Leonardo's 'Salvator Mundi' to be sold at Christie's (ctd.)
November 12 2017
Video: Christie's
I love this video of people seeing Leonardo's Salvator Mundi. Christie's say 20,000 have been to see the painting on its world tour. I've been impressed by how Christie's have marketed the picture - in fact, I'd say that they've taken marketing Old Masters to a whole new level. A well deserved AHN pat on the back to all involved. The sale is on Wednesday 15th November. Anyone care to make a prediction?
Apologies...
November 9 2017
Sorry for the lack of posts this last few days - the Deputy Editor has been unwell. On the mend; back in business next week.
UK art historians call for abolition of image fees (ctd.)
November 7 2017
Picture: The Times
The campaign to abolish image reproduction fees for out of copyright paintings, drawings and prints held by UK national collections has moved up a gear. In parliament, Lord Freyberg has tabled the following questions to the Department for Culture Media and Sport:
- To ask Her Majesty's Government whether National Museums will review their imaging policies in the light of recent calls to abolish image fees for out of copyright paintings, prints and drawings.
- To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the charging of image fees for academic use by National Museums on their use in academic lectures and publications.
- To ask Her Majesty's Government whether National Museums will consider providing open access to images of publicly owned, out of copyright paintings, prints, and drawings so that they are free for the public to reproduce; and whether they have held discussions with non-UK museums about such access.
- To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they sanction each National Museum's interpretation of image copyright law; and if not, what measures are in place to review whether National Museums are interpreting image copyright law correctly.
- To ask Her Majesty's Government how much income was raised by each National Museum by licensing images of out of copyright works in the last five years.
- To ask Her Majesty's Government how National Museums assess whether the image fees they charge for academic use are reasonable; and what representations they have made to academic communities to evaluate their fees.
The first answers should come in within a couple of weeks. It will be particularly interesting to see the government's response on the question of copyright. Although we believe that there are strong moral, educational and public policy reasons to make images free, the question of whether museums are actually entitled to charge for 'licensing' copyright to third parties is crucial to the whole system. If, as I strongly suspect, it turns out that they are not, then museums will be under significant pressure to end charges for out of copyright artworks.
I'll be writing a post about the copyright issue in more detail soon.
Meanwhile, Neil Jeffares has posted his letter to the British Art Journal on image fees, from 13 years ago. It's sad that there has been no movement on the issue from museums, despite the likes of Neil and the BAJ making such a convincing argument for so long.
More museums join the free image revolution (ctd.)
November 6 2017
Picture: SMK
The National Gallery of Denmark has put images of its out of copyright artworks into the public domain. This means that, as the museum's website says;
[...] you have the right to:
- Share the images – i.e. to copy, distribute, and transmit them.
- Remix the images – i.e. modify and reuse them in new contexts.
- Use the images in any context – e.g. teaching, research, lectures, publications, film productions, etc. This includes commercial purposes.
Bravo SMK!
UK art historians call for abolition of image fees
November 6 2017
Picture: Times
The Times today published a letter from a group of Britain's leading art historian - including Professors Martin Kemp, David Solkin and Simon Schama, the editors of The Burlington Magazine, the British Art Journal and Art History, as well as Pontus Rosen of the Association for Art History - calling for the UK's national museums to abolish image fees for out of copyright paintings, prints and drawings. The Times also ran a long story on the letter too, here. Here's the text of the letter and the list of signatories:
Dear Sir,
The fees charged by the UK’s national museums to reproduce images of historic paintings, prints and drawings are unjustified, and should be abolished. Such fees inhibit the dissemination of knowledge that is the very purpose of public museums and galleries. Fees charged for academic use pose a serious threat to art history: a single lecture can cost hundreds of pounds; a book, thousands.
Fees are also charged despite the fact that the artworks in question are not only publicly owned, but out of copyright (that is, made by artists who died more than 70 years ago). Museums claim they create a new copyright when making a faithful reproduction of a 2D artwork by photography or scanning, but it is doubtful that the law supports this. Museums' rules for using images are confusing and inconsistent, and do not raise meaningful funds once costs are taken into account. We urge the UK's national museums to follow the example of a growing number of international museums (such as Holland’s Rijksmuseum) and provide open access to images of publicly owned, out of copyright paintings, prints, and drawings so that they are free for the public to reproduce.
