Category: Exhibitions
Robilant+Voena Reunite Portraits of Napoleon and Josephine after 200 Years
May 24 2021
Picture: Robilant+Voena
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
London art dealers Robilant+Voena have reunited two portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine for the first time in 200 years for a special exhibition at their Dover Street premises (finishes 27th June 2021). Both pictures were completed in 1796 by Italian artist Andrea Appiani to celebrate their marriage. The paintings were eventually split up during the course of the next century. To make this reunion possible, the portrait of Napoleon has been loaned by the Earl of Rosebery and joins the painting of Josephine which the dealers have been offering for sale.
Medici Portraits at the MET
May 20 2021
Picture: MET
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Here's something to look forward to next month.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will be opening their latest old master paintings exhibition on 26th June 2021 entitled The Medici: Portraits & Politics, 1512-1570.
According to the exhibition description:
Through an outstanding group of portraits, this major loan exhibition will introduce visitors to the new and complex ways artists portrayed the elite of Medicean Florence, representing the sitters' political and cultural ambitions and conveying the changing sense of what it meant to be a Florentine at this defining moment in the city's history. The exhibition will feature over 90 works in a wide range of mediums, from drawings, medals, and engravings to sculptural busts, paintings, books, and manuscripts. Included are works by the period's most celebrated artists, from Raphael, Jacopo Pontormo, and Rosso Fiorentino to Benvenuto Cellini, Agnolo Bronzino, and Francesco Salviati.
For those unable to make it to New York this summer, one hopes that the museum will be producing some of its excellent free YouTube videos for us all to enjoy.
The show will run until 11th October 2021.
22-Meter Painting of Venice goes on Display
May 19 2021
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A 22-meter painting of Venice has gone on display in the Querini Stampalia Foundation in Venice. The work, completed by Giovanni Biasin (1835-1912) in 1887, is believed to be one of the largest views of the view ever painted. The re-display has been made possible by a lengthy conservation project on this fragile work on paper. It will on display in the city until October 2021.
Tempo Barocco at the Palazzo Barberini
May 18 2021
Picture: Palazzo Barberini
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Palazzo Barberini in Rome have just opened their latest exhibition entitled Tempo Barocco. The show will feature forty major works by the likes of Pietro da Cortona, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Anthony Van Dyck, Guido Reni, Valentin de Boulogne and Nicolas Poussin. Furthermore, works will be hung within eight newly restored rooms that were previously chambers occupied by Francesco Barberini, cardinal nephew of the powerful Urban VIII.
The exhibition will run until 3rd October 2021.
Grinling Gibbons Tercentenary 2021
May 17 2021
Video: St James's Church Piccadilly
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Grinling Gibbons Society are putting on a whole host of events later this year to celebrate the Tercentenary of the death of the virtuoso woodcarver Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721). The highpoint of their set of talks, outings and workshops will be an exhibition held at Bonhams in New Bond Street, London, which will kickstart the festival on 3rd August 2021 and run till 27th August. For those unable to see the exhibition in London, it will then move to Compton Verney in Warwickshire, where it will be on display from September through to February 2022.
According to the press release from Bonhams:
Centuries in the Making will explore the influences that shaped Gibbons' vision, skills and technique and the stylistic and cultural influences he brought to this country. Works are being assembled from national museums, regional collections, historic houses and some international lenders, and combined with contemporary artworks. Through sculpture and carving in wood and stone, drawings and sketches, portraits and documents, 'Centuries in the Making' will bring a new perspective to Gibbons and his legacy. The exhibition will also examine how Gibbons' bold new direction changed the direction of British carving, sculpture and interiors, and how his extraordinary creative output inspired both his contemporaries and makers across the succeeding 300 years. The influence of Gibbons will be traced to the present day, with works by contemporary artists and designers, and specially created artworks by talented emerging carvers.
The video above examines Gibbons's work at St James's Church in Piccadilly, London, and was made in association with the society.
John Crome Exhibition in Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery
May 14 2021
Picture: Eastern Daily Press
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Brilliant news that the Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery will be opening their latest exhibition on John Crome (1768-1821) on Monday 17th May 2021.
According to the press release:
A Passion for Landscape: Rediscovering John Crome celebrates the genius of a self-taught artist who began by painting pub signs and coach doors and left a legacy of some of the country’s loveliest landscape paintings.
Many questions about the popular artist and teacher remain unanswered. “We don’t know why he didn’t sign his paintings. We don’t know a lot of things about his work. It’s infuriating!” said Giorgia Bottinelli. She was delighted to discover one of his letters in the Norfolk Record Office. Crome had been commissioned to report on the state of the civic paintings in St Andrew’s Hall, Norwich, and was distressed to find them being damaged by a mixture of dust, sweat and sparrow droppings (the hall was used as a corn market at the time.)
Crome’s own paintings have been better treated. The Castle’s own collection has been joined by pictures from private collections, the Tate and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The exhibition will run until 5th September 2021.
