Previous Posts: December 2023
Lorenzettis Soar!
December 15 2023
Picture: tajan.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
As expected, the previously mentioned pair of Pietro Lorenzettis soared well past their estimates at Tajan this week. Saint Silvestre realised €3,034,800 over its €1.5m - €2m estimate and Sainte Hélène realised €1,657,600.00 over its €400k - €600k estimate.
Curiously, the following portrait catalogued as 'Circle of Arthur Devis' also achieved an impressive price of €81,344 over its €3,000 - €5,000 estimate. Perhaps someone has managed to crack the attribution?
Vancouver Art Gallery Exhibit Fakes
December 15 2023
Picture: vanartgallery.bc.ca
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Vancouver Art Gallery in Canada are opening an exhibition tomorrow dedicated to 10 oil sketches they acquired in 2015 purportedly by the celebrated Canadian 'Group of Seven' artist J.E.H. MacDonald (1873–1932). Alas, it transpired that the oil sketches were all modern fakes. Rather than hide the paintings in a cupboard of regret, the gallery have bravely put on a show to explain how they came to the conclusion that the paintings were 'not right' (as it is said in the art trade).
According to the gallery's website:
In 2015, the Vancouver Art Gallery announced the acquisition of ten previously unknown painted sketches attributed to J.E.H. MacDonald, one of Canada’s most celebrated painters and a founding member of the Group of Seven. Soon after, experts in the wider arts community began to publicly raise questions about the authenticity of the ten works. Experts took sides and the Gallery ultimately postponed a planned exhibition in order to investigate the works further. This included bringing in leading art historians, handwriting experts, and the scientific resources of the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI).
J.E.H. MacDonald? A Tangled Garden will not only provide an answer regarding whether the ten sketches can be attributed to MacDonald, but will also allow visitors a rare and detailed look into how that conclusion was reached. Most notably, the Gallery will be working closely with the CCI to present their soon-to-be published findings. Visitors will be able to assess the key evidence and come to their own conclusions.
The exhibition will run until 12th May 2024.
Catalogue Raisonné Lists and Databases from the French Ministry of Culture
December 14 2023
Picture: ifar.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The French Ministry of Culture has put together a new and very interesting list of artist catalogue raisonnés, both online and databases (via. ifar.org) for printed versions. It seems to be a very useful tool (particularly the database search linked above), as it allows one to search via artist and period with relative ease.
Of course, the Old Master world is still getting used to the idea of online catalogue raisonnés, with the Richard Wilson, Francis Towne and Lucas Cranach online projects being a good example of what is possible (not to mentioned Neil Jeffares's Pastels & Pastellists). I am aware of several ongoing catalogue projects which will be online-only, which will be painful for those of us who love to have such beautiful and scholarly tomes weighing down our bookshelves at home. Questions regarding exactly who controls such websites, and how data can be added (or removed or lost), is likely to cause a prolonged teething period for the art world. This is particularly the case for the art market, who particularly rely on the authority of such projects past and present.
Picturing Childhood at Chatsworth in 2024
December 14 2023
Picture: chatsworth.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Derbyshire that Chatsworth, the home of the Dukes of Devonshire and their outstanding art collection, will be putting on a special exhibition dedicated to Picturing Childhood in 2024.
According to the blurb on their website:
Picturing Childhood [...] celebrates children and their experience of the world as represented in art.
The exhibition, which will be on display in the house and garden, will include rarely-seen pieces from the Devonshire Collections, as well as loans and exciting new interactive works by contemporary artists.
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The pieces selected for Picturing Childhood include paintings, sketches, literature, costume and sculpture, and span five centuries, from the Tudors through the Tudor and Stuart periods to the present day.
Artworks by artists including Raphael, Anthony van Dyck, Edwin Landseer and Lucien Freud, will be on display in historic spaces throughout the house, such as the Chapel, the State Apartment and the Oak Room.
Exploring themes ranging from family relationships to identity and colonialism, collection highlights include Old Master drawings by Carracci and intergenerational representations of the Devonshire family by Joshua Reynolds. These are complemented by institutional loans, such as two Johan Zoffany paintings from Tate that highlight growing societal interests in children’s education and upbringing in the Georgian period.
The exhibition will run from 16th March 2024 until 6th October 2024.
Rare Opportunity to see Piero della Francesca Frescos in Arezzo
December 14 2023
Picture: ansa.it
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Italy that visitors to the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo will be able to pre-book a special scaffold tour to get up close to Pierro della Francesca's famous The History of the True Cross fresco cycle. This is made possible due to a conservation project which requires the fragile paintings to be examined and maintained. Pre-booked tours will be available between 27 January and 12 March 2024.
