Previous Posts: January 2022
Christ & His Cousin: Renaissance Rediscoveries
January 31 2022
Picture: The National Gallery of Ireland
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin opened their latest exhibition over the weekend entitled Christ & His Cousin: Renaissance Rediscoveries. The show will be accompanied by some fascinating online talks and lectures too, which are worth browsing through.
According to the exhibition's blurb:
Over the last fifteen years, a selection of sixteenth-century Italian paintings from the national collection have been carefully conserved by the Gallery’s Head of Conservation, Simone Mancini. This free exhibition will showcase eight works depicting the Madonna and her infant child, Jesus Christ, with his cousin Saint John the Baptist. Many of these dramatically restored paintings have never been displayed before. Christ & His Cousin: Renaissance Rediscoveries will explore the symbolism and traditions that underpin these playful and lively compositions, and encourage visitors to reconsider what are often dismissed as conventional and familiar images.
This free exhibition will run until 8th May 2022.
The 1973 Cincinnati Rembrandt Heist
January 31 2022
Video: WCPO 9
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
For those of you who like a good heist story, the Cincinnati Enquirer have written a long format piece on the 1973 theft of two Rembrandts from the Taft Museum of Art. The story is a rather long and curious one, do click on the link if you want to read it in full.
Carlo Crivelli at the Ikon Gallery
January 31 2022
Picture: The National Gallery, London
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz
The Ikon Gallery in Birmingham will be opening what looks to be a very interesting exhibition later in February dedicated to Carlo Crivelli (c.1430/5-1495). Shadows on the Sky is said to be the first exhibition in the UK dedicated to this Venetian born artist.
According to the gallery's website:
Shadows on the Sky highlights his experimental use of perspective, trompe l’oeil (optical illusion) and sculptural relief to create illusions of illusionism. Such cleverness was conveyed with consummate craftsmanship and foiled by an extraordinary elegance. Crivelli’s paintings both suggest and undermine his own visual trickery to explore the coexistence of material and spiritual realities.
Organised in partnership with The National Gallery, the exhibition also includes loans from other leading institutions such as the National Trust, the Vatican Pinacoteca, the Victoria & Albert Museum, The Wallace Collection, and the Gemäldegalerie. Through these major loans – some for the first time – we are invited to reconsider Crivelli’s sophisticated understanding of the relationship between art and what it represents. With a sense of irony, found five hundred years later in Magritte’s Ceci n’est pas une pipe (1929), he subtly denies the possibility of one being confused with the other.
The exhibition will run from 23rd February 2022 until 29th May 2022.
Sleeper Alert!
January 28 2022
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Some readers might remember this painting that I highlighted on the blog on 9th January catalogued as Follower of Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
The painting was sold this morning in New York for $1,593,000 over its $50k - $70k estimate.
Notably, this painting had been published as 'Bruegel's earliest work' in a 1955 publication by Fritz Grossmann. It seems that many Bruegel writers continued to republish Grossmann's verdict until it was questioned at some point during the 1970s.
This might be a story to follow in the near future, especially if it reappears somewhere interesting.
Manchester Deaf Museum acquires work by Charles Webb Moore
January 28 2022
Picture: @OlympiaAuctions
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Olympia Auctions (formerly the 25 Blythe Road collective) in West London has shared news that a portrait sold by them in May 2021 has been acquired by the Deaf Museum in Manchester. The painting was created by the deaf artist Charles Webb Moore (1848-1933) and depicts and unknown gentleman wearing a black suit and white shirt.
According to the original catalogue note:
Moore was described as the "doyen of deaf artists" by the inventor Arthur James Wilson, himself a prominent figure in the deaf community of 19th and early 20th Century Britain. The artist was born into a family of artists and craftspeople based in London. All of his immediate family were also deaf, and they were part of the deaf community that centred largely around St Saviour's Church, Oxford Street (now relocated to Acton), the only purpose-built church for the deaf in London.
Museum of Fine Arts Besançon hangs its new Vouet
January 28 2022
Picture: @villedebesancon
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology of Besançon have hung their latest acquisition, Simon Vouet's Angels Bearing the Column of Passion. The work was purchased at Sotheby's Paris in November 2021 for €252,000 (inc. commission). Most importantly, the acquisition allows the work to be hung next to another canvas of angels to which it was originally joined.
