Celebrations elsewhere.(Current and coming)

Rule Britannia! Art, Royalty and Power in the Age of Jamestown is on view at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond through August 12. This exhibition views the founding of Jamestown as part of the English struggle for domination of the seas. It includes major portraits of important historical figures, including the so-called Armada portrait of Elizabeth I painted about 1588, and impressive seascapes that both document famous battles and are splendid works of art in their own right. Works by artists such as Lely, Kneller, Van Dyck, and the Van de Veldes have been loaned by the Royal Collection, the National Maritime Museum, London, the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, private British collections, and American museums. A full-color catalogue with an essay by Richard Ormond, former director of the National Maritime Museum, and entries by the British maritime art historian James Taylor can be ordered from the museum by calling 877-687-4277.

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At the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond (marking its 175th anniversary) the focus is not only on the English but also the French and Spanish in North America, in an exhibition centering on Jamestown, Quebec (founded in 1608), and Santa Fe (founded in 1608). Co-organized with the National Museum of American History in Washington, D. C., the exhibition is presented in three languages and from various perspectives. Rare Native American and European artifacts are used to point up just how simultaneous these events were.

Samuel de Champlain, who first sailed to Quebec in 1603 and returned to found a settlement there five years later, followed the French fishermen and fur dealers who had frequented that coast since Jacques Cartier sailed up the Saint ...