Previous Posts: March 2021
Conservation of Turin's Cappella della Sindone Finally Finished
March 31 2021
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The conservation of Turin's Cappella della Sindone has finally been finished after damage incurred after a fire in 1997. This late seventeenth century setting was commissioned by the Duke of Savoy Vittorio Amedeo II to house the famous Turin Shroud. It was designed by the engineer and mathematician Antonio Bertola and completed between the years 1688-1694. The Chapel was reopened to the public in 2018, however, the full restoration has only just been completed twenty four years after the fire.
Lavinia Fontana's Minerva Conserved
March 31 2021
Picture: Galleria Borghese
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Italy that the Galleria Borghese's Minerva Dressing by Lavinia Fontana has been conserved.
The painting had been kept in the gallery's stores for some time before the gallery's new director Francesca Cappelletti instigated an enhancement project of one of the gallery's rooms. Indeed, the project will see the recreation of the Camerino delle Veneri kept by Cardinal Scipione Borghese. The new room will be reopened to visitors after Easter, depending on the local lockdown of course.
Cappelletti is quoted explaining the way that Fontana depicted Minerva (goddess of wisdom and just war):
painted naked in an attitude typical of Venus, as if to say that a woman's beauty is not in contrast with talent . A very current message.
Ps. Did you know that you can book a private tour of the museum's storerooms? An intriguing initiative.
Returning Stolen Religious Art in Spain
March 31 2021
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Spanish news website Ideal.es have published a short story from Grenada on the difficulties the police face in returning stolen religious works of art. It seems that lack of evidence of origin and slow reporting are partly to blame. One recent example cited was the 2019 theft of a piece of sculpture from the convent of Our Lady of the Angels, which ended up on the art market being sold for €350,000.
'In Front of Arcimboldo' Exhibition in Metz
March 30 2021
Picture: Centre-Pompidou-Metz
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Centre-Pompidou-Metz in France will be opening a new exhibition next month entitled Face à Arcimboldo. Alongside showing several original works by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, the exhibition will also chart how later artists have reacted to the surreal themes found in works of the sixteenth century painter. Other artists whose works feature within the exhibition include Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon, Lynda Benglis, les frères Campana, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Lavinia Fontana, Felix Gonzales-Torres, Pierre Huyghe, Zoe Leonard, Kerstin Braetsch, Mario Merz, and Francis Picabia.
The exhibition will run from 29th May 2021 to 22 November 2021.
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.
Louvre Acquires Barberini Marble
March 30 2021
Picture: Louvre
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Louvre in Paris has announced that it has acquired a 1st - 2nd century Roman statue of Harpocrates. The marble had been in the Barberini family collection in Rome during the seventeenth century before finding its way into several American collections during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It was acquired by the Museum from the dealers Galerie Chenel.
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.
Cleveland Museum of Art Announces Acquisitions
March 30 2021
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Cleveland Museum of Art have announced several new acquisitions, including Aurelio Lombardo's Dido which appeared in the recent Hester Diamond sale at Sotheby's (pictured). Other newly acquired works include a drawing by Guilio Romano, a study by Gustave Caillebotte and four colour screenprints by African American artists Barbara Jones-Hogu, Wadsworth Jarrell, and Amy Sherald.
Getty Museum Acquires Artemisia Gentileschi Lucretia
March 30 2021
Picture: artcurial
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Getty Museum in Los Angeles has acquired a Lucretia by Artemisia Gentileschi. The work had sold for €4.7m at Artcurial, Paris, in 2019 and was exhibited by the Matthiesen Gallery in London last year. The painting will join two of Orazio Gentileschi's works in the museum.
The museum's director Timothy Potts is quoted as saying:
Her achievement as a painter of powerful and dramatic history subjects is all the more remarkable for the abuse and prejudice that she suffered in her personal life — and which is palpably present in Lucretia’s suicide, and other of her paintings where the central protagonist is a wronged or abused woman.
In this and many other ways, Artemisia’s 'Lucretia' will open a window for our visitors onto important issues of injustice, prejudice and abuse that lie below the beguilingly beautiful surfaces of such works.
Repin Masterpiece Conservation Underway
March 29 2021
Picture: tass.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Moscow that Ilya Repin's Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan (1883-5) is in the process of being restored in the State Tretyakov Gallery. The painting was badly damaged in 2018 when it was attacked by a visitor using the gallery's metal security poles. Shockingly, its protective safety glass was smashed and the canvas pierced in three places. Restoration began in 2019 and the gallery has taken the opportunity to undertake a thorough research project on the work.
Fakes Seized in Spain
March 29 2021
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Spain that three works described as being by Modigliani, El Greco, and Goya have been seized by authorities after being deemed fakes. It has been reported that the works were in the process of being sold by a collector in Toledo to private collections in Switzerland, Mexico and Germany for a reported €12.5m. The works were accompanied by falsified authenticity documents, and new technical reports from the Prado and Toledo Sephar Museum have shown these works to be counterfeits.
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Judging from these rather dark images, it doesn't appear like we have a master faker on our hands here!
Royal Academy of Dance Acquires Portrait
March 29 2021
Picture: The Guardian
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Guardian have published a story on news that the Royal Academy of Dance in London have acquired a portrait of Tamara Karsavina, a key dancer behind a revolution in ballet during the twentieth century. The painting by Jacques-Émile Blanche had come up for sale at Christie's last year and was spotted by one of the academy's supporters and former dancers Anya Linden. Fortunately, Linden managed to co-ordinate a fundraising effort amongst wealthy donors and purchased the portrait for the institution.
