17th Century
Upcoming: Michel Dorigny (1616-1665) Monograph & Catalogue Raisonné
May 16 2025
Picture: Arthena
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from France that the publisher Arthena will be releasing a monograph and catalogue raisonné on the artist Michel Dorigny (1616-1665) in June. Known for being a student and collaborator of Simon Vouet, this volume by Damien Tellas will cover his life as a decorator and painter.
As is the custom with new catalogue raisonnés, this effort with earn Tellas a place in much coveted 'Heroes of Art History' section of this blog.
Woburn Abbey Claude to be Sold (?) (ctd)
May 14 2025
Picture: artscouncil.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Following on from my recent post, it appears that a guide price of £8.2m has been placed on the Claude from the collections of the Dukes of Bedford at Woburn Abbey. The most expensive painting by Claude to sell at public auction in recent times was this example, sold from the collection of the Smith family from Hambledon Manor, which made £5.06m at Christie's in 2013.
£5.6m AIL Rothschild Guercino Accepted by National Gallery
May 13 2025
Picture: The National Gallery, London
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A reader has kindly pointed out that I forgot to mention that The National Gallery in London has also increased their very healthy stock of Guercinos with the acquisition of this King David through the Acceptance in Lieu Scheme (AIL). The picture has settled £5.6m of tax from the estate of the late Jacob, 4th Baron Rothschild, who died in February 2024.
The National Gallery acquires Floris van Dijck Still Life
May 12 2025
Picture: The National Gallery, London
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
With so much publicity surrounding the The National Gallery's new entrance and rehang, it's perhaps no surprise that other new acquisitions seem to have been overlooked. A reader has kindly been in touch to point out that the gallery have also acquired (as part of their recent buying spree) this rather monumental Still Life by Floris van Dijck. According to their website it was 'Bought thanks to a generous legacy from Mrs Martha Doris Bailey and Mr Richard Hillman Bailey, with the support of the National Gallery Trust, 2025'.
The gallery have also acquired this rather wistful A View of the Sky from a Prison Window by Carl Gustav Carus.
Woburn Abbey Claude to be Sold (?)
May 10 2025
Picture: artscouncil.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Arts Council's Private Treaty Sales page has just uploaded a notice of what seems the potential sale of Claude Lorrain's Landscape with Rural Dance. The painting has been part of the collection of the Dukes of Bedford at Woburn Abbey since the mid-eighteenth century. The website explains that 'The following painting is to be sold no sooner than the 1st July 2025', however, no precise details regarding the value of the work have been provided.
More news as and when it appears.
Getty Cleans Snijders & Workshop of Rubens Larder Still Life
May 9 2025
Video: @GettyMuseum via Instagram
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Getty Museum have published the following video regarding the recent conservation and cleaning of their Larder Still Life given to Frans Snijders and Workshop and Workshop of Peter Paul Rubens.
Fries Museum acquires Wybrand de Geest Caravaggio Copy
May 9 2025
Picture: Fries Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from CODART that the Fries Museum has acquired Wybrand de Geest's copy of Caravaggio's Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy. The work was picked up at an auction in Barcelona and will appear in the museum's upcoming show on the artist which opens later in September.
The 'Necropastoral' Landscapes of Frans Post
April 30 2025
Picture: University of York
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The University of York, who are hosting the aforementioned Global Baroque Conference later this summer, have released the title of one of their key note addresses. Necropastoral Worldscapes in Dutch-occupied Brazil will be delivered by Angela Vanhaelen, Professor of Art History at McGill University, Montreal, on 10th July 2025.
According to the university's website:
This lecture examines a series of plantation landscapes made in seventeenth-century colonial Dutch Brazil. Taking up the concept of the necropastoral, this paper investigates how these seemingly idyllic scenes indicate the enormous human and environmental degradation perpetuated by the forcible extraction of labour from enslaved African people and of sugar from the Atlantic Forest.
