Previous Posts: articles 2023
Cranach at Compton Verney
April 18 2020
Picture: Compton Verney
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Another of the recent exhibitions cut short by the virus was Compton Verney's excellent Cranach: Artist and Innovator. Fortunately, the gallery have uploaded a rather good video tour onto their website (which I can't upload directly here unfortunately). On the same page you'll have access to a recorded conversation with the curators organised by the Colnaghi Foundation.
Another exhibition I wish I had got to before it closed was The Foundling Museum's Portraying Pregnancy: From Holbein to Social Media curated by Karen Hearn. Curator and writer Emma Shepley has posted her review of the exhibition on Twitter.
Art Uncovered Blog
April 17 2020
Picture: Milodickinson.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Milo Dickinson, Old Master Paintings Specialist at Christie's and son of art dealer Simon Dickinson, has started a new blog entitled 'Art Uncovered'. It is filled with many amusing anecdotes and beautiful photographs. His most recent post is an interesting interview conducted with his collector friend Todd, whose interiors (pictured) are in his words where "Minimalism is consigned to the bin, which sits next to the large elephant skull."
Yale Uploads 10k Images to Google
April 17 2020
Picture: Yale Centre for British Art
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Yale Centre for British Art have uploaded a further 10,000 images of their collection to Google Arts & Culture. This is probably one of the best digital resources available at the moment and allows you to zoom right into the craquelure of paintings. The high resolution of images is breathtaking.
As the centre's Director Courtney J. Martin explains;
The Yale Center for British Art is proud to expand its collection offerings in partnership with Google Arts & Culture and in support of Yale University’s ambitious Open Access Policy, which seeks to enhance access to the collections in the museums, archives, and libraries for students, faculty, and the world.
As one of the earliest university museums to join this pioneering initiative in 2011, we are pleased to know that the museum draws global audiences who can see and experience the largest collection of British Art outside of the United Kingdom and contextualize these works within the broader scope of art history.
Digitising collections can make discoveries possible too. As a short aside, here is a portrait by Daniel Mytens that I spotted a few weeks ago in the Utah Museum of Fine Arts's database catalogued as A Cavalier of the Stuart Court (left). After posting the unidentified picture on Twitter Edward Town (Head of Collections and Information at Yale) replied within 24 hours identifying the picture with another version formerly with Weiss Gallery identified as Darcy Conyers, 1st Earl of Holderness (right).
Write on Art Prize
April 17 2020
Picture: Writeonart.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Art UK and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art are teaming up again to offer an art writing prize for those between the age of 15-18. They are inviting young budding art writers to pick any work of art from the Art UK website and write a short essay about it. The top prize is a £500 cash prize.
The deadline for essays is 31st July 2020.
Black in Rembrandt's Time
April 16 2020
Video: The Rembrandt House Museum via YouTube
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam have posted a mini documentary on their recent exhibition entitled 'Black in Rembrandt's Time'. It was due to run to 31 May 2020. You'll have to switch on the English subtitles if you don't understand Dutch.
The Courtauld are Hiring!
April 16 2020
Picture: via. @CourtauldRes (Twitter)
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Courtauld Institute of Art in London are advertising for a 'Lecturer in the History of Art'. In particular, they are looking for a candidate with knowledge and experience in Northern European Art. The salary on offer for this fixed-term 12 month position is between £38.4k - £51.7k depending on experience.
Applications, which include submitting a 15 minute video presentation if you get through to the interview stage, end on 22nd April 2020.
Good luck if you're applying.
Update - By coincidence, Oxford Brookes University are also looking for a lecturer in History of Art. Specialism in the Renaissance, curating and museums studies desired.
Auction Houses becoming Art Dealers?
April 15 2020
Picture: Christie’s
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I might be extremely late to this, but it seems that both Sotheby’s and Christie’s have been vamping up their private sales platforms recently. Both auction houses now have web pages specifically geared towards selling individual works at set prices (some as enquiry only, of course). This is a very interesting trend, which sees the auction houses increasingly taking on a role usually associated with art dealers.
Private Sales are nothing new. The Arts Newspaper reported that 17% ($990m) of Sotheby's revenue came from Private Sales in 2019. Most specialist departments in auction houses have dedicated directors who deal in seeking out and brokering sales between collectors. There are many reasons why a collector would rather not send their works of art to public auction. Risk that it might not sell being one of them, but other factors such as publicity also play a part in our increasingly connected world. Selling exhibitions, attached onto the side rooms of sale previews, have usually been the way that this is done. However, having a specific public page dedicated to available artworks seems like quite a recent feature.
Will it work? Only time will tell, perhaps. One of the strengths at selling at auction is the limited time factor. This must have contributed to Sotheby’s recent successful sale with London dealer Rafael Valls for example.
Art dealers have their own unique strengths too. Many of the most longstanding dealers have strong brand identities, specialist knowledge and momentum that they can use to their advantage. For example, it is noteworthy how many dealers are increasingly using platforms like Instagram and other social media to present their artworks in an aesthetic that differentiates them from the rest. In comparison, auction houses can look rather lost, as they have many more hats to wear and plates to spin. Do all of these social media gimmicks help to sell pictures though, I wonder?
