Previous Posts: articles 2018
Job cuts at the Met
July 18 2016
Picture: The Met
The Metropolitan Museum in New York has a defecit of $10m apparently, and up to 100 staff are going to have to go. More here.
How to make a 17thC still-life
July 18 2016
Picture: Hamilton Kerr Institute
Here's a fascinating piece of art detective-ry - a conservator at the Hamilton Kerr Institute in Cambridge, Sven Van Dorst, has discovered on the back of a 17th Century still-life by Daniel Seghers a rare, partly begun example of a flower painting. In fact, it's thought to be the only example of a painting of this type left in its so-called 'dead-colouring' stage. The painting (above) is in the Fitzwilliam Museum.
In order to discover more about how these pictures were painted, Sven (who is also an artist) set about completing the still-life, using a recreation of the dead-colouring stage as his starting point:
Seghers only needed a single paintlayer on top of the dead-colouring to model his flowers. The large flowers were painted on top of the bright underlayer, while the small flowers were painted directly on top of the dark background. The bright underlayer plays a key role in the final result. The vibrant colour of the red rose, for example, was achieved by applying a semi-transparant red lake on top of the red dead-colouring. The egg shape underneath the tulip is still visible in the final result, it is placed on the lighter side of the flower, whilst the shadow side was painted on top of the dark background. This way it was possible to create astonishing pictorial effects in a limited amount of time. Because the painting was executed in only one layer, on top of the dead-colouring, the brushwork and paint handling had to be executed with great care. The brushstrokes follow the shape of the flowers, giving a feeling of three dimensions. This aspect of the painting was especially difficult to imitate during the reconstruction because the consistency of the paint had to be adjusted to improve the paint handling.
Guffwatch - the Movie
July 18 2016
Video: BBC
There was an interesting film on BBC4 called 'The Banker's Guide to Art'. It shone a rather unedifying light on the modern and contemporary art market, with most of the main players not realising quite how silly they were being made to look.
Did Rembrandt cheat?
July 18 2016
Picture: NYT
The suggestion that Rembrandt used a series of lenses in order to paint his self-portraits, and thus effectively 'trace' the drawing of his face, has gained a lot of coverage in the news. The theory, put forward by artist Francis O'Neill in the Journal of Optics, echoes that of David Hockney some years ago with his book 'Secret Knowledge', in which he claimed that artists from Van Eyck to Ingres used a camera obscura, or a camera lucida, to help compose their compositions.
O'Neill's theory is set out here in the New York Times:
At age 18, Francis O’Neill, an aspiring young painter, went on a train trip around Europe and was struck by the Rembrandt masterpieces he saw in galleries. Like many before him, he was astounded by Rembrandt’s technical accuracy.
“I thought, ‘What sort of magic has this guy imbued in himself?’ ” said Mr. O’Neill, who today produces art and teaches from his studio in Oxford, England.
Now, Mr. O’Neill thinks he’s found an answer to that question — and he says it has more to do with optics than magic.
In a paper published Wednesday in the Journal of Optics, Mr. O’Neill lays out a theory that Rembrandt set up flat and concave mirrors to project his subjects — including himself — onto surfaces before painting or etching them.
Personally, I don't believe it. And I think it's interesting that those who today suggest that artists like Rembrandt relied on elaborate optical constructions to do basic things like drawing - based on no contemporary evidence at all - tend to be artists themselves. For these artists, who may be very good artists like Hockney, tend not to be great painters, in the way that Rembrandt was. And because they cannot themselves do what Rembrandt did effortlessly, the temptation is to conclude that somehow these great Old Masters cheated.
Update - by the way, it's Rembrandt's birthday.
Update II - a reader writes:
I read Hockney's book and even he doesn't see much benefit from the use of optics for Rembrandt's aesthetic goals. Rembrandt was a businessman. Had optics been useful to studio production, I think he would have employed them without hesitation but, In his case, they may have slowed production.
Early Freud revealed on 'Fake of Fortune?'
