17th Century
The Carracci drawings: The making of the Galleria Farnese
November 14 2025
Video: Louvre
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Louvre have released the following video (in French) providing an overview of their recently opened exhibition entitled The Carracci drawings: The making of the Galleria Farnese.
According to their website:
The Musée du Louvre is moving the Galleria Farnese to Paris, where the most extraordinary collection of preparatory drawings ever assembled will recreate the gallery in the manner of a jigsaw puzzle. The immersive exhibition design reproducing the Galleria’s vault will also include a second ceiling: that of the Camerino, a small room Annibale Carracci was given to test his designs.
The exhibition aims to give visitors a closer look at the engaging character of the work’s key architect, Annibale Carracci. The Galleria Farnese drawings and other sheets Annibale completed before leaving for Rome will highlight the 34-year-old artist’s determination to bring about a stylistic and intellectual revival. Never before had so many drawings for a painted interior been preserved, from the rapid sketch outlining the artist's initial ideas to the large cartoon measuring several metres per side, which contains a full-scale drawing of the fresco.
The show will run until 2nd February 2026.
Restoring Georges de La Tour
November 13 2025
Picture: C2RMF
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Centre of Research and Restoration of the Musées De France (C2RMF) have published an article on the recent conservation of Georges de la Tour's Job Mocked by his Wife. The picture belongs to the Musée d'Épinal.
Caravaggio: Exhibition on Screen - Released Today
November 11 2025
Video: Exhibition on Screen
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The production company Seventh Art Productions, who created Vermeer: The Greatest Exhibition a few years ago, are releasing their latest film today on Caravaggio.
According to their website:
Five years in the making, this is the most extensive film ever made about this revolutionary artist. With first-hand testimony from the artist himself on the eve of his mysterious disappearance, this film reveals Caravaggio as never before. Featuring masterpiece after masterpiece and testimony from leading experts from around the world, Caravaggio immerses audiences in the hidden narratives of the artist’s life, piecing together clues embedded within his incredible art.
Althorp Mytens Conserved
November 10 2025
Picture: @cspencer1508 via 'X'
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Charles Earl Spencer has shared some rather nice images on social media of a portrait from Althorp, Northamptonshire, which has recently been cleaned. The painting by Daniel Mytens depicts Henry, 3rd Earl of Southampton. Click on the link above to see how the picture looked before treatment and some rather pleasing high-definition details too...
Artemisia Gentileschi Self Portrait coming up at Christie's New York
November 7 2025
Picture: Paul Jeromack @pjeromack
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
It's that exciting time of the year when the big sales tend to bring out previews of Old Master highlights (usually hanging in adjacent galleries) from the upcoming sale seasons. Most of these usually fly very far under the radar, without any online presence from any of the auction house websites whatsoever. This means it's up to followers on Instagram, if we're not lucky enough to be in the salerooms at the time, to spread the news of what's to come.
Journalist Paul Jeromack has published (and given his consent for us to use) an image of this very beguiling Self Portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi which is coming up at Christie's New York on 4th February 2026. Their wall label explains it shows the artist in the guise of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (like the NG's painting acquired in 2018 for £3.6m) and is perhaps one of her earliest self portraits. Infra-red scans also purport to show changes in the composition, which sounds exciting too. A quick Google explains that the painting has more recently been on loan to the National Museum of Norway from a private collection.
It will be offered with an estimate of $2.5m - $3.5m.
Luca Giordano conserved at the Palazzo Grimani
November 7 2025
Picture: finestresullarte.info
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Italy that Luca Giordano's Samaritan Woman at the Well has been conserved and redisplayed in the Palazzo Grimani, Venice. The work had only been assigned to the museum by the Italian Ministry of Culture in 2022, due to various connections of patronage between the artist at the Grimani family.
Click on the link above to see more conservation photos.
New Annibale Carracci Murals display at the Prado
November 6 2025
Video: Instagram
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Prado in Madrid have unveiled a new display of their mural paintings originally painted for the Herrera Chapel by Annibale Carracci. The rehang and displays were financially supported by the OHLA Group.
