Category: Research
New Release: Copley and West in England 1775-1815
April 30 2021
Picture: The Burlington Press
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Burlington Press will be publishing Allen Staley's new book Copley and West in England 1775-1815 next month.
According to the book's blurb:
West and Copley have always and properly been viewed as the two pre-eminent eighteenth-century American artists, despite the fact that, at the age of twenty-one, West left his native shores in 1760, never to return. He went on to become immensely successful in England, becoming, among other things, the second president of the Royal Academy of Arts. Copley spent half his working life also in England. However, before making the move across the Atlantic, he made his mark as an exceptionally talented artist, who, without any real training, painted likenesses of fellow Bostonians, including ones of figures such as John Hancock and Paul Revere, that have become icons of American history. While those portraits remain his most widely admired works, after 1775 and his resettling in England, he started painting distinctly different types of pictures, initially showing modern historical subjects in emulation of the model provided him by West, following, for example, West's celebrated Death of General Wolfe, exhibited in 1771, with his own Death of the Earl of Chatham, begun in 1779. For a brief span of time, the two expatriate Americans had a close working relationship, that we can see substantially reflected in both the formal language and the subject matter of many of their best works, but it eventually and inevitably turned into rivalry.
The book begins with a brief prologue discussing the earliest of West's depictions of recent historical events and of subjects set in America, painted prior to Copley's arrival in England. It then follows the year-by-year evolution of Copley's painting from 1775 to his death in 1815, with an underlying focus upon his ongoing give-and-take with West, and it ends with examination of hitherto little-known and unstudied major late paintings, from after 1800, by both artists.
Separated Balthasar van Ast Stitched Back Together
April 30 2021
Picture: codart.nl
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Cynthia Osiecki, Curator of Old Masters, Nasjonalmuseet for Kunst, Arkitektur og Design in Oslo, Norway, has penned an article for CODART.NL giving an introduction to the collection of paintings at the museum.
Amongst the most interesting sections discusses research undertaken on the museum's Balthasar van Ast's (1593/1594-1657) Still Life with Fruit and Shells created between 1620 and 1632 (left). Conservation of the work had revealed "traces of flowers and cherries at the edge of the painting, indicating that this basket of fruit must once have been larger."
According to Osiecki's article:
The examination made it clear that the work had once been one of Van der Ast’s larger horizontal paintings that display fruit and flowers on a table. An initial search into its provenance revealed that the painting’s previous owner, Frederick Conrad Bugge, bought it in its current state as ‘anonymous’ at some point between 1824 and 1829. But that other paintings by Van der Ast had fallen victim to being split up in this way only became clear to me when I studied the Aachen exhibition catalogue Die Stillleben des Balthasar van der Ast (1593/94–1657) from 2016. It was there that I found a painting marked as a fragment which matched the traces on our panel.
With the help of the director of the Suermondt-Ludwig Museum and CODART member Peter van den Brink I managed to track down the private owner and confirm with our conservator that the paintings had most likely once belonged together. In the near future, we hope to confirm this by non-invasive research and display the works side by side after they have spent more than 200 years apart.
Recent Release: Enlightened Animals in Eighteenth-Century Art
April 28 2021
Picture: Bloomsbury
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
You know a book is going to be a good read when it contains a chapter entitled 'Monkey Artists'.
Earlier this year Bloomsbury published Prof. Sarah Cohen of the University at Albany's new book entitled Enlightened Animals in Eighteenth-Century Art.
According to the publication's blurb:
How do our senses help us to understand the world? This question, which preoccupied Enlightenment thinkers, also emerged as a key theme in depictions of animals in eighteenth-century art. This book examines the ways in which painters such as Chardin, as well as sculptors, porcelain modelers, and other decorative designers portrayed animals as sensing subjects who physically confirmed the value of material experience.
The sensual style known today as the Rococo encouraged the proliferation of animals as exemplars of empirical inquiry, ranging from the popular subject of the monkey artist to the alchemical wonders of the life-sized porcelain animals created for the Saxon court. Examining writings on sensory knowledge by La Mettrie, Condillac, Diderot and other philosophers side by side with depictions of the animal in art, Cohen argues that artists promoted the animal as a sensory subject while also validating the material basis of their own professional practice.
Hans Holbein the Younger's Earliest Portrait?
