The Tudors at the MET in October
February 27 2022
Picture: MET
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Here is some news that is bound to stir the excitement of Tudor fans worldwide.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York have revealed that they will be putting on a significant sixteenth-century English art exhibition in the autumn. The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England is scheduled to run from 10th October 2022 until 8th January 2023.
According to the museum's website:
England under the volatile Tudor dynasty was a thriving home for the arts. An international community of artists and merchants, many of them religious refugees, navigated the high-stakes demands of royal patrons, including England’s first two reigning queens. Against the backdrop of shifting political relationships with mainland Europe, Tudor artistic patronage legitimized, promoted, and stabilized a series of tumultuous reigns, from Henry VII’s seizure of the throne in 1485 to the death of his granddaughter Elizabeth I in 1603. The Tudor courts were truly cosmopolitan, boasting the work of Florentine sculptors, German painters, Flemish weavers, and Europe’s best armorers, goldsmiths, and printers, while also contributing to the emergence of a distinctly English style. This exhibition will trace the transformation of the arts in Tudor England through more than 100 objects—including iconic portraits, spectacular tapestries, manuscripts, sculpture, and armor—from both The Met collection and international lenders.
The exhibition is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Cleveland Museum of Art, in collaboration with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
'Rembrandt' in Mexico
February 25 2022
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Here's an interesting story. The Museo Nacional De Arte MUNAL in Mexico City have just opened a small exhibition partly dedicated to the following Rembrandt. The picture, which is said to depict Hendrickje Stoffels as Pallas Athene, has been loaned from a private European Collection. It of course shows a correspondence with the Pallas Athene now in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon (formerly in the collection of Catherine the Great of Russia, as it happens).
Alas, I can't find out much about the picture and its history from a casual search of the RKD etc. However, the work was recently exhibited in Augsburg in a show called (from the German translation) Rembrandt: The Teacher, where the work was described as "recently attributed to him." If any readers might have a reference for the picture, I'd be glad to hear of it.
Update - A few readers have kindly been in touch to share details of the catalogue notes from the Augsburg and Aalen exhibitions. It seems the picture was noted in Werner Sumowski's publications on Rembrandt and his school. The catalogue notes also suggest that the picture might well be the Pallas Athene recorded in 1678 inventory of Rembrandt's creditor Herman Becker. Details about the condition of the picture are also revealed, including the fact that the painting seems to have significantly cut down on all sides. Do find yourself a copy of the exhibition catalogues if you'd like to read more.
The Louvre acquires a Houdon Bronze
February 25 2022
Picture: @MuseeLouvre
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Louvre in Paris seems to be on a sculpture buying spree at the moment.
It has been announced on Twitter (no full press release yet, alas) that the museum has acquired the following bronze of a muscular figure by Jean Antoine Houdon (1741–1828) (pictured). The bronze bears the signature of Houdon and was chased by sculptor Pierre Philippe Thomire (1751-1843).
The Port of Cork Collection on display in Cork
February 25 2022
Picture: @crawfordartgall
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Crawford Art Gallery in Cork, Ireland, will be opening a new display tomorrow dedicated to a collection of 17 maritime painting the gallery was gifted in November 2021. It seems that the collection had been amassed by the company in charge of the city's Port, a site which has a long and rich history.
According to the gallery's website:
This significant collection consists of 17 maritime paintings, a ship’s register (1912) from The Cork Harbour Commissioners referencing both the Titanic and Lusitania, an illuminated address to Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891), and a silver Admiralty Oar from 1686.
Now visitors will have the opportunity to encounter a selection of paintings from the Port of Cork collection, including works by George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson (1806-1884), Henry Albert Hartland (1840-1893), Robert Lowe Stopford (1813-1898), and Seán Keating (1889-1977). Although not attending to certain social or political realities of late nineteenth-century Ireland, these artworks do act as a visual reminder of that time.
