Talk:Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: KJP1 (talk · contribs) 15:01, 22 March 2017 (UTC)

Pleased to pick this up. The article passes the Quick fail assessment and I'll follow up with the main review shortly. KJP1 (talk) 15:03, 22 March 2017 (UTC)

Quick fail criteria assessment

 * 1) The article completely lacks reliable sources – see Wikipedia:Verifiability.
 * 2) The topic is treated in an obviously non-neutral way – see Wikipedia:Neutral point of view.
 * 3) There are cleanup banners that are obviously still valid, including cleanup, wikify, NPOV, unreferenced or large numbers of fact, clarifyme, or similar tags.
 * 4) The article is or has been the subject of ongoing or recent, unresolved edit wars.
 * 5) The article specifically concerns a rapidly unfolding current event with a definite endpoint.
 * 1) The article is or has been the subject of ongoing or recent, unresolved edit wars.
 * 2) The article specifically concerns a rapidly unfolding current event with a definite endpoint.
 * 1) The article specifically concerns a rapidly unfolding current event with a definite endpoint.
 * 1) The article specifically concerns a rapidly unfolding current event with a definite endpoint.

Articles passes quick-fail assessment. Main review to follow.

Main review
1. It is reasonably well written.
 * a (prose) Generally, the article reads very well, and the prose flows nicely. A few suggestions for consideration below:
 * Lede
 * "The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens is a public museum" - Does a public museum differ in status from other types of museum? The former redirects to the latter on Wikipedia. A Private museum appears a very niche category. I would suggest removing "public".
 * "The collection is ..." - Perhaps; "The museum's collection is ...I know it's obvious, but it is the lede.
 * "is supplemented by substantial holdings of Meissen porcelain." - Is supplemented the right word here? Does the Wark Collection reinforce the collection of paintings or is it, in fact, a notable collection in its own right? Perhaps; "and also includes substantial holdings of...."?
 * "museum opened in 1961 on the grounds of the former residence..." - In England, we'd say "in the grounds" and would also do so in the next sentence. Just ignore if it's correct Stateside.
 * "The permanent collection of the museum... and attracts 130,000 visitors annually" - Does the collection attract the visitors or do they come as much for the gardens. Perhaps; "The permanent collection of the museum... and the museum and gardens attract 130,000 visitors annually"?


 * History
 * "In 1906, on their honeymoon, Ninah and Arthur Cummer purchased their first piece of art. They purchased a painting titled Along the Strand directly from the artist, Paul King." - You've used "purchased" twice in 8 words. Perhaps; replace one with "bought" or "In 1906, on their honeymoon, Ninah and Arthur Cummer purchased their first piece of art, a painting titled Along the Strand, directly from the artist, Paul King."?
 * "two men in horse-drawn carts along a beach" - Are we missing a verb between carts and along? From looking at the painting, are they "racing" / "trotting"?
 * "Ninah grew her art collection to sixty pieces..." - Did she use compost or are gardening and collecting metaphors getting mixed up? Perhaps; "expanded her collection"?
 * "named for a deceased infant daughter and the only child of the Cummers" - These are, presumably, one and the same. Perhaps; "named for the Cummer's only child who had died young"?
 * "Clara and Waldo's property was sold and became the Red Cross and the former Barnett Building,.." - I find this confusing. The Red Cross what? And was the Barnett Building "former" at this point?
 * "Cummer's children center, Art Connections - this is referred to below as the education center. I'd suggest consistency with "education" centre, unless it's specifically for children.
 * "The museum's collection was on exhibit" - Perhaps; "The museum's collection was on display"?
 * "In 1989, the museum acquired an ancient Egyptian stela" - stela redirects to stele on Wikipedia. Suggest the more common usage.
 * Collection
 * "The Cummer Museum’s art collection has grown" - grown is fine but, as above, I'd suggest "developed" or "expanded".
 * Sculpture - "is located in the Upper Tier of the gardens" - suggest lower cases for upper tier


 * The Gardens
 * "They are split into three themed gardens and a large lawn, which sit on the St. Johns River." - Presumably, not literally. Perhaps remove "which sit"?
 * "The Olmsted Brothers also advised Ninah on a wall garden in 1922, which was never built. The wall garden.." - In England, this would be walled garden, which gets you the bluelink. Again, ignore, if it's wall in the States.
 * "It also features a wall garden, which was built in 1922" - the paragraph above suggests this was not built. I'm confused.
 * "the Wisteria garden " - Capitalise the Garden, as with the others?
 * "statue of Mercury" - You mention it in the first para. of The Olmstead Garden, and then again, in the second para., which reads oddly. Perhaps; "The statue of Mercury, which was given away in the 1960s, was returned to the museum around 2013."


 * Education
 * "Most of the work went into including new, high-tech activities, including..." - "including" twice in 5 words. Perhaps; replace the first with "installing"?