Yours sincerely, (in alphabetical order)
- Hugh Belsey MBE, Senior Research Fellow, Paul Mellon Centre
- Diana Dethloff FSA, University College London
- Dr Rhoda Eitel-Porter, Editor, Print Quarterly
- Professor Anthony Geraghty, University of York
- Sir Nicholas Goodison FBA, FSA
- Antony Griffiths FBA, Chairman, The Walpole Society
- Dr Bendor Grosvenor
- Michael Hall FSA, Editor, The Burlington Magazine
- James Holloway CBE, former Director, Scottish National Portrait Gallery
- Waldemar Januszczak, The Sunday Times
- Professor Martin Kemp FBA, FRSE, University of Oxford
- Alex Kidson, independent art historian
- Michael Liversidge FSA, FRSA, Emeritus Dean, Faculty of Arts, Bristol University
- Dr Matt Lodder, University of Essex
- Dr Thomas Marks, Editor, Apollo
- Dr Alexander Marr, FSA, FRHistS, University of Cambridge
- Dr Dorothy Price FSA, University of Bristol, Editor, Art History
- Dr Janina Ramirez, University of Oxford
- Dr Jacqueline Riding, author and independent art historian
- Dr Malcolm Rogers CBE FSA, Director Emeritus, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Pontus Rosén, CEO, Association for Art History
- Professor Simon Schama CBE FRSL, Columbia University
- Dr Katherine Schofield, King’s College London
- Dr Robin Simon FSA, Editor, The British Art Journal
- Professor David Solkin FBA, Courtauld Institute of Art
- Dr Richard Stephens FSA
- Dr Duncan Thomson, former Director, Scottish National Portrait Gallery
- Professor Michael White, Head of History of Art, University of York
The letter was organised by myself and Dr Richard Stephens; we are very grateful to all those who signed. I've no doubt we could have got many more signatories. I hope that the list of names here gives museums serious pause for thought on this vitally important issue.
In The Times, Tate gave a very defensive, if interesting response:
The Tate said that it allows free non-commercial use of low-resolution images, and offers subsidised rates for high-resolution images for non- commercial use. “There are significant costs to Tate for creating authoritative images of works in the collection, both in the preparation of artwork to be photographed and in post-production of the photograph,” a spokeswoman said. “We recover some of these costs through our licensing activities but not all.”
Which is interesting, because normally institutions say they have to charge fees to raise revenue. So here it seems Tate are saying that their licensing operation actually costs them money. I'd love to know how many staff they employ to check which author has requested which print run, and whether the image will be a 1/4 page or a half page and so on. A Freedom of Information request will hopefully flush this out. Also, Tate's response would appear to suggest that they are passing all their photography costs onto the licensing operation, when of course having a decent photograph of an object is one of the basic requirements of collection care. Many departments within a museum will make use of images; conservation, marketing, online. But Tate seems not to share the cost of photography equally around the museum. Finally, you don't have to look far to discover that the vast majority of Tate's online images were paid for long ago - by a grant of public money.
But - watch this space. Tate are reviewing their image licensing policy in January 2018. We have just a couple of months to keep the pressure up, and achieve something really vital to the cause of art history.
Update - the British Museum were also quoted in The Times saying that providing photos was an expensive business. To which an informed source replies:
I thought it was a bit rich for the British Museum to state that the cost of making the images was so high since a huge number of these (notably their British print collection) was paid for with a grant of £500,000 from the Paul Mellon Centre awarded back in 2011.
Update II - via Twitter, an instance of the craziness of the current situation, faced by a PhD student at Cambridge:
More museums join the free image revolution
November 5 2017
Picture: Mauritshuis
Exciting news that the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia and the Mauritshuis in The Hague have made images of out of copyright artworks in their collection free to reproduce. The images are downloadable online in high resolution formats, and you can use them in any way you like. Brilliant. AHN applauds both institutions.
