11 Allan Ramsay Paintings to be Restored and Redisplayed
January 8 2024
Picture: The Georgian House, Edinburgh
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The American Friends of British Art have announced that they will be giving a grant to assist with the cleaning and restoration of 11 paintings by Allan Ramsay. The conserved works are intended to be exhibited this year at The Georgian House, Edinburgh, a building cared for by The National Trust for Scotland. No specific details yet as to which paintings will be conserved, so stay tuned!
Mark Hallett on Courtauld Challenges
January 8 2024
Picture: The Art Newspaper
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Art Newspaper have published an interview with the Courtauld Institute of Art's new director, Mark Hallett. The piece focuses on the hopes and challenges ahead, including the need to diversify its student body and raise £50m to renovate its academic wing at Somerset House.
Suffolk City Council Announce 100% Cut to Arts Budget
January 8 2024
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Suffolk City Council, the part of England where Thomas Gainsborough once called home, has announced its plan to cut its arts budget by 100%. In particular, it has announced that it will stop core funding of £500,000 to art and museum sector organisations from April 2025 (quote The Guardian). This is part of a wider plan to make £64.7 million savings to refocus energies and funds to prioritise adult and childcare in the county. Local groups, particularly spearheaded by the theatre sector in the region, are leading a campaign to encourage the council to change their minds.
Berlusconi's Art Collection (ctd.)
January 8 2024
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Guardian have published a follow up piece on news that former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi had amassed an enormous collection of paintings (all copies, it seems!). The article focuses on an interview with Lucas Vianini, who was the curator to the collection in the final years of the politician's life.
Some interesting passages include:
Berlusconi’s heirs inherited a vast empire including a football club, properties, yachts and his main asset, Mediaset, Italy’s largest commercial broadcaster, worth more than €6bn. The former premier also left behind artworks by Italian greats including Canaletto and Titian that hung on the walls of Villa San Martino.
...
[Vianini claimed] “Sgarbi [the previous valuer] was not very generous in his evaluation and he didn’t consider the important works among the collection,” he said. “Besides, the aim wasn’t about spending a million on a painting – Berlusconi had already done that. He chose the paintings for their beauty and pleasantness. The aim was to take a walk through many pictorial genres.”
Click on the link above to read the full article.
Moroni Exhibition in Milan
January 5 2024
Video: FAIchannel
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Gallerie d’Italia in Milan opened a new exhibition last month entitled Moroni (1521-1580). Il ritratto del suo tempo. The exhibition is supported by extensive international loans and provides a full chronology of the artist alongside works by his contemporaries and those who influenced him.
The show will run until 1st April 2024.
Bendor on UK Museum Copyright Fees
January 5 2024
Picture: The Art Newspaper
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Bendor has penned a brilliant New Years gift to those wanting to produce beautifully illustrated publications (of two-dimensional historic artworks in UK collections). The Art Newspaper has published a piece by AHN's very own co-editor on a recent judgement on copyright in the Court of Appeal (20 November) which heralds the end of UK museums charging fees to reproduce historic artworks. Notably, UK museums have for decades been relying on the particularly low threshold of UK copyright law, in particular those laws set out by the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.
To quote perhaps the most important part of the article:
In his ruling (THJ v Sheridan, 2023), Lord Justice Arnold wrote that, for copyright to arise: “What is required is that the author was able to express their creative abilities in the production of the work by making free and creative choices so as to stamp the work created with their personal touch”. Importantly, he went on: “This criterion is not satisfied where the content of the work is dictated by technical considerations, rules or other constraints which leave no room for creative freedom”. In other words, if the aim of a museum photograph is to accurately reproduce a painting (which it must be), then it cannot acquire copyright.
Click on the link above to read the whole article!
Three Fuselis Coming Up at Artcurial
January 5 2024
Picture: @matthieu.fournier.omp
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Exciting news via. Instagram that Artcurial will be offering three paintings by Henry Fuseli in Basel during March 2024. The works on offer, which had been in the collection of Benjamin Sharpe of Hanwell Park, Middlesex, include this rather beautiful canvas depicting Rezia throwing herself with Huon into the sea. No precise details or estimates have been provided just yet, stay tuned!
Sotheby's New York Delays Velázquez Auction
January 5 2024
Picture: The Art Newspaper
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
There was much speculation in the press over the holiday regarding the disappearance (for a second time) of the aforementioned $35m Portrait Isabel de Borbón, Queen of Spain by Diego Velázquez from the Sotheby's website. Eager auction watchers had spotted that it had not been included in upcoming Sotheby's New York January sale season, despite press releases promising that it would be.
