US Embassy in Paris sends George Washington to be Conserved

February 4 2025

Image of US Embassy in Paris sends George Washington to be Conserved

Picture: US Embassy, Paris

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

The US Embassy in Paris is sending their portrait of George Washington to France’s Center for Research and Restoration of Museum of France (C2RMF) to be conserved. According to the article linked above, when the painting was bequeathed to the US State Department in 1989 it was believed to be a straightforward copy. Only when technical analysis was undertaken in 2022 was it declared a work by Charles Willson Peale in full.

Colour & Light in Bedford

February 4 2025

Image of Colour & Light in Bedford

Picture: The Higgins Bedford

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

The Higgins in Bedford, Bedfordshire, will be opening their latest temporary exhibition in a few days' time dedicated to Colour & Light.

According to their website:

Colour and Light is a captivating new exhibition exploring the fascinating relationship between colour and light in art from the 18th century to the present day. 

The exhibition will showcase a dazzling array of works from The Cecil Higgins Art Gallery Collection, including iconic pieces by JMW Turner, John Singer Sargent, Sonia Delaunay, Peter Blake, and Chila Kumari Singh Burman.

The show will run from 15th February until 2nd November 2025.

Upcoming Release: Holbein

February 4 2025

Image of Upcoming Release: Holbein

Picture: Yale University Press

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

Exciting news that Yale University Press will be publishing a new in-depth biography on Hans Holbein the Younger in November 2025. The volume has been produced by Elizabeth Goldring, who has published widely on Tudor subjects including Nicholas Hilliard and Robert Earl of Leicester.

According to the book's blurb:

This landmark scholarly biography of Hans Holbein the Younger (c.1497–1543), court painter to Henry VIII, is the first in more than a century. This definitive account breathes new life into Holbein’s story. From his early days in Augsburg and Basel to his lasting impact on British art and culture, Holbein sheds light on the artist whose paintings would shape perceptions of the Tudor court for five hundred years. [...]

Beautifully illustrated, and including rarely seen paintings from private collections, this volume weaves the latest research – including new archival discoveries and scientific analysis – into a fresh examination of Holbein’s life and work.

Christie's New York El Greco Withdrawn?

February 4 2025

Image of Christie's New York El Greco Withdrawn?

Picture: newsweek.ro / Christie's

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

It's very sad news to see that the upcoming Saint Sebastian by El Greco has disappeared from the Christie's website, suggesting that the picture may have been withdrawn from their upcoming New York sale. There had been growing numbers of articles from the Romanian press regarding its provenance and how exactly the picture came to leave the Romanian royal collection. Although many of the press articles had claimed that the Romanian government had succeeded with placing some sort of block on the sale, the painting had continued to be on the auction house's website for some days. More news as and when it breaks.

Have you seen this Mengs?

February 3 2025

Image of Have you seen this Mengs?

Picture: rtve.es

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

News from Spain that the Prado in Madrid are looking for the following painting of Saint Cecilia by Anton Raphael Mengs. The picture was last seen during an exhibition in 2001 where the work was described as being in a Private Collection, Rome. The museum hoping to exhibit the canvas in an upcoming show which opens in November.

Frick Curatorial Fellowship

February 3 2025

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

The Frick Collection in New York are seeking applications for the Stephen K. and Janie Woo Scher Fellowship, 2025–26.

Here's the job description:

The Frick Collection is pleased to announce the availability of a six-month fellowship for an outstanding candidate who wishes to pursue research in the field of medals with a chronology spanning from around the year 1400 to 1900. The fellowship offers invaluable curatorial training and provides the scholarly and financial resources required for completing the assigned research project. Internationally renowned for its exceptional collection of western European art from the early Renaissance through the end of the nineteenth century, The Frick Collection—complemented by the equally significant resources of the Frick Art Reference Library—offers a unique opportunity for object-based research. The fellowship is best suited to a scholar pursuing research that contributes to expanding knowledge in the field of medals, and ideally around one or more objects included the vast collection of medals donated to the Frick by Stephen K. and Janie Woo Scher. 