April 27 2021
Picture: The Telegraph
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Telegraph have published an article by Franny Moyle who might well have found the earliest portrait of Hans Holbein the Younger (c.1497-1543) hiding in plain sight. Her article describes a visit she made to the Staatsgallerie in Augsburg, where she noticed a prominent boy featured in Holbein the Elder's memorial to the Walther Family (pictured). Famously, the gallery features another work by Holbein the Elder showing two blonde haired boys who have long been identified as Hans (the Younger) and his brother Ambrosius (see below). Many readers will undoubtedly know of the drawing of the pair in Berlin. The Walther family memorial was created when Hans was five years old.
The comparison between these figures encouraged Moyle to get in touch with several scholars to see if anyone else had spotted him. It seems that no one else had. Indeed, her theory has since been endorsed by Dr Bodo Brinkman, curator of Old Masters at Basel's Kunstmuseum, which houses a major collection of Holbein's works.
New Release: A Cultural History of Color
April 27 2021
Picture: bloomsbury.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Bloomsbury have recently published what seems to be a rather epic six-volume edition entitled A Cultural History of Colour. The whole series was edited by Carole P. Biggam and Kirsten Wolf. Furthermore, it contains contributions from multiple scholars each focusing on different time periods.
As the publisher's blurb explains:
A Cultural History of Color presents a history of 5000 years of color in western culture. The first systematic and comprehensive history, the work examines how color has been perceived, developed, produced and traded, and how it has been used in all aspects of performance - from the political to the religious to the artistic - and how it shapes all we see, from food and nature to interiors and architecture, to objects and art, to fashion and adornment, to the color of the naked human body, and to the way our minds work and our languages are created.
Chapter titles are identical across each of the volumes. This gives the choice of reading about a specific period in one of the volumes, or following a theme across history by reading the relevant chapter in each of the six.
The themes (and chapter titles) are: Color Philosophy and Science; Color Technology and Trade; Power and Identity; Religion and Ritual; Body and Clothing; Language and Psychology; Literature and the Performing Arts; Art; Architecture and Interiors; Artefacts. The six volumes cover: 1 – Antiquity (3,000 BCE to 500 CE); 2 – Medieval Age (500 to 1400); 3 – Renaissance (1400 to 1650); 4 – Age of Enlightenment (1650 to 1800); 5 – Age of Industry (1800 to 1920); 6 – Modern Age (1920 to the present).
The whole set will cost £395, which seems rather reasonable compared to the prices of some second-hand catalogue raisonnés I've had my eyes on recently.
Borghese Gallery's Titian X-rayed
April 26 2021
Picture: radiocolonna.it
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Galleria Borghese's Venus Blindfolding Cupid by Titian has undergone an interesting conservation project in recent months.
Indeed, recent x-rays of the painting have revealed more details concerning the additional figure that Titian decided to paint out of the scene. The pentimento suggests that the painter had initially included Euphrosyne (good cheer and joy) within the composition. Therefore, it is likely that the other two figures would have originally represented Aglaea (splendour) and Thalia (prosperity) to complete the set of 'Three Graces'. The painting received its current title in 1870, when it was suggested by the art historian Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle.
The work will be exhibited in Mantua later this year for their set of exhibitions on Venus.
Portland Collection Miniatures Lecture
April 23 2021
Video: The Harley Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
For those who weren't able to attend February's lecture on miniatures in The Portland Collection, the Harley Gallery have uploaded the lecture online! The lecture was given by early modern art specialist Dr Karen Hearn and includes a Q&A session at the end.
Why are there so many Smoking Dogs in Old Masters?
April 22 2021
Picture: Artnet.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Ben Davis of artnet.com has answered the question we've all been asking ourselves for many years - exactly why are there so many smoking dogs found in old master paintings?
Well, as Ben explains in his article, it turns out that it has a lot to do with the iconography of Saint Jane (or Santa Juana) of Aza:
The woman often depicted with the dog is Saint Jane (or Santa Juana) of Aza, and it is a reference to a vision she had (hence the daydreaming posture). Blessed Jane is said to have dreamed that she was carrying a small black-and-white dog with a blazing torch in its mouth in her womb. When she gave birth to it, the dog ran out and set everything on fire. This vision was interpreted to mean that Jane’s son was going to have an influence that would spread over the whole world.
...
In any case: long story short, the Smoking Dog is not a smoking dog.
I'm glad we've cleared that up.
New Release: Giovanni Bellini - an Introduction
April 21 2021
Picture: marsilioeditori.it
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Marsilio Editori in Italy have announced their upcoming publication Giovanni Bellini - An Introduction by Prof. emeritus Peter Humfrey of the University of Saint Andrews.