The Art Newspaper today has finally run a story explaining that the painting was "withdrawn from Sotheby’s over 'ongoing discussions' among the sellers".
According to the article above:
In a statement, the auction house said the consignors “have reluctantly decided on a temporary pause in the sale process, due to ongoing discussions on their side”. Despite this, and “given the excitement with which the Velázquez has been received thus far”, Sotheby’s said both the auction house and the sellers “look forward to offering this exceptional painting for sale in the near future”.
Jeremiah Meyer Exhibition in Tübingen for 2024
January 5 2024
Picture: tuebingen.de/stadtmuseum/
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Exciting news (spotted via. @jeremiahmeyersminiatures on Instagram) that the much delayed exhibition on the eighteenth century miniaturist Jeremiah Meyer has finally been set for 2024. The exhibition at the Stadtmuseum Tübingen, the city of Meyer's birth, will be held from 19th October 2024 until 11th May 2025. Better late than never!
MFA Boston acquires a Mary Beale
January 5 2024
Picture: MFA Boston
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The MFA Boston has announced its acquisition a portrait by the British female artist Mary Beale. The fine portrait of Gertrude Saville, Marchioness of Halifax, was sold to the museum by the dealer Peter Harrison.
According to the museum's post on Instagram:
The MFA is one of the first museums in the United States to acquire a painting by Mary Beale, the most famous woman painter in England in the 17th century. Today, Beale is being rediscovered in Britain, but she remains largely unknown across the Atlantic.
"This portrait is filled with beautiful details. I love the bronze sheen of the dress and the vivid blues of her wrap and eyes. Notice how Beale captured the play of light on the curls of hair. We selected this portrait over others on the market for its grandeur and because it depicts an identifiable sitter." -Frederick Ilchman, Mrs. Russell W. Baker Curator of Paintings and Chair, Art of Europe
Season's greetings!
December 28 2023
Picture: Rijksmuseum
Happy Christmas AHNers...! Bendor here just stepping in to pass on my (somewhat belated) best wishes of the season to you all, and to thank Adam for so brilliantly keeping us updated with the latest news over the last few months. AHN hopes all your art historical dreams for 2024 come true!
Update - It's Adam here, wishing all readers of AHN a very Happy New Year! I've taken the holidays to catch up on some serious family time, including some lute playing with my brother. A lot has happened over the past few weeks, so it's time I got going!
Art to Inspire Opening a Bottle
December 22 2023
Picture: Rijksmuseum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Since we're approaching the season of festive merrymaking, I thought some readers might feel inspired by a new list compiled by the The Wine Enthusiast Website of European paintings which inspire them to open a bottle. Works featured include paintings by Titian, Caravaggio, Jacob Duck (pictured) and the usual suspects... I'm sure AHN readers may have their own suggestions too.
Fragonard realises €3.25m
December 22 2023
Picture: @Drouot
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The aforementioned rediscovered Fragonard of a Young Girl in a Hat realised a respectable €3.25m with the auctioneers Boisgirard - Antonini yesterday. Although perhaps not the most visually appealing subject out there by the artist, the exquisite condition and 'fresh to the market' qualities obviously won out! It also shows that an enticing estimate, in this case €400,000 - 600,000, did its job well.
Sotheby's New York Part I - Now Online
December 22 2023
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Sotheby's New York's upcoming Master Paintings & Sculpture Part I sale has been published online. This 53 lot sale is complimented by several other single owner sales, including A Scholar Collects: Joseph Baillio, The Estate of Jimmy Younger, The Ian & Carolina Irving Collection and the The Jordan Saunders Collection.
Highlights of the Part I sale include a Self Portrait by Rubens, a still life by Luis Meléndez, a shipping scene by Saloman Van Ruysdael, a Self Portrait by Sir Anthony Van Dyck and a beautifully preserved cassone panel by Giovanni di Ser Giovanni Guidi, called Scheggia.
Following on from yesterday's news that the Metropolitan Museum of Art are deaccessioning works of art at Christie's, Sotheby's New York also have a group of paintings which are being offered to benefit the museum's acquisition fund. This includes portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds, George Romney, Sir Henry Raeburn, Thomas Gainsborough and a mythological painting by Johann Liss.