Weindling Collection at Sotheby's New York in 2026
November 6 2025
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Sotheby's New York have announced that they will be offering a group of twelve Nothern paintings from the Weindling Collection in February 2026.
According to their Instagram post:
Highlights include two of the earliest still lifes by Pieter Claesz, luminous landscapes by Jan van Goyen and Salomon van Ruysdael, one of the only still lifes by Jan Jansz. den Uyl the Elder in private ownership, and one of the unique large format townscapes by David Teniers the Elder—each a striking example of timeless clarity and composition.
Born in Berlin, [Lester] Weindling fled Europe as a child during the rise of Nazism and eventually settled in New York, where he became a leading real-estate developer. Alongside his career, he quietly built this collection—a lasting connection to the Europe he left behind.
Resurfaced Govaert Flinck to Headline Lempertz December Sale
November 5 2025
Picture: Lempertz
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A resurfaced signed painting by Govaert Flinck, previously known only from a black & white image, will headline Lempertz's 50 Lots – My Choice | Jubiläumsauktion Henrik Hanstein on 4th December 2025. It will be offered carrying an estimate of €140,000 - 180,000. Click on the link above to read their catalogue note for the picture.
Kaplan to Sell Rembrandt Drawing for Big Cat Conservation (ctd)
November 5 2025
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The aforementioned drawing of a Lion by Rembrandt is to be sold by Sotheby's New York in February 2026. The work on paper, which is being sold from the Leiden collection to benefit the big cat charity Panthera, is expected to carry an estimate of $15 - 20m.
Sleeper Alert!
November 4 2025
Picture: Hermann Historica
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Social media is awash with news that the following Still Life catalogued as 'Style of Balthasar van der Ast' realised €225,000 (hammer) over its starting bid of €1,500 at Hermann Historica yesterday. Clara Peeters is the name that most have attached to it, with good reason too.
€3.5 - 6m Pieter Brueghel the Younger coming up at Sotheby's London
October 31 2025
Picture: @meet_the_specialists_belgium
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Sotheby's Brussels that one of the upcoming highlights of the Sotheby's London Old Master Paintings evening sale in December will be Pieter Brueghel the Younger's The Census at Bethlehem. The post linked above provides an estimate in euros of €3.5 - 6m.
According to the post:
A copy by Pieter Brueghel the Younger of a work by his father executed in 1566 (now in the collection of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium), this version of The Census at Bethlehem dates from the very beginning of the 17th century and is exceptionally large (170 x 120 cm) for a work by the artist. It has remained in a private collection
for over forty years and has never been exhibited since then. Only three versions of The Census at Bethlehem by the artist are currently in private hands, and none of them have appeared on the market since 1980, making the upcoming sale an exceptional moment for Brueghel collectors.
Hispanic Society Museum sale realises $2.19m
October 28 2025
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I'm late to news that the Hispanic Society Museum sale at Christie's New York realised $2,198,751 (all prices inc. commission) last week (spotted via. @ColeccionMMoret)
There were quite a few lots that soared past their estimates. This included the Portrait of Isabel de Borbón by the Circle of Rubens (pictured) which realised $330,200 over its $20k - 30k estimate, the Saint Dominic by the Workshop of El Greco which made $1,016,000 over its $100k - 150k estimate, the Portrait of Isabella of Portugal by a Follower of Titian which went for $215,900 over its $10k - 15k estimate and the Christ the Good Shepherd given to the Circle of Murillo which realised $40,460 over its $4k - 6k estimate.
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An impressive set of results that demonstrates copies of Old Masters sold in the right context can make serious sums (although, only the auction house will know how many buyers were may or may not have been existing philanthropic supporters of the museum).
Upcoming Release: Corpus Rubenianum - Drawings Unrelated to Known Compositions
October 24 2025
Picture: brepols
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The next volume of the Corpus Rubenianum will focus on Drawings Unrelated to Known Compositions. It is due to be released in January 2026.