They also underscore Cork Harbour's links with empire, its international significance for commerce and trade, and ever-present story of migration. Glimpses of half-remembered histories are framed within these heritage views of Cork Harbour. Each artist provides an insight into the Port of Cork's operations, from Atkinson's extraordinary rendering of naval vessels to Hartland and Stopford's depictions of commercial shipping and leisure craft. Perhaps unexpectedly, Keating's elevated View of the Port of Cork draws us into Cork City itself and remembers the busy working quays of recent memory.
Minneapolis Institute of Art acquires a Luca Giordano
February 25 2022
Picture: @artsmia
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Minneapolis Institute of Art have acquired Luca Giordano's Christ among the Doctors (c.1685). The work is actually a fresco on wicker support and dates to the period when Giordano was working on wall paintings at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence.
According to the museum's press release:
“Most of Giordano’s frescos are in situ on church walls and palace ceilings, so the appearance of this portable fresco on the market—a type of painting invented in Florence in the seventeenth century—provided a rare opportunity for Mia to add a fresco by the artist to the museum’s collection,” said Rachel McGarry, Elizabeth MacMillan Chair of European Art and Curator of European Painting and Works on Paper at Mia. “As the first Italian fresco to enter the museum’s collection, this acquisition strengthens our ability to tell the story of Italian painting while also significantly enhancing the museum’s holdings of Baroque art.”
Versailles's Madame de Maintenon Conserved
February 24 2022
Picture: Palace of Versailles
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Palace of Versailles have published a short article providing details concerning the recent conservation and restoration of Louis Ferdinand Elle the Elder's Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon (1635-1719), and her niece Françoise d'Aubigné, future Duchess of Noailles (1688).
It seems that the artist had originally intended for the portrait to be in a smaller format, as it was eventually extended on four sides to allow for a full-length painting. X-ray images have also shown that the sitter's dress had been changed from more fashionable lace attire to the austere costume that appears in the final image. The work was undertaken by the The National Centre for Research and Restoration in French Museums (C2RMF)
Modern Pre Raphaelite Visionaries in Leamington Spa
February 24 2022
Picture: Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Leamington Spa Art Gallery & Museum have won a significant grant from the Weston Loan Programme (with the Art Fund) for their upcoming exhibition Modern Pre Raphaelite Visionaries.
According to the exhibition's blurb:
Our summer blockbuster exhibition offers you the chance to rediscover a host of 'forgotten' British artists working at the turn of the twentieth century, including Frederick Cayley Robinson (pictured), Evelyn Pickering de Morgan and Charles Ricketts. These artists sought to understand their place in the changing modern world by re-examining the nostalgic and romantic art of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The exhibition is a rare opportunity to see the Gallery's important collection of Modern Pre-Raphaelite artwork in the context of significant loans from around the country including works from Tate, the British Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and many more.
The show is scheduled to run between 13th May 2022 until 18th September 2022.
Christie's Reveals July Highlights
February 24 2022
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The FT have published an article revealing two highlights from Christie's July Old Master Paintings sale in London. Both highlights come from the collection of philanthropists Cecil and Hilda Lewis. The first is a very pleasing Still Life (dated to 1633) by Jan den Uyl (1595/96–1639) estimated at £2.5m - £3.5m (pictured). The second is Lucas Cranach’s The Nymph of the Spring (c1540) which will be offered for between £6m and £8m. These two pictures were purchased by the couple in 1988 and 1990 respectively.
Art of the Celebrations of the Valois Court
February 24 2022
Picture: chateaudefontainebleau.fr
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Château de Fontainebleau will be opening their rescheduled exhibition L’art de la fête à la cour des Valois on 10th April 2022. Featuring a vast set of loans from the likes of the Uffizi Gallery, the Pitti Place and the MET in New York, the exhibition will focus on court festivities held during the reigns of Francis I until Henry III. Objects on display will include paintings, drawings, tapestries, parade weapons, costume and set designs and commemorative booklets.
The show will run from 10th April 2022 until 4th July 2022.
