A looted Courbet at the Fitzwilliam?
May 10 2022
Picture: Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam's ownership of a Courbet landscape - La Ronde Enfantine - has been challenged, after doubts were raised over its pre-1945 provenance. Currently the museum doesn't know who owned the picture before the war, and it was donated in 1951, having surfaced on the Swiss art market after 1945. Which is rarely a good sign. In The Art Newspaper, Martin Bailey has identified that the picture may have belonged to Goering. More here.
New Burlington Magazine
May 10 2022
Picture: Jesus College Cambridge
The new issue of The Burlington Magazine has arrived in the post, and as ever it's packed with fascinating stuff. There are articles on Rembrandt drawings, Holbein, Gainsborough and a newly discovered drawing by Hendrick Goltzius.
The editorial covers the tricky subject of a memorial to Tobias Rustat (1608-1694) in the chapel at Jesus College Cambridge (above). It's a fine piece of carving commissioned by Rustat from Grinling Gibbons. The College has asked the Church of England (via its consistory court) for permission to move the memorial, given Rustat's close involvement in the slave trade. But the Court has said it should remain, and The Burlington agrees. It also makes a case for how we should consider similar examples:
Now that the college has accepted that it must retain the monument, can it find creative and persuasive ways of explaining it? The case is also an opportunity for art and architectural historians to reflect on how much work needs to be done to correct misapprehensions about church monuments, even in a place as well informed as a Cambridge college might be assumed to be. In particular, they are intended for commemoration, not veneration, and are not ornaments in a building that can readily be removed but are integral elements of its historical and cultural significance. There are lessons for us all in the case of the Rustat Memorial.
The College, led by Sonita Alleyne, isn't pleased with the decision, and has vowed to keep up the pressure for a different outcome, telling BBC news:
"The consistory court's decision shows a lack of understanding of the lived experience of people of colour in modern Britain.
In short, the college is up against a Church ruling which believes involvement in the slave trade over 30 years isn't sufficient to warrant the removal of this celebratory memorial."
The case strikes me as a tricky one, and I'm glad I'm not tasked with responsibility for deciding whether the Rustat memorial should remain or go. I'm personally glad, for example, that the statue of the slave trader Edward Colston is no longer on display in Bristol, for statues are political acts, and require audiences to engage in their presence in a way modern audiences can find deeply upsetting. The Colston statue, high on its pedestal, demanded subservience from the descandants of people Colston in his lifetime sold into subservience.
Yet there is also a memorial to Colston in All Saints Church, Bristol, by John Michael Rysbrack - should that be moved too? Does removing a marble statue of great artistic quality from a place of worship not involve some sort of iconoclasm? There is no easy answer to this, but here I think it's relevant that the church in Bristol is closed. Nobody is required to pass before Colston's memorial, whether in commemoration or veneration, as they use the church for worship.
The chapel at Jesus College, however, is very much open, and in daily use. As you can see from the photo above, the Rustat memorial is in a commanding position. One can understand why some might find it off-putting, or even oppressive. We need to find a solution that works for all sections of the community at Jesus, and perhaps we have some way to go yet.
Brexit and the art market (ctd.)
May 10 2022
It's almost six years now since the UK voted to leave the European Union, and time enough to be reasonably certain of any impact Brexit has had on the UK art market. The latest figures show it's not good news; for the first time, the UK art market has slipped from being the world's second largest to the third. There's not much escaping the fact that Brexit is in large part to blame.
In The Art Newspaper, Anny Shaw and Gareth Harris have been looking at the numbers, including research done by Dr Clare McAndrew for Art Basel's Art Market Report:
London will become “a shadow of its former self” in just five years if art imports continue to plummet, members of the trade have warned the British government, after it was revealed the UK’s global share of the art market fell by 3% to 17% last year—its lowest in a decade. The latest figures from HM Revenue and Customs, published in the 2022 Art Basel/UBS Global Art Market report, show that the value of art and antiques imported into the UK in 2020 was $2.1bn, down by one third on 2019. Imports fell a further 18% last year, leaving them at almost half the value of 2019.
