17th Century
LACMA acquire Virginia Vezzi Self Portrait
April 29 2025
Picture: lacma.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) have announced their acquisition of Virginia Vezzi's (also known as Virginia da Vezzo) Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria (spotted via @mweilc). The work was acquired through the New York dealer Robert Simon.
According to their website (which is worth reading in full):
Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria is a rediscovered painting by Virginia Vezzi, also known as Virginia da Vezzo, whose story is a typical one for a female artist in the early years of the 1600s. Despite her success as a painter in Rome and Paris, her reputation was ignored by contemporary chroniclers and then ultimately lost to the writers of art history in the centuries that followed. Only recently have the biographical details of her life been uncovered, and along with them, her artistic accomplishments.
MET acquires Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder
April 28 2025
Picture: @adamwilliamsfineart
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The New York dealers Adam Williams Fine Art have announced on Instagram the sale of this floral still life to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Dating to around 1619-1621, the work made 3,307,800 EUR at Drouot in 2019.
Jacques Blanchard acquired by Musée du Grand Siècle
April 28 2025
Picture: Alexandre Gady via LinkedIn
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from the Director of the Musée du Grand Siècle, Alexandre Gady, that the museum has acquired Jacques Blanchard's Diana and Endymion (spotted via @gazette_inter). Painted around 1632, it was executed for the interior of the Hôtel Le Barbier and joins Blanchard's Apollo and Daphne which is also in the museum's collection from the same series.
Southern Netherlandish Art Programme Summer School 2025
April 28 2025
Picture: University of Cambridge & Rubenshuis
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News has arrived that the History of Art Department at the University of Cambridge and the Rubenshuis in Antwerp are inviting applications for a Summer School for Southern Netherlandish Art this July.
According to the document supplied (click here for more details):
This is a call for applications to a Summer School in Antwerp/Brussels and Cambridge/London from Tuesday 1st July to Thursday 10th July.
The focus will be Southern Netherlandish Art, 1500-1700. The summer school is organised by the History of Art Department and Trinity Hall, the University of Cambridge, and the Rubenshuis, Antwerp. The programme is kindly funded by the Government of Flanders. [...]
The programme aims to bring together 12 promising emerging researchers to explore Southern Netherlandish Art through lectures by experts in the field and guided tours of museum collections, churches, and private collections in stately homes. The summer course will present a unique opportunity to expand the participants' networks in Belgium and England.
Applications must be in by 12th May 2025.
The World of Johan de Witt in Dordrecht
April 28 2025
Video: RTV Dordrecht
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Dordrecht Museums have just opened a new exhibition celebrating the life of Johan de Witt, a key patron and figure in the Dutch Republic. The show is supported by loans from across the Netherlands, including the Allegory of War (1664) by Jan Lievens and Allegory of Peace (1669) by Adriaen Hanneman commissioned by de Witt for the Senate at the Binnenhof.
The museum have also taken the opportunity of restoring a group portrait featuring de Witt's sister Maria by Caspar Netscher. The museum have posted this photo of what her face looked like pre-retouching:
Can you imagine having to tackle that? Thank goodness there was a copy of the painting to help reconstruct what her face looked like before. Click on the link above to see how the painting appears now.
Duke of Rutland's Poussin Ends Up in Louvre Abu Dhabi
April 25 2025
Picture: The Art Newspaper
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Art Newspaper has shared news that Nicolas Poussin's Confirmation, which failed to find a UK institution willing to stump up the £19m required to keep it in the country when the Duke of Rutland sold it in 2022, has ended up in the collection of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. The picture has gone on display alongside Poussin's Self Portrait on loan from the Louvre in Paris in a special display. The unveiling of this news is part of the Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism's plan to make more of their recent acquisitions public in the coming year.
Upcoming: Pieter Claesz Still Lifes at the KHM
April 24 2025
Picture: khm.at
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from the Kunsthistoriches Musuem in Vienna that they'll be opening an exhibition in June on Still Lifes by Pieter Claesz (an oddly sunny season for such a contemplative show, I think).