Louvre Acquires Bust of Architect Hector Lefuel
February 23 2022
Picture: Artcurial
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Louvre in Paris has pre-empted (acquired after auction for the French nation) Francisque Duret's (1804-1865) bust of the architect Hector Lefuel at Artcurial's auction in Paris earlier this week. Lefuel had been a winner of the Prix de Rome in 1839 and later worked on completing Napoleon III's reconstruction of the Louvre itself.
MET Acquires Renaissance Bronze Roundel
February 23 2022
Picture: nytimes.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has announced its acquisition of a Bronze roundel by Gian Marco Cavalli (1454-1508). The medallion, which depicts a scene from Roman mythology: Venus, at center, gazes at Mars while her husband Vulcan fashions a helmet, had long been in the sights of MET curators. Indeed, the museum had been outbid when the work of art was sold at auction in 2003. However, it has now completed the sale from a private collection in Britain after a temporary export ban from the UK Government failed to find an institution willing to stump up the equivalent of $23m to keep it in the country.
According to the article linked above:
In a statement, the Met’s director, Max Hollein, called the roundel “an absolute masterpiece, standing apart for its historical significance, artistic virtuosity and unique composition,” adding: “It is a truly transformational acquisition for the Met’s collection of Italian Renaissance sculpture.”
Art Institute of Chicago's Lawrence Mid-Clean
February 23 2022
Picture: Instagram via. @emersonbowyer
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Emerson Bowyer, Senior curator of European Painting & Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago, has shared these rather pleasing mid-clean pictures of Thomas Lawrence's Anna Maria Dashwood, later Marchioness of Ely. As you can see, Lawrence's vibrant colours really do shine when those layers of murky varnish are removed.
Here is what the picture looked like before conservation:
We'll await the finished results with great anticipation (!)
_____________
As an aside, what I would give to see the Wallace Collection's early Lawrence in the Front State Room cleaned. The transformation would surely be most impressive.
Portland Museum of Art plan to double in size with $85m Expansion
February 23 2022
Picture: The Portland Museum of Art
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Portland Museum of Art in Maine have unveiled plans for a vast expansion. This ambitious project will aim to double the size of the existing buildings to accommodate more galleries and visitor services. The museum has already raised $15m out of the $85m required to complete the new buildings and infrastructure.
Large Hugo van der Goes Exhibition in Berlin for 2023
February 22 2022
Picture: Berlin Gemäldegalerie
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Berlin Gemäldegalerie is planning a significant exhibition on Hugo van der Goes (ca. 1440–1482) for next year. The show will contain major loans from across the world alongside their own two monumental altarpieces by the artist.
According to the gallery's website:
While recent decades have seen exhibitions showcasing the work of almost all the major Netherlandish painters of the 15th and 16th centuries, Hugo van der Goes has been largely neglected. This is mainly due to the rarity of his works and their often impressive dimensions. Two of these large-format paintings are housed by the Gemäldegalerie, which is why this museum’s collection lends itself to a monographic show like no other. The two monumental Berlin panels, the Monforte Altarpiece (ca. 1470) and The Nativity (ca. 1480), will play a central role in the exhibition. Over the course of the past 12 years, both works have undergone extensive restoration work. Today, they exhibit a vibrancy that was previously unimaginable.
These two paintings will be joined by numerous important loans from European and American collections. The exhibition will provide viewers with the opportunity to compare the majority of this master’s preserved oeuvre for the very first time. Next to paintings on wood and canvas, a number of drawings offer a deeper insight into the production of this artist.
The exhibition has been scheduled to run from 31st March 2023 until 16th July 2023.
Murillo: Picturing the Prodigal Son
February 22 2022
Picture: The National Gallery of Ireland
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Meadows Museum in Dallas, Texas, have just opened a new exhibition reuniting Murillo's six canvases representing scenes from the parable of the Prodigal Son. Murillo: Picturing the Prodigal Son, which had previously been on display at the Prado last year, will be at the Meadows Museum of Art between 20th February 2022 and 12th June 2022.
