Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Foligno acquire Giovanni di Corraduccio
July 9 2024
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Foligno in Italy have announced their acquisition of a triptych by Giovanni di Corraduccio. The work was acquired from the recent Evening Auction at Sotheby's London where it sold for £348,000 (inc. fees) over its £200k - £300k estimate. The foundation expressed that it is committed to to the recovery, protection and enhancement of the local historical and artistic heritage of Foligno in Perugia and the work will soon go on display at the Palazzo Cattani.
Point of View at the Rijksmuseum
July 9 2024
Picture: Rijksmuseum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam have just opened a new exhibition exploring the theme of gender. Entitled Point of View, the show includes spotlights on new acquisitions including Gersinda Ter Borch's Portrait of Moses Ter Borch which was acquired by the museum earlier this year at TEFAF. Another of the leading images for the show is Jean-Laurent Mosnier's Portrait of Chevalier d’Éon (Charles Geneviève Louis Auguste André Timothée d' Éon de Beaumont) (pictured above), a copy of which was acquired by the NPG in London some years ago.
According to the museum's website:
These 150 paintings, prints, drawings, costumes, accessories, sculptures, photographs and furniture items from the Rijksmuseum collection show that gender is everywhere. See the 17th-century portraits in which all the children are wearing dresses. Discover how, in the 18th century, anybody who could afford it was wearing pink – as well as glitter, frills and floral patterns. Displayed together, these objects show that our ideas about masculinity, femininity and gender in its broadest sense are defined by their time and place.
Includes artworks by Gesina ter Borch, Marlene Dumas, Bartholomeus van der Helst, Kinke Kooi, Robert Mapplethorpe, Erwin Olaf, Maria Roosen, Charley Toorop and Sara Troost.
The exhibition will run until 1st September 2024.
More British Museum Jobs
July 9 2024
Picture: The British Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The British Museum are hiring some interesting roles at present including Managing Director and Curator of European Modern Collection 1800 to present respectively. Click on the links to read more concerning job descriptions, salaries and deadlines for applications.
Good luck if you're applying!
Oudrymania at Château de Chantilly
July 9 2024
Picture: Château de Chantilly
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Château de Chantilly opened a new exhibition last month dedicated to the animal painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry.
According to the exhibition's website:
Depicted in hunting, portraiture or combat, animals feature among the most striking images produced by Jean-Baptiste Oudry. A gifted artist with an unrivalled mastery of his technique, he brings us face-to-face with the animal repertoire as it existed in the 18th century, including in a series of three hunting scenes he painted for the Château de Chantilly, scattered to the four winds after the French Revolution but exceptionally brought together for this show.
Animal scenes were extremely popular with the leading collectors in the 18th century, including the princes of Condé, who commissioned them from the artist. A set of exquisite drawings by Oudry loaned from a private collection will feature in this exhibition alongside works from Chantilly’s collections, allowing visitors to see pieces never displayed in public before. These include a large number of illustrations for La Fontaine’s fables, showing how the fabulist and the artist use the animal kingdom to help us laugh at and reflect on human nature. These illustrations were so effective they were copied by the arts and crafts industry and included in their decorative production, examples of which can also be admired in the exhibition. Through paintings, drawings, objets d’art and rare books, this show shines a light into every corner of the OUDRYMANIA that has gripped art lovers for centuries.
You only have until the 6th October 2024 to catch Oudrymania for yourself.
Queen Victoria's Drawings coming up at Roseberys
July 9 2024
Picture: Roseberys
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Artnet.com have published a short article on news that Roseberys will be selling a cache of drawings by Queen Victoria next week. The group, which were completed during Victoria's teenage years, are believed to have descended with her drawing instructor George Hayter's family.
Robilant+Voena send 800 Years of Art to Seoul
July 9 2024
Picture: booking.naver.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The art dealers Robilant+Voena opened a new selling exhibition in Seoul, South Korea, last month. Entitled 800 Years of European Arts: From Gothic to Contemporary Art, the show represents a collaboration between the dealers and 'The Hyundai Seoul', which is described as 'a luxury department store with a museum-style exhibition space'.