July 18 2016
Picture: BBC
Well I know I'm biased, but I thought last night's episode of 'Fake or Fortune?' was one of our best yet. The story involved an early work by Lucian Freud, which the artist painted when he was about 16, but which he later denied having created (mainly, we suspect, because he dislliked its owner). However, we managed to find a note of a conversation Freud had with his solicitor, in which he conceded that he had painted at least the substantial part of it. More here.
Update - the viewing figures were 4.3m.
Update II - Toby Treves has set out his reasons as to why he has not accepted that the picture is entirely by Freud, and thus won't be included in the catalogue raisonneé of Freud's work. He will include it in an appendix of the book, instead. His argument seems to be based on doubts by Freud that he painted the whole painting, even though Treves concedes that the figure - that is, the key feature of the painting - was painted all at once, by Freud. It seems to be doubts over who painted the landscape that means Treves cannot accept the work as 'a Freud'.
To be honest, I find this slightly puzzling, for it would be perfectly possible to list the painting in the main body of the catalogue raisonné, but with all the caveats fully set out. To exclude a painting Freud admitted to making, even in part, from the catalogue of the artist's work seems a little harsh, as well as defining a 'catalogue raisonné' in unusually prescriptive terms. After all, many is the artist who relied on studio assistance over time, but we don't say those works are not (for example) by Rubens.
Update III - a reader writes:
To be honest, I find this slightly puzzling, for it would be perfectly possible to list the painting in the main body of the catalogue raisonné, but with all the caveats fully set out. To exclude a painting Freud admitted to making, even in part, from the catalogue of the artist's work seems a little harsh, as well as defining a 'catalogue raisonné' in unusually prescriptive terms
It might be instructive to look at Martin Harrison’s approach - in respect of Denis Wirth Miller, funnily enough - on page 19 of his recent and monumental Bacon cat. rais:
‘His friend Denis Wirth Miller helped him with at least two paintings (52-03 and 52-04) [Dog, 1952 and Landscape, 1952] and reputedly contributed to House in Barbados, 1952 (52-02) and one of the Van Gogh series in 1957. It is unknown whether the two artists painted side-by-side, or which parts of the paintings Wirth Miller was responsible.’
All are included in the main body of the cat. rais.
The Chinese are coming
July 13 2016
Picture: Christie's
There were three Chinese bidders on the £45m Rubens at Christie's last week. And I'm told that the number of Chinese bidders in Old Masters is sharply up across the board. Are the rules of the market about to change? Are the OMP optimists closer to being proved right?
Cleaning test fun (ctd.)
July 13 2016
Picture: BG
More cleaning test fun this afternoon in London. Different picture - potentially very exciting. On the swabs you see overpaint from the 19th Century. There's a new technique available for removing overpaint these days, using special gels rather than traditional solvents. These allow you to go down layer by layer, much more safely than we could do in the past.
The Mystery of Van Gogh's ear
July 13 2016
Picture: BBC
Fascinating research by Bernadette Murphy has shown how and why Van Gogh cut off his ear. She found a drawing of the cut and the extent of the mutilation, above. You can hear an interview with her on Radio 4 here. And later in the summer there will be a 1 hour documentary on BBC2 with Jeremy Paxman.
New 'Fake or Fortune?' starts Sunday
July 13 2016
Video: BBC
Series 5 of 'Fake or Fortune?' begins this Sunday on BBC1 at 8pm, and yours truly can be glimpsed in it every now and then. Above is the new trailer. The first programme is all about a mystery painting (below) once claimed to be by Lucian Freud. It seems to have good early provenance. But there's just one problem - Freud denied painting it...
More here.
Update - I gather another series has already been commissioned. And on The One Show this evening, Fiona said that future programmes might consider things other than paintings, such as antiquities and objets d'art.
Bowes museum secures £2m endowment fund
July 13 2016
Picture: The Bowes Museum
Great news for the Bowes Museum, which has secured a £2m capital endowment fund. The fund involved the museum raising £1m itself, which is then matched by the UK government's Catalyst Endowment Fund. At a time when so many regional museums are facing funding constraints (and, let's be honest, when not enough of them are looking at enterprising ways to secure their financial futures) the ability of the Bowes museum to go out and shake the tin among local benefactors has been extraordinary. Well done to them and all involved.
