18th Century
Free Lecture: Places of the Mind, Portraits of the Soul: Drawings by Jonathan Richardson and John Constable
April 25 2025
Picture: YCBA
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News has arrived that this year's Milein Cosman Lecture at the Slade School of Fine Art in London will be entitled Places of the Mind, Portraits of the Soul: Drawings by Jonathan Richardson and John Constable. The free-to-attend talk will be presented by the art historian and scholar Dr Susan Owens.
According to the talk's blurb:
Born a little over a hundred years apart, Jonathan Richardson (1667-1745) and John Constable (1776-1837) both used drawing to pursue projects of intense introspection. Richardson made a sequence of self-portraits in which he explored the process of his own ageing with pathos and wit, while Constable parted from his family home in Suffolk with a series of intensely emotional drawings of significant places. In this lecture, Dr Owens will look at drawing’s role in soul-searching and taking stock.
The talk will take place in London on 6th May 2025 and more booking details can be found through the link above.
Wright of Derby Self Portrait coming up at Sloane Street Auctions
April 24 2025
Picture: Sloane Street Auctions
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Regular art watchers might remember the reappearance of this late Self Portrait by Joseph Wright of Derby in 2017, which was discovered and unveiled by Archie Parker at LAPADA that year. The picture is now coming up for sale at Sloane Street Auctions on 2nd May 2025 carrying an estimate of £60,000 - £80,000.
Temporary Export Ban on Agostino Brunias Pair
April 18 2025
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The UK Government has placed a temporary export ban on two paintings by Agostino Brunias. The pair were sold at Sotheby's London last July and made £240,000 and £180,000 respectively (inc. commission). Any interested UK institution has until 15th July 2025 to make a pitch to keep them in the country.
Imminent Release: Le Comte d'Angiviller
April 10 2025
Picture: editions-monelle-hayot.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from France (spotted via. @MWeilc) that a publication on Charles Claude Flahaut, Count of Angiviller (1730–1809), a significant figure relating to the arts during the reign of Louis XVI, is due to be published on 15th April 2025. This 384 page volume was penned by Monelle Hayot and Antoine Maës.
According to the publisher's website:
Angiviller took part in the education of the future Louis XVI and his brothers. The King is fond of him and in full confidence shares with him a privacy which allows truthful advices. At his accession on the throne, in 1774, he appoints Angiviller Directeur des Bâtiments du Roi, a minister of arts and architecture with extended powers. He will remain in charge until the Revolution. His role is major. He is responsible for all the royal and state residences (Palais du Louvre, Tuileries, Versailles, Fontainebleau, Saint-Cloud…). He buys the hunting domain of Rambouillet on behalf of the king and develops there the Etruscan style, in fashion since the discovery of Herculanum. Thanks to the king of Spain, he develops there the breeding of Merino sheep in a model farm, which still exists nowadays. He reorganizes the manufactures of Sèvres and of the Gobelins, presides over the Académie de peinture et de sculpture, the Académie de France in Rome with the Premier Peintre Pierre’s assistance. He is the founder of the Museum, today Musée du Louvre, which because of the Revolution will only open under Napoleon. He orders its construction within the Louvre palace, following Hubert Robert’s ideas, constitutes its collections, by major acquisitions in sales or private collections. [...]
Order before the 15th April 2025 to receive 20 EUR off the asking price (follow the link for more details).
Cleaning Ramsay's Wills Hill
April 9 2025
Picture: Historical Royal Palaces via. Instagram
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I'm a little late to this video published by the Historic Royal Palaces on Instagram last month showing the cleaning of Alan Ramsay's Portrait of Wills Hill, 1st Earl Hillsborough. The painting was acquired by Hillsborough Castle last year as part of the Acceptance in Lieu Scheme for £158,100.
YCBA Reopens with Romney Show
April 3 2025
Picture: YCBA
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) reopened to the public last week. I am reliably informed that the redisplay of the center's Long Gallery features no fewer than 205 works of art in a tightly packed format. As images of the space makes clear, this approach does show off the YCBA's rich holdings in a way which is rarely encountered here in British institutions.
