Hollywood meets art history
January 26 2012
Video: Sullivan Entertainment
A new film has been released which explores the scientific analysis of hidden masterpieces. There's a review by Judith Dobrzynski here, and more on the film's website here. Looks like it's worth ordering - not least to hear the great Donald Sutherland, who narrates the film, make nerdy terms like 'multi-spectral photography' and 'pigment analysis' sound enticingly exciting.
$34m Old Master sale in New York
January 26 2012
Picture: Christie's
There was another strong Old Master sale at Christie's New York yesterday, making £34m in total. The same sale last year made $28m. Top of the pile was Giambattista Tiepolo's Arrival of Henry III at the Villa Contarini, which sold for $5.9m, against an estimate of $4-6m. Next up were: a Gerrit Dou making $3.3m (est $1-2m); a Rearing Stallion by Van Dyck at $2.5m (est.$2.5-$3.5m); a delightful Rubens study for The Assumption of the Virgin at $2.4m (est. $2-3m); and Elizabeth Taylor's Frans Hals [above] at $2.1m (est. $700k-$1m).
I can 'exclusively reveal', as they say in the papers, that the Hals will be heading to the UK soon, as part of a private collection. It is a fine portrait, once dismissed by Hals scholars, and probably something of a bargain. There can be no doubt that it is fully autograph, and in nice condition too. Van Dyck's Stallion may also be a bargain, for it sold in London in 2008 for just over £3m. The catalogue note for the picture stated that Christie's had a financial stake in the picture, either owning it 'whole or in part'. The belief is that last time it was offered for sale the eventual buyer would not pay. The picture is an interesting case of how an awkward and recent market history can influence value.
All prices include buyer's premium.
New discovery - a portrait of the young James I & VI
January 25 2012
Picture: Philip Mould
A quick note about a picture I've recently found; above is a portrait described in a minor auction house as a 'Portrait of a Young Girl'. Underneath the old varnish and dirt I found an original inscription identifying the sitter as 'Jacobus', King of Scotland, painted when aged 9. The face-type was recognisable from the well-known portrait of James aged 8 in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, which is by Arnold Bronkhorst, then court artist in Edinburgh. Our portrait uses the same head type, but with a slightly more adult form of formal court dress.
But perhaps the most interesting thing about the picture is what lies beneath it. When cleaning the portrait, I noticed a third ear emerging from James' forehead. An infra-red photograph of the picture, below, revealed that it had been painted on top of another, much earlier portrait of a saint. The so far anonymous saint is holding a chalice, and his hands can be seen clasped in prayer. The integral frame is original to the earlier picture; the portrait of James was painted straight on top of the saint, and within the existing frame. The picture of the saint looks Netherlandish, perhaps early sixteenth century, and by a good artist. One can speculate as to why the picture was over-painted, but it was probably something to do with the move against religious imagery in Reformation Scotland. And since the painting of the saint was made to a piece of good quality imported oak, it would have made sense to re-use it rather than destroy it.
What is a 'nein-sager'?
January 24 2012
Readers may be interested in this view of connoisseurship from the art historian Max Friedlander (1867-1958), who divided connoisseurs into those who held an open mind on making attributions, whom he called the 'yes' men, and those who as a rule rejected them, the 'no' men (or, in German, 'nein-sagers'):
As the 'No' man imagines that he stands above the 'Yes' man - and probably also to others to seem to stand higher - critics will always feel the impulse to attack genuine works in order to win the applause of the maliciously minded. The 'Yes' men have done more harm, but have also been of greater usefulness, than the rigorous 'no' men, who deserve no confidence if they never have proved their worth as 'Yes' men.
Only about half of Friedlander's attributions have stood the test of time (largely because he was a generalist, not a specialist, and felt able to attribute pictures to a whole range of artists) - but his basic analysis of the impulses of a connoisseur remains, sometimes, worryingly sound.
Update - I found in Brian Sewell's autobiography an important anecdote about Friedlander: he himself admitted that only his attributions before 1933 should be taken seriously, for after that he often gave optimistic attributions to Jewish families trying to raise funds by selling art, or to Nazis who demanded certificates of him.
Test your connoisseurship
January 24 2012
Picture: Darke Auction
Who painted this?
Since I don't want you to think about it too long, click 'read on' below to find the answer. It is coming up for sale soon.
Incidentally, is it really by him? Doesn't look much like his other works.
Hitler.
