Previous Posts: April 2025
City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s-1940s
April 8 2025
Picture: National Gallery Singapore
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Gallery Singapore have just recently opened this rather intriguing exhibition entitled City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s-1940s.
According to their website:
This first ever major comparative exhibition aims to re-read the art history of Paris from an Asian perspective, inviting the public to delve deeper into how Asian artists lived, worked, and exhibited there in a dynamic period of modern art history.
The exhibition transports audiences to an era when Paris was at the height of modernity. The new elegant Art Deco style influenced everything from fashion and furniture to advertising, drawing from Asian inspirations. Migrants from around the world imbued fresh influences into art, music, and dance. Asian artists brought their distinctive heritage to Paris and engaged with the city’s modern art world. At the same time, Paris was the seat of a colonial empire, which had complex and troubling implications for artists from the colonies.
The show will run until 17th August 2025.
Burgundian Portrait coming up at Sotheby's London
April 8 2025
Picture: Sotheby's via. Arts Council
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Following on from last weeks announcements on the Arts Council Website, the following painting catalogued as 'Burgundian School, circa 1500 Portrait of a Gentleman bust length in dark costume and hat' has been announced as part of Sotheby's London's Evening Auction in July. The artwork carries a guide price of £500,000.
Recently Opened: Barocco Globale at the Scuderie del Quirinale
April 8 2025
Video: Agenzia di Stampa ITALPRESS
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome opened their latest exhibition last week entitled Barocco Globale. Il mondo a Roma nel secolo di Bernini. Organised in collaboration with the Galleria Borghese in Rome, the show focuses on global influences in the works of major seventeenth century artists working in Rome during the Baroque and will run until 13th July 2025.
Denver borrows Rembrandts from NGA
April 8 2025
Picture: NGA via. CODART
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from CODART (the international network of curators of Dutch and Flemish art) that the Denver Art Museum has borrowed two Rembrandts from the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. (NGA). The loan is part of the NGA's “Across the Nation” programme, to celebrate the upcoming 250th Anniversary of the founding of the USA in 2026.
Rubens Last Supper to be Restored
April 8 2025
Picture: Pinacoteca di Brera
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Italy that the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan will be conserving their Last Supper by Rubens. The project will be undertaken under the supervision of Andrea Carini, head of the museum's scientific laboratories, and has been funded by PWC Italia.
Assist with Curating the King's Pictures
April 8 2025
Picture: Royal Collection Trust
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Royal Collection Trust are hiring an Assistant Curator (maternity cover).
According to the job description:
It's learning something new while surrounded by masterpiece paintings.
It’s working as one to deliver impressive projects. And it’s the satisfaction of presenting and sharing one of the world’s largest art collections. This is what makes working for Royal Collection Trust so different.
One of the largest and most important art collections in the world, The Royal Collection runs to more than a million objects, including 8000 paintings and 3000 miniatures. Spread among fifteen Royal residences and former residences across the UK, displayed at exhibitions at The King’s Galleries in London and Edinburgh and via loans, it is unique in both scale and variety.
As an Assistant Curator, you'll work with a worldclass collection of European paintings and support the team with a wide range of curatorial activities to ensure our collection is presented to the highest of standards and enjoyed by thousands of visitors.
The job comes with a salary of £30,000 and applications must be in by 20th April 2025.
Good luck if you're applying!
Middle Eastern Works by David Roberts coming up at Sotheby's
April 4 2025
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A large and rare collection of Middle Eastern views by David Roberts, R.A. will be coming up for sale at Sotheby's London on 29th April 2025. The 35 works on paper on offer include views of Petra, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Sidon and Baalbec, amongst other studies.
AI to Reimagine Lost Delacroix Frescoes?
April 4 2025
Video: via Instagram
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Scientists and Art Historians in France may have finally come across a genuinely interesting way to employ AI in the field of art historical research. A new research project entitled Digital Delacroix has joined figures from the Sorbonne and AI geeks from Schmidt Sciences in order to recreate lost Delacroix frescoes that were destroyed by fire at the Hôtel de Ville in 1871. AI will apparently be bringing together and process surviving studies and archival material to digitally recreate these lost works. Click on the link above to read more.
Let's hope Delacroix's figures won't end up having 6 fingers and three arms (which often happens with lots of AI generated images these days)...
Online Lecture on Paulus Potter Rediscovery
April 4 2025
Picture: icon.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Institute for Conservation (ICON) are hosting an online lecture on 5th June 2025 entitled Uncovering a Lost Masterpiece: The Hidden Story Behind Paulus Potter’s The Abduction of Europa.
According ot their website:
A long-lost monumental painting by Dutch master Paulus Potter has been rediscovered - thanks to a 1664 newspaper announcement!
Research has now linked Head of a White Bull, a fragment in the National Gallery of Ireland, to this forgotten work. Technical analysis has uncovered Europa herself, hidden beneath layers of overpainting. Once a grand mythological scene, the painting was cut down and altered over time, obscuring Potter’s rare foray into mythology.
This discovery not only expands his known oeuvre but also challenges the long-held belief that his genius was confined to animal depictions.
Non-members are welcome to join and booking details are available via the link above.
Marie-Guillemine Benoist coming up in France
April 4 2025
Picture: Thierry-Lannon
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A portrait by Marie-Guillemine Benoist, rediscovered with the help of the art agents Turquin, is coming up for sale at Thierry-Lannon in France next week. Signed and dated 1806, the portrait depicts the playwright and administrator Jean-Louis Brousse-Desfaucherets, who had many works performed during the revolutionary period in France. The painting will be offered with an estimate of 120,000 - 150,000 EUR.
The Klesch Collection Scholarship for Graduate Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Painting
April 3 2025
Picture: The Klesch Collection
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Exciting news that The Klesch Collection are inviting applications for the 2025 The Klesch Collection Scholarship for Graduate Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Painting.
