Raeburn's lost portrait of Robert Burns rediscovered
January 22 2026
Video: Blackie House Museum and Library
Posted by Bendor Grosvenor
Here's some news I've been looking forward to bringing you for a while: a lost portrait of the Scottish poet Robert Burns by Sir Henry Raeburn has been rediscovered, and went on display today at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh. It was commissioned by Burns' publishers in 1803, but had been missing for about 200 years. The painting surfaced at auction last year in London, and was acquired by the Blackie House Museum and Library (where I'm a Visiting Fellow) and its director, Dr William Zachs. The video above has the full story, and was made by Ishbel Grosvenor. You can read more about the painting and its context here on the National Galleries of Scotland website.
Apologies...
January 21 2026
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Apologies for the delay in service this week, I've been off undertaking some projects. I'll aim to post some news later this evening!
Master Drawings New York 2026
January 19 2026
Picture: masterdrawingsnewyork.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewcz:
Master Drawings New York will open to the public on 30th January 2026. No fewer than 36 of the top dealers in works on paper will be putting on selling exhibitions dotted around the city. There's a full calendar of events to attend too, with symposiums and panel discussions etc. Click on the link above to find out more.
Bernini e i Barberini at the Palazzo Barberini
January 19 2026
Picture: barberinicorsini.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Palazzo Barberini in Rome will be opening a new exhibition on 12th February dedicated to exploring the relationship between Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Maffeo Barberini, later Pope Urban VIII. The exhibition also coincides with the 400th anniversary of the consecration of the new St. Peter’s Basilica.
Stephen Fry and Canaletto
January 19 2026
Video: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Christie's New York have filmed actor Stephen Fry talking with Andrew Fletcher, Global Head Old Masters, about Canaletto's Venice, the Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day. The painting is coming up for sale on 4th February 2026 with an estimate of around $30m.
Rediscovered Hans Baldung Grien Drawing at Auction
January 19 2026
Picture: Drouot
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from France that Beaussant Lefèvre & Associés, in collaboration with the Bayser firm, will be offering a newly rediscovered drawing by Hans Baldung Grien on 23rd March 2026. The work will be offered carrying an estimate of €1.5m - €3m.
Cultural Gifts Scheme & AIL Report 2025
January 16 2026
Picture: artscouncil.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The UK's Cultural Gifts Scheme & Acceptance in Lieu Report 2025 has been published online. It appears that 2025 was a bumper year with £59.7m of objects accepted/gifted, with £39.3m of tax settled. This is the second highest year over the past decade, it seems.
Here is a selection of the major works of art, which are of interest to this blog, that were accepted in lieu of tax (with their values and new homes) in 2025:
Sir Godfrey Kneller: The Crucifixion, Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge - £37,750
Isaac Ouwater: Amsterdam, A View of the Muntoren, Historic England for Kenwood, London - £109,500
Allan Ramsay: Portrait of a Lady, National Trust for Scotland for the Georgian House, Edinburgh - £13,140
Ben Nicholson: 1929 (Kingwater Valley Cumberland); Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge - £510,232
Ben Nicholson: 1974 (Moonrise), Pallant House Gallery, Chichester £131,400
Edgar Degas: Danseuses roses, National Gallery, London - £7,891,241
Domenico Fetti: A Bacchanal, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford -£420,000
Sir John Lavery: Portrait of Lady Minnie Elisabeth Maryon-Wilson, Charlton House, London - £36,500
Pompeo Batoni: Portrait of Mrs. Martha Swinburne, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne - £144,450
Aert van der Neer: Winter Landscape, Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge - £1,460,000
A still life by Roelandt Savery To be confirmed - £438,000
Three paintings by John Wootton, National Horseracing Museum, Newmarket - £504,814
Sir John Lavery: The House of Lords in Session, National Museums Northern - £388,000
Guercino: King David, National Gallery, London - £5,600,000
John Deare: Queen Eleanor sucking poison from the wound of King Edward, Victoria & Albert Museum, London - £1,120,000
Sir Joshua Reynolds: Portrait of Joanna Leigh, National Trust for Waddesdon Manor - £17,500,000
Picture: artscouncil.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The UK's Cultural Gifts Scheme & Acceptance in Lieu Report 2025 has been published online. It appears that 2025 was a bumper year with £59.7m of objects accepted/gifted, with £39.3m of tax settled. This is the second highest year over the past decade, it seems.
