Previous Posts: December 2012

Tate Britain have re-hung their historical British collection and it looks much, much better.

Some work has been done on their Tudor portraits:

A blank fillet has been added to the right of this Eworth to restore it to its original proportions.

This intriguing work [of William, 1st Lord De La Warr] has been cleaned.

And there are lots of other goodies. Bryce McMurdo [by Raeburn] comes up from storage amongst  them – which reminds me that this was displayed as part of the National Gallery’s selection of British paintings until the 1960s.

Regarding the Tate's rehanging of the British Collection, did you happen to notice whether poor Judith Dobson (William's missus) had found a better position than previously? I went especially to see her, and found her high up a wall (too high for my short 5'3" to see properly), obscured by the reflection of a badly-placed light, and next to a doorway through which you couldn't help but be blinded by some ghastly 'flashing chandalier' installation. I've not been back since - will stick to the NPG in future!!

It's really bad if a piece can't increase by 30% in value per year. If you find an artwork that goes up 100 or even 200% a year then you're a great collector. I store my paintings and don't show them to everyone because of insurance issues... It's like looking after treasure.

British picture framemakers, 1610-1950

A revised and substantially expanded 3rd edition of this online resource has just gone online on the National Portrait Gallery website. This dictionary resource has doubled in size since first launched in 2007. Thirty-five additional makers have now been added and the starting point for coverage taken back to about 1610. Although most entries have been researched and written by Jacob Simon, this new edition also features articles by Lynn Roberts and Edward Town. Further contributions would be welcome.

Highlights in the new edition include:

• identification of the role of Richard Norris, as the first known member of the Norris dynasty, in framing and other work in the cabinet of Prince Charles at St James’s Palace in the early 1620s (see case study below)

• biographies for Herman Scholier and Henry Waller, both active in the early 17th century, researched by Edward Town

• a lengthy entry for Gillow of Lancaster, provided by Lynn Roberts

• biographies for George Coffee and William Saltmarsh, who worked for Sir John Soane

• highly revealing information from the account book of George Jackson, who supplied composition ornament to many leading Regency framemakers (see case study below)

• a new entry on Robert Archer of Oxford and an expanded text for his apprentice, James Wyatt, revealing their importance in working for the Bodleian Library and the University Galleries in Oxford in the 19th century

• expanded entries for Edinburgh makers, thanks to information from Helen Smailes, and new entries for Aberdeen and Glasgow framemakers

• entries for Charles Goodwin of Maidstone, who carved frames for Arthur Hughes and some of the Pre-Raphaelites, and for John Henry Steer, London-based but framemaker to two artists with Cornish associations, Lamorna Birch and Laura Knight.

• information from the National Probate Calendar, providing the value of estates for makers dying in the years, 1858-1966, and information from Board of Trade records relating to the setting up and liquidation of businesses in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

It's worth pointing out that seven items were deferred by the committe in the year, worth a total of £74.6 million.  Three, with a total value of £44.8 were exported - or 43% of cases and 60% in value.

1. A painting by Jean-Antoine Watteau, La Surprise (£17.5 million)
2. A painting by Francesco Guardi, Venice: A View of the Rialto Bridge from the Fondamenta del Carbon (£26,697,250)
3. A North Italian empire athénienne by Luigi Manfredini (£632,940)

But the press releases for these reports never draw attention to the complete picture.  

And it's a moot point whether the results were better than in the previous year when 7 objects worth a total of £65.8 million were exported (50% of cases but 92% by value).

Bromley has written to Mayor Rahman throwing the gauntlet down over his bid to auction off the sculpture—while Bethnal Green & Bow MP Rushanara Ali has raised the controversy in the Commons in a bid to block the sell-off.

The challenge comes after Museum of London bosses followed a paper trail back to the 1960s when Moore created the sculpture at cost price for the-then London County Council and waived consultation and transport fees to have it put up as a gift to the East End on Stepney’s Stifford Estate.

Old Flo was not transferred to Tower Hamlets when the LCC was abolished in 1965, but instead remained the property of the new GLC until its own abolition in 1986 when all assets passed to the London Residuary Body. The sculpture was then transferred to Bromley, the museum found.

“This is very good news indeed,” said museum director Sharon Ament. “We welcome Bromley’s challenge to Tower Hamlets.

“Bromley has committed to Moore’s statue being on public display. We hope that ‘Old Flo’ will come home to the East End.”

The museum has offered to cover costs of conservation, security, insurance and transporting it back from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park where it has been stored for 15 years, to be displayed at its Docklands site at Canary Wharf.

But Tower Hamlets refutes that Bromley has any right to the asset. The 1962 minutes of the LCC authorised the purchase of the statue “to be sited in Stifford Estate” where it remained until the estate was demolished. The estate transferred to Tower Hamlets, the council points out.

MP Rushanara Ali raised the issue in the Commons yesterday (Weds) when she asked the government to stop the “fire sale”—describing it as “a betrayal of the East End’s working class heritage.”

Mayor Rahman wants Old Flo under the auctioneer’s hammer at Christie’s in February.