As the publisher's curious blurb explains:
This volume is an oddity in the Corpus Rubenianum. Rather than being devoted to one particular project, or category of subject, it presents what at first sight might appear a miscellany of drawings. The works discussed here are indeed united only in the circumstance that they have proved difficult to associate directly with any particular painting or project undertaken by Rubens – and, for the most part, they remain so. Many of these ‘unrelated’ sheets have been relegated to the margins of Rubens scholarship as a result of their ambiguous status, whether because of uncertainties regarding their attribution, their subject-matter or their function (or all three).
Van Dyck Exhibition in Genoa for March 2026
October 24 2025
Picture: Rubenshuis
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Genoa that the Palazzo Ducale Genoa will be hosting a big Van Dyck exhibition in 2026. The show will feature 50 works by the artist, drawing on loans from 32 museums across 22 cities. In particular, the exhibition route will focus on three fundamental stages of his career, those spent in Antwerp, Genoa and London. It will be curated by Anna Orlando and Katlijne Van der Stighelen and will run from 20th March until 19th July 2026.
Caravaggio's 'Boy with a Basket of Fruit' in NY for January 2026
October 22 2025
Picture: themorgan.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from New York that The Morgan Library & Museum will be borrowing Caravaggio's Boy with a Basket of Fruit from the Galleria Borghese for a special exhibition opening in January 2026.
According to their website:
This exhibition celebrates the extraordinary loan from the Galleria Borghese in Rome of the painting Boy with a Basket of Fruit, an important early work by Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio (1571–1610). Trained in his native Lombardy, Caravaggio brought to Rome a tradition of naturalism that stretched back to Leonardo da Vinci’s work in Milan. He combined this tradition, however, with a revolutionary approach to painting that shattered the illusion of art and instead celebrated the artifice of the studio. [...]
The installation will also include a selection of works that document the powerful impact Caravaggio had on Roman art. It concludes with Gianlorenzo Bernini’s portrait drawing of Scipione Borghese, the early owner of the Boy with a Basket of Fruit painting and the collector largely responsible for the Galleria Borghese.
The display will run from 16th January until 19th April 2026.
Adam de Coster Reattributed
October 20 2025
Picture: Prado
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Spain that the ARS Magazine have published an article concerning the reattribution of the following Card Players in the Prado to the Flemish artist Adam de Coster. Written by Anne Delvingt, the museum had historically attributed the work to Gerrit Honthorst in the past.
Gesina & Being Seen in Zwolle
October 16 2025
Picture: visitzwolle.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I'm late to news that Zwolle in the Netherlands are hosting a city-wide programme of exhibitions and events to celebrate the life of Gesina ter Borch. This includes a special 'animation Opera' in the city's Grote Kerk, an experience which lasts 45 minutes. Click on the link above to find out more about the programme which will run until February 2026.
Upcoming Release: Vermeer - A Life Lost and Found
October 13 2025
Picture: Penguin
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Times ran an interesting article over the weekend promoting Andrew Graham-Dixon's new book entitled Vermeer - A Life Lost and Found. In particular, Graham-Dixon's publication focuses a great deal on Vermeer's connections to 'an underground peace movement' of Calvinist Remonstrants and his important patron Maria de Knuijt for whom he created virtually all of his work. The book provides new interpretations of several iconic Vermeer pictures, including the fact that The Girl with the Pearl Earing may be based on the likeness of Maria's daughter Magdalena, who was twelve at the time Vermeer's painting was produced.
The book will be available from 23rd October 2025.
Update - For those wanting more information, it appears (via. several social media accounts) that articles by Piet Bakker and an essay by Judith Noorman have also covered this particular angle before Graham-Dixon's book. Click on the links to read and find out more.
Guido Reni in Turin
October 10 2025
Picture: Galleria Sabauda
Posted by Adam Busiakeiwicz:
The Galleria Sabauda in Turin will be opening their latest exhibition tomorrow dedicated to Guido Reni. The show focuses on works from the Savoy collections alongside loans from institutions including the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse.
The exhibition will run until 18th January 2026.
