Previous Posts: June 2017
Getty seeks to buy major Parmigianino (ctd.)
June 14 2017
Picture: ACE
Parmigianino's "The Virgin and Child with St John and Mary Magdalene" has been acquired by the Getty in LA from a UK private collection. The formal deferral period (begun last year) has finished, and since no UK institution has come forward to seek to match the £24.5m asking price, the export will now go ahead. It has been in the UK for the last 250 years, and is being sold from Sudeley Castle. The private treaty deal was brokered by Sotheby's.
It is of course sad that a picture like this has left the UK, but we can at least be sure that with the Getty it will be more visible than ever before. There are many other pictures on the export deferral list which institutions are making bids for, and we must hope that they are successful. We can't, alas, keep everything whilst still balancing the interest of private owners and public institutions. There's more in The Times here, which quotes yours truly.
Sotheby's July Old Master catalogue
June 12 2017
Picture: Sotheby's
Sotheby's London July Old Master catalogues have begun to online, and what treats they contains; Turner, Murillo, Cranach, Bellotto, and many more. It's one of the strongest sales I've seen for a while, and from the print catalogue is beautifully presented. The sale is on 5th July, and viewing starts the weekend before. I'll post more on these sales soon.
Art history ads (ctd.)
June 12 2017
Video: Paramount
To promote a new 'Transformers' film, Paramount films has inserted a Transformer into painting in Dulwich Picture Gallery, and filmed the reactions of gallery goers. Ok, it's a copy of a painting, but it's well done. Some may recoil at the brazen commercialisation of a venerable UK institution. But I like the idea of surprising visitors, and prompting them to look closer at pictures, and question what they see.
Update - Eileen Kinsella has the full story on Artnet News here.
Apologies...
June 12 2017
Picture: Sunday Times
I'm sorry for the lack of blog posts last week. I was busy with filming for series 2 of 'Britain's Lost Masterpieces', and then any spare time I had was taken up with the extraordinary political event that is Theresa May's collapse. It's not often we get to see a Prime Minister expire like this - the British constitution is designed so that once a PM's authority has collapsed he or she is removed from office with brutal efficiency, usually within hours, or a maximum of days. But with May we are now grimly watching, like political rubber-neckers, a most gruesome political death. We have seen the first symptoms of her decline emerge with a disastrous manifesto, and watched those symptoms mutate over the course of a risible campaign. We have seen her writhe in agony as the diagnosis of defeat was delivered. And we are now watching the Tory party plan her funeral and write the obituaries. She caught a nasty virus, and it was called hubris.
At the moment she is determined to cling on. But like the old man in the 'bring out your dead' scene in Monty Python's 'Holy Grail', May is still convinced she's alive and in good health. None of this means anything to the world of art history, of course (with the exception of some excellent political cartoons), but it may yet have a bearing on the art market. The prospect of May's so-called hard brexit, a withdrawal from both the single market and the customs union, was a disaster for a market which relies on the smooth transit of both goods and people from country to country. But now, with a clear majority of the country rejecting this approach, there is the prospect of a softer Brexit, where trade and the free movement of goods and people are prioritised over concerns of 'sovereignty', whatever that means.
So AHN is therefore feeling somewhat cheered by the events of last week. At the very least, we have seen a Prime Minister who was beginning to get drunk on her power and ideology be reminded by the electorate that, actually, we're in charge. And that's never a bad thing. Long live democracy.
Bowes museum show in London
June 6 2017
Video: National Gallery
This September the Wallace Collection in London will host an exhibition of Spanish paintings on loan from the Bowes Museum. In the video above, the Wallace's new director, Xavier Bray, tells us more.
Incidentally, although the National Gallery's slick video about their forthcoming exhibitions (below) is excellently made and well produced, the Wallace's video, shot on a phone in a few minutes, is no less effective. AHN urges more museums to try this approach, especially if you don't have a large media budget. Stick a short film on Twitter and You Tube, and you're off. Of course, Bray makes it look easier than it is - but also shows us how important it is for museums to have effective and enthusiastic communicators in leadership roles.
National Gallery 2018 exhibitions
June 6 2017
Video: NG
The National Gallery has announced its 2018 exhibition line up:
Sainsbury Wing
THE CREDIT SUISSE EXHIBITION, MONET & ARCHITECTURE, 9 April – 29 July 2018
MANTEGNA AND BELLINI, 1 October 2018 – 27 January 2019
Ground Floor Galleries
DRAWN IN COLOUR, DEGAS FROM THE BURRELL, 20 September 2017 – April 2018
THOMAS COLE, 11 June – 7 October 2018
LORENZO LOTTO PORTRAITS, 5 November 2018 – 10 February 2019
Room 1
LAKE KEITELE, A VISION OF FINLAND, 15 November 2017 – 4 February 2018
MURILLO, THE SELF PORTRAITS, 28 February – 21 May 2018
ED RUSCHA, COURSE OF EMPIRE, 11 June – 7 October 2018
That's an excellent and varied programme, with much to look forward to - especially the Lotto portraits.
Introducing IIIF
June 6 2017
Video: Getty
The Getty museum has uploaded 30,000 high res digital images onto it's site for use with 'IIIF', which is pronounced 'triple eye eff', and stands for International Image Interoperability Framework. That's not the sort of name to float a multi-billion dollar IPO, but it is very handy for art lovers because it allows you to compare on a single screen digital images of works from musems around the world. The video above gives you a demonstration, and you can read more about it here.
It's advances like this which convince me we're in a new golden age for connoisseurship. Never before has such close study of paintings, from multiple locations, been possible.