Here is a selection of the major works of art, which are of interest to this blog, that were accepted in lieu of tax (with their values and new homes) in 2025:
Sir Godfrey Kneller: The Crucifixion, Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge - £37,750
Isaac Ouwater: Amsterdam, A View of the Muntoren, Historic England for Kenwood, London - £109,500
Allan Ramsay: Portrait of a Lady, National Trust for Scotland for the Georgian House, Edinburgh - £13,140
Ben Nicholson: 1929 (Kingwater Valley Cumberland); Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge - £510,232
Ben Nicholson: 1974 (Moonrise), Pallant House Gallery, Chichester £131,400
Edgar Degas: Danseuses roses, National Gallery, London - £7,891,241
Domenico Fetti: A Bacchanal, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford -£420,000
Sir John Lavery: Portrait of Lady Minnie Elisabeth Maryon-Wilson, Charlton House, London - £36,500
Pompeo Batoni: Portrait of Mrs. Martha Swinburne, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne - £144,450
Aert van der Neer: Winter Landscape, Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge - £1,460,000
A still life by Roelandt Savery To be confirmed - £438,000
Three paintings by John Wootton, National Horseracing Museum, Newmarket - £504,814
Sir John Lavery: The House of Lords in Session, National Museums Northern - £388,000
Guercino: King David, National Gallery, London - £5,600,000
John Deare: Queen Eleanor sucking poison from the Victoria & Albert Museum, London £1,120,000
Sir Joshua Reynolds: Portrait of Joanna Leigh, National Trust for Waddesdon Manor - £17,500,000
New Release: Italian Paintings at the Yale University Art Gallery
January 16 2026
Picture: Yale University Press
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Yale University Press released the first volume (covering 1230-1420) of the new publication Italian Paintings at the Yale University Art Gallery earlier this week. This volume was edited by Laurence Kanter and Pia Palladino.
According to the book's blurb:
The collection of Italian paintings at the Yale University Art Gallery is one of the largest and richest in the world. The first of four volumes on the collection, this sumptuously illustrated book features over seventy-five works dating from 1230 to 1420 by artists such as Taddeo Gaddi, Andrea di Cione (better known as Orcagna), Lippo Memmi, Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, and Lorenzo Monaco. In addition to discussions of each painting’s meaning, function, and significance, entries provide published references, provenance, full technical notes, and detailed conservation histories. An introduction by Laurence Kanter chronicles the history of the collection, from the James Jackson Jarves Collection that was assembled in the nineteenth century—the earliest formed collection of Italian paintings in any American museum—to more recent gifts by Louis and Hannah Rabinowitz and Richard Feigen. While many of the works are from Florence and Siena, the volume also includes examples from Bologna, Rimini, Venice, and more. Through its wide-ranging holdings, the Gallery’s collection provides a remarkable sense of the diverse visual culture of the time.
The Unfinished at the Musei Capitolini in Rome
January 16 2026
Picture: Musei Capitolini
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Musei Capitolini in Rome opened a new exhibition yesterday dedicated to the poetics and technical aspects of unfinished paintings. The show blends together technological examinations and displays alongside works by the likes of Guido Reni, Palma Vecchio, Garofalo, Ludovico Carracci and others.
The exhibition will run until 12th April 2026.
Give Van Dyck back to Church in Palermo, says Group
January 16 2026
Picture: Wikipedia
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Italy that a group of citizens and experts in Sicily have been calling for a version of Van Dyck's Madonna of the Rosary to be permanently restituted to the church of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria in Palermo. The artwork was removed from there in 1922 for storage and display in the Palazzo Abatellis. It has been allowed to return to the church twice in every year for the Christmas period and in May.
___________
As it happens, I had a quick flick through the 2004 Van Dyck catalogue raisonné for this very picture and couldn't find it.* The composition appears to have been partly borrowed from the more famous Madonna of the Rosary located in the city's Oratorio del Rosario.
* - I'm sure a reader will get in touch in case I've been negligent here.
Update - A reader has kindly been in touch with the following link to another version which sold in Sweden in 2024. The catalogue note provides further details on the composition.
Curate Southern European Art at the Ashmolean
January 15 2026
Picture: Ashmolean Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Ashmolean in Oxford are hiring a Curator of Southern European Art.
According to the job description:
In this role, you will have curatorial responsibility for the care, development and interpretation of the Italian and Spanish collections, and related Southern European schools, from the fourteenth century to 1945.
You will develop and curate ambitious exhibitions, contribute to research, publication and teaching, and play a central role in the major West Wing project, helping to shape new gallery displays and improve access to the collections. You will enhance the collections through acquisitions and long-term loans, cultivate relationships with donors and international partners, and contribute to the documentation, digitisation and online presentation of the collections. The role involves close collaboration with colleagues across the Museum, GLAM (Gardens, Libraries, and Museums), and the wider Oxford University, as well as leadership and supervision of fellows, interns, volunteers and students.
The job comes with a salary of between £56,623 - £65,336 per annum and applications must be in by 11th February 2026.
Good luck if you're applying!
Upcoming: Northern Drawings at Compton Verney
January 15 2026
Picture: Compton Verney
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Compton Verney in Warwickshire will be opening their latest exhibition entitled Bruegel to Rembrandt: Drawing Life, Sketching Wonder in March 2026.
According to their website:
Explore the wonders of Dutch and Flemish drawing with over 60 works from the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, many never before seen in the UK.
This exhibition showcases artists across the 16th and 17th centuries, including Bruegel, Rembrandt, Rubens, and Jordaens, and reveals the magic of drawing as both an artistic tool and a means of storytelling. With charcoal, ink and chalk, these artists captured life in all its beauty, struggle and complexity during a period of extraordinary social, political and religious change.