In a related note, I remember coming across this wall text for a Frans Post (on loan from a museum in Brazil) exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. in 2022:
During the period of the Dutch colonization of a portion of northeastern Brazil, Post painted the first representations of the “New World.” After his return to the Netherlands, he continued painting Brazilian themes but with fantastical elements, as seen in Landscape with Anteater, in which an anteater and an armadillo appear larger than life. Even more fanciful than the oversized creatures is the painting’s depiction of Black people living in relative harmony with Indigenous people and European colonists, giving the false impression that the violence and conflicts of slavery and colonialism did not exist there.
The future of Frans Post appreciation (or a growing lack of it) is yet to be seen.
LACMA acquire Virginia Vezzi Self Portrait
April 29 2025
Picture: lacma.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) have announced their acquisition of Virginia Vezzi's (also known as Virginia da Vezzo) Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria (spotted via @mweilc). The work was acquired through the New York dealer Robert Simon.
According to their website (which is worth reading in full):
Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria is a rediscovered painting by Virginia Vezzi, also known as Virginia da Vezzo, whose story is a typical one for a female artist in the early years of the 1600s. Despite her success as a painter in Rome and Paris, her reputation was ignored by contemporary chroniclers and then ultimately lost to the writers of art history in the centuries that followed. Only recently have the biographical details of her life been uncovered, and along with them, her artistic accomplishments.
MET acquires Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder
April 28 2025
Picture: @adamwilliamsfineart
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The New York dealers Adam Williams Fine Art have announced on Instagram the sale of this floral still life to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Dating to around 1619-1621, the work made 3,307,800 EUR at Drouot in 2019.
Jacques Blanchard acquired by Musée du Grand Siècle
April 28 2025
Picture: Alexandre Gady via LinkedIn
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from the Director of the Musée du Grand Siècle, Alexandre Gady, that the museum has acquired Jacques Blanchard's Diana and Endymion (spotted via @gazette_inter). Painted around 1632, it was executed for the interior of the Hôtel Le Barbier and joins Blanchard's Apollo and Daphne which is also in the museum's collection from the same series.
Southern Netherlandish Art Programme Summer School 2025
April 28 2025
Picture: University of Cambridge & Rubenshuis
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News has arrived that the History of Art Department at the University of Cambridge and the Rubenshuis in Antwerp are inviting applications for a Summer School for Southern Netherlandish Art this July.
According to the document supplied (click here for more details):
This is a call for applications to a Summer School in Antwerp/Brussels and Cambridge/London from Tuesday 1st July to Thursday 10th July.
The focus will be Southern Netherlandish Art, 1500-1700. The summer school is organised by the History of Art Department and Trinity Hall, the University of Cambridge, and the Rubenshuis, Antwerp. The programme is kindly funded by the Government of Flanders. [...]
The programme aims to bring together 12 promising emerging researchers to explore Southern Netherlandish Art through lectures by experts in the field and guided tours of museum collections, churches, and private collections in stately homes. The summer course will present a unique opportunity to expand the participants' networks in Belgium and England.
Applications must be in by 12th May 2025.
The World of Johan de Witt in Dordrecht
April 28 2025
Video: RTV Dordrecht
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Dordrecht Museums have just opened a new exhibition celebrating the life of Johan de Witt, a key patron and figure in the Dutch Republic. The show is supported by loans from across the Netherlands, including the Allegory of War (1664) by Jan Lievens and Allegory of Peace (1669) by Adriaen Hanneman commissioned by de Witt for the Senate at the Binnenhof.
The museum have also taken the opportunity of restoring a group portrait featuring de Witt's sister Maria by Caspar Netscher. The museum have posted this photo of what her face looked like pre-retouching:
Can you imagine having to tackle that? Thank goodness there was a copy of the painting to help reconstruct what her face looked like before. Click on the link above to see how the painting appears now.