Will Independent Museums Survive the Lockdown?
April 15 2020
Picture: BBC
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The BBC have reported on an appeal from the Association of Independent Museums (AIM), warning that independent museums might be lost due to the impact of the coronavirus.
They have highlighted the case of two museums in London in particular, including the Charles Dickens Museum and the Florence Nightingale Museum respectively. The article claims that such museums are vulnerable due to their success as individual businesses. As these attractions generally rely on entrance fees they are less likely to received regular grants or funding to keep their finances ticking-over.
Particularly concerning is the claim;
The body's chair, Andrew Lovett, said he believed it was inevitable some museums would "just run out of cash and go to the wall", with collections potentially lost.
Watts at Home
April 15 2020
Picture: The Watts Gallery via Smartify
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Watts Gallery in Compton, Surrey, has been working on a series of short audio tours entitled ‘Watts at Home’. The clips, compiled by curators in lockdown, is hosted by Smartify and is completely free to access.
George Frederic Watts is surely one of the most underrated artists, especially considering his fame in late Victorian Britain. The above self-portrait, completed when the painter was seventeen, just shows you how talented he was. I’d also recommend a series of videos on YouTube made with the gallery’s former curator Richard Jefferies, who provides some of the most memorable interpretations of the artist’s later symbolist works.
Dulwich Picture Gallery Quiz
April 14 2020
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Guardian and the Dulwich Picture Gallery are running a little art quiz at the moment in collaboration with Art UK. Some of them are rather tricky. We expect readers of AHN to get top marks (!).
Update - Today's quiz is set by Compton Verney, Warwickshire.
Update (2) - A few more from this series run with The Guardian;
The National Museums Liverpool
Five Hour Hermitage Tour
April 14 2020
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
For those brave art-lovers out there, who are turning rather loopy staring at their four walls, then this video experience might be for you. Apple have published a rather epic five hour tour of the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. They actually published the video before the lockdown begun, almost in anticipation of what was to follow. There are some rather nice shots of their masterpieces and galleries, including tonnes of Old Master Paintings.
Top tip - If like me you are rather sensitive to annoying soundtracks, mute the video and pick a playlist of your own choice (Scriabin is my pick, for the moment).
MET turns 150
April 14 2020
Picture: MET
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York turned 150 years old on Monday 13th April 2020. As part of their celebrations they are releasing sets of videos entitled Met Stories, focusing on various chapters of the museum's history.
As the museum is currently closed, the Museum are also asking its followers on Twitter to design some blooms for the flower niches in their Great Hall. The have provided a template here...
I know I know, these aren't strictly blooms, but here is my attempt of and Old Masters interpretation (using paintings from the Met's collection) mocked-up during my lunch break...
Hackers steal £2.4m payment for Constable
April 14 2020
Picture: The Sunday Telegraph
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Sunday Telegraph (paywall) have reported on hackers who tricked the Rijksmueum Twenthe into paying £2.4m into a fraudulent account for a Constable they had just bought from the London art dealer Simon Dickinson.
The Rijksmuseum Twenthe's claim against Dickinson was thrown out of the High Court London in January, however, it is yet to decide who should have ownership of the painting.
Update - A quote from the art dealer's Managing Director Emma Ward:
This unfortunate event highlights the dangers of cyber crime in the art world which is regrettable for both the Museum and Dickinson, especially when both are victims in this instance. Dickinson hopes that the case will result with an awareness of cyber threats and preventative precautions in the art community.
Thefts!
April 9 2020
Picture: BBC
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Arts Newspaper has published an worrying article about the increasing number of break-ins over the recent weeks. They have connected this to criminals who are using the current virus crisis as an opportunity to pillage galleries which are no longer adequately staffed and populated with visitors.
The article quotes the loss-adjuster Philip Austin who placed further blame on;
…the furloughing of staff whilst operating a skeleton type of business. I can see the criminal fraternity thinking this is Christmas.
Bendor contributed an article in The Sunday Times last weekend on the theft of a Van Gogh from the Singer Laren Museum in the Netherlands. In addition, the recent robbery of several masterpieces from the Christ Church Picture Gallery in Oxford, including a superb Van Dyck (pictured), a Salvator Rosa and a Annibale Carracci, shows that Old Master Paintings are not immune to this worrying trend.
Many have been speculating on Twitter as to whether this particular job was ‘made to order’ by some Hollywood-inspired criminal mastermind with a penchant for Old Masters. Let’s hope these important pictures are eventually recovered, and that galleries do the best they can to keep vigilant.
Encouraging news for Old Master Paintings Sales
April 8 2020
Picture: Sotheby’s
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Some very encouraging news to report from the Old Master Paintings auction world today. The London dealer Rafael Valls’s recent online sale with Sotheby’s brought in a total of £1,601,375 (inc. fees). This number was nearly four times the pre-sale estimate of £430,000, as Head of Department Andrew Fletcher reported via. his Instagram page.
