Previous Posts: September 2021
Feigen Sale at Sotheby's NY
September 17 2021
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Sotheby's New York have uploaded their upcoming sale Collector, Dealer, Connoisseur: The Vision of Richard L. Feigen online. The sale will be held on 18th October 2021.
As to be expected, there are many fine pictures on offer. The top lot is Richard Parkes Bonington's The Palazzi Manolesso-Ferro, Contarini-Fasan and Venier-Contarini on the Grand Canal, Venice, estimated at $2m - $3m; followed by a Lorenzo Monaco of the Prophet Jeremiah estimate at $600k - $800k; an Annibale Carracci Landscape estimated at $400k - $600k; and a Holy Family with St John the Baptist, retitled the 'Feigen Adoration', by Beccafumi estimated at $300k - $500k.
There are a nice selection of British paintings too, including a Gainsborough Portrait, a Gainsborough Landscape, a rare Landscape by Thomas Lawrence, and an Italian landscape by Richard Wilson. However, it is the Boningtons that seem to steal the show where British works are concerned.
I should also mention that there are a few paintings by Max Beckman included within the sale, the top lot being A Portrait of a Turk estimated at $2m - $3m.
Bert Watteeuw New Director of Rubenshuis
September 16 2021
Picture: rubenshuis
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Curator Bert Watteeuw has been named as the incoming Director of the Rubenshuis in Antwerp.
According to the CODART post linked above:
Dr. Bert Watteeuw (b. 1981) studied art history and social and cultural anthropology at the Catholic University of Leuven. After a PhD fellowship from the Research Foundation Flanders, his job took him to Antwerp where he joined the Rubenianum as a researcher in 2011. Since 2015, he has also been working for the Rubens House, combining scientific research with museum work. In 2018, he was appointed project coordinator of the architectural master plan for the Rubens House site.
He has published extensively on Flemish art of the sixteenth and seventeenth century, in addition to contributing to Belgian and international exhibitions. His main interests are the cultural history of the human body, archival research on Rubens and ‘the little things’ or ‘the other’ in the works of the great masters of Antwerp art. He wrote a dissertation titled Capita Selecta. Interdisciplinary perspectives on the culture of portraiture in early modern Flanders.
Venetian Drawings at the Castello Sforzesco in Milan
September 16 2021
Picture: lamilano.it
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A new exhibition of Venetian drawings from the eighteenth century has opened in the Castello Sforzesco in Milan. The exhibition contains 48 works by the likes of Giovanni Battista and Giandomenico Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Antonio Canaletto and Bernardo Bellotto. The works have been drawn from the city's collection of works, many of which were initially assembled in Milanese aristocratic collections.
US Friends of the Uffizi Donate Painting
September 16 2021
Picture: theflorentine.net
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The US organisation Friends of the Uffizi Gallery have donated a painting by Donato Mascagni to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The oil on canvas, dating to 1611, depicts Il Conte Ugolino from Dante's Inferno.
Just in case you'd like to know more about the work's curious subject matter:
The canvas is associated with one of the most famous sections of the 'Divine Comedy', described in Canto 33 of the Inferno. Count Ugolino Della Gherardesca takes centre stage, guilty of having betrayed his homeland, one of the worst sins in Dante’s worldview, which sees the count languishing in the deepest ninth circle of hell. History books inform us that the Pisan nobleman was imprisoned with his children in the Torre della Muda and sentenced to death by starvation. Dante remembers how Ugolino’s desperation resulted in cannibalism. The artist chose not to depict this atrocity, instead preferring to paint the count’s final moments of agony: come un poco di raggio si fu messo / nel doloroso carcere, e io scorsi / per quattro visi il mio aspetto stesso (As now a little glimmer made its way / Into the dolorous prison, and I saw / Upon four faces my own very aspect).
Stolen Marco d'Oggiono returns to the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana
September 16 2021
Picture: finestresullarte.info
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A reader has pointed out this story of a stolen Madonna and Child that has been returned to the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. The painting by Marco d'Oggiono was stolen seventy years ago and had recently resurfaced with a Milanese art dealer. It seems that the work had been acquired from the private collection of a Milanese Lady, however, its history prior to this is currently unknown.
Christophe Leribault new Director of Musée d'Orsay
September 15 2021
Picture: lemonde.fr
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The French Government have announced the nomination of Christophe Leribault to become the next Director of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.
His career has been a rather interesting one it seems, beginning as Curator of Heritage at the Carnavalet Museum (Paris) where he was in charge of paintings and drawings for fifteen years. In 2006 he became a curator in the department of Graphic Arts in the Louvre. A year later he took over the management of the Musée national Eugène-Delacroix (Paris), until his 2012 appointment as director of the Petit Palais.
Leribault will begin his five-year term in early October.