According to the book's blurb:
The art of Giovanni Bellini has been a passion for half a century…” Peter Humfrey accompanies us through the work of Italian Renaissance artist Giovanni Bellini, considered the most important practitioner of Venetian painting in the latter half of the fifteenth century.
Born into a family of painters, Bellini began studying art at a young age, painting primarily in the then dominant Gothic style of the early Renaissance. As time passed and he evolved as an artist, Bellini’s wide-reaching influence came to inform the maniera moderna, or modern manner, inherited by Giorgione and Titian. His unparalleled ability to both harness the expressive power of light and recreate the poetry of natural landscapes became the foundational tenets of the Venetian school of painting for centuries to come.
This volume provides an accessible guide to Bellini’s work and the lasting influence of his career on Western European painting. Organized chronologically, the book maps the development of Bellini’s own craft alongside the greater technical experimentation of the Quattrocento, detailing the artist’s rejection of traditional egg tempera technique for oil on canvas and taking into account the influence of contemporaries Andrea Mantegna and Antonello da Messina.
Concise and up to date, this book effectively conveys the scale of Bellini’s contributions to Western European painting in the wider context of the era.
There's no exact release date to be found on the website, but other sources suggest that shipping will be available from June.
Update - A reader has been in touch to share the details that the book will be available in the UK on 28th April, but buyers in the US will have to wait until 8th June.
Online Lecture: Rembrandt's Orient
April 16 2021
Picture: garyschwartzarthistorian.nl
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A reader has kindly alerted me to a very interesting free online lecture on Rembrandt's Orient given by the exhibition's co-curator Gary Schwartz. Unfortunately I'm not able to post the video on here directly, so you'll have to scroll down the bottom of the page via. the link above to watch it.
Giotto's Frescos Scanned
April 16 2021
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Giotto's frescos in the The Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, have been scanned by the art imaging company Haltadefinizione. Fourteen thousand shots were made of 700 square metres of the interiors, allowing viewers to digitally fly through this building with incredible zooming capabilities. Furthermore, this resource is completely free to use via. their website.
Conference: Dressing a Picture
April 15 2021
Picture: cam.ac.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Examining the fashion found in old master paintings has been a very popular trend in both the academic and art market spheres over the past decade or so. Who can't help but be seduced by the extravagant laces and textiles found in so many portraits of the early modern period.
If this interests you too, then The University of Cambridge are hosting what looks to be the history of dress conferences to end all history of dress conferences later in May.
Dressing a Picture: Reimagining the Court Portrait 1500 – 1800 is a virtual conference that will take place between 6th - 7th May 2021. This two-day event will feature no fewer than eighteen different presentations on subjects ranging from clothing in Cranachs to the White Ruffs and Red Cuffs in Van Dyck's Genoese portraits.
What's even better about these events are the fact that they are entirely free to attend!
New Release: Rubens's Spirit
April 14 2021
Picture: reaktionbooks.co.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Alexander Marr, reader in the History of Early Modern Art at the University of Cambridge, has a new book out this month entitled Rubens's Spirit, from Ingenuity to Genius.
According the book's blurb:
Peter Paul Rubens was the most inventive and prolific northern European artist of his age. This book discusses his life and work in relation to three interrelated themes: spirit, ingenuity and genius. It argues that Rubens and his reception were pivotal in the transformation of early modern ingenuity into Romantic genius. Ranging across the artist’s entire career, it explores Rubens’s engagement with these themes in his art and biography. The book looks at Rubens’s forays into altarpiece painting in Italy as well as his collaborations with fellow artists in his hometown of Antwerp, and his complex relationship with the spirit of pleasure. It concludes with his late landscapes in connection to genius loci, the spirit of the place.
New Release: Mattia Preti, Life and Works
April 11 2021
Picture: midseabooks.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Professor Keith Sciberras of the University of Malta, and writer on all things regarding the Baroque in Malta, has a new book out entitled Mattia Preti, Life and Works.
The volume also includes a full catalogue of the artist's works, which will earn Prof. Sciberras a place amongst the highly coveted Heroes of Art History section of this blog.
The title is available for pre-order through the publisher.
