Previous Posts: July 2020
Van Dyck's Charles I Rehung!
July 1 2020
Picture: The National Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
One story that was swept away by the virus crisis was the completion of conservation and restoration on Sir Anthony Van Dyck's Equestrian Portrait of Charles I in the National Gallery, London.
News has reached Twitter that the painting was finally rehung in the gallery today. The painting has a new black and gilded frame too. This means that visitors returning to the gallery from 8th July will be able to see the work in all its splendour! For those who can't wait to go and see it, the gallery have uploaded this high resolution and zoomable image on their website.
One of the most remarkable aspects of conservation work was the reinstating of the blue pigments in the sky. The retouching of the sky has really revived and rebalanced the colour scheme of the picture, which harks back to the bright colours of Titian whom Van Dyck admired above all others. Blues are so often lost due to overly-harsh cleaning in the past and general degrading of the various pigment over time. I do recommend watching the videos of the conservation work found on the gallery's website.
Dealer Catalogues Online
July 1 2020
Picture: Karen Taylor Fine Art
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
This time of the year is always rather exciting due to the selling exhibitions put on by the various London art dealers. I have a section of my bookshelf that contains an ever growing collection of catalogues produced for this season. These are not only aesthetically pleasing objects to have, but often contain many interesting scholarly material for future reference.
Due to our current times, many dealers publishing and promoting their catalogues online. I thought it might worth highlighting a few interesting examples.
Firstly, Karen Taylor has published an online catalogue entitled British Women Artists 1780 - 1890. It contains a selection of interesting and beautiful works by and of women artists.
Libson & Yarker have produced an online exhibition called In Studio, Academy and Field: Learning to draw in Britain 1700–1850. As always, the works and drawings on offer by the likes of Lely, Lawrence and Romney make me very envious.
Stephen Ongpin Fine Art have published their most recent catalogue entitled Drawn to Nature.
Madrid based Nicholás Cortés have published their most recent catalogue online entitled Seven Centuries of Spanish Art.
Do get in touch if you know of any other examples that deserve a mention.
