely, venturing in Western Oil, railroad lines, and a little place called Madison Square Garden to name a few. In 1924, John and Mable Ringling began construction on Cà d'Zan, a Venetian inspired mansion positioned on Sarasota Bay and the location of several movies. Like all wealthy individuals, John Ringling began collecting art to decorate his mansion and for the prestige associated with it. By 1925, he hired John Phillips, a New York architect, to build a museum. In his will, John Ringling bequeathed his Sarasota Complex to the State of Florida to become a state museum.

Housing a wide variety of art including Old Masters, Ancient, and Modern Art, to name a few. The museum also features traveling exhibitions ranging from Japanese kimono to Ancient Egyptian artifacts and an intact volume of Description de l'Egypt. As I did not want to be accosted by a tour guide about using cameras in the gallery, I bought a catalogue of the entire gallery for a good price that contains beautiful photos of every painting and artifact in the museum. The photos are much better than any I could have taken so now I try to make it a point to buy the catalogues of the art museums I have visited.

One of the highlights of the collection is the tapestry cartoons for The Triumph of the Eucharist by Peter Paul Rubens, and is the only example of a large-scale cycle by the artist outside of Europe. Truly humongous in size, these cartoons are perfect examples of Ruben's love of dramatic baroque style with plenty of cubby putti and classical symbolism. They really are spectacular to behold and one never really gets the impression of their enormity during art history lectures.

Flipping through my catalogue, I find myself recognize more and more artists, especially after taking two Renaissance art history classes last semester. For example, one painting by Lucas Cranach I, Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg as Saint Jerome, 1520s caught my eye, as everyone wanted to emulate Saint Jerome during the Renaissance. He represented the ultimate scholarly and devout religious figure that educated individuals, such as Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg, sought to emulate. During the Renaissance, patrons not only wanted to obtain paintings of their physical likeness, reflecting the humanist trait to represent things as they are in nature, but to also commission paintings that portrayed their personal morals and beliefs.

Another one of my favorite paintings in the gallery is Meditation by Jean Baptiste Greuze, c. 1780, with original frame. A thoroughly fluffy painting, I am fond of it because it relates to the Ancient Roman Vestal Virgins. A young girl, presumably a Vestal Virgin ponders the meaning of love and wonders if it is really worth the step price she would have to pay if she was caught. If discovered, she would be buried alive while her lover would have been flogged in the forum. Her arm separates two lovebirds, a physical representation of her dilemma.

The museum has a nice collection of ancient art, including black-figure ceramics and an Etruscan mirror. I attended an Archeological Institute of America lecture a few years ago about Etruscan mirrors and learned how rare they are. It is very impressive addition to the Ringling collection and I feel lucky to have seen it. The mirror, entitled Mirror Depicting Dancers, circa 300 B.C.E., depicts maenad, ancient female worshippers of Dionysus and a satyr playing the double pipes. The satyr wears a cloak of phalluses; often associated with the worship of Dionysus as he was, amount other things, considered a fertility god.

There are many masterpieces situated within the villa architecture of the museum. The museum is only one part of the complex; we did not have time to view the Asolo Theater and the Museum of the American Circus. Admittedly, I cannot say that I am too interested in circuses but hopefully there will be many more visits to the Ringling and I will see it some other time. The complex has a beautiful rose garden, situated in a circular pattern around a picturesque gazebo. I am sure that several photographers have taken advantage of the beautiful scenery and that it and the museum, have been the site of many weddings and receptions.

Cà d’Zan, is a gorgeous mansion influence by Venetian architecture and has been featured in films such as Great Expectations, with Gwyneth Paltrow, 1998. My favorite attractions were the beautiful patio that overlooks the Sarasota Bay and a full-sized replica of the Augustus of Prima Porta, believed to have been commissioned by the Emperor around 15 C.E., one of my favorite sculptures of the ancient world. I really think they should put a little café out on the patio; I know I would love an excuse to sit there for a while. After a quick tour of mansion, equally as lovely as it is outside, we caught a shuttle; there are tracks all around the complex, to the visitor’s center complete with gift shop. The Ringling Museum of Art is a great way to spend several weekends as it would take several visits to take in everything.