Rijksmuseum Display Christie's Rembrandt Portraits
December 13 2023
Picture: Rijksmuseum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from the Netherlands that the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam have displayed two rediscovered Rembrandt portraits that appeared in this year's Christie's London Old Master Paintings sale. The works, which had descended into a Scottish noble collection, eventually made £11,235,000 over their £5m - £8m estimate and were acquired by the Holterman family who has generously loaned them to the museum. As you can see, the owners have already done a rather good job of reframing the pair in ebony style frames, which does enhance their appearance greatly I think!
PhD Scholarship: Generative AI and the Art Museum
December 13 2023
Picture: tate.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
As far as PhD scholarships go, this is probably one of the most intriguing out there. Tate are offering a funded PhD Scholarship researching GENERATIVE AI AND THE ART MUSEUM: THE ONLINE COLLECTION OF BRITISH ART, AUDIENCES AND VISUALITY.
According to the museum's website:
The research seeks to understand and develop new knowledge of the ways in which users engage with visual images in network culture in the light of recent generative AI image software. It will do this through a specific focus upon online engagement with Tate in relationship to the collection of British art from the 16th century to the present day and of international modern and contemporary art, including Tate’s exhibition and display programmes.
The project aims to contribute to a greater knowledge and understanding of the circulation of the computational image and the reproduced work of art in supporting the development of Tate’s online user base. There is also further opportunity to develop recommendations for an ethical and moral policy response, alongside noting the risks and benefits to Tate. The studentship offers the opportunity to develop practice-based doctoral research with Tate Digital to develop new modes of co-curating with a diversity of audiences. With recent developments of machine vision employed in AI generative interfaces, such as Chat GTP-3, DALL-E-2, Craiyon, Midjourney and Bing, new opportunities arise to investigate the ways in which users collaborate with machine vision in the process of image making. This research aims to reverse engineer what is involved technically and culturally in producing AI composite images from prompts such as, ‘a still life in the style of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’ for example. The research will be of benefit to Tate Digital and Art Museum curators in thinking about audiences of the future and how the museum can engage with them.
The scholarship is fully funded for three years and applications must be in by 18th December 2023.
Good luck if you're applying!
Spain's Ministry of Culture acquire Goya Pieta for €1.5m
December 13 2023
Picture: cultura.gob.es
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Spain's Ministry of Culture that they have acquired an early Pieta by Francisco Goya. Dated between 1772-4, the painting is believed to have been inspired by the artist's travels in Italy. The work was acquired for €1.5m and will head to the National Museum of Romanticism in Madrid.
Fitzwilliam Museum acquire Apollo Bronze as part of AIL
December 12 2023
Picture: The Guardian
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
It seems to be the season for UK museums making acquisitions, as the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge has also today made the announcement of its acquisition of a sixteenth century bronze of Apollo by Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, known as Antico, under the Acceptance in Lieu Scheme.
According to the article linked above:
Luke Syson, the Fitzwilliam’s director, said: “What is most remarkable is the way [Antico] takes an ancient marble sculpture that had been rediscovered only relatively recently and turns it from something so beautiful but solid and remote into this fantastically miniaturised, energised work.”
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The figure was once part of a collection of Renaissance and baroque bronzes amassed by Lt Col Mildmay Thomas Boscawen, who died in 1958. His sister later bequeathed the collection to the Fitzwilliam. Antico’s Apollo will now rejoin 56 other Boscawen bronzes at the museum.
Rare Peruzzi saved for Ulster Museum, Belfast
December 12 2023
Picture: independent.co.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Ulster Museum, Belfast, has shared news that it has saved Baldassare Peruzzi's rare Nativity for its collections. Regular readers might remember that the painting was at risk of leaving the country back in 2021, with a total of £463,317 being needed to keep it for a public collection here in the UK. A vast conservation project undertaken by the National Gallery, supported by the Aldama Foundation, has allowed for the painting to be cleaned and put on display in time for Christmas.
BMAG to reopen with Victorian Radicals
December 12 2023
Picture: birminghammuseums.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG) has announced that it will be reopening in February 2024 with a big exhibition based around its exquisite collection of 19th century paintings. Victorian Radicals has already been touring the USA whilst the museum has been closed for renovation works.
According to the museum's website:
Three generations of British artists, designers and makers revolutionised the visual arts in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Pre-Raphaelites, William Morris and his circle and the men and women of the Arts and Crafts movement transformed art and design.