The TAN piece also highlights the critical issue of import VAT, and quotes the art market specialist lawyer Pierre Valentin:
Brexit is thought to be the main reason for the sharp decline in imports, which have been further hampered by the pandemic. The art lawyer Pierre Valentin says: “The obligation to pay import VAT when moving art from the EU to the UK and the additional paperwork are considerable deterrents,” adding: “many European collectors have left the UK. The pound sterling has lost some of its value, resulting in sellers of more important works selling in New York rather than in London.”
I don't have any stats to hand, but from the little corner of the art market I'm most familiar with, Old Masters, I've certainly noticed a shift in particularly mid-level sales from London to auction houses in France and Germany, as well as places like Dorotheum in Vienna. In addition to the increased burden of import Vat, the UK market has not benefited from some of the other areas of Brexit it was hoping to, such as the abolition of the Artist's Resale Right, which the UK government committed to retaining.
I know good friends should never say, 'I told you so', but I did my best to warn everyone, as here in The Wall Street Journal back in 2017:
The great hope of Brexiteers in the UK art market is that after we leave the EU import Vat will be abolished. But it is hard to see how a cash-strapped Treasury will find the money to do this. In fact, there is a risk that import Vat will be extended to any artwork coming into the UK, increasing costs for dealers and drastically affecting an auction house’s ability to attract consignments from Europe. Nor is it at all likely that the EU will abolish Vat on artworks imported from a post-Brexit UK. Any EU-based collector wanting to buy a picture at Sotheby’s, or from a UK dealer, or at one of London’s many art fairs, will know that an extra 5.5% (at least) must now be added to their bill. It’s easy to see how, gradually, transactions that now take place in London might start to migrate across the Channel.
What can be done now? It's hard to see any change on the Vat regime coming now, but as Anthony Browne of the British Art Market Federation points out, import Vat on art raises relatively trivial amounts of money for the Treasury, £16m last year. Could the government be persuaded of the merits of a tax break for the art business? A good place to start might be a concerted effort by the art market to make a public case for its benefits to the UK economy, led not by art dealer types like me, but (say) by artists. For better or worse, we have a political system which responds to those who shout the loudest.
Update - a reader writes:
As an unrepentant secessionist, champion of the Norway option / (potential) owner of 3 passports, might I remind you that Article 50 came slightly after the vote and the time spent outside the EU, just over 2 years, hardly constitutes the panoramic view of human affairs suggested in your article.
Also interesting to note that the UK art market (17%), having been eclipsed by China (20%), is still larger than the rest of the single market combined. China is a very interesting case – not really a nation, more a self-contained civilisation of a billion which will inevitably come to command a greater share of the global economy as the years roll on; by contrast the artistic heritage of the West cuts across many borders and is consumed /shared by many different countries.
A far more interesting question perhaps, is why a country as trivial as the UK had such a disproportionate share of the art market in the first place? You mention the Witt Library; I would also like it to reopen. I suspect it is precisely these places, as well as the many other archives, libraries and great museums, that give London such an advantage in the global art market
I have no idea how anyone would go about it, though it would be nice if someone could gauge in tangible terms the value of such places to the British art trade (and by extension the British economy) – not least because it might allow us to put forward a more persuasive case for their reopening and continued use.
Job opportunity!
May 10 2022
Picture: Courtauld Institute of Art
The Courtauld Institute in London is looking for a new director. The job spec looks pretty demanding, but they won't say what the pay is:
This person will need to have a proven track record as an innovative head of a world-leading, high profile academic or cultural institution with the ability to develop, motivate, and unify teams around a common vision. They will be respected as a leader who can deliver the highest academic standards. They will need to demonstrate significant cultural credibility, alongside strong experience negotiating within and dealing with an international environment, preferably with a strong academic leadership background. This person will also need experience of growing an enterprise which touches many different communities, including significant patrons and partners and, essentially, the public, including students and Gallery visitors. The person will need to personally lead the fundraising and development activities of the Institute that will be so important in delivering the vision.