Having a look through the results it seems that many paintings did extremely well against their estimates. The most impressive result, especially considering the current climate, was for a Portrait of a gentleman standing beside a framed portrait of a Lady – Italian Flemish School 17th century (pictured) which made £275,000 (inc. fees) against an estimate of £8,000 – £12,000.
Auctioning in collaborating with art dealers has always been something of a risky business, especially if they are generally perceived as a ‘stock sale’ by the trade (ie. pictures that dealers have not yet sold privately). I’ve personally never seen the shame in this at all, a good picture will always be a good picture. However, what auctions do provide is that all important factor of the urgency of time. Auction houses too can bring greater exposure than dealers can sometimes muster themselves. This is particularly the case online. Equally, in our age where the pool of finding good pictures is generally shrinking, finding attractive pictures for sale will always be of interest to the auction houses.
A message from the Deputy Editor
April 8 2020
Picture: BG
Longstanding readers will know that the Deputy Editor (my daughter, Gabriella) plays a vital role in writing the blog. She would, like me, like to apologise for the lack of posts until recently, and points out that she has in fact been training to be a conservator. (So far, the signs are good.)
The Deputy Editor would also like to congratulate Adam on his appointment as Assistant Deputy Editor.
BBC Newsnight: Pandemic told through Art
April 8 2020
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
BBC's Newsnight ran an interesting interview with the art historian and broadcaster James Fox last night. The subject was discussing art works that we turn to during such troubling times. Fox picked pictures by Barbara Hepworth, Andrew Wyeth and George Frederic Watts.
I've been thinking about which three consoling paintings I might have picked. Those in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries might have gone for a more melancholic Vanitas still life, which brings to mind the transcience of all worldly things. However, I'm not sure this would suit modern tastes, where death is pushed away as much as possible.
Maybe readers of AHN have some good suggestions?
The Royal Hospital 'Greate Peece'
April 7 2020
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
In December last year, during this blog's hiatus, the Jordaens Van Dyck Panel Paintings Project (JVDPPP) uploaded a very interesting video detailing new research and visual analysis of a painting in the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
This picture was long believed to be 'an important copy' of Van Dyck's group portrait of Charles I and his family in the Royal Collection, more widely known as the 'Greate Peece'. However, questions have always remained, is it or is it not good enough to be by Van Dyck himself?
The lecture is delivered by the project's co-founder Justin Davies and researcher James Innes-Mulraine.
Mystery Painting acquired by Art Gallery in Toronto
April 7 2020
Picture: The Star
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada, are appealing to experts to find out more about one of the gallery's recent acquisitions.
The mid-eighteenth century painting entitled "Portrait of a Lady Holding an Orange Blossom" is believed to have been painted by a European trained artist living in some part of the globe. Currently, absolutely no information is known about who the sitter was or where it was painted.
As the AGO's assistant curator of European Art Adam Levine explains;
'Portrait of a Lady Holding an Orange Blossom' is an extremely rare work because few depictions of people of colour by European-trained artists from the 18th century have survived.
Given the scarcity of works that are like this painting, it really ecnourages us to cast a wide net with our research and talk to experts all around the world.
Update - Bendor here, adding my two pence worth;
When this picture came up for sale at auction, there was mention of traces of a signature, 'J Schul.. fec.' This was linked tenatively to names such as Johann Caspar Schulz (1735/50-1846), Joachim Christian Schulz (1721-1786), and Johann Christian Schulz (active circa 1750). I can't make any convincing matches to these names myself, and I wonder if J. S. C. Schaak (active 1759–1780) might be a name to consider. He's principally known for painting General Wolfe, on a small scale, but he did larger works, such as these and these.
British Baroque: Power and Illusion
April 7 2020
Picture: Tate via. The National Trust
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Tate’s outstanding new exhibition British Baroque: Power and Illusion was one of the recent casualties of the corona virus lockdown. Although the show was due to run until 19th April 2020, it seems unlikely that it will reopen before any lockdown is lifted. This is an enormous shame, as all images I have seen of it make it appear like a true feast for the eyes.
One of the most intriguing projects associated with the exhibition was the restoration the famous eight Petworth ‘Beauties’. These seven full length paintings by Michael Dahl, and one by Godfrey Kneller respectively, were reduced in size by the 3rd Earl of Egremont in the 1820s. The National Trust, who now care for the paintings, decided to embark on an ambitious programme for their restoration. Fortunately, the Courtauld Institute have shared a lecture recently given by Richard Ashbourne and Katya Belaia of the National Trust detailing this fascinating work.
If like me you didn’t get the chance to see the exhibition before the Tate shut its doors, then there is some consolation to be had. Due to the power of social media, the exhibition’s AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award researcher Amy Lim has been posting daily virtual tours of each room via her Twitter page. These also include behind the scenes images that you wouldn’t usually get to see. Well worth flicking through if you enjoy sumptuous baroque works of art as much as I do.