Refurbished galleries at the Ulster Museum
January 28 2022
Picture: Twitter via. @annemillarstew1
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Senior Curator of the Ulster Museum Anne Stewart has shared this very impressive preview of the newly refurbishing galleries of the museum. The museum, with its brand-new lighting for its picture collection in a display called Renaissance to Romanticism, will be reopening to visitors on 1st February 2022.
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Is it just me, or are there absolutely no details about the refurbishment or display featured on the museum's website?
Marquess of Downshire Pictures coming up at Sotheby's in April
January 28 2022
Picture: artscouncil.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
An eagle eyed reader has alerted me to a posting on the Private Treaty Sales section of the Arts Council website. The post explains that a selection of eleven pictures from the Marquess of Downshire's collection will be coming up for sale at Sotheby's London on 4th April 2022. This includes paintings by the likes of Attrib. George Gower, Sir Peter Lely, Studio of Kneller, Michael Dahl, Bernard Lens and Filippo Lauri. Another four will be heading to sale at Tennants later in April 2022.
Sotheby's Results
January 27 2022
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Today's Sotheby's New York Master Paintings and Sculpture sale realised a total of $90,970,160 (all prices include commission) with 74.55% of lots sold. This total includes the $45.45m achieved by the Botticelli and a $9.91m Egyptian statue. This is only a little down on the $114,502,900 made last year, which included a ($92.1m!) Botticelli, of course.
There were a few disappointments though. The Correggio, Bellini, Vrel and van Baburen were all bought in.
Some of the pictures that soared include a portrait by Goya which achieved $2,198,000 (all prices include commission) over its $400k - $600k estimate; Pieter van Mol's Diogenes which realised $5,779,200 over its $2m - $3m estimate; Gerrit Dou's candlelight scene which made $746,000 over its $150k - $250k estimate; a pair of portraits by Pickenoy which made $1,084,800 over their $450k - $550k estimate; a Rachel Ruysch still life which realised $365,400 over its $80k - $120k estimate; a portrait by Charles Wautier which made $189,000 over its $60k - $80k estimate and a head study of a man by Gaetano Gandolfi which made $818,600 over its $300k - $500k estimate.
Botticelli's Man of Sorrows makes $39.3m (hammer price)
January 27 2022
Picture: Sotheby's via. Facebook
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Sotheby's New York have just sold Sandro Botticelli's Man of Sorrows for $39.3m (hammer price) with the pre-sale estimate mooted at around $40m. With commission this adds up to $45.4m.
Bidding opened at $33m, climbed to $38m where it stalled for a short while with increments of $200k, $500k, $700k, $900k until it hit $39m. Bidding slowly crept up with $100k increments to $39.3m where it finally sold to a phone bidder with Liz Lobkowicz.
And we're off...!
January 27 2022
Picture: Sotheby's via. Facebook
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Sotheby's New York Master Paintings sale has just begun! What will the Botticelli make? Will the Correggio, van Mol, Cranach, Coorte, de Sarto and Artemisias soar?!
All will soon be revealed!
Update - The first picture to break its top estimate is Ambrosius Benson's Mary Magdalene which was knocked down at $1.6m (hammer price) over its $500k - $700k estimate. All pictures have just about managed to hit their low estimates thus far.
Update 2 - Pieter van Mol's Diogenes just managed to break its top estimate to achieve $4.8m (hammer price) over its $2m - $3m estimate. I managed to have a good look at this at the London previews. It's a stunning picture which surely has a glorious clean in it. An auction record for Pieter van Mol too.
The sale has gotten off to a good start, it seems!
Update 3 - The first passes, lot. 7 and 8.
Update 4 - Giovanni Bellini's Mother and Child was just bought-in at $2.9m (hammer price) under its estimate of $3m - $5m. Perhaps bidders are saving their pennies for the Botticelli?
Update 5 - Andrea del Sarto's Portrait of a Man just scraped $1.8m (hammer price) under its $2m - $3m estimate.
Update 6 - Correggio's Magdalen Reading was bought-in (meaning it didn't manage to hit its reserve) at $4.4m (hammer) under its $4.5m - $5.5m estimate. A shame, as it was very close.
Update 7 - A 'Dutch School' portrait of a Boy managed to realise $214,200 (inc. commission) over its $40k - $60k estimate. An impressive result, I wonder if someone has managed to work out who painted it.
Update 8 - Artemisia's Portrait of a Lady sold for $2.2m (hammer price) over its $2m - $3m estimate.