Remuneration will be commensurate with the standing of the role.
Deadline is 31st May. If you're applying, good luck, and please re-open the Witt Library soon. More here.
The National Gallery goes viral
May 9 2022
Video: The National Gallery
The National Gallery's YouTube videos are really good these days, and can quickly generate tens of thousands of views. But I see that one from a few weeks ago has exploded with over one million views already. It's presented by Francesca Whitlum-Cooper, The Myojin-Nadar Associate Curator of Paintings 1600–1800, and looks at the c.1470 Swabian School Portrait of a Lady of the Hofer Family. The title to the video helps explain why it's such a catchy and appealing hit, 'Why does this lady have a fly on her head?' It's a great piece of art history for the digital age, bravo Francesca!
The British Museum's carbon problem
May 9 2022
Picture: BM
One of the things I've been getting vexed about in my regular column for The Art Newspaper is the British Museum's NFT sales. To raise cash, the BM has signed an exclusive deal with a company called La Collection to sell NFTs of works from its own collection, some of which are being marketed for thousands of pounds. Whatever you may think of NFTs and digital art, I hope we can all regret a public museum monetising works of art the public already owns. It feels like the thin end of a worrying wedge.
Besides, in reality the BM's NFTs are simply jpegs already available on the BM's website for free, but with a line of code attached to them so they can be put on the blockchain, and so apparently give them value. Prices for one of the BM's Hokusai Great Wave NFTs have apparently reached $45,000. If you'd like one of the images for free instead, there's one at the top of this story.
Anyway, the NFT market is stalling, and you and I are not daft enough to buy one. But the reason for my latest bout of vexedness is over the huge carbon emissions the BM's NFT sales are generating. Because creating and selling NFTs is an energy intensive operation, it consumes vast amounts of carbon. For The Art Newspaper, I ran the numbers, and discovered that:
The widely used carbon-offsetting website Aerial estimates the total emissions associated with the BM’s NFTs so far is 819 tonnes of CO2. Last year, the British Museum calculated its emissions over the whole museum to be 5,861 tonnes. In only six months of selling jpegs, the BM has thus significantly increased its annual emissions. LaCollection says it will plant one tree for each NFT it makes. One tree will absorb about one tonne of CO2 over the course of 100 years. The BM said recently that it views NFTs as “a multi-year play”, so one tree per NFT is not nearly enough.
More here. You can read the BM's current environment policy document here. It's one page long and was last updated in 2007.
In case you'd like to hear more of my reactionary views on NFTs, I was interviewed by David Aaronovitch for the BBC Radio 4 programme The Briefing Room, here.
Is this Cromwell's mum?
May 9 2022
Picture: BBC News/Cromwell Museum
A picture has gone on display at the Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon, with the suggestion it might be Oliver Cromwell's mother. Of whom no known portraits are thought to have survived. The identification was attached to the picture from at least the mid 18th Century. However, Elizabeth Cromwell (nee Steward) was born in 1565, and this seems to be a picture of about the 1650s. Can it really show someone in her 80s? More here.
Ashmolean Pre-Raphaelites at the Watts Gallery
May 9 2022
Video: Watts Gallery
There's a new exhibition at the Watts Gallery, 'Pre-Raphaelite Treasures: Drawings and Watercolours on loan from The Ashmolean'. In the video above, curator Emily Burns give us a guided tour. Show till 12th June. More here.
In Our Time on the Sistine Chapel
May 9 2022
Picture: Vatican Museums
There's a good In Our Time on the Sistine Chapel, here on BBC Radio 4.
Oops...