Oppenheimer Collection Soars
September 15 2021
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
It seems that there were some extremely promising results for the decorative arts market yesterday. Sotheby's New York's Oppenheimer sale of Important Meissen soared past its pre-sale estimates to achieve $15,039,540 (inc. fees). Many of the lots doubled, tripled or quadrupled their estimates in this 'white-glove' sale.
'Missing' Dandini Found in US Church
September 15 2021
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Here's a rather curious story. A painting by Cesare Dandini, reportedly recorded as 'missing', has been discovered in a church in New Rochelle, New York. It was rediscovered by the New York college professor Tom Ruggio who started looking into the work's attribution and history. It seems that no one is exactly sure how the painting ended up in New Rochelle, with some suggestions it was purchased in London during the 1960s. The canvas will be on loan to Iona College in New Rochelle for the next three months.
University of St Andrews are Hiring!
September 14 2021
Picture: st-andrews.ac.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The University of St Andrews in Scotland are hiring a Lecturer in Art History.
According to the job description:
We are seeking to appoint a full-time lecturer in global early modern art (1400-1750). This is a full time, five-year, fixed term post replacing a permanent member of staff on research leave. Applications are invited from candidates whose research interests lie in any field of early modern art, architecture, urbanism or visual culture, regardless of geographical focus. We encourage applications from candidates whose research and teaching focuses on issues including environment, race, gender, sexuality and politics and / or whose work takes a transnational, cross-cultural or multidisciplinary approach.
The position comes with a salary of between £42,149 to £46,042 per annum and applications must be in by 1st October 2021.
Good luck if you're applying!
Hansken: Rembrandt's Elephant - Film on Vimeo
September 14 2021
Picture: Vimeo
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
For those of us who missed the Rembrandthuis's summer exhibition on Hansken Rembrandt's Elephant, the museum have published a short documentary on the exhibition to Vimeo. The video will cost €4,99 to watch.
Carracci. The Herrera Chapel - Scheduled for March 2022
September 14 2021
Picture: museunacional.cat
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Prado Museum's exhibition Carracci: The Herrara Chapel has been rescheduled to open during March 2022. The 2020 exhibition was delayed due to the ongoing covid crisis.
The exhibition will focus on the history of a set of frescos painted by Annibale Carracci for the noble Spanish banker Juan Enríquez de Herrera's chapel in Rome. The frescos were removed during the 1830s, transferred to canvas and sent back to Spain where they were split up.
The rescheduled exhibition will be at the Prado Museum in Madrid between 8th March 2022 - 12 June 2022.
Richard Feigen's Old Masters at Sotheby's
September 13 2021
Picture: artnews.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Sotheby's New York have announced that they will be offering a sale of Old Master Paintings from the collection of the late dealer Richard L Feigen in October. The sale will consist of more than 50 paintings and works on paper and in total carries a pre-sale estimate of between $11.5 million–$17 million.
According to the article linked above:
Highlights from the collection include Richard Parkes Bonington’s painting of the Grand Canal in Venice, The Palazzo Manolesso, which is expected to fetch $2 million–$3 million. Annibale Carracci’s biblical scene The Return From The Flight Into Egypt is estimated at $400,000–$600,000.
Works by Italian artists Domencio Beccafumi, Lorenzo Monaco, Allegretto Nuzi, and Spinello Aretino will also be offered. Beccafumi will be represented in the sale by an arched canvas from the 14th century depicting the Madonna and Saint Joseph with Jesus as an infant. It is estimated at $300,00–$500,000.
Art History Festival 2021
September 13 2021
Picture: forarthistory.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Association for Art History are running an Art History Festival next week featuring a good many fascinating talks and lectures with art historians, curators and specialists.
Here are just a brief selection of the many free online talks available between 20th - 23rd September:
Whose Histories? Art in the Historic House
The Medieval World with the Women Written Back In
Art and Anatomy: An Audience with Dr William Hunter
Art and Medicine in Conversation: Eleanor Crook at the Science Museum
The British Museum as a Resource for Art History
Worlds of Art: Artists, Buyers and Markets
Rarely Seen Black South African Modernists: Has Art History Afforded Them Adequate Recognition?
Artist as Activists: From the Quiet to the Outspoken
Framing the Body: Life Drawing from the Wallace Collection
There will also be live events at the National Gallery in London between Friday 24th and Saturday 25th September.
500 Fake Francis Bacons Seized in Italy
September 13 2021
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Italian police have reportedly seized 500 fake works of art purporting to be by Francis Bacon. The haul of fakes, including paintings and drawings, were seized with other counterfeits, collectables and cash worth €3m. Five people have been arrested in connection to the seizure with the main suspect being described as "a collector from Bologna."