The 6-month role comes with renumeration of $28,500 and applications must be in by 6th February 2025.

There's also an advert up for the Ayesha Bulchandani Curatorial Internship for Graduate Students, with separate details accessible via the link.

Good luck if you're applying!

Recent Release: Slavery and the Invention of Dutch Art

February 3 2025

Image of Recent Release: Slavery and the Invention of Dutch Art
Picture: dukeupress.edu

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

Duke University Press have just published a new volume on Slavery and the Invention of Dutch Art by the Clark Art Institute scholar Caroline Fowler. The book was recently the focus of a review on Hyperallergic, which asks 'Why Isn’t Slavery Depicted in Dutch Painting?'.
According to the publisher's website:

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In Slavery and the Invention of Dutch Art, Caroline Fowler examines the fundamental role of the transatlantic slave trade in the production and evolution of seventeenth-century Dutch art. Whereas the sixteenth-century image debates in Europe engaged with crises around the representation of divinity, Fowler argues that the rise of the transatlantic slave trade created a visual field of uncertainty around picturing the transformation of life into property. Fowler demonstrates how the emergence of landscape, maritime, and botanical painting were deeply intertwined with slavery’s economic expansion. Moreover, she considers how the development of one of the first art markets was inextricable from the trade in human lives as chattel property. Reading seventeenth-century legal theory, natural history, inventories, and political pamphlets alongside contemporary poetry, theory, and philosophy from Black feminism and the African diaspora, Fowler demonstrates that ideas about property, personhood, and citizenship were central to the oeuvres of artists such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Hercules Segers, Frans Post, Johannes Vermeer, and Maria Sibylla Merian and therefore inescapably within slavery’s grasp.

{/box}

Earl of Harewood sells Lady Worsley by Reynolds for about £25m

February 2 2025

Image of Earl of Harewood sells Lady Worsley by Reynolds for about £25m

Picture: Harewood House via Facebook

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

A reader has very kindly drawn my attention to big news published by the FT that the Earl of Harewood has sold Sir Joshua Reynolds' iconic portrait of Lady Worsley to the US private equity executive Steve Schwarzman for 'about £25m'. Schwarzman, co-founder of private equity group Blackstone, has purportedly been amassing a serious art collection for his Conholt Park in Wiltshire, a property which he is in the process of restoring. Alongside the Harewood Reynolds, which the paper describes as having been acquired through a private sale brokered by Christie's, Schwarzman has also acquired Thomas Gainsborough's full-length portrait of Lady Bate-Dudley (through the London dealers Simon C Dickinson), which until recently was on loan from a private collection to Tate Britain.

According to the article linked above:

The billionaire declined to comment this week but people close to the transactions confirmed that he was the buyer of both works. The Lascelles family decided to sell the Reynolds’ portrait to help cover the upkeep of Harewood House after receiving an anonymous offer through Christie’s private sales department. [...]

Representatives of Schwarzman have made approaches to other owners of rare 18th century paintings, according to people with knowledge of the London market. Sales have been made easier by the fact that he is not applying for export licences for the works, so there is no risk of any deal being blocked by the UK government.

Picture Specialists Wanted

February 1 2025

Image of Picture Specialists Wanted

Picture: drawrecruitment.com

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

It has been drawn to my attention that Draw Recruitment (specialists in art jobs) are currently looking for several picture specialists for various auction houses across the UK.

These include:

(1) Head of Pictures (North of England) - Established auction house with an already thriving department - Salary Negotiable - Depending on Experience.
(2) Old Masters Specialist ( Home Counties - North) - Established auction house - Salary Negotiable - ideally full time, but part time would be considered.
(3) Head of Pictures (South West of England) - Established auction house - Salary Negotiable - Full-Time 

Head over to their website to find out more.

Picasso and Paper in Cleveland

February 1 2025

Image of Picasso and Paper in Cleveland

Picture: Cleveland Museum of Art

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

I'm late to news that the Cleveland Museum of Art opened a fascinating sounding exhibition in December dedicated to Picasso and Paper.

