Previous Posts: articles 2023
National Gallery Masterpieces on Tour
June 15 2020
Picture: British Council & The National Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Great news for the residents of Japan. The National Gallery in London has announced that it is 61 masterpieces from its collection will go on a tour of the country. The initiative is a part of the British Council's UK in Japan 2019-2020 festival. The Tokyo leg of the exhibition will run from 18 June 2020 - 18 October 2020, and afterwards will head to Osaka from 3 November 2020 - 31 January 2021. This will include works by the likes of Vermeer, Canaletto, Van Dyck, Goya, Turner and Van Gogh's famous Sunflowers (pictured).
Some opponents have pointed out that some of the gallery's favourites will be missing when it eventually reopens to the public later this summer. The timing is a shame, but one imagines this loan was signed off and promised quite some time ago.
A brief aside...
June 12 2020
Picture: Wannenes Auctions
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
As I am about to contribute my 150th post on AHN, I wanted to thank you all for sticking with the blog and especially those who have been in contact with kind words and encouragement. I am especially grateful for your patience, especially with any grammatical errors and the like. As usual, do get in touch if there are any stories or research that deserve some attention on the blog.
Wishing you all a very pleasant weekend!
Van Eyck on a Plane
June 12 2020
Picture: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Arts Newspaper has reported on the news that a rare and fragile drawing by Jan van Eyck (pictured) is to be put on public display in Dresden for the first time in ten years. The drawing will feature as part of an exhibition celebrating Dresden’s Kupferstich-Kabinett's 300th anniversary of the museum of prints and drawings.
The drawing, believed to be one of the only undisputed studies by the artist, relates to a finished oil on panel in the Kunsthistoriches Musuem, Vienna. Its fragile nature meant that it was only allowed on display for one week the last time it was exhibited in 2010.
The drawing, alongside 60 other drawings from the show, will then travel to New York for an exhibition at the Morgan Library next year.
Dresden curator Stephanie Buck is quoted:
“It will be the first time it’s ever been on a plane,” Buck says.
The Dealer's Eye at Sotheby's
June 12 2020
Picture: Koetser Gallery via Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Sotheby's have announced two large online sales in collaboration with 39 top-tier international art dealers. The Dealer's Eye: London and The Dealer's Eye: New York will feature Old Master and nineteenth century paintings and drawings by the likes of Van Dyck, Bassano, Gainsborough, Flinck (pictured) and Vigée Le Brun.
Bidding will open in a mere 6 days time (18 June) and will run until 25 June 2020.
Update - Here is the official press release explaining the initiative.
Otto Naumann, Client Development Director for Sotheby's Old Master Division is quoted as saying:
Before I joined Sotheby’s in 2018, I spent more than thirty years as an Old Masters dealer, traveling across the world to bring wonderful works of art to interested buyers, many times at major art fairs such as Tefaf Maastricht, Frieze Masters, and Masterpiece London. With The Dealer’s Eye, we’ve created our own version of an art fair, where dealers can continue to promote the works that make their individual galleries so unique. It gives me great pleasure to be able to support our gallery peers with this online sales initiative, as well as offer our clients this opportunity to acquire works specially curated by some of the most internationally-renowned Old Master galleries.
Colnaghi Foundation: Black in Rembrandt's Time
June 12 2020
Video: Colnaghi Foundation
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Colnaghi Foundation have posted this interview with Stephanie Archangel, one of the curators of the exhibition Black in Rembrandt’s Time at the Rembrandt House in Amsterdam.
National Gallery Acquires Sorolla
June 12 2020
Picture: The National Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
It has been announced this week that the National Gallery in London has acquired Joaquín Sorolla's work The Drunkard, Zarauz (El Borracho, Zarauz). The painting, dated to 1910, is the first Sorolla acquired by the gallery and had featured in its 2019 exhibition Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light.
Further reports have highlighted that the picture was acquired from dealer Danny Katz. It was purchased for £325,000 with a legacy from architect David Medd (d.2009). Notably, in 2010 Katz had given the National Gallery a painting by the nineteenth century Norwegian artist Peder Balke.