Musée Fabre acquires Judith by Filippo Vitale
January 27 2022
Picture: maurizionobile.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A reader has pointed out news that the Musée Fabre in Montpellier have acquired a Judith and Holofernes by Filippo Vitale (c.1585-1650). The work had formerly been on display at TEFAF with Maurizio Nobile Fine Art and was only recently donated to the museum by the painting's new owner Mr. Didier Malka.
Visitors to the museum will now be able to see the work hanging as part their aforementioned exhibition La Beauté en partage.
The Caravaggio Conference to End All Caravaggio Conferences
January 27 2022
Picture: caravaggio.info
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
It seems like the Italian Art Historical community have been having an absolute blast this week with a vast online conference dedicated to The Enigma of Caravaggio. The conference, running between the 12th and 28th January, has included the participation of no fewer than 40 Italian and international scholars on Italian baroque painting.
For those of you who can understand Italian, much of the conference has been uploaded to YouTube. Hours and hours of fascinating material to enjoy, I'm sure!
Upcoming Release: Woodland Imagery in Northern Art
January 27 2022
Picture: Lund Humphries
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Here's an upcoming release that looks rather interesting. Lund Humphries will be publishing Leopoldine van Hogendorp Prosperetti's new book Woodland Imagery in Northern Art c.1500 - 1800 Ecology and Poetry later this spring.
According to the book's blurb:
Woodland Imagery in Northern Art reconnects us with the woodland scenery that abounds in Western painting, from Albrecht Dürer’s intense studies of verdant trees, to the works of many other Northern European artists who captured 'the truth of vegetation' in their work. These incidents of remarkable scenery in the visual arts have received little attention in the history of art, until now. Prosperetti brings together a set of essays which are devoted to the poetics of the woodlands in the work of the great masters, including Claude Lorrain, Jan van Eyck, Jacob van Ruisdael, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt and Leonardo da Vinci, amongst others.
Through an examination of aesthetics and eco-poetics, this book draws attention to the idea of lyrical naturalism as a conceptual bridge that unites the power of poetry with the allurement of the natural world.
The book will be published on 1st March 2022.
The NAL Reopens after 22 Months
January 27 2022
Picture: V&A
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Art Library at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London reopened yesterday after being shut since March 2020.
I've pulled out what I find to be the most important sections of the museum's blog about the reopening:
In 2021, as a result of the financial impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, the V&A underwent a major restructure, creating new curatorial departments and bringing the National Art Library and Archives together with the V&A’s Research Institute. Together with this move, we began a comprehensive review of the NAL and Archive services, led by two independent consultants, Dr Sarah Thomas and Anna Jobson. Sarah and Anna were tasked with examining how, in the extraordinary context of the pandemic, the library could – and should – move forward as a core part of the V&A’s mission, considering the place of the NAL within a national and international library landscape, how libraries have changed in response to the pandemic and wider trends in digital and technology and, in particular, how we might broaden access to the NAL and our archives.
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To that end, we are embarking on a transformation programme to take the National Art Library into its next phase, with renewed commitment to make our collections and resources accessible to all. We’ll shortly be appointing a Chief Librarian to lead this process, and we will be working behind the scenes to make our digitised collections more discoverable, to make more of our unique and distinctive collections, and to improve remote access to our resources. While financial constraints mean that we’re not able to act immediately on all of Sarah and Anna’s recommendations, we are committed to renewing and reinforcing the NAL, making it more sustainable, connected and inclusive, serving more people nationally and internationally as a fundamental part of the V&A’s 21st-century mission.
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We’re delighted to be able to welcome readers back to the National Art Library’s reading rooms from 26 January, with increased opening hours and capacity. We’ll be opening every Wednesday from 11am and 5pm, with a walk-in service: and we’ll be increasing our opening hours later in the spring.
...'accessible to all', but only if you're free on a Wednesday from 11am till 5pm. Let us hope this is swiftly extended, due to the demand of this most vital of art resource!
French taste and its presence in Spain
January 27 2022
Picture: fundacionmapfre.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Fundación MAPFRE in Madrid are opening a very interesting sounding exhibition in February. French taste and its presence in Spain (XVII-XIX centuries) will examine the various contexts and material histories regarding the collecting and patronage of French art and its associated styles in Spain. The exhibition will contain 45 paintings, 16 drawings, 8 sculptures and 31 pieces of sumptuary and decorative arts.
The show will run from 11th February 2022 until 8th May 2022.
Here's a PDF brochure of the exhibition (in Spanish), in case you might be interested to browse.