May 9 2022
Picture: via Artnet
Someone stumbled in front of a Guido Reni of St Francis in Ecstasy at the Galleria Borghese, and made a hole in it. It was only a small one, and easily repaired. I'm not surprised though, the installation looks like an obvious trip hazard. More here in Artnet, more here on the exhibition itself.
Titian discovery at Dorotheum
May 9 2022
Video: Dorotheum
At Dorotheum on 11th May, a previously unknown Titian of the Penitent Magdalene will be offered, with an estimate of €1m-€1.5m. The composition was one of Titian's most popular, and often turns up optimistically as as Titian/Attributed/Workshop. But this one looks entirely right, and has a good claim to some very illustrious provenance. I suspect the estimate will be easily beaten. The catalogue entry is here.
Update - it made €4.8m.
Michelangelo at Christie's, Paris
May 9 2022
Video: Christie's
Here's the catalogue entry (and, above, a dramatic video) of the newly discovered drawing by Michelangelo coming up at Christie's in Paris on 18th May. I didn't realise from the photos how big it was. The scale is lovely, don't you think? It's such a sculptural image too, the central figure has the feeling of a piece of worked clay.
What will it make? The last comparable Michelangelo drawing was at Christie's in London back in 2000, and made over £8m. The estimate is 'on request' but the press have floated the figure of €30m. Which is probably on the conservative side. Although any buyers will have French export and pre-emption laws to contend with, so this might dampen the bidding.
Update, it made €23m. Not as much as I thought.
Blog on
May 9 2022
Posted by Bendor
With some trepidation, I'm going to try stepping back into AHN. Adam has done such a great job resurrecting it, and it would be a shame to let it fall back into abeyance. It's been a while since I posted regularly, and time seems to become more and more fleeting, so we'll see how it goes. Stories will probably reflect more of a personal hue, things that interest me, or (be warned) enrage me. I see AHN started back in December 2010 - over 7,000 posts ago. It seems like several lifetimes have passed since then.
1,780 posts later...
April 10 2022
Video: AB
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
It was exactly 2 years to this month when Bendor very kindly asked me to start posting on AHN. Over 1,780 posts later, this is my final offering.
It has been a great honour and tremendous fun to keep the blog running, thank you to all of you who have continued to read it! I'm very grateful for all the interesting stories, comments and corrections I've received. It has never ceased to amaze me how many readers get in touch from all over the world. Ultimately, it is Bendor who we must all thank for supporting its continuation. I'm sure the next phase will be interesting too (and might contain more contemporary art stories, many of which I found particularly difficult to find any enthusiasm for).
New adventures await me as I have recently accepted a job cataloguing Old Masters at Sotheby's in London. As my doctoral research has recently ended, I think it is about time that I found another challenge to pursue.
As a parting gift, I thought I would record a segment of one of my favourite Pavans for the lute. It is entitled Sedet Sola [Sitting Alone] and was written by one of Elizabeth I's lutenists Anthony Holborne (c.1545-1602). I particularly love this piece as it is probably connected (subject wise at least) to Isaac Oliver's A Young Man Seated Under a Tree c.1590-1595 in The Royal Collection. I have always imagined that this particularly sweet melancholy is exactly what Oliver's miniature sounds like.
Update - Dear Adam, I can't thank you enough for all your excellent work on AHN these last two years. Your keen eye for a story, and many a sleeper-alert, have been indispensable in keeping us all informed about what's going on in the art historical universe. What a pleasure it has been to know the blog has been in such good hands. I'm not sure what happens next on AHN, but I doubt there'll be much enthusiasm for contemporary art stories any time soon. Sotheby's are lucky to have you (and your lutes!) and I not only wish you the best of luck there, but look forward to reporting on all the exciting discoveries I know you'll make, thanks to your excellent connoisseurial instincts. Thanks again, BG
Nationalmuseum Stockholm acquires La Tour Pastel
April 10 2022
Picture: La Gazette Drouot
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from La Gazette Drouot that the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm have acquired Quentin de La Tour's portrait of a Lady presumed to be Mrs. Catherine Massea. The work was acquired at auction last month for €60,536.
