Previous Posts: October 2021
Curator Talks on Vermeer
October 14 2021
Picture: Dresden Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
CODART (Network of Curators of Dutch and Flemish Art) have drawn attention to a series of online lectures (in various languages) presented by leading curators on various subjects relating to Vermeer. These lectures will be scheduled between October and December, coinciding with Dresden's current Vermeer exhibition.
Among the lecturers included will be the likes of Uta Neidhardt, Gregor Weber, Betsy Wieseman, Silke Gatenbröcke, Xavier Salomon, Friederike Schütt, Katja Kleinert, Bart Cornelis and Uta Neidhardt.
Attendance is free although registration is required.
Whistler: Art & Legacy - Limiting Collections
October 13 2021
Picture: The Hunterian
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Hunterian Museum in Glasgow's exhibition Whistler: Art & Legacy will be closing at the end of this month. However, the museum are putting on a fascinating panel discussion on 19th October 2021 on the topic of 'Historical limitations on the use of museum collections: the ethics of change'. The inspiration came from the bequest rules surrounding the Hunterian's vast collection of Whistler works, which limit their display to Glasgow only.
The panel will include Dr Xavier Bray, Director of the Wallace Collection, London, Duncan Dornan, Head of Museums and Collections at Glasgow Life, Dr Grishka Petri, Honorary Research Fellow (University of Glasgow, School of Culture & Creative Arts), Dr Elena Cooper, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, CREATe, University of Glasgow.
One can imagine the panel will represent a majority of those in favour of change, especially as the panel contains representatives of institutions who have successfully overturned rules of bequests in recent times.
Fondation Custodia Upload Rembrandt and Circle Drawings
October 13 2021
Picture: Fondation Custodia
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News has arrived via. Twitter that the Fondation Custodia in Paris have uploaded 166 sheets by Rembrandt and his Circle onto their fantastic online collections database. Their collection contains no less that 21 examples by Rembrandt himself.
I do recommend heading over to their site to browse for yourself, where you'll find beautiful examples like this Samuel van Hoogstraten in high definition. It will surely be an exciting day when the institutions full collection is uploaded online.
Experience Goya in Lille
October 13 2021
Video: PBALILLE
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Palais des Beaux-arts de Lille will be opening their latest exhibition later this week. Experience Goya will feature more than 80 original works, half by the artist, in what it describes as an 'immersive, aesthetic and sensory experience [with] (videos and soundscapes etc.)'. The exhibition will also include later piece that show a response to Goya's work, including examples from Delacroix, Manet, Dali and many other artists running up to the present day.
The show will run until 14th February 2022.
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Speaking as someone who is rather sensitive to music, I do wonder if the soundtrack to the video above is enhancing or off putting...
Julien Dupré Online Catalogue Raisonné
October 13 2021
Picture: juliendupre.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Rehs Gallery in New York have published an online Catalogue Raisonné for the artist Julien Dupré (1851-1910). Dupré grew up in Paris and contributed many pictures to the Paris Salon from 1876 onwards.
Explaining more about the history of the project:
During the project's early years, Mr. Howard Rehs [The gallery's owner] received encouragement from Dr. Gabriel P. Weisberg and Yvonne Weisberg, who kindly shared their earlier research on the artist, and recommended several research assistants, including Fleur Levitz and Lynsi Spaulding in the U.S. and Stéphanie Peyrissac in France. Mr. Rehs also met Jérémie Jouan, a descendent of the artist who has generously shared his own research into Dupré's extended family history. As the catalogue raisonné began to take shape, the Weisbergs again played a crucial role in introducing Mr. Rehs to art historian Janet Whitmore, Ph.D., who joined the project full time in 2015.
As AHN welcomes the news of such research, no matter how well-known or obscure the artist, this will earn the Rehs Gallery a place in the highly coveted 'Heroes of Art History' section of this blog.
Salvator Mundi gets NFT Makeover
October 13 2021
Picture: Artnet.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time before the world's most expensive painting would be taken hostage by so-called 'crypto-artists'.
Artnet.com have published a short article on the new work of Hansen Wang entitled 'The Greats', which sees Leonardo's work transformed into several styles inspired by famous artists.
Big institutions are also pilling on the NFT bandwagon, with the British Museum being the latest to announce it will be selling digital postcards of works by the likes of Hokusai.
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Of course, if you want a 'digital work of art' for display at home, I recommend heading over to Google Images and using the right-click button of your mouse to download your very own JPEG. There we are!
'Les Animaux du Roi' at Versailles
October 12 2021
Video: Château de Versailles
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Palace of Versailles have opened their latest exhibition today entitled Les Animaux du Roi.
