Francis Morrone July–August 2021
First things first. When I began this newsletter, I inadvertently used an old email address that I’d set up for some reason I can’t even remember. I did not realize I’d done that. What it meant was that any of you who sent me an email in response to the newsletter sent it to that address, and I didn’t know it. It happens that a couple of days ago I—again, inadvertently (there’s obviously a lot of inadvertence going on in my life these days)—logged into that account, and saw a whole slew of emails sent to me by newsletter recipients. I plan to reply to each one—months late—and apologize if you think I was ignoring you. (In fact, I think of you constantly!)
I want to thank everyone who’s participated in my Zoom series of tours of “Every Building on Fifth Avenue from Start to Finish.” I’ve done three of them so far, and we’ve made it to the south side of 34th Street. I have one more scheduled, for July 25, and then I plan to take a break from them until the fall or winter. I need to carve out as much time between now and August 31 to finish the book I am writing. I do, however, have a few things scheduled that might interest some of you.
First, this summer looks like a good time to resume in-person walking tours. With the book deadline looming, I don’t have the time I’d like to do more than one, but I will do one in August, then another in September, and then we will see. There’s a general feeling abroad in New York that the pandemic is over, and not one of us doesn’t fervently wish this to be the case. But with the Delta variant raging through much of the world, and some uncertainty about the vaccine (How long will its protections last? How effective is it for the seriously immune-compromised? How effective will it be against increasingly transmissible variants?), I think it’s too early to know what fall has in store for us. Nonetheless, we’re obviously in a good place right now, and we should take advantage of that.
I recently led a small private tour in Manhattan. It was my first since I led a tour of Willa Cather’s New York on March 10, 2020. The recent tour was both a familiar and a strange experience. I felt perfectly natural standing and talking on the street, gesticulating, and telling people to be mindful of passersby. On the other hand, I found it very strange talking over the street noises, adjusting my voice and projecting. It slowly came back to me, but I’d spent 15 months doing more than 300 Zoom presentations with my face three inches from a condenser microphone set up on my dining room table. We’re all readjusting.
The in-person tour will be on August —, and it will be part one of what I plan to be a two-part tour of Wall Street from start to finish. Many of you have been there, done that, so it may not matter that I’ve decided to limit attendance to fifteen people. I’m doing this on my own—not through MAS. I decided I’d like, as we all ease back into old routines, to keep to an optimal size for a walking tour—and also make it so people won’t have to jostle one another, now that we’re all wary of jostling. I’ll do part two in September. If there’s great demand, I may repeat it. See the details below.
My big series this summer is at the 92nd Street Y—via Zoom. It’s the series I mentioned in the last newsletter: “The Age of American Palaces,” six lectures providing in-depth looks at six of the greatest houses in America. These are The Breakers, in Newport, built as the summer home of Cornelius Vanderbilt II; Whitemarsh Hall, in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, built as the home of J.P. Morgan partner Edward Stotesbury (and unconscionably demolished); Ca’ d’ Zan, the home of John Ringling (of circus fame), in Sarasota, Florida; Villa Vizcaya, in Miami, built as the home of James Deering, whose fortune came from International Harvester; Biltmore, the home of George Washington Vanderbilt (the brother of the Vanderbilt of The Breakers), near Asheville, North Carolina; and the home of Henry E. Huntington and Arabella Worsham, in San Marino, California. Each of these is a splendid work of architecture, and the builders were all interesting (if sometimes frightening!) people. What mostly interests me, however, are the armies of people, especially the skilled craftspeople, who built and embellished these houses. It’s a series I’ve long wanted to do, and here we are. I hope it interests you. See the details below.
In the fall, I will resume my Wednesday afternoons with the Scarsdale Adult School. We’re still working out the schedule, but it will include further virtual tours in Paris and London, and a lecture on the Medici portrait exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Also, if all goes as we hope it will, a few of these forthcoming Wednesday afternoons will be set aside for in-person walking tours in Manhattan.
Speaking of my forthcoming lecture on the Medici portraits, my recommendation in this issue of the newsletter is that exhibition. “The Medici: Portraits & Politics, 1512-1570” opened on June 26 and runs through October 11. It is the valedictory exhibition of Keith Christiansen, the Met’s redoubtable curator of European paintings, who has retired after 44 years at the museum. It is truly the end of an era in New York, fittingly marked by a show of staggering treasures. How this show was even arranged during lockdown I can’t imagine.
Below is Agnolo Bronzino's Portrait of a Woman with a Lapdog, c. 1532–33, from the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, now on view at the Met in The Medici: Portraits & Politics, 1512-1570 through October 11.
Here are the links for my forthcoming programs:
"The Age of American Palaces" at the 92nd Street Y is being offered in two parts. You can subscribe to one part and not the other, or you can get a discount by subscribing to both parts at the same time. (I think I got that right.) The series takes place on Wednesday afternoons at 1:00 from July 7 to August 11. And as always with the 92nd Street Y, the lectures will be recorded so you can view them at your leisure. Here is the link (click on the picture):
https://www.92y.org/tickets/uptown/subscription/american-palacesHere is the Eventbrite link (click on the picture) for my in-person tour of Wall Street on Sunday, August 15. It will be at 2:00—my standard starting time, chosen because it is the time of day when my memory seems to function best. After you've registered I'll send an email to tell you where to meet.
Wall Street from Start to Finish Tickets, Sun, Aug 15, 2021 at 2:00 PM | Eventbrite
The first of two architectural tours of Wall Street from start to finish (east to west).
I very much hope to see you soon, either online or...in person!
All my best, Francis