According to their website:
Who can apply?
Any graduate student who has been accepted into a full-time Art History MA, MPhil or PhD course of study worldwide, beginning the next academic year. PhD students are welcome to apply for any year in their programme. Applications will be considered from students who will focus/are focusing their studies on European and British painting of the Renaissance and Baroque periods (c. 1400–1700).
What does The Klesch Collection Scholarship include?
-Payment towards the yearly cost of the university fees.
-A paid internship at the collection for a minimum of 1 month.
Applications must be in by 20th June 2025.
Good luck if you're applying!
YCBA Reopens with Romney Show
April 3 2025
Picture: YCBA
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) reopened to the public last week. I am reliably informed that the redisplay of the center's Long Gallery features no fewer than 205 works of art in a tightly packed format. As images of the space makes clear, this approach does show off the YCBA's rich holdings in a way which is rarely encountered here in British institutions.
To celebrate the reopening the YCBA have even put on a new show at the nearby Yale University Art Gallery entitled Romney: Brilliant Contrasts in Georgian England. It will run until 14th September 2025.
Attributed Caravaggio on display in Gorizia
April 3 2025
Video: Telequattro
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Italy that a picture of the Taking of Christ attributed to Caravaggio, which relates to the famous painting in the National Gallery of Ireland, has been put on display in the town of Gorizia. The picture caused some controversy when it was unveiled in 2023, the first time it was exhibited in 70 years apparently. It will be on display until 30th June 2025 before it heads back to its vault until 2027.
Conservation and Technical Project on André Derain's Waterloo Bridge
April 3 2025
Picture: Thyssen Bornemisza Collection
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Thyssen Bornemisza Collection in Madrid have released news today of a conservation and technical project on André Derain's Waterloo Bridge (1906). This includes new insights into his technique and materials, details of which can be found on the page for the painting on their website.
Going going....
April 3 2025
Picture: BBC
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The BBC has published the latest news on the ongoing question of the future of Bouchardon's bust of Sir John Gordon. The Highland Council, who didn't know they had the sculpture until it was rediscovered in 1998, have applied for an export permit for it to leave the country so that £2.5m may be sought for the Invergordon Common Good Fund. More news when it appears.
Paul van Somer in the Burlington
April 2 2025
Picture: Burlington Magazine via. Edward Town on Instagram
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
April's edition of The Burlington Magazine features the usual array of fascinating bits of art history research, including on the late Elizabethan / Jacobean portrait painter Paul van Somer (pictured above).
Here's a list of the leading articles featured:
Turner’s ‘Staffa, Fingal’s Cave’: exporting ‘indistinctness’ - By Ian Warrell
‘The monarch of the glen’: painting for the new Houses of Parliament - By Stephen Duffy
The discovery of James Gibbs’s designs for the façade of Burlington House - By William Aslet
A serendipitous discovery: a lost Italian portrait from Horace Walpole’s miniature cabinet - by Adriana Concin-Tavella
The portraits of Alice Spencer, Countess of Derby, and her family by Paul van Somer - By Edward Town and Jessica David
Venetian Turner View for €38m in Vienna
April 2 2025
Picture: wien.orf.at
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Artnews.com have shared news (alongside the Austrian broadcaster ORF) that a Viennese gallery are offering a Venetian view by JWM Turner for €38m. The picture has been backed by a study which features contributions from curators at the Belvedere and members of Institute for Science and Technology in Art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
To quote the article above:
In the study published by Artziwna, researchers said that they believe their findings confirm Turner is the work’s creator. But they also wrote that they weren’t successful in attracting other international experts to peer-review their findings.
“We were unable to win other established Turner experts for our research,” the gallery’s director, George Ziwna, said in a foreword included in the publication. All inquiries to the Tate museum network in London to discuss the work went unanswered, he said.
Stolen George Washington Portrait Found in Vacated Hotel Room
April 2 2025
Video: CBSNews
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Colorado that a portrait of George Washington, which was stolen from a storage facility in 2024, has been recovered. The picture was apparently found in a vacated hotel room.
Constable, Stubbs and more coming up at Christie's London
April 2 2025
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Eagle eye watchers of the Art Council Private Treaty Sales page will spot that several paintings from the upcoming Christie's London Part I sale have been published online.
Some of the more exciting lots are John Constable's The Ferry (pictured), a picture which has been on long-term loan at Tate and will be offered with a guide price around £2m. Additionally, the list features a rather fine George Stubbs of a Prancing Horse in a Landscape with Two Dogs estimated at around £1.2m.
Other intriguing lots include this rather interesting painting of King Charles I by Cornelis Johnson signed and dated 1622, which carries an estimate of around £200,000.
Click on the link above for more details regarding these pictures and other upcoming lots.
Bernardo Strozzi in Estonia
April 1 2025
Video: TV3 Eesti
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Kadriorg Art Museum in Tallinn, Estonia, has just opened a new exhibition on Bernardo Strozzi.
According to the museum's website:
The comprehensive exhibition of the works of the Italian painter of the early Baroque Bernardo Strozzi (1582–1644) is being co-curated by Anna Orlando from Genoa, a distinguished scholar on Bernardo Strozzi and 17th century art culture in Genoa, and Greta Koppel, a curator at the Kadriorg Art Museum.
The exhibition brings together around 45 paintings and graphic works by this highly talented and versatile Italian artist, from European museums and from private collections, including masterpieces that have not been publicly displayed before. It is the first time that the two famous masterpieces by Strozzi, The Allegory of Painting (ca 1635, Palazzo Spinola, Genoa) and the Portrait of Barbara Strozzi (?) (ca. 1640, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden) will be shown together.
The show will run until 6th July 2025.