Newly found Parmigianino at Bonhams
June 6 2017
Picture: via ATG
Laura Chesters in the ATG reports that a newly discovered drawing by Parmigianino will be sold at Bonhams in London on 5th July, estimate £15k-£20k. More here.
New attributions to Hilliard (ctd.)
June 6 2017
Video: Waddesdon Manor
Waddesdon Manor has made a video about their new Nicholas Hilliard discoveries.
The Rijksmuseum's 10 millionth visitor
June 5 2017
Video: Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum's 10 millionth visitor, Stefan Kasper, was allowed to spend the night in front of Rembrand't 'Nightwatch'. This is marketing genius by the Rijksmuseum - AHN says bravo to whoever had the idea. The Dutch prime minister even got involved.
'Vermeer and the Masters' (ctd.)
June 5 2017
Video: National Gallery of Ireland
If you didn't get to the Louvre to see the sell out show, 'Vermeer and the Masters' (or if you did and couldn't actually see any of the pictures) then fear not, for the show opens in Dublin on 17th June. More here, and tickets here.
Don't you think that's a good 'trailer' video above, by the way? See how easy it is to make Old Masters exciting in a minute and a half, for either a museum exhibition or an art auction? All you need is good music, an intriguing narrative (preferably with just text or voice-over rather than say a curator or specialist talking to camera), and some good close ups of the paintings themselves.
'Monarch of the Glen' on tour
June 2 2017
Picture: BBC
The National Gallery of Scotland's successful acquisition of the Monarch of the Glen has gone down well up here in Scotland - and was even made possible by direct funding from the Scottish government. The picture will now go on a Scotland-wide tour, which is excellent news. The painting even now has its own dedicated tour manager, like a rock star. Details of the venues and dates can be found here.
Meanwhile, the National Gallery of Scotland has announced a dramatic scaling back of its extension plans, which only received the green light in January this year. The original scheme was to create a new section of the gallery dedicated to Scottish art, partly by building out over the railway line which runs beneath the gallery. But now that has been ditched as too expensive and difficult - and instead the Scottish art will be hung amongst the Old Masters in the main galleries. You can read below the spin put on the new plans by the NGS, but there seems to be little doubt that the whole thing is a rather embarrassing about turn. It's rare for a major museum's expansion plans to unravel so quickly, and so publicly. The trustees don't seem to know whether they're coming or going, and evidently didn't scrutinise the original plans properly.
Celebrating Scotland’s Art: The Scottish National Gallery Project is an ambitious project to transform the presentation of the world’s greatest collection of Scottish Art for twenty-first-century audiences. Back in March, the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) announced that some aspects of the construction were more complex and expensive than originally anticipated.
A revised scheme for Celebrating Scotland’s Art has now been approved by NGS Trustees. The original vision and aims of the Project remain in place including the key objectives to raise the profile of Scottish Art and greatly enhance its presentation, as well as deliver optimal circulation within the Scottish National Gallery and transform the visitor experience.
In order for the Project to remain close to the original £16.8 million budget some aspects of the plan have been modified. The main difference is that we will no longer extend into East Princes Street Gardens. The original proposal to build out by an additional five metres would have increased further the available display space: the new galleries will still represent a doubling of the existing space to be dedicated to Scottish art in this area of the building. However, removing this aspect of the construction reduces the cost significantly and also lessens the risks involved in what was an extremely complex engineering problem, extending the building above the main-line railway tunnels.
The Trustees have also decided that there should be a reconsideration of how the collection is displayed within the Scottish National Gallery as a whole, to ensure that Scottish art is presented alongside the international displays. This will mean a completely new presentation of the Scottish National Gallery and an entirely different visitor experience to the site.
Sir John Leighton, Director-General, National Galleries of Scotland commented: “NGS looks after an amazing collection of Scottish art and our aim is to provide these works of art with the world-class showcase that they deserve. As with any venture, this project has its fair share of challenges but we are delighted that we can now move forward with plans that maintain our ambition to completely transform the presentation of Scottish art and the experience of visitors to the Scottish National Gallery.”
Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop, said: “I welcome the steps National Galleries Scotland has taken to ensure this ambitious project can be delivered in line with the development’s original aims. Celebrating Scotland’s Art will significantly enhance the visitor experience at this already top-rated attraction, encourage even more people to access and enjoy its iconic collections, and raise the international profile of Scottish Art.”
All of the other elements of the original Project will go ahead as planned including the creation of attractive new Galleries at the Gardens level, new circulation routes within the site and new landscaping within East Princes Street Gardens to facilitate entry into Princes Street Gardens as a whole and the Scottish National Gallery’s Gardens level entrance.
These changes mean that further design work will need to be carried out and new statutory approvals may also be required. The estimated completion date for the project has shifted therefore from 2019 to 2020. The aim is to keep as close as possible to the original budget although there will be cost and expenditure implications from the longer programme and extra design and project requirements. The exact costs will be determined in due course.
The press release makes no mention of whether the curators at the NGS, who were evicted to make room for the extension, will now be allowed back in. Here's hoping...
On Scottish colourists
June 2 2017
Picture: BG
As part of my evangelising about all things Scottish (now that I live in Edinburgh) I bring you news of two exhibitions looking at the Scottish Colourists. The first is part of the Fleming Collection's new touring programme of Scottish art, with an exhibition of Colourists in Berwick-upon-Tweed (above, till 15th October) which I went to see last week. The other is in London on Duke Street, as part of the Scottish Gallery's 175th birthday celebrations. The Gallery is based here in Edinburgh and run by Guy Peploe, the grandson of the pre-eminent Colourist, S.J.Peploe. In the latter show, of course, the pictures will be for sale (from 12th June-16th June).