According to their website:
From fourteenth-century gold grounds, to the revolution of oil paints in the sixteenth century; from the Baroque of the seventeenth century, to the vedutisti of the eighteenth century; from nineteenth-century portraiture and genre scenes to the dawn of Impressionism; from the groundbreaking developments the twentieth century and the post-War Italian pioneers, to the rise of conceptual art; culminating in the present day with a selection of contemporary artists whose unique styles reflect the ever-growing global artistic conversation.
Artists represented are: Dirck Jaspersz van Baburen, Jacopo Bassano, William Beechey, Louis-Gabriel Blanchet, Alighiero Boetti, Agostino Bonalumi, Abraham Brueghel, Alberto Burri, Vincenzo Cabianca, Bonino da Campione, Antonio Canale, called Canaletto, Enrico Castellani, Bartolomeo Cavarozzi, Michelangelo Cerquozzi, Marc Chagall, Viviano Codazzi, Virgilio Costantini, Guillaume Courtois, Edgar Degas, Elger Esser, Familiare del Boccati Lavinia Fontana, Lucio Fontana, Ubaldo Gandolfini, Artemisia Gentileschi, Gilbert & George, Francesco Granacci, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Francesco Hayez, Damien Hirst, Fabrice Hyber, Antonio Joli, Jim Lambie, Martino Piazza da Lodi, Pietro Longhi, Alessandro Magnasco, Michele Marieschi, Marino Marini, Master of San Jacopo a Mucciana, Master of Sant’Ivo, Master of the Annunciation to the Shepherds, Joan Miró, Giuseppe Molteni, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Giovanni Paolo Panini, Giulio Paolini, Bartolomeo Passerotti, Giuseppe Penone, Pablo Picasso, Alvaro Pirez d’Évora, Nicolas Poussin, Domenico Puligo, Mimmo Rotella, Paolo Scheggi, Rudolf Stingel, Michael Sweerts, Keith Tyson, Andrea Vaccaro, Gaspar van Wittel, called Vanvitelli, Franz Xaver Winterhalter, Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina.
The display will run until 18th September 2024.
Frans Hals and Workshop - RKD Studies
July 9 2024
Picture: rkdstudies.nl
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The RKD in the Netherlands have finally published their Frans Hals and Workshop RKD Study online. This comprehensive study of all of Hals' paintings, undertaken by Prof. Dr. Claus Grimm, is presented in a new online form and draws great attention to the process of the artist alongside new considerations of his studio practise and collaboration with other named artists (see this article for an example of this new approach). There are many pieces of text which explain the visual analysis undertaken to identify the nuances outlined above.
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There is no doubt that this is a very exciting and important resource in regards to the future of catalogue raisonné projects. However, it is also bound to be controversial. Without pointing out any examples in particular, a quick surf through these pages will show that several rather famous paintings (including ones hanging in important museums and private collections) have been slightly (or significantly) downgraded and in some cases completely demoted to 'Workshop' in attributional terms. In fact, as the catalogue points out itself, there are some examples of paintings featured within that have appeared as recently in the 2023/24 London and Rijksmuseum shows as Frans Hals in full, however, have in his study been allocated to followers of completely different artists altogether. Having compared the websites of several museums and private collections to the attributions found in this study, it's clear that these institutions haven't budged just yet. We shall wait and see if and how the art world will respond in due course.
Nicholas Penny Resigns from AIL Panel
July 8 2024
Picture: The Art Newspaper
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Art Newspaper have reported on news that former director of The National Gallery, Nicholas Penny, has resigned from the Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) panel. The article suggests that this was due to recent changes, including the departure of the Arts Council's senior policy adviser on cultural property, Anastasia Tennant, which Penny stated “will seriously impair the panel’s efficiency and efficacy”. Click on the link to read the full story, which includes Penny's calls that the 'AIL system should now be removed from administration by the Arts Council and made an independent body reporting directly to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.' The Arts Council are yet to respond to the article.