According to their website:
From 17 June 2025, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, in cooperation with the Kaiserschild-Stiftung, will present a special exhibition on the Dutch Baroque painter Pieter Claesz (1597/98–1660) as part of the Kaiserschild Art Defined project. Claesz is considered one of the most important still life painters of the seventeenth century.
In collaboration with the Alte Galerie of the Universalmuseum Joanneum Graz and the Kunst Museum Winterthur, three atmospherically rich still life paintings by Pieter Claesz will be on display, showcasing his masterful use of light and his refined handling of materiality. The presentation is complemented by high-resolution digital reproductions that invite interactive engagement with the artworks. Visitors can explore intricate details and delve deeper into the Baroque visual language of the so-called Golden Age.
The World of King James VI and I at the SNPG
April 23 2025
Picture: nationalgalleries.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Galleries of Scotland: Portrait will be opening their latest exhibition on Saturday 26th April 2025 entitled The World of King James VI and I.
According to their website:
Marking the 400-year anniversary of King James’s death, this exhibition will chart his remarkable reign through stories of friendship, family, feuds and ambition. Son of Mary, Queen of Scots, successor to Elizabeth I, King James (1566–1625) was the first monarch to rule over Scotland, England and Ireland.
Drawing on themes with contemporary relevance including national identity, queer history, belief and spirituality, The World of King James VI and I is an enriching journey through the complex life of a King who changed the shape of the United Kingdom. Over 140 objects will be on display, including ornate paintings, dazzling jewels, lavish designs and important loans from galleries across the UK, celebrating craft and visual art from the 16th and 17th centuries.
The show will run until 14th September 2025 and the exhibition catalogue is already available for purchase here.
Master I.S. – From Lost to Almost Found
April 23 2025
Picture: Gösta Serlachius Fine Arts Foundation, Mänttä
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
CODART (the international network of curators of Dutch and Flemish art) have just published an interesting article by Janneke van Asperen and Tomi Moisio on the elusive painter known as Master I.S. The piece delves into questions regarding defining this master's style and characteristics, drawing on new research and examination of pictures in collections such as the Gösta Serlachius Fine Arts Foundation in Finland. Click on the link to read more.
9 works by Evaristo Baschenis donated to Museo Diocesano Bernareggi
April 18 2025
Picture: santalessandro.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I'm a little late to news that the recently reopened Museo Diocesano Bernareggi in Bergamo has received a generous donation of 9 paintings by Evaristo Baschenis (spotted via @Mweilc). The gift was made by the collectors Guido Crippa and his wife Carmen Oberti and will be displayed in an entire room dedicated to the artist's work.
NGA acquires Louise Moillon Still Life
April 18 2025
Picture: NGA
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. (NGA) has acquired Louise Moillon's 1636 Still Life with a Basket of Peaches and Grapes (spotted via. @Mweilc). The work was offered at Christie's Paris back in 2021 but failed to sell with its estimate of 300,000 - 500,000 EUR. The work was eventually acquired by the NGA through the London dealers Ben Elwes Fine Art in 2024.
Baroque in Slovenia
April 18 2025
Picture: Narodna galerija
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A reader has kindly been in touch with news that the Narodna galerija in Ljubljana, Slovenia, has just opened a large exhibition dedicated to Baroque in Slovenia. With a display that features no fewer than 170 works, the show will concentrate on works created in and for present-day Slovenia in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The exhibition will run until 11th September 2025.
Sleeper Alert!
April 18 2025
Picture: Wannenes
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News on social media (via @auctionradar and others) that the following picture catalogued as 'PITTORE CARAVAGGESCO DEL XVII SECOLO' realised 190,000 EUR over its 2,000 - 3,000 EUR estimate at Wannenes in Genoa the other day.