Duke of Rutland's Poussin Ends Up in Louvre Abu Dhabi
April 25 2025
Picture: The Art Newspaper
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Art Newspaper has shared news that Nicolas Poussin's Confirmation, which failed to find a UK institution willing to stump up the £19m required to keep it in the country when the Duke of Rutland sold it in 2022, has ended up in the collection of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. The picture has gone on display alongside Poussin's Self Portrait on loan from the Louvre in Paris in a special display. The unveiling of this news is part of the Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism's plan to make more of their recent acquisitions public in the coming year.
Upcoming: Pieter Claesz Still Lifes at the KHM
April 24 2025
Picture: khm.at
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from the Kunsthistoriches Musuem in Vienna that they'll be opening an exhibition in June on Still Lifes by Pieter Claesz (an oddly sunny season for such a contemplative show, I think).
According to their website:
From 17 June 2025, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, in cooperation with the Kaiserschild-Stiftung, will present a special exhibition on the Dutch Baroque painter Pieter Claesz (1597/98–1660) as part of the Kaiserschild Art Defined project. Claesz is considered one of the most important still life painters of the seventeenth century.
In collaboration with the Alte Galerie of the Universalmuseum Joanneum Graz and the Kunst Museum Winterthur, three atmospherically rich still life paintings by Pieter Claesz will be on display, showcasing his masterful use of light and his refined handling of materiality. The presentation is complemented by high-resolution digital reproductions that invite interactive engagement with the artworks. Visitors can explore intricate details and delve deeper into the Baroque visual language of the so-called Golden Age.
The World of King James VI and I at the SNPG
April 23 2025
Picture: nationalgalleries.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Galleries of Scotland: Portrait will be opening their latest exhibition on Saturday 26th April 2025 entitled The World of King James VI and I.
According to their website:
Marking the 400-year anniversary of King James’s death, this exhibition will chart his remarkable reign through stories of friendship, family, feuds and ambition. Son of Mary, Queen of Scots, successor to Elizabeth I, King James (1566–1625) was the first monarch to rule over Scotland, England and Ireland.
Drawing on themes with contemporary relevance including national identity, queer history, belief and spirituality, The World of King James VI and I is an enriching journey through the complex life of a King who changed the shape of the United Kingdom. Over 140 objects will be on display, including ornate paintings, dazzling jewels, lavish designs and important loans from galleries across the UK, celebrating craft and visual art from the 16th and 17th centuries.
The show will run until 14th September 2025 and the exhibition catalogue is already available for purchase here.
Master I.S. – From Lost to Almost Found
April 23 2025
Picture: Gösta Serlachius Fine Arts Foundation, Mänttä
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
CODART (the international network of curators of Dutch and Flemish art) have just published an interesting article by Janneke van Asperen and Tomi Moisio on the elusive painter known as Master I.S. The piece delves into questions regarding defining this master's style and characteristics, drawing on new research and examination of pictures in collections such as the Gösta Serlachius Fine Arts Foundation in Finland. Click on the link to read more.
9 works by Evaristo Baschenis donated to Museo Diocesano Bernareggi
April 18 2025
Picture: santalessandro.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I'm a little late to news that the recently reopened Museo Diocesano Bernareggi in Bergamo has received a generous donation of 9 paintings by Evaristo Baschenis (spotted via @Mweilc). The gift was made by the collectors Guido Crippa and his wife Carmen Oberti and will be displayed in an entire room dedicated to the artist's work.
NGA acquires Louise Moillon Still Life
April 18 2025
Picture: NGA
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. (NGA) has acquired Louise Moillon's 1636 Still Life with a Basket of Peaches and Grapes (spotted via. @Mweilc). The work was offered at Christie's Paris back in 2021 but failed to sell with its estimate of 300,000 - 500,000 EUR. The work was eventually acquired by the NGA through the London dealers Ben Elwes Fine Art in 2024.
Baroque in Slovenia
April 18 2025
Picture: Narodna galerija
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A reader has kindly been in touch with news that the Narodna galerija in Ljubljana, Slovenia, has just opened a large exhibition dedicated to Baroque in Slovenia. With a display that features no fewer than 170 works, the show will concentrate on works created in and for present-day Slovenia in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The exhibition will run until 11th September 2025.