Versailles pre-empt Portrait of Sculptor Antoine-Denis Chaudet
July 8 2024
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
La Gazette Drouot have published news that the Palace of Versailles has pre-empted Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Desmarais's Portrait of the Sculptor Antoine-Denis Chaudet. The painting had sold at Sotheby's Paris earlier in June where it realised €156,000 over its €80k - €120k estimate.
Ralph Sheldon's Portrait of Henry VIII Reidentified
July 8 2024
Picture: Warwick Shire Hall via ArtUK
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I published a short blog over the weekend regarding an accidental discovery I made of a missing Portrait of Henry VIII. Having spotted it in the background of a photograph posted on 'X' / Twitter, I managed to work out that this distinctive arched topped portrait (now hanging in Warwick Shire Hall, owned by Warwickshire County Council) was originally part of the famous set assembled by Ralph Sheldon (c.1537–1613) in the 1590s for Weston House in Warwickshire. Fortunately, the portrait is housed in the same carved medallion frame as other surviving examples from the set, and the very same composition of Henry holding a sword is found in a later engraving of the Long Gallery at Weston.
Update - Click here for relevant articles from the BBC, CNN, The Times and The Smithsonian Magazine.
Click here to watch a YouTube video of BBC Midlands Today's coverage of the story.
Renaissance Putti in Poland
July 8 2024
Video: eksiegarnia.mnk.pl
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A new exhibition opened at the National Museum in Kraków in late June. Entitled Winged. Putti in Renaissance Art, the show examines the iconography and phenomenon of these figures in art of the 15th and 16th centuries.
According to the museum's website:
Putti is a popular decorative motif that enriches countless works of modern European art. This charming phenomenon showing the image of small, winged angels certainly intrigues and arouses curiosity. The exhibition in the Main Building presents the subject on the example of the Renaissance, mainly Italian and German countries, against a broad background of ancient and modern European art.
The exhibition will run until 6th October 2024.
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It looks like the museum had a lot of fun making this exhibition trailer...
Alastair Laing 1944 - 2024
July 8 2024
Picture: CODART
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I was very sad to hear of the passing of the art historian Alastair Laing over the weekend. Known for his passion for eighteenth century French art, alongside his work as a curator at The National Trust, Laing had been focusing on completing a catalogue raisonné of Francois Boucher's drawings during the last years of his life. Here is a tribute from Neil Jeffares and here is an article from La Tribune de l'Art with more information on his life and achievements. Furthermore, here is an extended interview with Alastair on CODART which is worth reading.
Burlington Magazine - July 2024
July 4 2024
Picture: burlington.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Burlington Magazine's July edition focuses on the 'Art of Northern Europe.'
Here's a list of the main articles listed within:
The ‘Balbi’ children identified: a proposal - BY GREGORY MARTIN,ANNA ORLANDO
A reverse-glass painting by Gerhard Janssen in the Valtice Palace - BY ZDEŇKA MÍCHALOVÁ,ZUZANA MACUROVÁ
‘The abduction of Europa’ by Paulus Potter: a mythological painting rediscovered - BY JOLIJN SCHILDER,MUIRNE LYDON,LIZZIE MARX,NATALIA MACRO,ABBIE VANDIVERE
The oculi of Notre-Dame, Paris - BY ARNAUD YBERT,BRUNO PHALIP,DYLAN NOUZERAN
Charles XV’s ‘Norwegian landscape’ in the Museum Gustavianum, Uppsala - BY EVA-CHARLOTTA MEBIUS
The earliest documented work of Marinus van Reymerswale - BY MANUEL PARADA LÓPEZ DE CORSELAS,CHRISTINE SEIDEL
The missing woman: the reunion of a family portrait by Cornelis de Vos -BY ANGELA JAGER,JØRGEN WADUM
A history painting by Willem van der Vliet - BY TOMMASO BORGOGELLI
Sell council owned artworks and stop 'Wasting Monet', says TaxPayers' Alliance
July 4 2024
Picture: Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The BBC have run a story regarding calls from the TaxPayers' Alliance pressure group 'urging the authority to sell some of the collection to help balance its books.' More precisely, a report from the group has criticised several council museums, including that of the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, for the large value (numerical and financial) of artworks kept in storage.
