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MUSEUM GUIDE | CABANA TRAVEL | WORLD OF CABANA
In this series, we travel the world's great museums through the eyes and minds of selected curators, asking just one question: if you only had an hour to spare, what would you see? This week, Aimee Ng, John Updike Curator at the newly-reopened Frick Collection shares what not-to-miss: seven of the New York institution's most important works of art and sculpture.
WORDS BY AIMEE NG | CABANA TRAVEL | 10 JULY 2025
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606–1669), Self-Portrait, 1658, oil on canvas, 52 5/8 x 40 7/8 in., The Frick Collection, New York (Photo: Michael Bodycomb).
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606–1669), Self-Portrait, 1658
Rembrandt made dozens of self-portraits in paint and in print over the course of his career. Signed and dated in the lower right corner, this is the largest and most iconic of the portraits. It was produced when he was fifty-two and had recently declared bankruptcy despite having achieved enormous prominence and success as an artist in Amsterdam. Still, in this canvas he presents himself larger than life-size and as if enthroned, wearing gold-colored clothing and draped with a mantle, confronting the viewer frontally and holding a staff like a scepter.
Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675), Mistress and Maid, ca. 1664–67, oil on canvas, 35 1/2 x 31 in., The Frick Collection, New York (Photo: Joseph Coscia Jr.)
Johannes Vermeer, Mistress and Maid, ca. 1664–67
One of the Frick’s three Vermeers, this painting is one of the largest of the artist’s interior scenes, and may have been commissioned for a particular site, such as above a mantelpiece. The maid hands to the “mistress,” or woman of authority in the household, a folded paper, likely a letter, which has caused some alarm, as indicated by the gesture toward her chin, dropping her pen mid-writing. Such narrative ambiguities are typical in Vermeer’s interior scenes.
This theme of letter writing is currently being explored further in our special exhibition, Vermeer’s Love Letters, with two additional works on loan from the Rijksmuseum and the National Gallery of Ireland. On view through August 31, 2025.
Martin Carlin (ca. 1730–1785), Mechanical Table, ca. 1780, oak veneered with maple; plaques of soft-paste porcelain; gilt bronze, 45 3/4 × 14 1/8 × 10 3/4 in., The Frick Collection, New York (Photo: Joseph Coscia Jr.)
Martin Carlin, Mechanical Table, ca. 1780
One of the most important cabinet makers during the reign of Louis XV, Carlin was born in Germany but had settled in Paris by 1759. Carlin’s specialty was high-end furniture for an elite clientele. This table reflects the fascination with mechanical devices in the second half of the 18th century and the taste for porcelain incorporated into furniture at the time. It is on view in the newly restored Boucher Room on the second floor, along with another mechanical table made by Carlin.
Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741–1828), Diana the Huntress, 1776–95, terracotta, height: 75 1/2 in., The Frick Collection, New York (Photo: Michael Bodycomb).
Jean-Antoine Houdon, Diana the Huntress, 1776–95
Remarkable for its size alone, this statue is made of at least 10 individually fired clay sections, with a metal armature below. The marble version of this Diana (now in the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon) was made in 1782 for Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Gotha. The duke’s minister, Friedrich-Melchior Grimm, was involved in its conception, guiding Houdon’s selection of textual and visual sources, from the Apollo Belvedere to Giambologna’s Mercury. While this is the only full-scale terracotta version to survive, Diana was replicated in a number of media. A smaller replica is on view in our Fragonard Room.
Pierre-Jean David d'Angers (1788–1856), Joséphine Bonaparte (1763–1814; Empress Consort of France 1804–10; Queen Consort of Italy 1805–10), ca. 1832, gilt copper alloy, cast, diam.: 7 in., The Frick Collection, New York (Photo: Michael Bodycomb).
Pierre-Jean David d'Angers, Joséphine Bonaparte (1763–1814; Empress Consort of France 1804–10; Queen Consort of Italy 1805–10), ca. 1832
David d’Angers depicted more than 500 notable figures in medallions, reviving the French series of the Histoire Métallique (Metallic History)—hundreds of medals commemorating the reign of Louis XIV. This posthumous medal encapsulates the artist’s break with the conventional approach toward medallic portraiture, which recorded subjects in terms of their achievements or positions in society.
It is on view in our Medals Room on the newly accessible second floor.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867), Portrait of the Comtesse d’Haussonville, 1845, oil on canvas, The Frick Collection, New York (Photo: Michael Bodycomb).
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Portrait of the Comtesse d’Haussonville, 1845
Leader of the French neoclassical school, Ingres was in his 60s and had little interest in painting society portraits when he was asked to portray Louise de Broglie (1818–1882), grand-daughter of the celebrated writer known as Madame de Staël. Louise was also an accomplished writer, though she published anonymously, a requirement of her husband. The artist worked on the project for three years, pausing during Louise’s pregnancy.
A preparatory sketch by Ingres is currently on view in our new Cabinet Gallery, as part of Highlights of Drawings from The Frick Collection through August 11, 2025.
Edgar Degas (1834–1917), The Rehearsal, 1878–79, oil on canvas, 18 3/4 × 24 in., The Frick Collection, New York (Photo: Michael Bodycomb).
Edgar Degas, The Rehearsal, 1878–79
Well known for his innovative experiments with paintings, pastels, drawings, and prints, Degas is especially celebrated for his depictions of dancers. This is one of a number of rehearsal scenes by the artist set in this space, thought to be in the old Paris Opera House. It is on view in our Impressionist Room on the newly accessible second floor.
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