Antonio Canova and the 'Brazil Butt Challenge'
January 24 2012
Picture: Brynne Owlstone via pinterest.com
Following my recent post on a jet-lagged visit to New York (a visit to the Metropolitan Museum late at night and infomercials for the 'Brazil Butt Lift' early in the morning), a reader writes:
I'm an art student currently studying illustration in New York, and I quite enjoyed your post on the Metropolitan Museum. My friend and I were actually in the museum on the same night to sketch in the sculpture halls. The public spaces we're crammed into are usually so small that the Met is a welcome escape, and it's even been busier since the American Wing reopened a few weeks ago. Tragically, I don't think the gift shop sells Brazilian Butt Lifts (although Canova's Perseus With the Head of Medusa [above] looks like it's used one.)
I really enjoy your site, by the way. It fulfills my daily art-history-nerd quota.
Thanks!
New sculpture for the 'Fourth Plinth'
January 24 2012
Picture: James O jenkins, via Artdaily.org
A reader has alerted me to the new 'Fourth Plinth' commission, by Scandinavian art duo 'Elmgreen and Dragset'. 'Powerless Structures' will be unveiled next month. Here's the blurb:
The child is elevated to the status of a historical hero in line with the iconography of the other statues in the square. Instead of acknowledging the heroism of the powerful, however, the work celebrates the heroism of growing up and questions the tradition of monuments predicated on military victory or defeat. There is not yet a history to commemorate here – only a future to hope for.
I'm looking forward to seeing it - it looks like a nice piece of sculpture. Coincidentally, Will Self had a piece in The Guardian recently called 'Why I hate Trafalgar Square'*, in which the only thing he likes about the Square is the Fourth Plinth idea:
Of the recent Fourth Plinth sculptures only Marc Quinn's Alison Lapper Pregnant has gone any way towards bending the square's rectilinear rigidity. With its subversion of the conventionally standardised representations of the body the square specialises in, and its bright white marble – the albedo of which attracted a good proportion of the flying rats – Quinn's statue made a stab at the flinty heart of the Brit establishment.
Unfortunately it couldn't possibly penetrate far enough. What's needed are cafes all over the gaff, open-air and serving excellent espresso; top-notch strolling and – unlicensed – buskers; Horatio's nob chopped off halfway down; at least one of the lions upended; an open-air market; some good ethnic food stalls; and possibly a snake charmer or 20.
My favourite Fourth Plinth piece so far was Mark Wallinger's Ecce Homo - a quite brilliant work which suited the scale of the Square perfectly. But I have a faint hope that the plinth will one day have a permanent statue of the Queen on it.
* I thought only The Daily Mail began articles with 'Why I hate..'?
'The Wrong Leonardo'
January 24 2012
Picture: Louvre/National Gallery, London
The art historian and former director of the Warburg Institute Charles Hope has an interesting review of the Leonardo exhibition in the New York Review of Books.* He has titled it 'The Wrong Leonardo', and the 'wrong' picture in this case is the National Gallery's version of the Madonna of the Rocks:
It is perhaps not surprising that in the catalog it is argued at length that the London version of The Virgin of the Rocks, which in the past has often been doubted, is “fully autograph,” like the one in the Louvre. But it is exceedingly unusual for any Renaissance artist to produce two almost identical versions of the same altarpiece, and it is certainly very surprising that Leonardo, who, by all accounts, only painted when he felt inclined to do so and was remarkably cavalier about the wishes of his patrons, should have done such a thing. I believe that the history of the commission, which is unusually well documented, cannot be reconciled with the claims made in the catalog.
Longstanding readers will know that I thought the Paris version is certainly 'better' than the London version of The Rocks, but I would still call both pictures 'Leonardo'. The only question in the London picture is the extent to which Leonardo was involved. Some say entirely; I'd say less than the Paris version, but that it is largely by Leonardo, and we can forgive him if he left parts of it to be completed by highly talented students acting under his supervision. This was normal artistic practice. Charles Hope, however, goes further:
Leonardo’s own involvement, if there was any at all, is likely to have been very limited. It seems entirely out of character that he should have made a copy of one of his own works, but on occasion he certainly allowed others to do so. In comparison with the Louvre version, there is a lack of individuality and inner life in the figures, which now have a strangely gray complexion. Although much of the modeling is of great delicacy and skill, it seems obvious, now that the two pictures can be seen together, that they are not by the same hand.
Like many, Hope doesn't like the Madonna Litta from St Petersburg, and rejects entirely the attribution to Leonardo. He also questions two other works catalogued as 'Leonardo' in the show; the Portrait of a Musician, and the newly discovered Salvator Mundi. On the latter, he writes:
Much more suspect, however, is a recently cleaned painting of Christ as Salvator Mundi from a private collection. This was recorded in a print of the mid-seventeenth century, and the composition is known in other versions. But even making allowances for its extremely poor state of preservation, it is a curiously unimpressive composition and it is hard to believe that Leonardo himself was responsible for anything so dull.