To quote parts of the article:
The council owns nearly 38,000 works of art, including five by Bristol street artist Banksy, with each worth an average of more than £3,500.
But only 4,245 pieces - 11.2% - are on public display, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service. [...]
The Taxpayers' Alliance said that despite being in nearly £100bn of combined debt, UK councils had built up art collections worth almost £1.5bn.
Report author Jonathan Eida said: “These findings won’t paint a pretty picture for hard-pressed taxpayers who have been hammered year after year by record-busting council tax hikes."
Bristol's collection of 37,983 works of art is nearly 15 times bigger than the National Gallery's and six times that for the average council.
Bristol council have rebuffed these claims explaining their 'collection is a vital part of the city’s cultural and educational offer, with a value that extends beyond an insurers’ estimate.'
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Regular readers will know that AHN has being calling on galleries and museums to do more to get works of art out of storage and on display (if not within galleries, then out on loan to other institutions). This debate will be an interesting one to keep an eye on in the upcoming years.
National Galleries of Scotland acquire Bessie MacNicol
July 4 2024
Picture: National Galleries of Scotland
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Galleries of Scotland acquired Bessie MacNicol's The Lilac Sunbonnet earlier in June. The picture had sold at Lyon & Turnbull in December 2023 for £55,201 and was acquired with funds from the Cowan Smith, MacDougall and Treaty of Union Bequests, 2024.
According to the gallery's website:
This bright image of a young fieldworker leaning on a hayfork showcases MacNicol’s confident use of oil paint. Her deft, sweeping brushstrokes skilfully capture the play of dappled sunlight. Born in Glasgow, MacNicol studied at the city’s School of Art and later in Paris. She exhibited widely in the UK and in mainland Europe. From the 1890s onwards she also sent her paintings to be shown in Pittsburgh and St Louis in the USA. MacNicol died tragically young, aged only 34, due to late-stage complications in her first pregnancy.
Which Painting Should the Aliens See First?
July 4 2024
Picture: Art Institute of Chicago
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
For those readers who might be in Chicago later this month, the Art Institute of Chicago will be running a free gallery event asking those questions we've all been thinking of for some time now.
According to the museum's website:
Join museum educators Maura Flood and Atlas Babcock in the Modern Wing to find artworks that offer interesting answers to a list of unlikely, counterintuitive, and human-centered questions. Determine which artwork misses its grandma or knows karate. Decide which masterpiece the aliens should see first. This exploratory program has no right or wrong answers.
The event will take place on 19th July 2024.
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Which paintings would the readers of AHN suggest that Aliens should see first? Do get in touch with your answers. I would probably show them William Blake's A Vision of the Last Judgment which is at Petworth House.
2024 Berger Prize List
July 4 2024
Picture: Walpole Society
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Walpole Society, who have recently taken over the running of The Berger Prize, have published a list of nominees for the 2024 award.
Here's an abbreviated list which appears on their website:
Gwen John: Art and Life in London and Paris - Alicia Foster
William Gillies: Modernism and Nation in British Art - Andrew McPherson
Art Without Frontiers: The Story of the British Council, Visual Arts, and a Changing World - Annebella Pollen
A Singular Man: A Documented Life of the Artist Frederick Sandys: 1829-1904 - Betty Elzea
Leonora Carrington: Revelation - Carlos Martín, Stefan van Raay, Tere Arcq and Naja Rasmussen
Claudette Johnson: Presence - Dorothy Price and Barnaby Wright (editors)
Scotland and the Origins of Modern Art - Duncan Macmillian
Borrowed Landscapes: China and Japan in the Historic Houses and Gardens of Britain and Ireland - Emile de Bruijn
John Carr of York: Collected Essays - Ivan Hall, edited by Kenneth Powell
Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance - Jake Subryan Richards and Victoria Avery (editors)
The Rainbow’s Gravity: Colour, Materiality and British Modernity - Kirsty Sinclair Dootson
Ways of Life: Jim Ede and the Kettle's Yard Artists - Laura Freeman
Modelling the Metropolis: The Architectural Model in Victorian London - Matthew Wells
Owen Jones and the V&A: Ornament for a Modern Age - Olivia Horsfall Turner
Shakespeare, Hogarth & Garrick: Plays, Painting and Performance- Robin Simon
Architecture in Britain and Ireland, 1530-1830 - Steven Brindle
Unmaking the East India Company: British Art and Political Reform in Colonial India, c. 1813–1858 - Tom Young
Knick-Knackery: The Deards family & their luxury shops 1685–1785 - Vanessa Brett
The winner will be announced in November 2024.