Selected from the city of Birmingham's outstanding collection, Victorian Radicals presents vibrant paintings and exquisite drawings alongside jewellery, glass, textiles and metalwork to explore their radical vision for art and society.
Fresh from an award-winning tour of the US, Victorian Radicals is the first comprehensive showing of the city’s Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts collections in Birmingham for over five years. Discover the story of the Pre-Raphaelites themselves and their influence on artists and makers well into the twentieth century – especially in Birmingham itself. Paintings made by artists including Kate Bunce, Joseph Southall and Arthur Gaskin combined the poetry and intensity of the Pre-Raphaelites’ work with a distinctive identity all their own.
The show will open on 10th February 2024.
December Issue of the Burlington Magazine
December 11 2023
Picture: burlington.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
December's issue of the Burlington Magazine is dedicated to the subject of Spanish art.
A list of the articles featured in this month's edition:
Four wooden ceilings from the Torrijos Palace, Toledo - BY ANNA MCSWEENEY,MARIAM ROSSER-OWEN
Alonso Cano’s rediscovered ‘Immaculate Conception’ for San Alberto, Seville - BY BENITO PRIETO NAVARRETE
Goya’s ‘Self-portrait with Dr Arrieta’ - BY MERCEDES CÉRON-PEÑA
Biting satire: notes on Salvador Dalí’s ‘Debris of an automobile’ - BY DAVID LOMAS
Edith Hoffmann’s early years in England, 1934–38 - BY YONNA YAPOU-KROMHOLZ
Eberhard W. Kornfeld (1923–2023) - BY JOHANNES NATHAN
Kavita Singh (1964–2023) - BY SALONI MATHUR
A 'shorter notice' not listed here is a piece by Patricia Manzano Rodriguez which examines an inventory of paintings owned by Catalina del Mazo, which sheds light on some early provenance of pictures by Velazquez and Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo (pictured).
New Catalogue of French and Italian Paintings at the Musées d'Orléans
December 11 2023
Picture: Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News spotted via. @bastianeclercy that the Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans have just published a new catalogue of their French and Italian paintings from the 15th to 17th centuries. This includes notes and illustrations on works by artists including Correggio, Annibale Carracci, Claude Deruet, Laurent de La Hyre, Guido Reni, Jacques Blanchard and Le Nain brothers. The 500+ page book contains roughly 420 entries, including works that were destroyed and / or looted during the war.
Jean Nocret's Family of Louis XIV being Conserved
December 11 2023
Picture: 'X' via @MilovanCavor
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Louvre curator Nicolas Milovanovic has shared some stunning photos and videos on 'X' (formerly Twitter) of the ongoing conservation of Jean Nocret's Louis XIV and the royal family. This enormous and iconic painting, which is in the collection of the Château de Versailles, has been languishing underneath a very thick layer of yellowed varnish for decades. Click on the link to compare the images to the painting's previous appearance to see the marvellous transformation!
New Release: The Art of Power
December 11 2023
Picture: waanders.nl
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Dutch readers are in for a treat this month with the newly released book entitled De kunst van de macht (or The Art of Power). This publication by Elmer Kolfin examines the patronage of the De Graeff mayors of Amsterdam, particularly in relation to artists such as Rembrandt, Lievens and Jordaens. Click on the link above to see a free preview of the publication, which appears to be richly illustrated.
Prints and Drawings Internship at the Ashmolean
December 8 2023
Picture: blogs.ashmoleon.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is looking for candidates for their The Rick Mather David Scrase Foundation Internship in Western Art.
According to the job description for this paid role:
You will have recently graduated in History of Art or a similar subject, with an interest in works on paper. You will digitise part of the prints and drawings collection bequeathed by the great British antiquarian and museum curator Francis Douce (1757–1834) as well as participate in broader curatorial work across the department. Only limited parts of the Douce Collection have been digitised so far. You will work directly from the prints and drawings, involving lifting and moving of the boxes and you will play an invaluable part in making an important part of our collection accessible online.
This role involves lifting, carrying, and moving objects (with or without adaptations) which on occasion may be heavy. All necessary health and safety training will be provided.
Curatorial training is a key part of this role, and you will collaborate with curators and colleagues in Western Art and across the Museum. Reporting to the Curator of Northern European Art, you will be a core member of a friendly team in a Museum that is committed to equality and values diversity.
Interns will be compensated for their lifting working to the equivalent sum of £22,681-£25,138 per annum. Applications must be in by 3rd January.
Good luck if you're applying!