This seems to be yet another case of the Salvator Mundi producing entirely subjective responses. Many of those who have declared it to be either by or not by Leornardo have gone on to describe their reasoning in subjective terms. Here it is too 'dull'. Andrew Graham-Dixon said it lacked 'the spark of inner life and feeling'. Readers will know of other similar views. And I'm sorry, but it isn't good enough. Attributions cannot be made or dismissed on a viewer's own human response to a painting. One person's 'dull' picture can be another's 'magical' one. For example, Richard Dorment remarked that the Salvator Mundi's 'strangeness' made him doubt it - but this is the very same 'strangeness' which made Waldemar like it: 'The sheer strangeness of the image makes it feel Leonardo-esque. No normal painter would have attempted this.' So can we please have proper, evidence-based responses to Salvator Mundi; indeed, to any picture?
* via Three Pipe Problem.
A sleeper in New York
January 23 2012
Picture: BG
Blogging may be a little light today I'm afraid - I flew in from New York this morning, and I've a few things to sort out in the gallery. Enjoy, in the meantime, this engaging sleeper-ette I found in New York. It wasn't at an auction, but in my hotel. Hidden away in a back staircase was this female portrait labelled as being by Francis Cotes. It is in fact an early work by George Romney, perhaps from the 1760s. Curiously, the sitter was identified on the label as a 'Miss Romney'. I'll look into this further, and report back when I have more information.
Update - Alex Kidson, compiler of the forthcoming Romney catalogue raisonne, has said he will include the picture. Result!
Awake in New York
January 22 2012
Picture: BG
Greetings from a snowy New York, where I 've come to view the Old Master sales at Sotheby's and Christie's. I flew in yesterday afternoon, and will leave later this evening (Sunday). My flight on Delta was suddenly cancelled with only a few hours warning on Friday evening, and, having spent over two fruitless hours on the phone trying to rebook, I eventually managed to get a flight via Paris by contacting the airline on Twitter. It's amazing what a rant in under 140 characters can achieve these days. The schedule is a little tight, but it gives me enough time view the sales, say a few hellos, and get back to the office for Monday morning.
It also means I can stay roughly on UK time, so here I am, awake and waiting for breakfast to begin. I've tried the telly, but it's only 'infomercials' at this time (my favourite so far, 'The Brazil Butt Lift - For the Butt of Your Dreams', $49.99), and replays of Newt Gingrich's victory speech after his win in the South Carolina primary last night. It seems he may now have the momentum to go on and win the nomination. Yikes.
Regular readers will know that when it comes to New York, I tend to take the view of Kenneth Clark - wonderful from afar, 'but up close it's another matter'. I know some readers in the city won't like that - but don't worry, I've always liked New Yorkers. My mother is American, and I've spent a lot of time here over the years, mainly in Washington, which is more my kind of city. I like a bit of space every now and then. Still, New York is one of the best cities in the world when it comes to the arts. The new Renaissance Portraits exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum is worth the trip alone at the moment (closes March 18th).
As a former arts policy wonk, I always like to see the differences between the way museums are run in London and New York. Here, since there is very little state support, museums tend to be more responsive to their visitor's needs. So if you want to go the Metropolitan late on a Saturday night, fine, it's open till 9pm, with restaurants and live music. As you can see above, it was busy when I went at about 7.30pm.
Wouldn't it be nice if all museums in major cities were open late in the evenings - not least so that the people who actually live and work there could spend more time in them. Otherwise museums tend to become the preserve of tourists. There was a nice atmosphere at the Met last night, a sense that people were really using the art as a means to unwind, as well as learn. A strangely high number of dating couples too. We should do more of this in London.
Now - I'm off to find bacon...
Dictator Art - evil buttock edition
January 20 2012
Readers may remember that last year a former SAS soldier, Nigel Ely, tried to sell at auction a piece of Saddam's statue from Baghdad, to raise funds for injured troops. The sale gained publicity with the claim that the fragment of bronze represented Saddam's buttock, and a wildly optimistic 'valuation' of £250,000. It didn't sell. Now, police in the UK have arrested and interviewed those alleged to be trying to sell the piece again, and who may be acting in contravention of the 2003 Iraq Sanctions Order (specifically the importation of Iraqi cultural property).
In The Guardian*, Mr Ely questioned why the piece was being described as cultural property:
The ex-soldier asked: "How can it be classed as cultural property when it was put up by the biggest tyrant since Attila the Hun?"
Ely believes that Iraqi officials decided to demand the return of the war relic after seeing media coverage of its value.