Our Three Paintings are not by Rembrandt, says the Mauritshuis
April 18 2025
Picture: Mauritshuis
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
We are very accustomed to exhibitions drawing attention to exciting new research regarding upgrades in attribution. However, The Mauritshuis in The Hague has just opened a display which examines three paintings that curators have concluded are not by Rembrandt. Here's a webpage which explains their reasoning behind the rejections. Of course, explaining why a painting is not by an artist takes a great deal of reasoning too. This is why, I have noted from experience, that valuers of works of art are often also highly skilled at being able to deliver bad news.
According to their website:
The Mauritshuis also has seven paintings that have once been purchased as Rembrandts, but which have now been written off or are strongly called into question. Three of the paintings in this last category were recently re-examined in our conservation studio with the most modern techniques available to us today. Two of those works have also been restored. What has this taught us? Rembrandt research is never done, and that includes the work we do at the Mauritshuis.
The display will be on view until mid-July 2025.
Update - Bendor here with a question. The Mauritshuis says of one of the paintings, the c.1650 Study of an Old Man, that their analysis has demonstrated the 'Rembrandt' signature is genuine. However, they also say:
You might think “Rembrandt signed it, so it must be ‘a real Rembrandt’.” But it’s not that simple. It was not unusual for a master to sign the work of a student. If it was painted at Rembrandt’s studio, it was his ‘product’. With Rembrandt’s signature, a painting by a student could be sold as if it were a piece by the master.
So my question is - how usual was this really? I think it was unusual, in the 17th century at least, for a master to sign a painting which was wholly the work of a student. We also have to ask, what is the evidence Rembrandt himself was in the habit of signing works by his pupils? As far as I know, this is a theory which developed as later generations of Rembrandt scholars, especially during the Rembrandt Research Project, tried to explain away paintings which were signed, but which they did not believe on the basis of connoisseurship were by Rembrandt. The theory was developed to fit the conclusions (even as the connoisseurship has now evolved, and many previously rejected paintings have now been accepted again). But I don't think we have any direct, contemporary evidence that Rembrandt did this, even though the assertion that he did has passed into general fact nowadays. I would be glad to hear other views!
PS - my other question is; if this exercise is all about studying Rembrandt's technique and inviting views on connoisseurship, could The Mauritshuis please allow us to see some proper high resolution photos? Thanks!
Update II - there is a good essay on the Leiden Collection website by Michiel Franken and Jaap van der Veen, “The Signing of Paintings by Rembrandt and His Contemporaries” (2022), which goes into the signing question in some detail. The essay demonstrates that we have very little contemporary evidence that artists signed works entirely by pupils, still less that it was common, and none at all that it was Rembrandt's practice.
Data on the sale of Rembrandt’s works is extremely scarce, but a note by Rembrandt himself provides some insight. He recorded the sale of certain studio works on the back of a drawing, which can be dated around 1636. Rembrandt documented the names “Fardynandus” and “Leendert,” as well as the subjects of three of the paintings that were sold, namely a “Flora,” a “Vaandeldrager” (standard-bearer), and an “Abraham.” [...]
The fact that Rembrandt included on the back of this drawing the names of his pupils who made these paintings could indicate that he sold them not under his own name but as works made by advanced pupils under his supervision. [...] The relatively low price paid for such studio work must mean the buyers knew that these pieces—signed or not—were absolutely not by the master himself.
None of this is to doubt that Rembrandt had, at times in his career (though NB, not always), a busy studio. Nor that many of his works, even signed ones, contain studio participation. This would indeed be normal artistic practice for a successful painter. The question is whether Rembrandt signed works entirely by pupils, or allowed works by pupils signed 'Rembrandt' to be sold as 'Rembrandts' from his workshop, which is a theory that has come to be commonly accepted in Rembrandt scholarship.