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Curiously, I found this photograph of the eccentric artist Grayson Perry inspecting Douce's prints on the museum's blog. This seems like the perfect attire for curatorial staff, I think.
Upcoming Release: The Making of Technique in the Arts
December 8 2023
Picture: brepols.net
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The publisher Brepols is due to release this very interesting sounding book before the end of the year. The Making of Technique in the Arts Theories and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century is a collection of essays edited by Sven Dupré and Marieke Hendriksen, focusing on the emergence of the term 'technique'.
Here is the contents of the book, which may be of interest:
2. The Body and Daily Life as Metaphor and Analogy in Technical Language in the Works of Leonardo da Vinci, Vannoccio Biringuccio and Benvenuto Cellini - Andrea Bernardoni
3. Neudörffer's Notebook: Recipes and the Rendering of Calligraphic Technique between Manuscript and Print in Sixteenth-Century Germany - Hannah Murphy
4. Between arte and ingenio. Approaches to Technique in Early Modern Spanish painting - José Ramón Marcaida
5. ‘An old and calm woman, blind and mute’: Finding Words to Describe Technique in Dutch Seventeenth-Century Art Literature - Marije Osnabrugge
6. ‘Have a great care of the shadows’. Perspectives on Carefulness in Historical Recipes for the Restoration of Oil Paintings. - Maartje Stols-Witlox
7. Architecture and Technical Virtuosity in Eighteenth Century France - Valérie Nègre
8. The Debate about Technique in the Kunstwissenschaft around 1900 - Maria Teresa Costa
9. Somatic Language in Artistic Work Practices. An Ethnographic Perspective on Bodies, Materials, Practical Knowledge and Technique in Contemporary Art - Christiane Schürkmann
Rediscovered Fragonard Coming Up in Paris
December 8 2023
Picture: gazette-drouot.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News via La Gazette Drouot that an unpublished work by Fragonard will be offered later this month in Paris by the auctioneers Boisgirard - Antonini. The painting of a Young Girl in a Hat, which has just been freshly cleaned by Laurence Baron-Callegari, will be offered on 21st December with an estimate €400,000 - 600,000. As usual with pictures in French collections, the discovery in this case was uncovered by the Cabinet Turquin.
Christie's Results
December 7 2023
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Today's Christie's London Old Master Paintings Part I sale realised a total of £21,906,820 (inc. fees) with 31 out of 40 lots being sold (75.6% sell-through rate).*
The top lot in their sale, a very fine pair of Canalettos, hammered at £8.2m (£9,740,000 inc. fees). Although I was wasn't able to watch the auction as it happened (please correct me if I am wrong), this result appears to suggest that there were at least two bidders involved, and not just the single third-party IB guarantor as per yesterday's result down the road.
Several paintings performed very well against their estimates, including the curious Michael Sweerts which made £1,734,000 over its estimate of £400k - £600k and the Claude de Jongh view of Old London Bridge which realised £233,100 over its £60k - £80k estimate.
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It appears that this December both auction houses were rather neck and neck in terms of results, with Christie's securing a victory with a slightly bigger sale helped by a fine set of Rembrandt prints. The fiercely competitive nature of securing consignments, and the behind the doors deals involved in securing such business, means that we'll never have a true picture of which of the houses was more profitable.
Ultimately, the relative size of these sales to previous years may point towards how thin the market is currently, where London is concerned at least. This might mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things in the world of Old Masters though. With the New York sales fast approaching, and several big ticket pictures already announced, all eyes will be turned towards the next sale season at the end of January!
I'll post an update tomorrow regarding some intriguing results in the day sales, which can be equally fascinating in their own right!
* - As I included the single Rembrandt print in the Sotheby's total, I thought I would keep the several Rembrandt prints in this total also.
National Museum of Wales Artworks Under Threat from Rain
December 7 2023
Picture: walesonline.co.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Cardiff in Wales that the National Museum of Wales' chief executive Jane Richardson has called for emergency help to fix the building's leaky roof problem. The museum, which houses a significant collection of Old Masters and Impressionist works, is said to have staff called on standby every time it rains.
According to the article linked above:
In a damning statement to the Senedd's culture committee, Jane Richardson told Senedd members: "When we are expecting a storm or heavy rain, we have to put the staff on standby so they can come into the building in the middle of the night to take paintings off the wall. I’m not exaggerating there, that is what our staff do. We never, ever compromise the safety of the works … but that is the reality of my colleagues’ working life at the moment.”
An estimated £25m is required to put the museum's premises into a good state of repair and comes in the context of increasing threats of cuts to the budgets for cultural institutions.