"American Marines gave it to me and at that time Baghdad was under American control," he added. "There wasn't even an Iraqi government and I have since turned it into a piece of war relic art. "This is like having a chunk of the Berlin Wall – it's part of history but it's not cultural property."
Mr Ely is of course entirely wrong. You can't decide if a statue is culturally valuable on the basis of whether the sitter was a nice chap or not. That statue was a symbol of Saddam's power in Baghdad, and its globally-broadcast removal came to be seen as the defining moment of his downfall. As such, it is an important part of Iraqi history, and the Iraqi's are entitled to want it back, even bits of it. The bigger question, of course, is what happened to Saddam's head?
Friday Amusement (vintage edition)
January 20 2012
Picture: Punch
As they say, the old ones are the best. Presumably the setting is the cast galleries at the V&A.
Everybody out! (for 2 hours)
January 20 2012
35 rooms were temporarily closed at the National Gallery yesterday as room warders went on strike. The stoppage lasted two hours, but the Gallery managed to keep the Leonardo exhibition open. Between 30 and 40 warders took part, according to The Guardian. Two anonymous warders were quoted in the paper:
"Although we've been assured that CCTV equipment and the glazing of the pictures will prevent any kind of a situation and offer security and deal with any security issues, I think there's still a feeling that a human presence is more effective than a camera," he said.
Another said the gallery was focusing on rare incidents of major vandalism and ignoring the "minor but continuous" damage done to paintings by visitors touching them or falling against them. "It's happening daily," he said, adding that, if he was in the other room under his responsibility, "I wouldn't see it".
It's a tricky one this. Nobody wants to risk paintings being attacked, as happened recently with a Poussin. Glazing pictures is most tedious (thankfully, very few paintings at the Gallery are glazed). And it is sad to see any staff at galleries threatened with redundancy.
But as a frequent visitor to the Gallery it seems to me that the practice of having one warder per room is inefficient and expensive, not least because many rooms are quite small. I suspect that boredom amongst warders, not a lack of them, is a greater risk when it comes to guarding the gallery. No painting can be safe when a warder is playing sudoku. Would it be better to have fewer but more alert warders, which would be the practical result of a single warder occasionally having to cover two rooms?
Today
January 19 2012
I'm a little tied up today I'm afraid, so blogging might be a bit thin till later...
A vacancy at Tate
January 18 2012
Not everyone's getting the chop at Tate - in fact they're hiring. Here's a vacancy for a Marketing & Communications Manager for the Tate Membership programme, at £27k per year. The candidate will:
...line manage the Marketing Executive for Tate Members and be responsible for the Tate Members’ marketing budget.
I guess this means sending out the stuff which, if you're a recurrent member like me, goes straight into the bin.
Still, it's one of the best museum memberships around - if you're not already a member, I can thoroughly recommend joining. Who knows, if enough people sign up, Tate may even be able to hire a curator or two.
How many people does it take to hang a spot?
January 18 2012
Video: Gagosian/via ArtInfo
I make it 14 in all.
Curious similarities in art history
January 18 2012
Picture: Baldwin & Sons/Sammlung Albertina
[Pointless post alert] Earlier this month the above ancient Greek gold coin sold for $3.25m. The only known example, it shows the head of a satyr from Pantikapaion. Don't you think it looks a bit like Peter Brueghel the Elder? Perhaps he had a Greek ancestor.
On the sackings at Tate Britain
January 18 2012
One of Britain's top art historians writes:
I see you did a short piece in the blog on the Tate curators, but I think it deserves more - they are the single repository for historic British art, and it sounds as if the cuts are a way of abnegating that responsibility...? Many friends whom I saw yesterday at the Hockney opening were in a state of shock about the Tate situation.
Why Damien Hirst uses assistants
January 18 2012
From an interview in GalleristNY:
“I keep getting this thing about painting your own work,” he said. “You don’t paint the spots and all that shit. I’m doing this other stuff where I’ve got two guys in Italy carving a sculpture out of granite. So I’ve made a plaster, working in the foundry, of two figures. One of them is based on Michelangelo’s Slaves, the other on the sculpture of a female slave by Hiram Powers.
“These two guys are amazing granite carvers and they are working day in, day out. And it’s like two and a half years to make one. And it’s an edition of three. So that’s 10 years, with an A.P.”—Artist’s Proof. “If wanted to do it I would have to go and study for 10 years, five years. To learn how to carve granite. Fucking hell! If these guys live to be 70 they are going to be able to make 12 of these. And that’s their whole careers. And that’s your whole life gone. So you have to get people.”
Michelangelo didn't.
Leonardo as handbag designer
January 17 2012
Picture: Busniessinsider.com/Rich Times
Just how talented was this man? More here.