According to the website's blurb:
The exhibition aims to illustrate the bond between the Court of Versailles and animals, whether “companion animals” (dogs, cats and birds, mainly), exotic beasts or “wild” creatures. No study of the Palace during the reign of Louis XIV would be complete without considering the Royal Menagerie, which the Sun King had installed close to the Grand Canal. It was home to the rarest and most exotic animals – from coatis to quaggas, cassowaries to black-crowned cranes (nicknamed the “royal bird”) – constituting an extraordinary collection in which the king took ever greater pride.
The exhibition, which seems to feature a great deal of old master paintings, will run until 13th February 2022.
Lost Chopin Portrait Reappears in Poland (?)
October 12 2021
Picture: thefirstnews.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A reader has been in touch with this rather curious story from Poland. A rediscovered portrait of the composer Frederic Chopin has turned up after being purchased at an antique market near Lublin. Although the canvas was in awful condition (see left), traces of a signature have been found on it. The current owners are trying to prove the work was made during the composer's life time, rather than a later copy of this well known image.
According to the article:
The painting has now been taken out of its vault to be viewed by Bożena Schmid-Adamczyk, curator of the Fryderyk Chopin and George Sand Museum on Majorca, who is in Warsaw for the International Chopin Competition taking place in Warsaw this month.
'AI' Recreates Image Underneath Picasso
October 12 2021
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Times reported at the weekend of news that scientists at University College London have managed to recreate a picture painted over by Picasso. The Blind Man's Meal, dating to 1903 and now kept at the MET in New York, had long been known to have been painted over an unfinished nude.
According to the article:
Bourached and Cann trained an algorithm to simulate how the original painting looked by analysing Picasso’s brush strokes in other paintings.
“It’s very exciting to see a work that’s been locked up,” Cann told the Sunday Telegraph. “It’s quite eerie seeing the brushstrokes, colour and the way in which light reflects off the work. It’s a very beautiful piece.
“I hope Picasso would be happy in knowing the treasure he’s hidden for future generations is finally being revealed, 48 years after his death and 118 years after the painting was concealed. I also hope the woman within the portrait would be happy in knowing that she hadn’t been erased from history and that her beauty was finally being revealed in the 21st century.”
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Indeed, I wonder what Picasso would have made of this image...
Tiepolo Discovered in Weston Hall Attic
October 12 2021
Video: Dreweatts
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The UK Press has shared news of a rediscovered drawing by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo has been discovered in a safe at Weston Hall. The auctioneers Dreweatts discovered the drawing as part of cataloguing the contents of the house for general sale.
The drawing will be offered for sale in November carrying an estimate of £150,000 - £200,000.
Holbein: Capturing Character
October 12 2021
Picture: Getty Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Getty Museum in Los Angeles will be opening their latest Old Masters exhibition next week. Holbein: Capturing Character has been co-organised in partnership with the Morgan Library and Museum in New York.
According to the exhibition's blurb:
Holbein: Capturing Character is the first major exhibition dedicated to the artist in the United States. Spanning Holbein’s entire career, it starts with his early years in Basel, where Holbein was active in the book trade and created iconic portraits of the great humanist scholar Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466–1536). Holbein stayed in England in 1526–1528 and moved there permanently in 1532, quickly becoming the most sought-after artist among the nobles, courtiers, and foreign merchants of the Hanseatic League. In addition to showcasing Holbein’s renowned drawn and painted likenesses of these sitters, the exhibition highlights the artist’s activities as a designer of prints, printed books, personal devices (emblems accompanied by mottos), and jewels. This varied presentation reveals the artist’s wide-ranging contributions to the practice of personal definition in the Renaissance. Works by Holbein’s famed contemporaries, such as Jan Gossaert (ca. 1478–1532) and Quentin Metsys (1466–1530), and a display of intricate period jewelry and book bindings offer further insights into new cultural interests in the representation of individual identity, and highlight the visual splendor of the art and culture of the time.
The exhibition catalogue, edited by Anne T. Woollett, with contributions by Austėja Mackelaitė, John T. McQuillen, and others, is available here.
The show will run from 19th October 2021 - 9th January 2022 and will then move to the Morgan Library and Museum between 11th February 2022 - 15th May 2022.
Young Poland at the William Morris Gallery
October 12 2021
Video: William Morris Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The William Morris Gallery in London has recently opened their latest exhibition entitled Young Poland: An Arts and Crafts Movement (1890 – 1918).
According to the gallery's online blurb:
Young Poland: An Arts and Crafts Movement (1890 – 1918) is the first major exhibition to explore the decorative arts and architecture of Young Poland (Młoda Polska), an extraordinary cultural movement that flourished in response to Poland’s invasion and occupation by foreign powers.
Originating in Kraków and the nearby village of Zakopane at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, Young Poland sought inspiration in local folk traditions, wildlife and craftsmanship while collapsing the distinction between the fine and applied arts. Developing themes explored in a critically acclaimed book by its curators (Lund Humphries, 2020), the exhibition is the first in the world to position Young Poland as an Arts & Crafts movement, revealing strong stylistic and philosophical affinities with the work of William Morris and John Ruskin.