Duecento painting: The art and technique of Margarito d’Arezzo and his contemporaries
July 4 2024
Picture: Museo Nazionale d'Arte Medievale e Moderna di Arezzo
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A call for papers has been issued for a collaborative conference on the subject of Duecento painting: The art and technique of Margarito d'Arezzo and his contemporaries.
According to the link above (in translation):
This interdisciplinary convention invites colleagues working on all aspects of thirteenth-century painting, from art-historical studies to scientific analysis, technical research and conservation. The conference aims to provide an exceptional opportunity to share and discuss the artworks of Margarito d'Arezzo and his contemporaries.
Submissions covering a wide range of topics will be considered, including works on panel, sculptures, wall paintings, textiles, and miniatures, as well as art history and the history of collecting. We expect that the conference will stimulate studies in this area, so proposals may also include information on ongoing research, without detailed results.
The conference will take place in October 2025 and abstracts will need to be submitted by 20th September 2024.
Klimt in Perugia
July 4 2024
Video: Retesole TV Umbria
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Gallery of Umbria have been lent Gustav Klimt's The Three Ages of Woman for a special exhibition. Interestingly, the painting was exhibited at the 1910 Venice Biennale and the 1911 International Exposition in Rome and remains in the collection of the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome. The show will run until 15th September 2024.
Sotheby's London Evening Sale
July 3 2024
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Sotheby's London Old Master & 19th Century Paintings Evening Auction realised a total of £12,366,000 (inc. fees) with 81.25% of lots sold / 76.48% including withdrawn lots.
As far as the website indicated, the Botticelli (pictured), Eustache Le Sueur, Vanvitellis and Corot all had irrevocable bids.
Here are my live posts on the top lots of the sale:
Update - And we're off. Lots 14 (pair of Canalettos) and 27 (Wright of Derby) have been withdrawn.
Update 2 - A good start, Lots 1 & 2 have performed well.
Update 3 - The Met de Bles and Rubens landscape failed to find a winning bid with its £600k - £800k estimate.
Update 4 - The Botticelli and Studio Virgin and Child hammered down at £2,850,000 with Alex Bell on the phone over its £3m - £5m estimate. This is £3,420,000 including fees.
Update 5 - Jacques Jordaens' Head of a Girl hammers down at £300,000 over its £150,000 - £200,000 estimate. This is £360,000 including fees.
Update 6 - The trio of views by Vanvitelli and Bellotto break past their low estimates and sell, as do the large Tiepolos.
Update 7 - British pictures haven't had much luck until David Roberts' Venetian view which hammered down at £330,000 to a bidder in the room over its £60k - £80k estimate. This is £396,000 including fees.
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This season's results indicate that both auction houses have equalled each other in pricing strategies to help sell more pictures. For example, the London Old Master departments at both Sotheby's and Christie's have sold near to 20% more of their paintings offered than their New York counterparts managed to in January. This is surely good for both their clients and the market as a whole.
When it comes to values (£43.59m at Christie's compared to £12.36m at Sotheby's), there was one clear winner. This is of course helped by the appearance of several top tier works from British aristocratic collections, coupled with an important rediscovery (one which warranted a Getty acquisition) and several 'fresh to market' lots which soared past their estimates. It could be argued that Sotheby's had a more varied offering, however, this current market appears to be driven by new and fresh consignments which haven't appeared at sale in the past 15 years or so. After Christie's recent wins in both Paris and London, we'll have to wait and see what happens in the ever-buoyant New York sales in November 2024 and January 2025.