Might the acquisition be further evidence that the gallery is loosening its interpretation of being the 'national collection of paintings in the Western European tradition from the 13th to the 19th centuries’?
Having said all of this, the painting's spirit, subject matter and quality does seem to allow it to fit quite neatly into the gallery's existing collections.
Quiz: Find the Original
June 12 2020
Picture: Wannenes Auctions
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The above painting of Saint Paul, catalogued as 'pittore del XVIII secolo', is coming up for sale at Wannenes Auctions in Genoa. It is a copy of a known painting. Can you find the original?
No prizes, just for fun.
Update - Congratulations to readers Andrew Quick and Bob Hawkins who spotted that the above is a version of Batoni's Saint Paul found in the collection of Basildon Park, Berkshire, now in the hands of the National Trust.
Torlonia Marbles to go on Display
June 12 2020
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
96 marble sculptures from the Torlonia collection will finally be unveiled to the public in Rome this September. The collection, which was amassed between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries by the Italian Torlonia family, has been hidden away since the war and opened only to experts or visiting dignitaries. The restoration of the collection has been financed by the luxury jeweller Bvlgaria.
The collection will be on display in Palazzo Caffarelli at the city's Capitoline Museums from 25 September 2020 till 27 June 2021.
NPG not Reopening Before Closure
June 12 2020
Picture: NPG
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Portrait Gallery in London has announced on Twitter that it will not be reopening before its planned closure on 29 June 2020 until spring 2023.
You can read the full statement here with further details of the Inspiring People redevelopment here.
Sotheby's NY Results
June 12 2020
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Yesterday's Sotheby's old master paintings sale in NY brought in a total of $2.89m (including fees) with roughly 82.3% of the 152 lots sold. The sale was conducted entirely online.
There were several impressive results achieved (all prices inc. fees). The above portrait by Lavinia Fontana made $187,500 over an estimate of $40k - $60k. A sweet Caspar Netscher made $250,000 over an estimate of $40k - $60k. A portrait attributed to Tintoretto, sold by the San Diego Museum of Art, made a very respectable $112,500 over an estimate of $10k - $15k. Equally, this sumptuous Danaë by Jacob van Loo made $275,000 over an estimate of $100k - $150k.
Lots sold without reserve all seemed to do rather well, a sign that no one can resist a good bargain perhaps.
Chatsworth Online
June 11 2020
Picture: Chatsworth
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Chatsworth, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Devonshire, has been doing an awful lot recently to promote new research undertaken in their archives and collection.
This includes a new blog series entitled 'Remaking the North Wing' which features contributions from PhD researchers examining various subjects relating to the history of the building and its contents. The most recent blog on the female librarian Eugénie Sellers Strong, who was given that position by the 8th Duke in 1904, makes for a very interesting read.
In addition to this, they have also set up their own Instagram Account @ChatsworthArt to specifically promote highlights from the Duke's art collection.
Sleeper Alert!
June 10 2020
Picture: Drouot
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The above painting catalogued as 'Attributed to Sebastiano Ricci' made €107,950 over an estimate of €2,500 - €3,500 at Beaussant Lefèvre yesterday. The painting had been attributed to Coypel in the past.
Another lot offered in the same sale was this bronze statue by the sixteenth century master Ponce Jacquio which made €1,460,500. The work is reported to have been purchased by the Louvre.
Emma Hamilton's Hair
June 10 2020
Picture: Charles Miller Ltd.
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A lock of Emma Hamilton's hair is coming up for sale at Charles Miller Ltd. next month.
Lady Emma Hamilton (1765-1815) was a celebrated performer, muse and celebrity in late Georgian Britain. Her likeness was captured many times by leading artists including the likes of Romney, Reynolds, Vigée Le Brun and Kauffman. She is more widely known for having become the mistress of Admiral Horatio Nelson.
The lock was previously owned by the antiquarian Alfred Morrison who published a catalogue of Emma and Nelson's correspondence in 1893-4. The estimate for this curious piece of history is £500-£700.
Hunterian Director Tour
June 10 2020
Video: Hunterian Glasgow
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Here's a video filmed with Steph Scholten, Director of The Hunterian in Glasgow, giving a tour around the art gallery during lockdown. It includes some of the gallery's highlights and recent acquisitions.