NPG Treasures on Tour
September 13 2021
Picture: NPG
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Portrait Gallery in London (NPG) have announced a series of touring exhibitions while their main site is closed for refurbishment.
According to reports:
The Tudors: Passion, Power and Politics will open at The Holburne Museum in Bath in January 2022.
It will showcase 25 of the gallery's most famous Tudor portraits, including the five monarchs, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I, as well as other significant figures such as Sir Thomas More.
An expanded exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool will then take place the following May, featuring 68 works.
A touring exhibition of paintings by the Bloomsbury Group will open in the Millennium Gallery, Sheffield, during November. It will then travel to York in March 2022.
€5m Chardin coming up at Christie's
September 13 2021
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Christie's Paris have announced that they will be offering an important and 'untouched' Chardin in their November sale. Experts at the auction house believe their version of Woman Drawing Water from a Water Urn to be the first presented by Chardin at the 1747 salon. It was purchased in 1848 by the French collector François Marcille (1790-1856) and has been in a private collection ever since.
The painting will be offered for sale on 22nd November carrying an estimate of €5m - €8m.
Botticelli: Artist and Designer
September 9 2021
Video: Culturespaces
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Musée Jacquemart-André's latest exhibition opens tomorrow in Paris. Botticelli: Artist and Designer will feature no less than forty pictures by the master and his workshop, with many works loaned from top institutions across the world.
According to the website:
In the autumn 2021, the Musée Jacquemart-André will celebrate the creative genius of Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) and the activity of his workshop, by exhibiting around forty works by the master, along with several paintings by his contemporaries, who were greatly influenced by him. Botticelli was one of the greatest artists in Florence, and his career attests to the economic development and profound changes that transformed the rule of the Medicis. Botticelli is undoubtedly one of the most well-known Renaissance artists in Italy despite the fact that his life and the activity in his wirkshop remain something of a mystery. He consistently alternated between the production of one-off paintings and works issued in series, completed by his assistants.
The exhibition will show Botticelli’s workshop strategy, laboratory of ideas as well as a place of artistic training, characteristic of the Italian Renaissance. It will present Botticelli in his role as a creative artist and also as a entrepreneur and master (capobottega).
Arranged in a chronological and thematic order, the exhibition will illustrate Botticelli’s personal stylistic development, the connections between his work and his milieu, and his influence on his fellow artists.
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A curious 'teaser' video this, which obviously uses plastic printouts rather than the masterpieces themselves. A shame, the video makes the paintings look rather flat and dead compared to how magnificent they look in real life!
The Picture Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest Restored
September 9 2021
Picture: Rubenshuis
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
CODART have published an article on the recent restoration of the Rubenshuis's The Picture Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest by Willem van Haecht (II). Although the picture was last restored in 2009, the unstable panel had resulted in distracting cracks appearing along the paint surface. The work was restored by the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA) in Brussels.
The article also pays tribute to the outgoing Rubenshuis Director, Ben van Beneden, who has been in the position since 2010.
The article lists a brief selection of van Beneden's achievements in the role:
Together with his team, he developed several international exhibitions, including Rooms full of Art, Palazzo Rubens, and Rubens in private. His main priority, however, was the upgrade and enrichment of the collection and the artist’s residence. He drew attention to the urgent need for the restoration of the portico and garden pavilion – the original elements of the house, which were designed by Rubens himself. After several years of preparation, the project was successfully completed in 2019. The restoration and the protective glass butterfly awning met with international praise and appreciation. Van Beneden applied this same precision and boldness to the art collection, paving the way for the restoration of Rubens’s Self-Portrait, among others.
Is this by Van Gogh ? (ctd.)
September 9 2021
Picture: smithsonianmag.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Readers might remember this painting from a post earlier in May regarding the quest of its owner Stuart Pivar to prove whether it was by Van Gogh or not.
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam have since rejected the authenticity of the painting based on photographs alone.
The article linked above quotes Head of Collections and Research Marije Vellekoop:
We do not believe that an inspection … in our museum is necessary.
In our opinion, it is evidently clear from the material presented to us, that the painting ‘Auvers’ cannot be attributed to Vincent van Gogh.
The rejected work is in our opinion stylistically, iconographically or technically … clearly too far removed from Van Gogh’s own work that research and further discussion is deemed pointless.
Pivar, who rejects the conclusions above, has opened a $300m lawsuit to settle the matter.
Rembrandthuis Restore a Ferdinand Bol
September 9 2021
Picture: Rembrandthuis
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Rembrandthuis in Amsterdam have published a blog on the recent conservation of Elisa refuses Naeman's gifts by Ferdinand Bol. The piece explains the painting's history, as it was commissioned for the Amsterdam Leprozenhuis, alongside the iconography and the findings made during the treatment.
In particular, the conservation of the work has revealed quite a few pentimenti which show the small various changes Bol made while producing the painting.