 * b (MoS):
 * Generally, the article follows MoS. A few points for consideration below:
 * Lede
 * Length - At two, brief, paragraphs, the lede is short. Nor does it fully summarise the article. For example, the educational work undertaken by the Museum, which merits a full section, is not mentioned. I would suggest expanding to three paragraphs - Intro (the Cummers and their buildings) + the Collections and education work + the Gardens.
 * Cites in the lede - It's not a deal-breaker but as all material in the lede should also appear, and be cited, in the body of the article, I favour not having cites in the lede. As an example Today's Front Page Lead doesn't use them.
 * General
 * Linking - You wisely don't overlink, but I think there are some instances where it may help readers: "member of the National Academy Eugene Savage", is the National Academy the American Academy of Arts and Sciences or the Design Academy linked above? / Seminole / "the designer of Central Park in New York City"? / Gian Lorenzo Bernini - see below.
 * Gallery
 * My limited understanding of the details of MoS suggests galleries of images are generally not favoured. Rather, the approach is to use the images within the body of the article. I don't think it's a dealbreaker for GA, however, but may be an issue if you ever try FAC. On a personal level, I think they're quite appropriate for articles on collections of art, such as this, and the images here are well-chosen.

2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.
 * a (references)
 * Have checked all the sources except 9/11/12, which are inaccessible and 21, which doesn't work. The last needs replacing. I have a concern re. source 4. This focusses on the gardens, and doesn't seem to support the statement re. the collection's range. Other sources do, however. Again, I'd suggest replacement.
 * There are a number of instances where I think further cites are required.
 * History Cummers - the two direct quotes from Ninah Cummer should be sourced.
 * History Museum - the second para. has only one cite but quite a lot of information.
 * Wark Collection - "one of the largest collections in the world" - needs citing.
 * Sculptures - a whole uncited para.
 * The English Garden - the first para. is uncited.
 * The Italian Garden - ditto.


 * b (citations to reliable sources):
 * All sources I can check appear reliable.
 * c (OR):
 * There is nothing I've seen to indicate original research.
 * d (No evidence of plagiarism or copyright violations):
 * Paraphrasing - There are some instances of close paraphrasing, given below, which should be addressed.
 * History
 * "The painting depicts two men in horse-drawn carts along a beach where the Rhine meets the sea." Source 7 says "Along the Strand depicts two men in horse drawn carts along a beach in the Netherlands village of Katwyck aan Zee where the Rhine meets the sea."
 * "In 1931, after the death of Ada Cummer, the brothers tore down their parents' old house and split the property." Source 8 reads: " In 1931, after the death of Ada Cummer, the brothers tore down their parents’ old house and split the property." This one's definitely too close.
 * "Ninah Cummer turned her passion for her gardens into a passion for art." Source 10 says "Ninah Cummer redirected her passion for her gardens into a passion for art."

3. It is broad in its scope
 * a (major aspects) A few thoughts/questions below:
 * History
 * Follow the money! - Nowhere does the article tell me the source of the Cummers obvious wealth. A number of the sources do, and I learn they were Michigan lumber barons.  I think the article should mention the source of the wealth that enabled the creation of both the collections and the gardens.
 * Collection
 * "The Museum’s collection has grown from the group of more than 60 works to nearly 5,000" - Can we have a little more on how the collection has expanded so massively? By donation, like the Wark Porcelain? Or acquisition? Does the DeEtte Foundation manage a large bequest, like the Getty, that allows it to buy?


 * b (focused): The article focusses appropriately on the Museum, its collections and its gardens, and does not stray off-topic.

4. It follows the neutral point of view policy
 * The article takes a neutral viewpoint but I make one suggestion below::
 * History - Museum Section
 * The termite invasion - Source 17 says the demolition of the Woman's Club costs the Museum its $7M investment, which could not be recouped through insurance etc. Should the article mention this? It's quite a loss, even for a well-endowed museum.  Didn't they have a survey done prior to purchase? Not suggesting we shade into OR, just think it's worth a mention.

5. It is stable
 * The article is stable and not subject to edit-warring.:

6. It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.
 * a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales):
 * The article's images seem fine.


 * b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
 * Generally fine. A few suggestions below:
 * Stela of Iku and Mer-imat - "Stele" as per above?
 * Unknown Artist, Mosaic with mask of Silenus - "Unknown artist,....?
 * Workshop of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal de Richelieu, c. 1641 - link Gian Lorenzo Bernini?

7. Overall:
 * Pass/Fail:


 * All I've time for now. Will return in the next day or so. Shall put it on hold and notify nominator when review's complete. KJP1 (talk) 18:44, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Ok, I'm done, I think. I'll set to On Hold and notify the nominator. KJP1 (talk) 21:07, 23 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks for addressing the issues so fully and so promptly. Pleased to Pass; a good article on an interesting museum. KJP1 (talk) 08:50, 25 March 2017 (UTC)