Rubens Self Portrait on Loan to Rubens Huis
June 10 2020
Picture: Rubens Huis
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Rubens Huis in Antwerp has announced that it will be loaning a newly emerged self portrait by Rubens.
The picture is likely to date from c.1604 when the painter was in Italy. It is a study of his head which he featured in an enormous work entitled The Gonzaga Family Adoring the Trinity painted for the Jesuit Church in Mantua. The picture was cut up by Napoleon's troops in the early nineteenth century and surviving fragments are now spread across museums around the world.
The self portrait is oil on paper transfered to canvas and a good image can be found via the link above.
Quiz: Find the Original
June 10 2020
Picture: Saleroom
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Forgive me for the overload of portraits this week, but here is another fun opportunity for readers to test their connoisseurship. This painting described as 'Portrait of a gentleman with a ruff collar' is coming up for sale at the auction house Hutchinson Scott. It is a copy of a known painting. Can you find the original on which this picture is based?
No prizes, just for fun.
Update - Congratulations to reader Karen Hearn who spotted that this is a copy of Van Dyck's portrait of Ambrogio Spinola. Here's a post from 2014 highlighting the recently upgraded version in Edinburgh.
The Curious Tale of Brown University's Philip IV
June 9 2020
Picture: MFA
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Here's a curious post on the blog site Lost Art Project detailing the history of a portrait of King Philip IV of Spain by the Circle of John Singer Sargent (pictured).
The painting was the property of Brown University since 1957 but went missing at some point between the years 1983 and 1991. It then appeared in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston after being donated by a former Brown professor. The professor claimed that his mother had purchased the work at a yard sale in south-eastern Massachusetts. What are the chances?
The MFA website explains that the painting was deaccessioned in 2016 and has since been returned to Brown. The painting has been cleaned too by the looks of it.
Search for Cabinet Maker's Portrait
June 9 2020
Picture: @atthesignofthepelican
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Scottish furniture expert and dealer Dr Sebastian Pryke has made an appeal on his Instagram account to find a lost portrait of an eighteenth century Edinburgh cabinet maker.
Francis Brodie (1708-1782) was one of Scotland's pre-eminent furniture makers and received the patronage of nearly all of the great northern aristocratic houses including the Dukes of Hamilton, Gordon, Montrose and Argyll, the Earls of Dumfries, Traquair and Stair, Lords Glenorchy, Milton, Arniston and Braco, as well as the Baronets John and James Clerk, Archibald Grant, John Kennedy and Charles Gilmour. Sebastian has penned this interesting blog relating to Brodie's work as a furniture maker in case you'd like to read further.
Portraits of eighteenth century cabinet makers are rare, and furthermore this particular one was painted by his brother the artist Joseph Brodie. It was last seen at an Edinburgh auction in 1982 and has since disappeared.
Friendship Through the Lens of Art: Lecture
June 9 2020
Picture: Ashmolean Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Professor Catherine Whistler, Keeper of Western Art at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, is presenting a free lecture on YouTube entitled 'Friendship Through the Lens of Art'. The lecture will focus on two works by Anton Raphael Mengs and Paolo de’Matteis (pictured). Professor Whistler's talk is part of a series called 'Oxford at Home' published by The University of Oxford. They have already posted an interesting lecture focusing on their recent exhibition Rembrandt - The Early Years.
The free thirty-minute lecture will be broadcast via. YouTube on Friday 12th June 2020 at 2.00pm (BST).
Weird Picture of the Day
June 9 2020
Picture: Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Dr Jenny Gaschke, curator of fine art at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, has posted this image on Twitter today under the heading 'Weird Picture of the Day'.
It shows a gentleman with some sort of water pump in his hand. The picture was formerly believed to depict an attendant of the local Hotwells Spa but this is now doubted. The current school of thought is that the painting was made in seventeenth century France and might be connected to the Alsace region.
Any AHN readers with specialist knowledge of the history of water pumps are encouraged to get in contact with Jenny.
Here is a link to the work on ArtUk.