According to their website:

Pablo Picasso’s prolonged engagement with paper is the subject of the groundbreaking exhibition Picasso and Paper, organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in partnership with the Musée national Picasso-Paris.

Showcasing nearly 300 works spanning the artist’s career, the exhibition highlights Picasso’s relentless exploration of paper. His appreciation of and experimentation with the material is revealed in the works ranging from collages of cut-and-pasted papers to sculptures from pieces of torn and burnt paper, manipulated photographs, drawings in virtually all available media, and prints in an array of techniques. The exhibition’s highlights include Femmes à leur toilette (1937–38), an extraordinarily large collage (9 13/16 x 14 1/2 feet) of cut-and-pasted papers, which will be exhibited for the first time in the United States; outstanding Cubist papiers collés; artist’s sketchbooks, including studies for his best known paintings, including Les Demoiselles d’Avignon; constructed paper guitars from the Cubist and Surrealist periods; and an array of works related to major paintings and sculptural projects.

The show will run until 23rd March 2025.

Beefsteak Club acquire Mercier Gambling Den

February 1 2025

Image of Beefsteak Club acquire Mercier Gambling Den

Picture: Dickinson

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

The London dealers Simon C Dickinson Ltd have announced their sale of Philippe Mercier's The Hazard Table to the historic Beefsteak Club.

According to the text from their Instagram post:

Influenced by Hogarth’s The Rake Progress, Mercier shows a moment of high drama, with a man jestering in despair having just squandered a fortune. Surmounting the chimney piece is a bust of Mercury, the god of financial gain and fraud and trickery, aptly surveying the gambling club below.

As part of our research we discovered that the picture was owned by three members of the original Beefsteak Club, and hung at the Bedford Arms in Covent Garden, where the original patriotic dining club, including Hogarth himself, met to dine on beef steaks every Saturday.

I had the chance to see the painting in person at the end of last year. It's an impressive work and filled with many curious pentimenti which shows Mercier must have laboured over many of the small details found within the picture.

Master Drawings New York 2025

February 1 2025

Image of Master Drawings New York 2025

Picture: masterdrawingsnewyork.com

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

Master Drawings New York 2025 opens today. With 29 art dealers spread out across 29 galleries, the sheer volume and quality of works on display appears to be rather impressive indeed! For those readers who can't make it to NY this year (including myself, alas) here's an electronic flippable catalogue providing an overview of the dealers and artworks involved.

Krannert Art Museum acquire Willem Bartsius

February 1 2025

Image of Krannert Art Museum acquire Willem Bartsius

Picture: Krannert Art Museum

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

I missed this news story at the end of last year that the Krannert Art Museum in Illinois acquired Willem Bartsius's Samson and Delilah. The work was purchased through the London dealer Ben Elwes.

According to the article linked above:

One major work acquired this spring is an oil painting of Samson and Delilah by Dutch painter Willem Bartsius, who like Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam in the 1630s. Few works by Bartsius survive, and this one is considered his best, said Maureen Warren, KAM’s curator of European and American art. It is a history painting, a category that includes stories from mythology, literature and the Bible. The museum has a fine collection of early modern European paintings, but not many history paintings.

The End of London Art Week

January 30 2025

Image of The End of London Art Week

Picture: londonartweek.co.uk

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

I was sorry to see that the organisation known as London Art Week had announced that their December 2024 edition was their last. This is of course an enormous shame, as the pooling together of the London trade (not to mention the vast number of talks and events) was always a seasonal highlight.

Caravaggio 2025

January 30 2025

Image of Caravaggio 2025

Picture: Palazzo Barberini

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

The Palazzo Barberini in Rome will be hosting a blockbuster exhibition on Caravaggio in 2025. Alongside a reported 'exceptional number of autograph paintings', the press release also promises the display of 'new discoveries'.

The show will run from 7th March until 6th July 2025.