You can read more about the Mauritshuis' decision here on Europeana. And an article on Medium by Shelley Bernstein of The Barnes' reasoning makes an unarguable case in favour of more museums following their lead:
Providing open access to collection objects is a vital step in moving the institution forward in our digital world [...]
[...] it was critical that we promote downloads and sharing whenever possible — the result will mean that many more people can use these images — wherever they please — and that opens the institution up for even greater awareness which will help promote greater access, especially with the new audiences we are now seeking to develop.
Louvre Abu Dhabi opens
November 5 2017
Video: Louvre Abu Dhabi
This week the Louvre Abu Dhabi opens. It's a coup for the Louvre and French culture, and of course President Macron will be there. Would Theresa May be jetting off to, say, Tate Beijing? Would Tate ever contemplate such a thing? I doubt it. In The Observer, the V&A director Tristram Hunt says that we Brits need to up our game when it comes to making similar international cultural collaborations. This is quite true, in light of the British Museum's recent cancellation of their own Abu Dhabi project.
Murillo self-portraits at the Frick
November 5 2017
Video: Frick
The Frick Collection has reunited Murillo's two known self-portraits for the first time since the 18th Century. More here.
By the way, since the Frick's refusal to admit children under ten is so mean, I'm going to mention it every time AHN reports any news from the Frick. The Frick says it is because "few ropes or cases are used to guard fragile objects", but that makes no sense; of all the museums I've been to, the Frick's room wardens are the most brutal. If you even look like you're getting too close to a picture, they're onto you. The no kids rule dates back to 1935, and if you read the Frick's statement on the policy you get the feeling they're rather proud of it.
New Bernini show in Rome
November 5 2017
Video: Askanews via You Tube
A major new exhibition on Bernini has opened at the Galleria Borghese in Rome. The Galleria is home already to the most extraordinary collection of his works, including Apollo and Daphne, but now another 60 works have been assembled. One to get on a plane for.
The show is on until 4th February. More here on the Galleria's creakingly slow website, and an article here in the New York Times.
Connoisseurship for the ancients
November 5 2017
Picture: Economist
The Economist reports on a bold attempt by scientists in the US to figure who painted a group of 2nd century AD funerary portraits from ancient Egypt. We don't know the artists' names of course, but apparently discernable groups attributable to one hand can be distinguished. More here.
New discoveries at the JVDPPP
November 5 2017
Picture: JVDPPP
The new Jordaens Van Dyck Panel Paintings Project unveiled some more exciting discoveries at a press conference last week, including a previously unknown Jordaens panel above left. The picture is called The Penitent Peter and John the Evangelist Approaching the Tomb of Christ. From the JVDPPP website:
We had found a reference to it and a small black and white photograph, taken in 1971, in the database of the Belgian Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (IRPA-KIK) as belonging to the Church of Our Lady of La Cambre and Saint Philippus Nerius in Brussels. We visited the church but to no avail. Eventually Joost tracked it down within the Church fabric. Our research discovered that it was gifted to the church by Hortense Hannet (1855 – 1940) in memory of her husband, François Hannet (1837 – 1918), a Professor of Design in Brussels, and in whose collection it had resided. It had been exhibited at the 1905 Jordaens exhibition in Antwerp and it was listed by the art historian Max Rooses in his 1908 monograph on the artist but trace of it had been lost for over a hundred years and no image of it had been published.
Peter is a portrait of Abraham Grapheus, the Steward of the artists’ Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp. He was well-known to both young artists, Jordaens and Van Dyck. They were inscribed as apprentices in the Guild in the years 1607-8 and 1610-11 and became masters in the Guild in 1615-6 and 1618-9 respectively. Both used Grapheus’ distinctive face for depictions as an Apostle in their early religious paintings. We showed the museum’s Bust of an Apostle by Jordaens as a comparative example (oil on canvas, 59 x 48 cm, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, inv. no. 121 – when it was first listed in 1806, and for many years afterwards, it was believed to be by Van Dyck). Further information on Grapheus, Jordaens and Van Dyck can be found in the recent exhibition catalogue, Abraham Grapheus, model van Jacob Jordaens, Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2012, including an image of a similar painting in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg (inv. no. 82) but with major differences.