To celebrate the reopening the YCBA have even put on a new show at the nearby Yale University Art Gallery entitled Romney: Brilliant Contrasts in Georgian England. It will run until 14th September 2025.
Going going....
April 3 2025
Picture: BBC
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The BBC has published the latest news on the ongoing question of the future of Bouchardon's bust of Sir John Gordon. The Highland Council, who didn't know they had the sculpture until it was rediscovered in 1998, have applied for an export permit for it to leave the country so that £2.5m may be sought for the Invergordon Common Good Fund. More news when it appears.
'La Vecchia popolana' acquired by Museo d'Arte Sorlini
March 31 2025
Picture: ansa.it
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Italy that the Museo d'Arte Sorlini in Carzago Riviera has acquired Pietro Bellotti's La Vecchia popolana. The work, which had last been published in the 1940s, had apparently been acquired by the museum from a private collection in the recent past.
Cambridge seeking Professor in the History of Late Imperial Chinese Art
March 31 2025
Picture: jobs.cam.ac.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The University of Cambridge are hiring an Assistant Professor in the History of Late Imperial Chinese Art (ca. 1200-ca. 1800).
According to the job description:
The Department of History of Art at the University of Cambridge seeks to appoint a permanent Assistant Professor in the History of Late Imperial Chinese Art (ca. 1200-ca. 1800). The Department welcomes applications from specialists in all mediums of art, including painting and the graphic arts, sculpture, metalwork, ceramics, and textiles, all of which are well represented in University collections. The successful candidate will be expected to take up appointment on or close to 1 September 2025.
The job comes with an annual salary of between £46,735 - £59,139 and applications must be in by 30th April 2025.
Queen Charlotte Pentimenti in Royal Collection Infrared Scan
March 31 2025
Picture: Royal Collection Trust via. Instagram
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Royal Collection Trust have revealed this rather fascinating infrared scan of Benjamin West's portrait of George III and Queen Charlotte. It shows that the artist had initially positioned the Queen's head rather differently than it appears now. There are also changes to the King's eyes, which are also visible in the scans.
The picture is back on display at Kew Palace, where it appears to hang above a doorway, which has recently opened for the season.
Jean Honoré Fragonard & Marguerite Gérard at Galerie Hubert Duchemin
March 26 2025
Picture: Galerie Hubert Duchemin
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
For those in Paris this week for Salon du Dessin, the dealers Galerie Hubert Duchemin have an interesting small exhibition focusing on seven works by Jean Honoré Fragonard & Marguerite Gérard. Their display is also accompanied by this rather thorough-looking catalogue too (via the link above), in case you're not in Paris currently.
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Please do let me know if any other members of the Paris art trade are putting on things this week, happy to plug anything interesting!
Funded PhD Studying Portraiture and the East India Company, c.1757–1857
March 26 2025
Picture: courtauld.ac.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Courtauld Institute & Tate are inviting applications for an AHRC doctoral studentship studying Imperial Intimacies: Portraiture and the East India Company, c.1757–1857.
According to their website:
This studentship will explore portraiture produced in connection with the East India Company between 1757 and 1857, to uncover new stories about the individuals impacted by, or involved in, British imperialism in South Asia, and to rethink the role of portraiture within ‘British’ art histories.
This project will be jointly supervised by Dr Tom Young, the Courtauld, and Dr Alice Insley, Tate, and the student will be expected to spend time at both the Courtauld and Tate, as well as becoming part of the wider cohort of CDP funded students across the UK.
The Studentship comes with a stipend of £20,780 plus London Weighting of £2000/year. Applications must be in by 6th April 2025.
Good luck if you're applying!
Nicolas-Guy Brenet at the Musée de la Chartreuse
March 25 2025
Picture: douaisis-agglo-tourisme.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Musée de la Chartreuse in Douai have just opened a new exhibition exploring the life and career of Nicolas-Guy Brenet (1728-1792). As a painter of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris, Brenet undertook allegorical paintings for the city's courthouse and other works in the surrounding areas. The show will run until 23rd June 2025.
Joseph Wright of Derby at the National Gallery in Autumn 2025
March 25 2025
Picture: Derby Museums
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Gallery and Derby Museums are collaborating on a new exhibition focusing on Joseph Wright of Derby's candlelight scenes for Autumn 2025.