Guido Reni and Rome: Nature and Devotion
January 27 2022
Picture: Galleria Borghese
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Galleria Borghese in Rome will be opening their latest exhibition in March. Guido Reni and Rome: Nature and Devotion is an exhibition dedicated to celebrating the return of Guido Reni's Country Dance.
According to the gallery's website:
The Guido Reni and Rome: Nature and Devotion exhibition is curated by Francesca Cappelletti. It revolves around Reni’s painting Country Dance, which for a year has been back in the museum’s collection, to which it had always belonged before its sale at the end of the 19th century.
The return of the work next to the other landscape paintings of the museum’s collection provides an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between Reni – a painter dearly loved by Scipione Borghese – and rural themes and landscape painting, which until now have been considered extraneous to his production or, in any case, of little relevance.
Focusing on Guido Reni’s interest in landscape painting in relationship to the other Italian and foreign painters present in Rome in the early 17th century, the exhibition will try to reconstruct the first years of the artist’s stay in the city, his passionate study of ancient and Renaissance works, the extremely important relationship he developed with the Genoese banker Ottavio Costa, his astonishment at the highly chiaroscuro painting of Caravaggio – who Reni knew and frequented, as supposed by Carlo Cesare Malvasia in his Felsina pittrice (1678) and confirmed by recently discovered documents – and the beginning of his dazzling career as a great painter of history.
The show will run from 1st March 2022 until 22nd May 2022.
Final Episode of Britain's Lost Masterpieces
January 27 2022
Picture: BBC
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Bendor has shared news on Twitter that the final episode of Britain's Lost Masterpieces will be aired on Monday 7th February 2022 on BBC4. The recording of this episode was originally cut short due to covid. Bendor has also shared the sad news that this will be the last ever episode (on the BBC at least).
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I do hope the production company has explored the option of exporting the show to different countries. Britain surely can't be the only nation with neglected pictures waiting to be unearthed...
Musée Cognacq-Jay acquires Portrait by Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié
January 26 2022
Picture: Musée Cognacq-Jay
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Musée Cognacq-Jay in Paris have announced their acquisition of a Portrait of an Old Woman with a White Headscarf by Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié (1735-1784). This head-study, signed and dated to 1774, was used by the artist in a larger genre-scene known as Les Accords kept at the Musee de Grenoble.
'Inspired' at the Guildhall Art Gallery
January 26 2022
Picture: Guildhall Art Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Guildhall Art Gallery in London will be opening their latest exhibition in April. Inspired: Art inspired by theatre, literature and music seems to do exactly what is says on the tin, bringing together a fine selection of works from (mostly) the nineteenth-century that explores these themes.
According to their press release:
Inspired: Art inspired by theatre, literature and music will explore the relationship between poetry, plays, novels and music with the visual arts.
Novels were increasingly popular during the 19th century and, in reaction to Industrialisation, many Victorians valued nostalgic and Romantic novels and poetry, looking to Shakespeare’s history plays, Tennyson’s poems, medieval folktales and Greek myths. This was reflected in much of the art of the time, and Guildhall Art Gallery dives into its renowned 19th century collections to explore the dialogue between art and literature. Inspired goes even deeper to look at how theatre and music were additional sources of inspiration for Victorian artists. Visitors will see the influence of theatre in pieces like John Philip Kemble as Coriolanus by Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830). Painter, draughtsman and President of the Royal Academy, Lawrence was taught by his father to recite passages from Pope, Collins, Milton and Shakespeare to his customers. Lawrence’s portrait of British actor John Philip Kemble (1757- 1823), depicting him blanketed in shadows, revels in the theatricality that Shakespearean tragedy affords. Meanwhile, pivotal moments in theatre history, such as the burning of Drury Lane, are captured on the canvas in Old Drury Lane on fire, London 24 February 1809 by Abraham Pether.
Lovers of Pre-Raphaelite art will be able to see pieces by celebrated names, including William Holman Hunt (1827-1910), John Everett Millais (1829-1896) and George Frederic Watts (1817- 1904). The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood cherished the Romantic poets and the writings of John Ruskin and Thomas Carlyle, according to whom the world itself should be read as a system of visual signs. The artists kept a list of ‘heroes’ that epitomised greatness, including Keats, and carried their inspiration in paintings with great attention to detail, vivid colour and elaborate symbolism.
The exhibition will run from 8th April 2022 - 11th September 2022.