Looking Under Paintings with AI
April 8 2021
Video: Oxia Palus
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Here's the latest collaboration between tech wizards and the art world. The art collective called Oxia Palus has been using AI to recreate paintings found underneath artworks. In this case, they've used scans of Picasso's The Crouching Beggar to digitally recreate an overpainted work that was discovered in 2018. It's believed that the painting underneath Picasso's is by Santiago Rusiñol, a modernist landscape painter and friend of the artist.
According to the article above:
The Oxia Palus team used a combination of spectroscopic imaging, AI, and 3D printing to actualize the visible trace of the landscape. They call the method “the neomastic process.”
The company has gone so far as re-printing 100 copies of the AI interpretation of the lost painting for sale.
Unidentified Portraits Corpus Rubenianum
April 5 2021
Picture: @VeroVdK
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Exciting news from Véronique Van de Kerckhof (@VeroVdK) on Twitter of another upcoming new volume from the Corpus Rubenianum. Part XIX will be dedicated to Unidentified Portraits and previously unidentified sitters that have now been identified by further research. It seems likely that this volume will be available later this Spring.
Bravura: Virtuosity and Ambition in Early Modern European Painting
March 30 2021
Picture: press.princeton.edu
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Here's an interesting book release that I missed last month. Bravura: Virtuosity and Ambition in Early Modern European Painting is a new publication from Princeton University Press by Nicola Suthor.
As the book's blurb explains:
The painterly style known as bravura emerged in sixteenth-century Venice and spread throughout Europe during the seventeenth century. While earlier artistic movements presented a polished image of the artist by downplaying the creative process, bravura celebrated a painter’s distinct materials, virtuosic execution, and theatrical showmanship. This resulted in the further development of innovative techniques and a popular understanding of the artist as a weapon-wielding acrobat, impetuous wunderkind, and daring rebel. In Bravura, Nicola Suthor offers the first in-depth consideration of bravura as an artistic and cultural phenomenon. Through history, etymology, and in-depth analysis of works by such important painters as Franҫois Boucher, Caravaggio, Francisco Goya, Frans Hals, Peter Paul Rubens, Tintoretto, and Diego Velázquez, Suthor explores the key elements defining bravura’s richness and power.
Suthor delves into how bravura’s unique and groundbreaking methods—visible brushstrokes, sharp chiaroscuro, severe foreshortening of the body, and other forms of visual emphasis—cause viewers to feel intensely the artist’s touch. Examining bravura’s etymological history, she traces the term’s associations with courage, boldness, spontaneity, imperiousness, and arrogance, as well as its links to fencing, swordsmanship, henchmen, mercenaries, and street thugs. Suthor discusses the personality cult of the transgressive, self-taught, antisocial genius, and the ways in which bravura artists, through their stunning displays of skill, sought applause and admiration.
New Release: Baroque Painting in Valencia
March 30 2021
Picture: ceeh.es
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
For those passionate about Spanish Art, this new publication on Baroque Painting in Valencia (1600-1737) seems like a must-have. This 496 page volume is the work of Víctor Marco García doctor of art history at the Universidad de Alcalá, and covers the main artists and sources of influence for the creation of paintings in this city during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
New Louvre Collections Website
March 24 2021
Picture: Louvre
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Louvre in Paris have launched a new collections website. At a glance, the website seems very easy to use with all the usual functions required to make advanced searches. The images available are also rather good quality, although they don't allow in-depth zoom capabilities like some museums are now offering.
The website also explains that the re-use guidelines for educational purposes are also rather generous.
New Release: Visions of Heaven - Dante and the Divine Light
March 24 2021
Picture: Lund Humphries
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Oxford University art historian and Leonardo scholar Professor Martin Kemp has a new book out entitled Visions of Heaven: Dante and the Art of Divine Light.
To provide a short blurb:
Publishing on 25 March, to coincide with International Dante Day and the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death, Martin Kemp's major new study is the first book to consider the impact of Dante’s vision of divine light on visual artists of the Renaissance and Baroque. It combines a close reading of Dante’s poetry with analysis of early optics and is lavishly illustrated with masterworks by Giotto, Fra Angelico, Piero della Francesco, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Bernini and others. It also looks at what the rival media of poetry and painting can do.
In case you'd like to know more, Lund Humphries are running a free online conversation tomorrow with Kemp and Alessandra Buccheri, Professor of Art History at Accademia di Belle Arti di Palermo, and Simon Gilson, Professor of Italian Studies at Magdalen College, Oxford. The panel discussion will be broadcast on 25th March 2021 at 5pm (GMT).