New Research on Night Watch Ground Layer
December 21 2023
Picture: science.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
For those interested in the depths of technical analysis for works of art, the journal Science Advances has published an extended article on the ground layer of Rembrandt's Night Watch. The article entitled Correlated x-ray fluorescence and ptychographic nano-tomography on Rembrandt’s The Night Watch reveals unknown lead “layer” is free to read online.
Here's the abstract:
The Night Watch, one of the most famous masterpieces by Rembrandt, is the subject of a large research and conservation project. For the conservation treatment, it is of great importance to understand its current condition. Correlated nano-tomography using x-ray fluorescence and ptychography revealed a—so far unknown—lead-containing “layer”, which likely acts as a protective impregnation layer applied on the canvas before the quartz-clay ground was applied. This layer might explain the presence of lead soap protrusions in areas where no other lead components are present. In addition to the three-dimensional elemental mapping, ptychography visualizes and quantifies components not detectable by hard x-ray fluorescence such as the organic fraction and quartz. The first-time use of this combination of synchrotron-based techniques on a historic paint micro-sample shows it to be an important tool to better interpret the results of noninvasive imaging techniques operating on the macroscale.
Unnamed Figures at the American Folk Art Museum
December 21 2023
Picture: American Folk Art Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The American Folk Art Museum in New York opened a rather interesting exhibition last month entitled Unnamed Figures: Black Presence and Absence in the Early American North. The show appears to be full of very rare and intriguing early American portraits and paintings, the many sitters of which remain unidentified.
According to the museum's website:
Through 125 remarkable works including paintings, needlework, and photographs, this exhibition invites visitors to focus on figures who appear in—or are omitted from—early American images and will challenge conventional narratives that have minimized early Black histories in the North, revealing the complexities and contradictions of the region’s history between the late 1600s and early 1800s.
The exhibition will run until 24th March 2024.
Part 1 of RKD Frans Hals Study now Online!
December 21 2023
Picture: MET
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History) has published Part 1 of its Frans Hals Study online. This part of the study, written by Prof. Dr. Claus Grimm, contains three monographic chapters examining the artist's life, work and reception. The study precedes Grimm's upcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist which will be published next year.
According to the website:
The present first part of the RKD Study Frans Hals and his workshop comprises three monographic chapters on the life, work and reception of Frans Hals. The author devotes particular attention to his theory on Hals’s workshop practice and the collaboration with other artists. Thanks to new insights gained by technical research, as well as new possibilities for comparing and analyzing works of art in minute detail – using high-resolution digital photographs – Claus Grimm now distinguishes which paintings, or which parts of them, were executed by Hals himself and which were done by studio assistants. A large number of details is reproduced in the publication, providing insight into the arguments for accepting or rejecting specific attributions.
How the Velázquez left Spain
December 21 2023
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Spanish Newspaper El País have published an article delving into the provenance of Sotheby's New York's upcoming Diego Velázquez's Portrait Isabel de Borbón, Queen of Spain. It details the possible routes the portrait left Spain in the early-nineteenth century during the Peninsula Wars and the Spanish War of Independence. It was in the collections of King Louis Philippe I in Paris by 1838, and later entered a British aristocratic collection until it was sold in 1950. According to lawyers consulted by the newspaper, any potential restitution claims by the Spanish state is "very complicated".
MET to Deaccession George Washington Portrait
December 21 2023
Picture: The Art Newspaper
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Art Newspaper has published news that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will be deaccessioning a Portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart. The portrait is one of twenty known versions that exist and will be offered at Christie's New York next month with an estimate of $1.5m - $2.5m. It was bequeathed to the museum by the New York businessman Richard De Wolfe Brixey after his death in 1943. The report explains that the painting is being sold to raise money for the museum’s acquisition fund.
Dick Wolf Donates 200 Works to the MET
December 21 2023
Picture: artnet.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has been gifted 200 works of art by the California-based television and film producer Dick Wolf. Indeed, part of the bequest will see two rooms in the museum, numbers 500 and 503, renamed the Dick Wolf Galleries. Works include paintings by artists such as Botticelli, Orazio Gentileschi (pictured), Artemisia Gentileschi, and Vincent van Gogh.
According to press reports:
“With its dazzling range of European paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, and works on paper, the Dick Wolf Collection represents one of the most meaningful gifts to the Met in recent memory, truly transforming and adding new dimensions to the museum’s holdings,” said Max Hollein, the museum’s CEO, in a statement. “Furthermore, the substantial financial contribution will provide critical support for the Met’s collection displays and scholarly pursuits.”