Raphael Tapestry Exhibition in Urbino
March 29 2021
Picture: finestresullarte.info
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
On 21st May 2021 the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino will be opening their new exhibition dedicated to Raphael and Tapestries. The show will be in collaboration with the Vatican Museums and Mobilier National Paris. It will features tapestries made after his designs and frescos, and include later reinterpretations such as those made at Gobelins during the age of Louis XIV (pictured).
Sleeper Alert!
March 29 2021
Picture: schulerauktionen.ch
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Here's a sleeper from last week that looked rather interesting. The above painting of Adam and Eve, catalogued as 'In the style of Bartholomaeus Spranger' made 110,000 CHF over its 1,500 - 2,500 CHF estimate in Switzerland. The auction house have supplied very high resolution images which are worth zooming into.
Rosalba Carierra Pastels Acquired by the Frick Collection
March 29 2021
Video: The Frick Collection
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Frick Collection have made the above video to celebrate the recent acquisition of two pastel portraits by Rosalba Carriera. Both works were bequeathed by Alexis Gregory in 2020.
Hyacinthe Rigaud at Versailles
March 29 2021
Video: Château de Versailles
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Good news that le Château de Versailles's exhibition Hyacinthe Rigaud or the Sun Portrait has been extended until 13th June 2021.
As the exhibition blurb explains:
Laid out chronologically and by theme, the exhibition illustrates Hyacinthe Rigaud’s career from his early years in Catalonia to his consecration in Paris. Special focus is given to the artist’s self-portraits painted throughout his life, while a particularly spectacular section is entirely dedicated to portraits of Louis XIV.
In another section, visitors will be able to discover the very process of making a portrait, from the choice of format through to popular distribution through engravings, including the production of sketches and their presentation to the models. The portraits on display reflect the remarkable diversity of Rigaud's clientele from both France and abroad. The exhibition also highlights his sensitivity for sculpture: in 1695, his final trip to Catalonia was motivated by his desire to capture the features of his mother, Mme Rigaud (born Marie Serre), and to have them set in marble by the sculptor Antoine Coysevox.
Hermitage to put on NFT Exhibition
March 26 2021
Posted by Adam Busiakeiwicz:
The State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, has announced that it will be hosting an NFT exhibition later this year. This will make it one of the first major museums to host a show dedicated to these digital artworks which have become the latest craze in the art world. The show will be supported by the Aksenov Family Foundation and aims to 'study new forms of audience involvement in cultural practices.'
Spring Flowers in the Kunsthistoriches Museum
March 26 2021
Video: Kunsthistoriches Museum Wien
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna has uploaded a nice video tour of their floral still lives for Spring. They have also recently begun a 'Thursday Evening in the Museum' feature on their YouTube channel, which are always rather interesting.
The video is in German, with fine Austrian accents which I'm very fond of, but you'll also be able to use auto-translate subtitles if you'd like to get the gist.
Sotheby's Modern and Renaissance Results
March 26 2021
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Last night's Modern and Renaissance sale at Sotheby's London brought in a total of £96,860,164 with 87.24% of lots sold, minus three lots that seem to have been withdrawn before the sale.
The two old masters in the sale just about managed to hit their low estimates. Piero del Pollaiuolo's Portrait of a Youth made £3,900,000 (hammer price), £4,564,000 (with fees), which was right at the bottom end of its £4,000,000 low estimate. The newly upgraded Giulio Romano portrait also just managed to hit its low estimate at £378,000 (with fees).
The most impressive results came from twentieth century works. Arshile Gorky's Garden in Sochi made £8,585,700 over its £2.2m - £2.8m estimate, Edvard Munch's Summer Day or Embrace on the Beach (The Linde Frieze) made £16,284,000 over its £9m - £12m estimate, Frank Dobson's Female Torso made £2,041,750 over its £250k - £350k estimate, and František Kupka's Le Jaillissement II (Tryskání II) made £7,551,600 over its £1.5m - £2.5m estimate.
On the same day at Sotheby's Paris, Van Gogh's Montmarte scene brought in €13,091,250, smashing through its €5m - €8m estimate.
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Overall, it seems as if the new cross-category sales are going rather well. Although, from an Old Masters point of view, it was noticeable that the sale featured far fewer pictures compared to last July's Rembrandt to Richter auction. As the name suggested, it was very much a Modern and Contemporary Sale with two nice Renaissance portraits thrown in. With no works represented from the seventeenth, eighteenth or nineteenth century, it's hard to claim that this was a truly cross category offering. However, as we all know, the comparable scarcity of high value old master paintings does also play its part in dictating what sort of sales auction houses can put together.
We shall look forward to seeing what the July sales bring!
Fragonard Philosopher Reappears
March 25 2021
Picture: Gazette Drouot
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A long lost painting of a philosopher by Fragonard has been rediscovered in Champagne, France, by the auctioneers Petit et le cabinet Turquin. The painting was known only by written references before now. As is evident from the fabulous brushwork, the painting channels the energy of seventeenth century painters including the likes of Frans Hals and Rembrandt. However, it is perhaps the lighter palette that gives it away as a painting of the late eighteenth century. A corresponding work from the same series, dating to 1764, is found in the Kunsthalle Hamburg.
The painting will be offered for sale later this year with an estimate of €1.5m - €2m.
Here is the write-up from La Tribune de 'Art.