Job Opportunity!
November 5 2017
Picture: AAH
The Association for Art History (formerly the Association of Art Historians) is looking for a new CEO. Salary c65k, closing date Friday 24th Nov. More details here.
Update - the AAH is organising an art history careers day at Oxford University on November 11th. More here.
Leiden Collection videos
November 1 2017
Picture: The Leiden Collection
I can't embed them into the site here, but well worth a click is the new video page on the Leiden Collection website. Excellent short films on the likes of Rembrandt, Dou and Vermeer.
'Britain's Lost Masterpieces' in The Burlington!
November 1 2017
Video: BBC
I was astonished, delighted, humbled and just about everything else to read the latest editorial in The Burlington Magazine, which focused on 'Britain's Lost Masterpieces'. I still can't quite believe it - and if you'll pardon me for saying, it's the proudest moment of my art historical career. The last three episodes are still available on the BBC's iPlayer here, if you haven't seen them!
Royal Academy's new lecture theatre
November 1 2017
Picture: David Chipperfield Architects
Wow - opens in 2018.
Constable in lego!
November 1 2017
Picture: BG
I saw a Lego version of Constable's Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows in the Scottish National Gallery yesterday. Definitely one for the Deputy Editor's Christmas list.
Constable's original is up here for a show on Constable and MacTaggart, as part of the picture's tour after it was acquired by Tate.
Christie's New York Old Master sale
November 1 2017
Picture: Christie's
The top lot of Christie's fall Old Master sale in New York was a self-portrait by Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun (above), which made $1.5m against an estimate of $600k-$800k. A head of St John the Baptist by Albrecht Bouts made $516k, while a $12k-$18k Studio of Van Dyck portrait raced away to $125k. There were some reasonably strong prices for British 18thC portraiture, including $75k for this Hudson, and $137k for this Reynolds, estimated at $20k-$30k. The rest of the sold lots are here.
Zoom in on the Ghent Altarpiece
October 30 2017
Picture: Getty/Kikirpa
The Closer to Van Eyck website has allowed us to peer into Van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece in high resolution for some time, but now it has been upgraded with new functions, and before, during and after conservation photos. Above is a small damaged area on one of the outer doors, for example. From the Getty Foundation press release:
The Getty Foundation and the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA, Brussels) announced today the launch of major enhancements to the website ‘Closer to Van Eyck,’ which provides breathtaking details of one of the most important works of art in the world, the Ghent Altarpiece. Enhancements include new images of the work under various stages of conservation treatment, a larger range of technical images, and the ability to see and compare multiple views of the painting at the same time.
Located at St. Bavo’s cathedral in Ghent, Belgium, The Mystic Lamb of 1432 by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, also known as the Ghent Altarpiece, is a stunning and highly complex painting composed of separate oak panels. Since 2010, several Getty Foundation grants have supported the conservation planning, examination and training related to the altarpiece as part of its Panel Paintings Initiative. A collaboration among the Flemish government, the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage and their partners led to the first much-needed conservation treatment of the work in 2010. The panels and frames of the closed altarpiece were treated between 2012 and 2016 and the large-scale campaign now continues with the panels of the lower register of the open altarpiece. The “Closer to Van Eyck” website launched in 2012, and had yet to receive major updates until now.
Linda Nochlin (1931-2017)
October 30 2017
Picture: Adam Husted, via Apollo
The art historian Linda Nochlin has died. ArtNews has the best obituary, here.
New Zoffany discovery
October 30 2017
Picture: Lowell Libson
The London-based dealer Lowell Libson has discovered a sketch by Zoffany for one of his most famous pictures, Colonal Mordaunt's Cock Match (c.1784-6). The original is in the Tate, and the newly found sketch (above) was painted in preparation for an engraving. Lowell's new catalogue, available online here, has an essay about the discovery by the art historian Martin Postle. Another newly discovered work is this exquisite Macbeth and the Three Witches by John Martin. Bravo!