According to the museum's website:
Murillo skillfully embellished the narrative, conveying the story’s themes of virtue and vice, regret and forgiveness, through the figures’ dramatic gestures and facial expressions. Each composition is at once singular and dynamic despite its preservation of narrative continuity. It is therefore all the more remarkable that the series has remained intact, the only by Murillo to be so, despite changing hands many times since its creation during one of the artist’s more prolific decades. Since 1987, the paintings have been in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.
In 2022, all six canvases will travel to the United States for the first time to be featured at the Meadows Museum, their only venue in this country. Marking the Meadows’s first collaboration with the National Gallery of Ireland, Picturing the Prodigal Son was inspired by the recent conservation work and the extensive technical analysis of the canvases carried out in Dublin, which has highlighted the beauty of Murillo’s technique and revealed new insights into his working method at a critical point in his career. The exhibition therefore marks a rare opportunity for American audiences to view an important painting series by Murillo in its entirety, just as it was created to be seen. As the largest repository of paintings by Murillo in the United States, the Meadows Museum is the ideal venue to exclusively present Murillo: Picturing the Prodigal Son.
NPG cuts ties with BP
February 22 2022
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London has announced the cutting of ties with its 30-year sponsor BP. The gallery has said that it will not renew its contract with the oil company when it comes up for renewal in December 2022. Although director Nicholas Cullinan has said that gallery is "hugely grateful" for the decades of money and sponsorship, increasingly loud pressure groups have maintained that the NPG should be a "forward-looking institution that’s on the right side of history”.
Face to Face: Picasso and the Old Masters in Málaga
February 22 2022
Picture: Picasso Museum Málaga
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Picasso Museum Málaga have opened their latest exhibition today entitled Face to Face: Picasso and the Old Masters.
According to the museum's website:
From 22nd February until 26th June 2022, visitors to the Museo Picasso Málaga will have a unique opportunity to discover the links between Pablo Picasso and leading artists of the past. The MPM will be hosting Face to Face. Picasso and the Old Masters, an exhibition, jointly organized with Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla, in which paintings by El Greco, Francisco Pacheco, Giovanni Battista Caracciolo, Francisco de Zurbarán, Cornelius Norbertus Gijsbretchs, Bernardo Lorente Germán and Diego Bejarano will be hung alongside major works by Pablo Picasso.
Face to Face. Picasso and the Old Masters presents paintings from the Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla’s remarkable collection of Spanish and other European Masters opposite nine important works by Picasso belonging to the Fundación Almine y Bernard Picasso para el Arte (FABA).
...
These pairings not only enable viewers to make specific comparisons between the work of Picasso and the Masters in order to understand how deeply Picasso’s art was rooted in Spanish traditions. The juxtapositions also allow us to discern how he transformed these traditions into the revolutionary art of the 20th century.
Wawel Castle acquire Brueghel the Younger and Willem Claesz Heda
February 21 2022
Picture: thefirstnews.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Wawel Castle in Poland have acquired two paintings by Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Willem Claesz Heda. The works were purchased from a French private collection and will be hung alongside the castle's Dutch pictures (which number to around 100, so it seems!)
Lincoln's Portrait Restored
February 21 2022
Picture: The Washington Post
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Washington Post have published a short article on a recently restored portrait of President Abraham Lincoln owned by the Hartley Dodge Foundation, New Jersey. The painting, completed by W.F.K. Travers in 1864 or 1865, had once been debated in Congress regarding its purchase for the Capitol. After this plan failed to materialise, the work was purchased by Rockefeller and later fell into several private collections until it was largely forgotten. Its current owners have only recently had the portrait restored and commissioned research to re-establish its provenance.
Donato Montorfano's Crucifixion undergoing Conservation
February 21 2022
Picture: finestresullarte
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Italian art website finestresullarte have published an extended article on the conservation of Donato Montorfano's (1460-1502) Crucifixion in the Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan. Famously, this fresco is situated opposite Leonardo's Last Supper. In fact, this large work opposite contains rather damaged portraits of Ludovico il Moro with his wife Beatrice d'Este which have been attributed to Leonardo himself. The link will also take you to many interesting pictures showing the work being undertaken on these fragile wall paintings.