Missing Nicolás Francés panel rediscovered with Google Lens Search
January 15 2026
Picture: finestresullarte.info
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News has arrived that a missing panel, which once formed part of a set of four by Nicolás Francés (active 1424 - 1468), has been rediscovered in an American museum with the aid of a Google Lens search. The panel, which had been displayed in the Church of San Miguel de Villalpando in Spain but had been missing since 1957, was tracked down by ZamorArte Foundation in Zamora. The discovery was aided by old photographic negatives and research into the dealers who handled the picture during the later part of the 20th century. It is hoped that the set might be reunited for some future exhibition in Spain. Click on the link to read the full story.
Update - A comment from a reader:
I have to say that I was more than a little amused by the very breathless article in Finestre sull-Arte about the "rediscovery" of a Nicolás Francés panel in Springfield, Massachusetts.
While it is terrific news that the Zamorarte Foundation now knows where the panel is located, the painting was hardly lost. It is correctly identified in Springfield's galleries, where it's almost always on view, and it has been published, again correctly, in that museum's catalogues several times since they acquired it in 1964.
In fairness, the Springfield collection is less well known than those in, say, Hartford or Worcester, which are nearby, but the d'Amour / MFA is quite a good museum and has done a decent job of making the collection known over the decades. That said, their collections database is still pretty limited, so that plays a role.
Winter in Art in Trento
January 15 2026
Video: Girovagando in Trentino
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Buonconsiglio Castle in Trento, Italy, opened an exhibition dedicated to Winter in Art at the end of last year. The show appears to feature a great deal of Old Masters and will run until 15th March 2026.
Prado. 21st Century
January 15 2026
Picture: Prado
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Prado in Madrid will be opening an exhibition on 9th June 2026 dedicated to examining the last quarter of a century at the museum. The displays will feature 'statistical, objectual, photographic and documentary confrontations', alongside overviews of publications and acquisitions undertaken over the past 25 years.
Quinten Massijs Joiners Guild Altarpiece Restored
January 15 2026
Picture: KMSKA
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Antwerp that the Joiners Guild Altarpiece by Quinten Massijs, owned by the The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA), has been restored. The project, which lasted 4 years, has ended with the painting being redisplayed in the museum's galleries. More details as and when they are published online.
How Westminster Abbey helped invent British art
January 14 2026
Picture: National Gallery
Posted by: Bendor Grosvenor
Just to say that I'm giving a talk at St Margaret's, Westminster Abbey on Thursday 19th February. I'll be exploring the Abbey's important role in the development of British art, as well as focusing on the important part it plays in two of our most celebrated paintings: the Wilton Diptych and Holbein's Ambassadors.
The talk will start at 7pm, and you can get tickets here. Hope to see some of you there!
Recent Release: Artists and Pirates - Satirical Prints in Georgian London and Dublin
January 14 2026
Picture: Churchill House Press
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
An interesting sounding book entitled Artists and Pirates - Satirical Prints in Georgian London and Dublin, edited by Silvia Beltrametti and William Laffan, was released at the end of last year.
According to the publisher's blurb:
Single sheet satire – caricature – is one of the most distinctive and original art forms to emerge from England in the eighteenth century. Artists such as James Gillray (1756-1815) and Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827) combined devastating wit with graphic brilliance to lampoon the great and create timeless images inspired by moments of fleeting controversy or scandal. Availing of a legal loophole, under which copyright law of images did not apply to Ireland, a business of pirating caricatures by London satirists flourished in Regency Dublin. The work of these plagiarists – which is paradoxically inventive and vibrant – as well as prints of Irish subject matter by English caricaturists such as Gillray, is the subject of the book Artists and Pirates: Satirical Prints in Georgian London and Dublin.
Conservation Internships in Cleveland
January 14 2026
Picture: Cleveland Museum of Art
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Cleveland Museum of Art are inviting applications for paid Internships in both the Conservation of Paintings and Picture Frames.
According to the job description for the Paintings role:
The conservation department of the Cleveland Museum of Art welcomes applications for a graduate third- or fourth-year internship in Paintings Conservation for the period September 2026-August 2027. The intern will join a collaborative and convivial team in caring for, studying, and treating paintings from the Museum’s encyclopedic and renowned collection. The CMA maintains a full schedule of loans, rotations, and exhibitions, with associated assessment, documentation and treatment needs. The conservation department is also committed to ongoing research and investigation of paintings in the collection.
Both positions are paid and applications must be in by 26th January and 6th February 2026 respectively. Please click on the links above for the full terms and conditions.
Good luck if you're applying!
Attributed to Rubens Head with Second Face
January 14 2026
Picture: artnet.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Artnet.com have published a story relating to a head study of an Old Man attributed to Rubens which is being unveiled at the BRAFA fair in Brussels by dealer Klaas Muller. Acquired at auction a few years ago for €100,000, the head study (which relates to a finished Rubens in the Prado and is often repeated by other hands) curiously features another face which was painted over during the process of its creation. Click on the link to read the full story.