I have been interested in where this theory developed. As I mentioned above, it appears to have grown out of needing to explain how works which the Rembrandt Research Project (RRP) did not think were by Rembrandt nonetheless bore 'genuine' and contemporary Rembrandt signatures. An early example was this 1633 Portrait of a Lady in the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig. It had a long tradition of being by Rembrandt, and was signed as such with a provably contemporaneous signature. But in 1986 it was doubted by the RRP, mainly on stylistic grounds. How to solve this puzzle? As Josua Bruyn wrote [Vol.2, p.105]:
Since the woman's portrait in Braunschweig is to be seen as the work of one of the assistants in who helped in Rembrandt's workshop with carrying out the portrait commissions that were flooding in the 1630s, one would have to assume that such an assistant appended the master's name to his own work in this and other instances, and did so in the form Rembrandt was using at that particular moment.
The reason I think the case of this portrait is so interesting in the Rembrandt signature story is that it is now once again accepted as a genuine Rembrandt, and was included by Ernst van der Wetering in his revised Vol.6 of the RRP. So the portrait's attribution to Rembrandt has been reaccepted, but the signature thesis behind its former rejection still stands.
It is also worth noting that in Volume 3 of the RRP, Josua Bruyn wrote that while:
[...] it is conceivable that Rembrandt signatures were appended in the workshop by his studio assistants - as a kind of trademark [...] It is remarkable that to date we have met nothing that argues for the theoretically perfectly plausible opposite situation - that of Rembrandt putting his own signature on the work of pupils.
So even the RRP themselves were uncertain about the signature thesis, which (as the Mauritshuis project demonstrates) has now nonetheless passed into commonly accepted wisdom.
Kaplan to Sell Rembrandt Drawing for Big Cat Conservation
April 11 2025
Picture: artnews.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Artnews.com have published news that Thomas Kaplan (the philanthropist and figure behind the Leiden Collection) will be auctioning off the following Rembrandt Drawing of a Lion to help raise funds for big cat conservation. The sale is purported to happen next year with the drawing carrying an estimate in the'“multiples of tens” of millions.'
Recent Release: Genesis and becoming of the Baroque between Rome and Naples
April 11 2025
Picture: delucaeditori.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A new volume on the relationship between Rome and Naples, in regards to the emergence of the Baroque in painting, has been published in Italy. The publication, edited by Francesco Petrucci, draws on paintings specifically from the collections of the Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia and from the Koelliker collection.
Art and Power during the Age of the Doges of Genoa
April 10 2025
Picture: Reggia di Venaria
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A new exhibition has opened in Reggia di Venaria in Turin today which celebrates the artistic produce during the golden age of the Republic of Genoa. Featuring one hundred works, including paintings, sculptures, silverware, furnishings and bronzes, artists featured include Rubens, Van Dyck, Guido Reni, Orazio Gentileschi, Carlo Maratti, Luca Giordano, Hyacinthe Rigaud, Angelica Kauffman, and Anton von Maron.
The show will run until 7th September 2025.
New Digital Catalogue of the Kremer Collection
April 9 2025
Picture: kremercollection.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
CODART (the international network of curators of Dutch and Flemish art) have drawn attention to a new digital catalogue of The Kremer Collection (now in part on loan to the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar). Viewers can either surf through the websites themselves or access a PDF of the physical catalogue through the link above.
Many happy hours of browsing ahead, I think.
Recently Opened: Barocco Globale at the Scuderie del Quirinale
April 8 2025
Video: Agenzia di Stampa ITALPRESS
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome opened their latest exhibition last week entitled Barocco Globale. Il mondo a Roma nel secolo di Bernini. Organised in collaboration with the Galleria Borghese in Rome, the show focuses on global influences in the works of major seventeenth century artists working in Rome during the Baroque and will run until 13th July 2025.
Denver borrows Rembrandts from NGA
April 8 2025
Picture: NGA via. CODART
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from CODART (the international network of curators of Dutch and Flemish art) that the Denver Art Museum has borrowed two Rembrandts from the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. (NGA). The loan is part of the NGA's “Across the Nation” programme, to celebrate the upcoming 250th Anniversary of the founding of the USA in 2026.