Incidentally, the idea of a Lottery funded endowment fund first appeared in the Conservative party's arts and heritage manifesto of 2005 - the one wot I wrote. Just sayin'.
Earliest known British architect portrait at NPG
July 13 2016
Picture: NPG
The National Portrait Gallery in London has acquired a newly discovered portrait of Ralph Simons, the 16th Century architect. Painted in c.1595, the painting is the earliest known portrait of a British architect. It was discovered in an Italian auction by the sleuthing Lawrence Hendra, of Philip Mould & Co in London. More here.
Selfies galore in Edinburgh
July 13 2016
Picture: Scottish National Portrait Gallery
A new self-portrait exhibition opens this week at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, including examples by Rembrandt and the Scottish artist John Byrne (above), of whom I'm a great fan. More here.
Cornelius Johnson exhibition
July 13 2016
Picture: Weiss Gallery
I've been meaning to mention an excellent exhibition on the work of Cornelius Johnson, Charles I's sometime court artist, at the Weiss Gallery in London. The show is on till 15th July, and there is a good catalogue published too - the front cover shows a newly identified self-portrait (above).
Might the Wildensteins sell their art?
July 13 2016
Picture: AMM
Against the backdrop of the family's ongoing legal problems, Marion Maneker of The Art Market Monitor speculates:
If the case in France goes against the family, their may be a net benefit for the art market. Starved for high quality material, the market could leap at works the Wildensteins might want to sell to satisfy the French claims.
Sleeper Alert!
July 13 2016
Picture: Tajan
This fine picture by Frans Pourbus the Younger came up in Paris recently, here, described as a work by a follower, and with some confusion over the identity of the sitter. The estimate was €2k-€3k, but it made €195k hammer.
I would have bid, but it seemed so obvious the picture would make a decent price I didn't bother. Sometimes it seems the days of the cheap sleeper are over...
New Del Piombo acquisition for Chicago
July 13 2016
Picture: AIC
The Art Institute of Chicago has bought a fine early work by Sebastiano del Piombo - Christ Carrying the Cross, 1515/17 - from the London-based dealers Colnaghi. More here in Apollo.
Doig or didn't he?
July 13 2016
Picture: New York Times
What a curious story this is - someone says they bought a painting from the famous and valuable British contemporary artist Peter Doig, made when they were 16, back in the 1970s. Doig, however, says he didn't paint it - and there's compelling evidence the picture was actually made by someone called Peter Doige, with an 'e', and indeed that is what the signature says too. This Peter Doige is dead. Nevertheless, poor Peter Doig - without the 'e' - has been compelled to attend a court hearing to prove that he didn't paint a painting he has already said he didn't paint.
I'm not sure what more he can do. And why should be he waste time and lawyer's fees getting involved?
New Jordaens frame at NG
July 13 2016
Picture: Peter Schade
The National Gallery's head of framing, Peter Schade, has been busy again, this time putting a 17th Century reproduction frame around the NG's newly restored Portrait of Govaert van Surpele (?) and his Wife by Jacob Jordaens.
Cleaning test fun
July 13 2016
Picture: BG
I had a fun afternoon yesterday doing some cleaning tests on a picture I discovered recently, a genre painting by Matthijs Naiveu (1647-1721). Naiveu was a pupil of Gerrit Dou, and this I think might be an early work, perhaps made whilst he was working in Dou's studio. A number of props in the painting appear in works by Dou. It's signed lower right 'M. Naiveu'. Though Naiveu is not a widely known name, I just can't resist these things when they surface in a country sale - especially when they're crying out to be rescued from beneath three or four hundred years of dirt and old varnish.
Re-uniting two great Gerrit Dous
July 13 2016
Video: Dulwich Picture Gallery
At Dulwich Picture Gallery, they've re-united two fine works by Gerrit Dou which used to be in the collection of Johan de Bye, Dou's most significant patron. The pictures have not been hung together since 1665.
The exhibition is called 'Dou in Harmony', and as ever these days there has to be a contemporary angle - and here it's a sound installation 'inspired by the paintings'. You can listen to it here, and it's supposed to help you 'connect on a metaphysical level' with the paintings. It sounded to me as if someone had left on a slightly tuneful hoover. But each to their own.
