Another happy ending
May 24 2011
A triptych stolen from Italy and bought by the Speed Museum in Kentucky in 1973, has been returned to its owners.
The picture, thought to be by Jacopo da Casentino (d.1358), was one of 14 works of art stolen in a raid on an Italian Villa, now thought to be worth $33m. The Speed Museum paid $38,000 for it, unwittingly, and has no insurance to cover the loss.
A happy ending
May 23 2011
Picture: Antiques Trade Gazette
This bust, of Elisabeth Borrett by Sir Henry Cheere, was stolen in January from the church of St Peter & St Paul, Shoreham, West Sussex. It has now been returned, after a photograph was published in the indispensable Antiques Trade Gazette.
The bust was bought, unwittingly, by a dealer, who then consigned it to Sotheby's. He saw the picture in the ATG, and pulled it from the sale. See the pair, of John Borrett, here.
Despite the happy ending, there is something profoundly sad about someone wanting to make a few quid (probably literally) by stealing a marble bust from a church.
Pablo who?
May 23 2011
Picture: China Guardian Auctions
Another record price in China seems to confirm the direction of the art market: a work by Qi Baishi (1864-1957) was sold in Beijing yesterday for $65m (or 425.m yuan). Eagle Standing on a Pine Tree, 1946, sets a new record for a modern Chinese painting.
According to Art Price, Qi's work raised $70m worldwide in 2009 - the only artists ranked higher were Warhol and Picasso.
The auction house was China Guardian Auctions.
Art of the New Deal
May 23 2011
Picture: Smithsonian American Art Museum
A fascinating new exhibition opens this week at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art - 1934: A New Deal for Artists.
The show will have 56 works that emerged from Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Public Works of Art Project. Under the scheme artists were encouraged to depict various aspects of 'the American Scene'.
Above is Lily Furedi's 'Subway', 1934. See more examples here and here.
The project lasted just six months, but led to 15,663 paintings at a cost of $1.3m. Should we something similar for the Great Recession?
Lady with an Ermine vs Mona Lisa
May 23 2011
Might The Lady with an Ermine one day trump the Mona Lisa as the most popular Leonardo painting? Sam Leith, in the Guardian, investigates ahead of the National Gallery's Leonardo blockbuster.
National museums 'lack vital expertise'
May 22 2011
Complaints in Scotland about the lack of academic expertise on museum boards.
Titians make it to Houston
May 22 2011
Picture: National Gallery of Scotland
Titian's Diana and Actaeon and Diana and Callisto, currently on a loan tour of the US, have now made it to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. They will be there until August 14th.
If you see them, please leave a few bucks - we're trying to buy them and are about £50m short.
Armageddon outta here
May 21 2011
Picture: 'The Last Judgement', Museo di San Marco, Florence
Some people are convinced that the world will end today.
Who knows? But here is Fra Angelico's view of what will happen if it does: good guys on the left, bad guys on the right. It'll be more fun on the left.
Update 22.5.11: it didn't happen.
Illuminating Fashion
May 20 2011
Picture: The Morgan Library & Museum
A new exhibition of medieval illuminated manuscripts has opened at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York. There's a nifty online exhibition here.
The exhibition closes on 4th September.
Vote for the Art Fund Prize 2011.
May 20 2011
The Art Fund has announced its shortlist for the Art Fund Prize 2011: the British Museum, The Polar Museum, Cambridge, The Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, and the Roman Baths Museum. Well done to all four.
You can vote here. The prize will be announced on 15th June.
New Frick director
May 20 2011
Congratulations to Ian Wardropper, who has been appointed the new director of the Frick Collection in New York. He takes over from Anne Poulet.
Letting 'the nest egg hatch'
May 20 2011
Picture: The Parish of St Michael and All Angels
A church in Withyham, East Sussex has been given permission to sell four paintings by Niccolo Di Pietro Gerini. They are expected to fetch up to £1.5m when sold at Sotheby's in the summer.