Les Flandrin artistes et frères in Lyon
May 13 2021
Picture: mba-lyon.fr
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon will be opening their latest exhibition later this month entitled (in english) Hippolyte, Paul, Auguste: The Flandrin, artists and brothers. As the name suggests, the show is dedicated to the Lyon-born brothers and artists Hippolyte (1809-1864), Paul (1811-1902) and Auguste (1804-1842) Flandrin.
According to the exhibition's blurb:
The exhibition aims at presenting a new point of view on the three Flandrin’s works. The museum retains the main collection of their work: it houses about 200 paintings, drawings, engravings, photographs and archive documents, a large amount of which has never been shown nor even published. The collection represents the starting point and the backbone of the exhibition, completed with numerous loans. The exhibition will be organized around seven themed sections combining collectively Hippolyte’s, Paul’s and Auguste’s works: self-portraits and mutual portraits, artistic formation, academies, history painting, landscape painting, portrait, religious decoration. The focus of the exhibition will be centred on some key-questions, in order to understand their working methods and to highlight the mutual influences and creative process of the artists. In the exhibition, the underlying feature will be the constant collaboration amongst the three brothers throughout their works.
The exhibition is scheduled to run from 19th May - 5th September 2021.
Turner's English Coasts at Turner's House
May 13 2021
Picture: Turner's House
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Turner's House in Twickenham, London, will be reopening on Saturday 22nd May 2021 with a new exhibition entitled Turner's English Coasts.
According to the exhibition blurb:
Turner’s English Coasts focuses on Turner’s engagement with English marine and coastal subjects at a pivotal time in his career when he was living at Sandycombe Lodge, the house he designed and lived in between 1813 to 1826, at Sandycoombe Road, St Margarets, Twickenham TW1 2LR.
Guest-curator Christine Riding has deliberately selected works which underline the close relationship between Turner’s images of maritime Britain and contemporary print culture. The exhibition includes projects financed by professional engravers and publishers to those instigated by Turner himself. Some were commercially successful (the finished watercolours in the exhibition were and still are highly desirable to art collectors), while others were personal experiments. Crucially, it was through such projects – unprecedented in their breadth and quality – that Turner was to achieve an international reputation.
Pre-booking is essential as the organisers will only be admitting 8 visitors per hour due to the restricted space available within the building.
Vatican sends newly 'restored' Madonna delle Partorienti to Turin
May 13 2021
Picture: finestresullarte.info
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Vatican Museums have sent Antoniazzo Romano's highly revered Madonna delle Partorienti to a special exhibition in the Torino Musei Foundation. This fragment of fresco, produced during the late fifteenth century, was removed from the wall in 1574 during the construction of the new St Peter's. By 1605 the work was then reinstalled in a special grotto chapel located underneath the floor of the basilica.
The museum has also taken the opportunity to 'restore' the work especially for the exhibition. Here's an image of what it looked like previously:
______________
Does any reader happen to know if unfavourable comments relating to Vatican conservation work results in automatic excommunication?
Update - Here are some high-resolution images showing the new work a little more clearly.
Update 2 - Several readers have sent in correspondence explaining that criticism does in fact result in an automatic excommunication.
Mozart's Portrait goes on display in Verona
May 13 2021
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Italy that a Portrait of the Young Mozart at the Age of Thirteen has gone on display at the Castelvecchio Museum in Verona. The work is attributed to Giambettino Cignaroli and is believed to have been made during the young composer's stay in the city in 1770. It is being loaned out by the private collector who purchased the painting at Christie's Paris in 2019 where it made €4,031,500.
Private Tour of the Hyacinthe Rigaud Exhibition
May 10 2021
Video: Scribe Accroupi
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
For those of us who will not be able to make it to the Hyacinthe Rigaud exhibition at Versailles, a brilliant private tour has been published online! The tour is taken by Ariane James-Sarazin, conservatrice générale du Patrimoine française and directrice adjointe du musée de l’Armée et commissaire scientifique de l’exposition.
City and Landscape. Between Dream and Reality: The Albertina
May 10 2021
Picture: The Albertina
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Albertina Museum in Vienna have recently opened their new exhibition entitled City and Landscape. Between Dream and Reality. Indeed, the museum are referring to the show as the "largest-ever survey of the history of landscape painting" with over 170 landscapes on display spanning five centuries. Drawing from their rich collections of art, artists within include Dürer, Rembrandt, Canaletto, Boucher, Caspar David Friedrich, Menzel, Jakob Alt, Rudolf von Alt, Cézanne, Emil Nolde or Paul Klee.
According to their press release:
From the beginnings of the autonomous landscape painting and from its pioneers, foremost among them Albrecht Dürer, the historical arc traced here extends to encompass Bruegel, Rembrandt, and the Dutch Golden Age, urban panoramas from the Renaissance and close-up vedute, utopian visions of Arcadian landscapes and illusionless, realistic views of nature from the age of industrialization, and images of grandeur and the sublime by Caspar David Friedrich as well as the horrific visions and dystopias of Alfred Kubin and the child-like dreams of playful nature originated by Paul Klee. Key works of romantic landscape and Austrian watercolor painting from the 19th century such as Jakob and Rudolf von Alt’s views of Vienna round off this presentation.