According to the NG's press release:
In the autumn of 2025, the National Gallery will present Wright of Derby: From the Shadows, the first exhibition dedicated to Joseph Wright ‘of Derby’ (1734–1797) at the National Gallery, and the first exhibition to focus on his ‘candlelight’ series. The exhibition is organised in partnership with Derby Museums where it will travel in 2026.
Following on from recent exhibitions such as Turner on Tour (2022) and Discover Constable & The Hay Wain (2024), this exhibition will put the spotlight on a well-known British artist in the National Gallery Collection whose work has come to symbolise an era. Traditionally, Wright of Derby has been viewed as a figurehead of the Enlightenment, a period of scientific, philosophical and artistic development in the 17th and 18th century. Challenging this conventional view, the exhibition contributes to the ongoing re-evaluation of the artist, portraying him not merely as a ‘painter of light’ but as one who deliberately explores the night-time to engage with deeper and more sombre themes, including death, melancholy, morality, scepticism and the sublime.
The show will run at the National Gallery from 7th November 2025 until 10th May 2026.
Prado cleans Caterina Cherubini Saint
March 21 2025
Picture: Prado
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Spanish art account @Boro_RR on 'X' has shared news that the Prado in Madrid have conserved this rather nice oil on copper of St Agnes by Caterina Cherubini (1730-1811) presumably for display in the very near future.
Bellotto not Canaletto
March 14 2025
Picture: The Wallace Collection
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Artnet have published news that a painting in The Wallace Collection, London, which had been thought of as a Canaletto for many years, has been reattributed to his nephew Bernardo Bellotto. The discovery is part of the revelations encountered in new research for the aforementioned book on the collection's Venetian vedute. In fact, the work is now thought to be one of Bellotto's earliest works produced around the time the artist was 16 years old.
Château de Versailles's Recently Acquired Louis XV Pastel Redisplayed
March 14 2025
Picture: Château de Versailles
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Château de Versailles have announced their redisplay of their recently acquired pastel portrait of Louix XV by Rosalba Carriera. The work was acquired in 2024, thanks to the patronage of Hubert and Mireille Goldschmidt, and is now featured in a special display in the former apartments of Madame de Maintenon.
Chartwell's Duke of Marlborough Portrait Conserved and Redisplayed
March 1 2025
Picture: The Art Newspaper
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Art Newspaper has shared news that a portrait of the Duke of Marlborough has been conserved and redisplayed for the first time. The painting, in the collection at Chartwell which is run by the National Trust, was given to Sir Winston Churchill in 1942 but its poor condition meant that it was never hung. Click on the link to read more.
Waddesdon Discover Painted Frame on Trompe L'Oeil
February 27 2025
Picture: @WMCurators
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Curators of Waddesdon Manor have shared rather interesting news on 'X' that a painted frame was uncovered by conservators working on a late 18th century French Trompe L'Oeil in their collection. This painted illusion had apparently been covered by a real wooden frame (some people, eh?) which has now been removed and is on display in the manor's Blue Dressing Room. Click on the link to see better images.
The Worlds of Watteau at Château de Chantilly
February 22 2025
Picture: Château de Chantilly
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Château de Chantilly will be opening their latest exhibition The Worlds of Watteau in a few weeks' time.
According to their website:
s mysterious as he is celebrated, Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) is a rare artist. The Condé Museum has the second-largest collection of his works in France after the Louvre – four paintings and six drawings – and this nucleus serves as the starting point for a new exhibition at the Château de Chantilly. Also featuring several loans, it offers a never-before-seen glimpse into the artist’s most important and iconic works, revealing the intimate secrets and studio practices behind his masterpieces. [...]
To present Watteau’s work in its best light, the Condé Museum has restored many of its masterpieces, which will be presented alongside loans of paintings and drawings to shed light on the artist at the height of his career. Leading experts on Watteau have also collaborated on the show, resulting in new discoveries and research. The exhibition explores the sources of Watteau’s inspiration, revealing how he crafted his compositions and the effects he aimed to create, to offer a unique glimpse into the origins of some of the most mysterious paintings ever produced.
The show will run from 8th March until 15th June 2025.