The show will run until 30th January 2022.
Sotheby's NY October Sale
October 12 2021
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Sotheby's New York have uploaded their October Master Paintings and Drawing Sale online. This online sale will run from 15th - 22nd October 2021.
As usual with such mid-season sales, there are many interesting bargains to be found. I won't spoil the fun by pointing any of them out!
Another Copy of the Mona Lisa Up For Sale
October 8 2021
Video: Artcurial
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Artcurial in Paris will be auctioning off a seventeenth century copy of the Mona Lisa on the 9th November 2021. The copy will carry an estimate of €150,000 - €200,000. The video they have produced above shows the expectation that this picture might achieve a similarly bonkers price compared to recent examples.
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On reflection, have these copies of Leonardo's most recognisable work become the latest 'Kitsch object' for the current age? It seems likely.
Titian's Vision of Women in Vienna
October 8 2021
Video: KHM
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna opened their latest exhibition this week. Titian's Vision of Women: Beauty, Love, Poetry focuses on images of Venetian Women in the context of sixteenth century ideals and contemporary society.
One of the great successes of the exhibition is the reunion of three of Titian's most iconic images including "La Bella" from Florence, the Hermitage’s "Young Woman with a Plumed Hat" alongside the Kunsthistorisches Museum's "Young Woman in a Fur" :
The exhibition will run until 16th January 2022.
Sleeper Alert!
October 8 2021
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News has arrived that the following The Adoration of the Magi catalogued as by the 'Circle of Rembrandt' realised €860,000 (inc. commission) over its €10k - €15k estimate at Christie's Amsterdam on Wednesday. The literature notes indicate the picture was considered a Rembrandt in full until it was downgraded during the 1980s.
Mystery Room and Painting
October 7 2021
Picture: David Adler Archive
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A small fun piece of detective work this, the Country Houses of the UK and Ireland Facebook Group have posted the following photograph of an interior. Unfortunately, both the room and painting are unidentified and an academic is trying to track down the identity of both. If you happen to recognise the room or picture, do get in touch via. my email address above.
Update - The knowledge of the readers of AHN has prevailed once again! Mattia Biffis has been in touch to explain the painting seems to be Giuliano Bugiardini's portrait of Leonardo de' Ginori, c. 1528 held at the NGA in Washington D.C. Curiously, the provenance starts at the turn of the century, suggestion perhaps that this photograph is evidence of a previous unknown ownership (?)
Glasgow Acquires Genoese Van Dyck
October 7 2021
Picture: Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Brilliant news that the Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum have acquired Van Dyck's portrait of the Marchesa Lomellini.
According to the article linked above:
Painted during the artist’s six years in Italy between 1621 and 1627, it features a young Marchesa Lomellini, a member of the noble Lomellini family of Genoa, and is the first van Dyck to enter the city’s collection.
The artwork comes from the collection of Sir Ilay Mark Campbell, 7th Baronet of Succouth (1927-2017) and Lady Campbell.
She and her family offered the painting to the Glasgow Museums Collection, which is cared for by the charity Glasgow Life, as part of the Acceptance in Lieu Scheme, administered by the Arts Council on behalf of the UK Government.
The acceptance of the work from the collection of Sir Ilay and Lady Campbell settled £2,450,000 of tax.
The painting will be on display from 18th November 2021.
Allen Memorial Art Museum Acquires Garzoni Miniature
October 7 2021
Picture: PM & Co
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Apologies, I missed this piece of news from September that the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Ohio has acquired Giovanna Garzoni's miniature portrait of Zaga Christ (pictured). The work was acquired from the London dealers Philip Mould & Co with funds raised by donors of the museum.
According to the museum's director Andria Derstine:
The acquisition of this important miniature expands the Allen’s ability to tell vital stories about race, gender, and cultural exchange in the early modern period. We are excited by the new connections and interpretations it makes possible.
Yale Center Seeks Identity of Black Child in Painting
October 7 2021
Picture: TAN
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Art Newspaper have published an interesting piece of research being undertaken by the Yale Center for British Art Studies into the identity of a black child. The boy appears in A portrait of Elihu Yale with Members of His Family and an Enslaved Child (around 1719), attributed to John Verelst, from the center's collection.
According to the article:
Homing in on the depiction of the enslaved child, the YCBA’s research team enlisted a pediatrician to estimate the boy’s likely age, which was determined to be around 10, says Martin. Drawing on records from the early 1700s, the curatorial investigators note that it was then routine to ship boys of African descent under 10 years of age to Britain to serve as domestic servants in affluent households. The child would probably have served as a so-called page in the household of one of the men depicted.
Regularly readers might remember this brief story I published last October, showing results from a similar piece research into a seventeenth century picture from Warwick Castle.