The church has been unable to pay for the insurance since 1995, and the pictures have been at Leeds Castle ever since. Probably, selling them is the right decision: as the Chancellor of Chichester Diocese put it, 'The nest egg must be allowed to hatch.'
You've been Sewelled
May 20 2011
Trecy Emin gets the Brian Sewell treatment. Worth reading, for whether you agree with him or not, there's no doubting that Sewell is a brilliant writer.
Bill & Melinda
May 19 2011
Picture: Smithsonian Institute
A new portrait of Bill & Melinda Gates has been unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington. The artist is Jon Friedman. News reports say that it was based on a photograph.
New Walpole Society Volume
May 19 2011
Picture: National Gallery
Splendid news - the latest Walpole Society publication contains the travel notebooks of Charles Eastlake (1793-1865), artist and the first 'Keeper' of the National Gallery. His notebooks contain details of the pictures he saw in Europe. You could say they are the 19th C equivalent of George Vertue's notebooks.
Happily, this publication comes equipped with a full index. The 2009 issue, with the account books of Joseph Wright of Derby, had no index - the art historical equivalent of a car with no steering wheel.
Congratulations to Dr Susannah Avery-Quash, who has edited the notebooks and written detailed introductions. Buy a copy here.
Andy Warhol should have thought of this
May 19 2011
Picture: Lee Hadwin
Donald Trump is reported to have paid a 'six figure sum' for the above, by Lee Hadwin.
Lee, a former nurse, paints while he sleepwalks. From the Daily Post:
Explaining how it all began, Lee said: “I was staying at my mate’s house and I drew on his mum’s kitchen wall without knowing. He ended up getting the blame for it because his mum thought we had just been drunk. But my mum caught me under the stairs drawing, and it’s gone on from there. It started out just being scribbles everywhere, and I still do scribbles from time to time."
“But then I started doing proper artwork, really complicated things.”
Lee said he can draw between two or three times in a good week, with ordeals in his life playing a part in his creations.
I wonder what currency the six-figure sum was in. Rupees?
Re-joining 'Leftover Mountain Painting'
May 19 2011
Picture: CNTV
Great excitement in China as the two halves of one of China's most famous landscapes are to be reunited. 'Leftover Mountain Painting', painted by Huang Gongwang in c.1350, is travelling to Taiwan to be joined together with 'The Wuyongshi Painting'. More here, and a video here.
Met App
May 18 2011
This must be the first of many: the Met Museum has launched an iPad interactive e-publication. The exhibition is Poetry in Clay: Korean Buncheong Ceramics from Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art. Download it here.
No more reckless de-accessioning in NY
May 18 2011
A potentially important development in New York state. From the Wall Street Journal:
Important museum pieces will be protected under rules adopted by the New York state Board of Regents. The Regents approved new rules that would restrict the sale of museum pieces as facilities face continued hard fiscal times.
The rules would require proceeds from sales to be used for acquisitions and would also seek to keep museum relics and pieces in the public domain even if a museum shuts down.
Former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky of Westchester says the rules will prohibit important cultural pieces being sold to private collectors in order to pay for operating expenses.
Meanwhile, in Scotland
May 18 2011
Picture: NMS
Interesting to note the contrasting fortunes of two museums in Scotland. According to The Scotsman:
- The National Museum of Scotland has blitzed its public appeal target, raising £13.6m. This total included £1m from 'reclusive tycoon' Dr Walter Scott, and £2m bequeathed by Adele Stewart, a spinster. National Museums Scotland had already raised £17.8m from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and £16m from the Scottish Executive Government.
- The National Galleries of Scotland, however, have not fared so well. The campaign to raise £7.5m for the refurbishment of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery fell short, and a £2m bail-out from the Scottish Government was needed.
Does the discrepancy mean the Scots are philistines? I doubt it, since both projects essentially revolved around the telling of Scottish history. Perhaps it just came down to the quality of the appeals.
