Melanie Thacker Nonmacher

Assistant Curator & Community Outreach Director Kaplan Museum of Judaica | Art Historian| Museum Educator| Bayou Bend Docent Program | Museum of Fine Arts

59 articles published

MARCUS AURELIUS ON HORSEBACK

ROMAN ART, Variety is the Spice of LifeMarch 4, 2026189Views 0Likes 0Comments

The statue of Marcus Aurelius on horseback is beautiful to behold. It is lucky to have such a piece of history, and it is only through luck that we are able to enjoy it. This is because the statue at some point had been erroneously labeled as Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome, and…

JUDAIC ART & ZIONISM

Art & Divine Imagination, Judaica, micrography, Rabbi Schmuel Schulman, Religious, zionismMarch 4, 2026152Views 0Likes 0Comments

When speaking about Judaic art, you cannot start at the beginning. It would take too long! Instead, the best place to start will be near the end of the nineteenth century. This is the time in history that Zionism was beginning to gain real traction. Zionism is the belief that Jewish people have a God…

BEZALEL SCHOOL OF ARTS & CRAFTS

Art & Divine Imagination, Bezalel, Boris Schatz, JudaicaMarch 4, 2026181Views 0Likes 0Comments

In 1906, a man named Boris Schatz created his life’s work with an art school in Jerusalem named The Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts. A Zionist, Schatz hoped to use the school to make items of Judaica that would further the Jewish cause to regain Palestine. He believed that the Bezalel school went hand…

THE TURNING ROAD OF FAUVISM

Andre Derain, Fauvism, Variety is the Spice of LifeMarch 3, 2026332Views 0Likes 1Comment

Andre Derain, a French painter and one of the founders of the short lived Fauvist movement, painted a color charged scene of the French countryside named “The Turning Road, L'Estaque” in 1906. This painting was created in what was the last few minutes of an art movement that lasted only between 1901 and 1906 and…

COL. JOHN TRUMBULL- EARLY CHILDHOOD

Trumbull, UncategorizedFebruary 25, 2026247Views 1Like 0Comments

John Trumbull. Jonathan Trumbull, Sr. (1710–1785), LL.D. 1779. Young Trumbull did have two incidents in childhood that bear mentioning. The first was that as a baby, he would suffer convulsions, often having three of four a day. By the time he was nine months old, the convulsions had been increasing in both number and severity…

COL. JOHN TRUMBULL- AUSPICIOUS BEGINNINGS

Trumbull, UncategorizedFebruary 25, 2026162Views 0Likes 0Comments

. The Trumbull family had their roots in early America from the time the colonies began. There is a John Trumbull listed on documents starting in 1640 in Massachusetts who hailed from England, near the Scottish border. He was believed to be the first ancestor of Col. John Trumbull to live in America from their…

COL. JOHN TRUMBULL- GEORGE WASHINGTON PRINT

TrumbullFebruary 24, 2026202Views 0Likes 0Comments

Trumbull was not only painting religious scenes with West, however. Trumbull always had an inflated sense of self-importance and during this time in England, he also completed the painting of a full-length portrait of George Washington overlooking a bluff. Then, when the painting was completed, contracted to make prints to sell to fund relief for…

COL. JOHN TRUMBULL- ENGLAND 1780’s

TrumbullFebruary 24, 2026248Views 0Likes 0Comments

After the Revolutionary War period in Col. John Trumbull’s life, another exciting chapter began. Trumbull moved to England, even as the Revolutionary War continued, and he began studying under Benjamin West. West was an American painter who had begun life as a portrait painter but had progressed in talent and respect enough to now be…

COL. JOHN TRUMBULL’S FIRST HISTORICAL PAINTING

TrumbullFebruary 24, 2026162Views 0Likes 0Comments

The first historical painting that Trumbull tried his hand at was “The Death of Paulus Aemilius at the Battle of Cannae.” Painted in 1773, Trumbull borrowed figures from several engravings and then pieced together this scene. This painting’s central figure is Roman Consul Paulus Aemilius, who was wounded and given the chance to escape on…

COL. JOHN TRUMBULL- AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY ARTIST 1776

TrumbullFebruary 24, 2026210Views 0Likes 0Comments

Trumbull’s father, who had used his weight to get Trumbull late admission to Harvard once again used his influence on behalf of his youngest son when the Revolutionary War began. The elder Trumbull made sure that he was given duties in the Continental Army where he would generally not be in direct combat. Trumbull was…

COL. JOHN TRUMBULL- THE FIRST AMERICAN COLLEGE-EDUCATED ARTIST 1773

TrumbullFebruary 18, 2026162Views 0Likes 0Comments

Trumbull, as a youth, was a good student. His father was determined that his son made a dependable living and not as an artist, as Trumbull was hoping. Trumbull, at this time, was well into his teens and was adamant that he wanted to be an artist. His father wanted no part of that. The…

ORIGINS OF AN EARLY AMERICAN PAINTER 1756

Sarah Hope Harvey Trumbull, TrumbullFebruary 18, 2026192Views 1Like 0Comments

Early American artists often traveled from city to city to study and to paint the portraits of notable members of society and the wealthy elite. Many times, these artists also had higher aspirations of becoming history painters, but always they had to earn a living. Portrait commissions were the most reliable way for an artist…