The exhibition will run until 22nd August 2021.
NPG send Richard III home to York
May 7 2021
Picture: NPG
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
As the The National Portrait Gallery in London is currently closed due to a refurbishment project, the gallery are sending their celebrated sixteenth century portrait of King Richard III to York for a special exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum entitled Richard III Coming Home.
According to the museum's website:
The painting, which has become synonymous with the depiction of Richard III, is on loan from the National Portrait Gallery, London, and will be displayed alongside the museum’s outstanding collections associated with the King such as the magnificent Middleham Jewel, The Ryther Hoard and the Stillingfleet Boar Badge worn by one of his supporters.
The loan to the Yorkshire Museum is part of the National Portrait Gallery’s nation-wide COMING HOME project, that will see some of its most iconic works travel to the place they are most closely associated with.
The exhibition will run from 9th July - 31st October 2021.
BPER Banca Host Emilian Baroque Exhibition
May 7 2021
Picture: finestresullarte.info
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
BPER Banca in Modena, Italy, opened a new exhibition today dedicated to Emilian Baroque paintings of the seventeenth century. The exhibition entitled Corrispondenze barocche will draw heavily from the bank and Civic Museum's collection of works by the likes of Lucio Massari (Bologna, 1539-1633), Alessandro Tiarini (Bologna, 1577-1668) (pictured), Giovanni Francesco Barbieri detto il Guercino (Cento, 1591 - Bologna, 1666), Ludovico Lana (Codigoro, 1597 - Modena, 1646), Jean Boulanger (Troyes, 1608 - Modena, 1660), Michele Desubleo (Maubege, 1602 - Parma, 1676), Luca Ferrari (Reggio Emilia, 1605 - Padua, 1654) and Francesco Stringa (Modena, 1635-1709).
The exhibition will run till 22nd August 2021.
Picasso's Guernica Recreated in Chocolate
May 5 2021
Video: Telemadrid
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Confectioners in Spain have been busy creating an enormous copy of Pablo Picasso's 1937 masterpiece Guernica. The recreation was produced to mark the 85th anniversary of of the bombing that inspired the work.
Although 1,102 pounds of chocolate was used to make this copy Lorena Gomez, president of the Basque Federation of Sweet Artisan Gastronomy, has answered the question we all want to know:
It cannot be eaten, as it has suffered a lot of temperature change and is gathering dust.
Divine Lightning: 900 Years of the Norbertines
May 5 2021
Picture: visitleuven.be
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Park Abbey, an ancient Premonstratensian abbey near Leuven, will be opening a major retrospective exhibition this month to celebrate 900 years of the establishment of the order of Norbertines. This will include a specially devised route around their handsome historic interiors including rarely seen works of art from their collection. The exhibition will last until 1st August 2021.
New Virtual Tour: The Director's Choice
May 5 2021
Picture: The National Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Gallery in London have uploaded a rather swish new virtual tour entitled The Director's Choice. As the name suggests, the virtual exhibition space has been specially arranged by the gallery's director Dr Gabriele Finaldi and includes recorded segments where he personally introduces each work of art. The tour was created with the firm Moyosa Media.
Turner & Lowry Actor given First Solo Show
May 4 2021
Picture: Pontone Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Timothy Spall, who played both J.M.W. Turner and L.S. Lowry on the big screen, has been given his first ever solo show by the Pontone Gallery in London. Spall had received special tutelage from the painting consultant Tim Wright for a period of two years before the 2014 Turner biopic.
Spall is quoted as expressing:
“I started painting stuff that was based on very strong images that related to the mood and feelings that I had and then all of a sudden this thing started to happen,” he said.
Wright said Spall could have been a “very good pastiche artist” after he worked on a copy of a Turner painting in the buildup to the biopic, and although Spall’s own paintings are mostly landscapes, they’re a world away from Turner, Spall said. “They’re pretty good benchmarks to reach for, wherever you get one millimetre towards it or not.”
The show Out of the Storm will run from 18th June - 18 July 2021.
Farnese Collection Digitising Sculptures
May 4 2021
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Farnese Collection in Naples are digitising several of their most important classical sculptures for a 3D virtual tour. More specifically, the scheme will involve the digital recreation of the Baths of Caracalla for a project entitled Rome Reborn. The project is in collaboration with the virtual tourism company Flyover Zone based in Bloomington, Indiana. They are planning to make the tour available for most digital devices, including for those who have their own VR gear at home.
NPG Sends Shakespeare & Friends to Korea
April 30 2021
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Portrait Gallery in London has sent a selection of its significant paintings to Korea for a special exhibition entitled Icons and Identities. 78 works in total have been sent to the National Museum of Korea in Seoul including the Chandos Portrait of Shakespeare and Van Dyck's Self Portrait.
The press release images from Korea (pictured) show conservator Alexandra Gent supervising the installation of paintings via a video call. I wonder what the plan was in case something went wrong?