Tiepolo's Paintings in Verolanuova are being Restored
April 10 2022
Picture: ansa.it
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Two large paintings by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's, kept in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Verolanuova, are to be restored. Work has recently begun on bringing the artist's monumental canvases of The Sacrifice of Melchizedek and The Collection of Manna back to life. The work is being supervised by conservator Davide Dotti.
The Uffizi Gallery sends Charles V to Teglio
April 10 2022
Picture: Uffizi Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Florence's Uffizi Gallery have sent their Titian and Workshop of Emperor Charles V the Palazzo Besta in Teglio, Northern Italy. The Emperor's likeness appears an historic fresco scheme already in the palace, hence the connection. The loan is part of the '100 works return home' project that sees the gallery's artworks spread across different parts of the country. It seems that the project will soon be televised in a special documentary with Rai.
Bob Dylan on Van Gogh
April 10 2022
Picture: faroutmagazine.co.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Far Out Magazine have published a short article on Van Gogh's influence on the music of Bob Dylan. The article, which contains some YouTube links to Dylan's songs, explores the thematic influence on his lyrics.
To quote some lyrics from his Blonde on Blonde demo:
When I’d ask why the painting was deadly / Nobody could pick up my sign / ‘Cept for the cook, she was always friendly / But she’d only ask, ‘What’s on your mind?’ / She’d say that especially when it was raining / I’d say ‘Oh, I don’t know’ / But then she’d press and I’d say, ‘You see that painting? / Do you think it’s been done by Van Gogh?
Vanishing Point
April 10 2022
Picture: FT
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Financial Times have published an interesting article on Barbara Walker’s new exhibition Vanishing Point. The show is currently on at the Cristea Roberts Gallery in London until 23rd April 2022. As you can see, these graphite drawings (combined with blind embossing) hone in on black figures that feature within old master paintings.
To quote the artist:
I spend a lot of time in the National Gallery, and when I’m looking at those beautiful paintings, I’m looking for me — how we are represented, how we are viewed — and to understand our journey. Often the black figures are in the corner or with their backs turned to us. The viewer sometimes doesn’t see these individuals. But I’m making them high-definition and bringing them to the forefront: here, they are not just props.
...
I’m duplicating an Old Masters painting and I want people to see the original in my work. So the black figure is still in situ; I don’t completely wash away the white figures, as I’ve done previously, or rub them away or paint them out. I want the audience to see the dynamics.
Upcoming Release: Scented Visions
April 10 2022
Picture: Penn State University Press
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Here is a September release that will be worth keeping an eye out for. Scented Visions: Smells in Art 1850-1914 is the upcoming publication by Christina Bradstreet, Courses and Events Programmer at the National Gallery in London.
According to the book's blurb:
Smell loomed large in cultural discourse in the late nineteenth century, thanks to the midcentury fear of miasma, the drive for sanitation reform, and the rise in artificial perfumery. Meanwhile, the science of olfaction remained largely mysterious, prompting an impulse to “see smell” and inspiring some artists to picture scent in order to better know and control it. This book recovers the substantive role of the olfactory in Pre-Raphaelite art and Aestheticism.
Christina Bradstreet examines the iconography and symbolism of scent in nineteenth-century art and visual culture. Fragrant imagery in the work of John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Simeon Solomon, George Frederic Watts, Edward Burne-Jones, and others set the trend for the preoccupation with scent that informed swaths of British, European, and American art and design. Bradstreet’s rich analyses of paintings, perfume posters, and other works of visual culture demonstrate how artworks mirrored the “period nose” and intersected with the most clamorous debates of the day, including evolution, civilization, race, urban morality, mental health, faith, and the “woman question.”
The book will be released in September 2022.