Rediscovered Constable Sketch at Tennants

January 30 2025

Image of Rediscovered Constable Sketch at Tennants

Picture: Tennants

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

The auction house Tennants in North Yorkshire will be offering a recently rediscovered sketch by John Constable in a few days' time. The scene, which depicts Dedham Vale looking towards Langham and was painted circa 1809-14, relates to a more developed painting in Neue Pinakothek in Munich. It will be offered for sale on 15th March 2025 carrying an estimate of £150,000 - 200,000.

Horace Walpole's Fontana Miniature on display at Strawberry Hill

January 30 2025

Image of Horace Walpole's Fontana Miniature on display at Strawberry Hill

Picture: Period Portraits / The British Museum

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

Strawberry Hill House, the marvellous former home of the collector Horace Walpole, will be displaying a recently rediscovered miniature by Lavinia Fontana which had once formed part of its celebrated collection. The miniature was acquired in a provincial US auction by the dealer Nick Cox and subsequent research revealed its attribution and illustrious provenance. The work will be on display there until 23rd April 2025 and there will be a special lecture by V&A curator Adriana Concin-Tavella (who made the connection to Walpole) on 12th February delving further into this rediscovery.

New Release: Canaletto and Guardi - Views of Venice at the Wallace Collection

January 30 2025

Image of New Release: Canaletto and Guardi - Views of Venice at the Wallace Collection

Picture: The Wallace Collection

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

The Wallace Collection in London are releasing a new book on their paintings by Canaletto and Guardi this month. The publication has been penned by Lelia Packer and Charles Beddington.

According to the museum's website:

Among the renowned Old Master paintings at the Wallace Collection in London is an important group of 27 eighteenth-century views of Venice, known as vedute, by Canaletto and his followers, including Francesco Guardi. They hang together in a dedicated gallery known as the Canaletto Room, but until recently the majority had not been cleaned since the nineteenth century and their original beauty was obscured by multiple layers of discoloured varnish.

The paintings have now been restored, following a multi-year conservation and research project, and this book presents them in their renewed splendour. It features essays and commentaries by Charles Beddington, the global expert on vedute, and by Wallace Collection curator Lelia Packer, which provide fresh insights into the artists’ creative processes, the dating of pictures and their authorship. Canaletto and Guardi is a gorgeous celebration of the beauty of Venice that these paintings convey.

Nationalmusée Luxembourg acquire three works by Monique Daniche

January 30 2025

Image of Nationalmusée Luxembourg acquire three works by Monique Daniche

Picture: tajan.com

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

The Nationalmusée Luxembourg have announced their recent acquisition of three works by Monique Daniche (1737-1824), a portrait painter who made her fame painting the elite of Strasbourg at the turn of the 18th / 19th centuries. The picture illustrated above appears to have been acquired from Tajan last June.

Click on the link above to read more about her fascinating life.

Edit British Art Studies Journal

January 30 2025

Image of Edit British Art Studies Journal

Picture: Paul Mellon Centre

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

The Paul Mellon Centre in London is hiring an Editor-in-Chief for the British Art Studies Journal.

According to their website:

An editor-in-chief is sought to lead the team at British Art Studies (BAS). Working collaboratively with authors and colleagues at the journal, the editor-in-chief will set the direction for future issues. They will proactively commission material for publication and carry out hands-on editorial work such as line editing texts and developing projects with authors. This is an exciting new opportunity to develop the future of BAS.

About the Journal
BAS is a peer-reviewed and open access journal for new research on the histories of British art, architecture and visual culture. Opening and testing the boundaries of “British” as a category, and reflecting critically on methodologies for British art history, are core areas of focus for the journal. As a digital-only platform, the journal also explores how to present research in novel ways online, experimenting with new tools and feature formats. In 2025, an updated design will mark the tenth anniversary of BAS.

The job (which is freelance with a requirement of one day a week for two years) comes with a salary of £12,000 per annum and applications must be in by 10th February 2025.

Good luck if you're applying!

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