"The Connoisseur" [top]  by Henry Herbert  La Thangue is actually of Mr Abraham Mitchell, aged 53 at the time, a Bradford textile tycoon and a Methodist of "reserved and retiring nature". He and his brother Joseph built neighbouring mansions (called "The Parks"), his with a picture gallery, which is the setting for this work. He was one of La Thangue's principal patrons. In the background are his wife and their two sons Tom (standing) and Herbert, and one of his daughters either Edith or Annie. Mitchell had been a local councillor, alderman, JP and refused the mayoralty of the town (see "A Painters Harvest". Oldham Art Gallery catalogue 4 November -12 December 1978 Page 22 & 23).

A very unusual genre for him and a very modern painting for you!!

The French Revolution and the ensuing Napoleonic Wars with occupations of Italy, Spain and the Low Countries, instigated a sweeping redistribution of art. At the same time, the Papacy’s loss of temporal power undermined the enforcement of export laws in the Papal States. This convergence of events ensured that large volumes of paintings—often entire collections, from European monasteries, churches, and private palaces—were widely dispersed via auction and private treaty sales in a true diaspora of art. Current scholarship posits that amidst these large-scale market transformations London emerged as the new hub of the international art trade, replacing Paris. The well-known example of the move of the Orléans collection to London, where it was sold through various private treaty transactions and a series of auctions between 1798 and 1802, is often considered a pars pro toto for the British assumption of power on the international art market.

While some studies have begun to address the velocity and scale of this redistribution, little has been done to analyze the dynamic networks of agents who provided the infrastructure for the circulation of art works and sales information throughout Europe. Economist Neil De Marchi recently pointed out that the financial market linking crucial centers such as Amsterdam, London, and Paris has been studied in depth, but comparable research into the “mechanism of the painting trade and the extent to which it was integrated across those centers has barely begun.” This conference aspires to tackle this issue by convening scholars and experts from a range of disciplines to discuss broad research questions such as: Did the long-term effects of the political turmoil in France alter the existing personal and professional networks of dealers and connoisseurs? What would have been the motivations to ship art works to foreign market places? How integrated was the European art market around 1800, or were there still relatively independent local markets? Was there an implied hierarchy of metropolitan markets or were conditions too volatile and fluid for fixed patterns to emerge?

Visitors to the Dallas Museum of Art won’t be seeing Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi after all. Its owners have rejected the museum’s bid to buy the painting after weeks of negotiations, officials revealed Tuesday.

The painting had been at the DMA during the talks. The DMA’s final offer was not disclosed, though the cost of the artwork had previously been reported as $200 million.

The rejection follows a recent flurry of upbeat news — free admission and free memberships in 2013, and $2.3 million in new grants and gifts.

The DMA announced that it was trying to acquire the Da Vinci during the summer and had launched a fundraising campaign toward the purchase.

“While the museum’s leadership was hopeful that the painting would be acquired for the benefit and enjoyment of the public, they are incredibly inspired by and grateful for the outpouring of community support for the campaign to acquire this work,” according to a statement from the museum. The DMA said it had raised “tens of millions of dollars” in pledges toward the purchase.

Director Maxwell Anderson said in the statement that it “was a privilege to be responsible for the safekeeping of this masterwork as we assembled commitments towards its purchase. The fortunate few who saw it in person will not soon forget its beauty, power and majesty.” 

Of course we need STEM [Science, Technology, subject graduates, but that does not mean we don't also need arts and humanities graduates (this sort of dubious see-saw thinking also infects discussions of private and public sectors). As recruitment officer for a School of Arts I often come across unsubstantiated assertions that there are no jobs for art historians or philosophers. This is not true. The creative industries, heritage and tourism and the cultural sector constitute a vibrant and substantial part of the UK economy. At a recent careers event at the V&A I heard a fascinating talk by a designer, Chris Sherwin - Head of Sustainability at Seymourpowell, about how a huge amount of industrial waste and environmental damage is simply caused by poor design. Scientists need arty types, and vice versa.

Arguments that we can "no longer afford the arts" are not only uncivilised, they fly in the face of evidence to the contrary of their importance for the economy.

I think one of the most important things in life is to have a balance, to help you see the whole picture…or at least to be able to appreciate that there is more than one way of looking at things. Art, for me, is the means to do this…and it will benefit the whole of society if more attention is paid to this vitally important and enriching aspect of our lives.

Actually, there might be some evidence that he did spend time in England.  There are suggestions that he was in Hull later on in life (reported by Vertue) as well drawings of both St Albans and Windsor Castle.

It is time we all accept the fact that a traditional four-year liberal arts education is a poor investment for America's middle class. Student debt is now at the $1 trillion mark with graduates of four-year institutions facing an average of $25,000 in debt. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that in 2012, 1.5 million recent college graduates, or 53.6 percent of those students with bachelor's degrees are jobless or underemployed.

Students and their parents need to think carefully before investing the $7,605 a year that the College Board estimates as the average tuition at a public four-year institution. This figure doesn't include room and board, Friday night pizzas, books or lattes.

Today's economy cannot support more art history or philosophy majors. Students and their parents must consider careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). That's where the jobs are and there is an inexpensive, quick way to qualify for these jobs -- enrolling at a community college.