Previous Posts: March 2024
Boughton's Decade Ceiling Project Complete
March 18 2024
Video: Boughton House
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Boughton House, the home of the Duke of Buccleuch, has announced that a 10-year project to restore their 9 historic ceiling paintings has finally concluded. 8 out of 9 ceilings were painted by Louis Chéron during the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and have been carefully restored by specialists experts from the company Perry Lithgow. The house will be open again for visitors from 30th March onwards (see the link for details of their opening dates and hours).
Getty Museum release 88k Images under Creative Commons Zero
March 15 2024
Picture: J. Paul Getty Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Good news to report that the J. Paul Getty Museum have released 88,000 images under Creative Commons Zero. This means that art lovers will be able to reproduce these artworks as they please, without any legal constraints.
According to the press release:
“users can download, edit, and repurpose high resolution images of their favorite Getty artworks without any legal restrictions.” The museum’s Open Content database is a wellspring of art that is bound to inspire myriad new creative reuses. It includes Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh’s Irises and many more treasures waiting to be explored. Since opening up, Getty has seen “an uptick in image downloads on our site, averaging about 30,000 per month.”
Renaissance in the North in Vienna
March 15 2024
Picture: khm.at
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Kunst Historiches Museum in Vienna will open their latest exhibition next week. Renaissance in the North: Holbein. Burgkmair. Dürer. is a reformatted exhibition that was recently in Frankfurt under a different name, and brings together a vast amount paintings with a particular focus around the city of Augsburg.
According to the museum's website:
The Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna’s 2024 spring exhibition is devoted to three outstanding pioneers of the Renaissance north of the Alps: Hans Holbein the Elder, Hans Burgkmair, and Albrecht Dürer. It offers a golden opportunity to experience fascinating works by these artists and to explore how Augsburg became the birthplace of the Northern Renaissance.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Augsburg – dominated by the hugely wealthy banking family of the Fuggers – was influenced by the art of Italy more than almost any other city north of the Alps. That this was the case is vividly demonstrated by the two most important Augsburg painters of the period: Hans Holbein the Elder (c.1464–1524) and Hans Burgkmair (1473–1531). In the Vienna exhibition, select works by these two very contrasting artists enter into a stimulating dialogue with works by Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) and further German, Italian, and Netherlandish masters, notably the Augsburg-born Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/98–1543). The exhibition in Vienna showcases more than 160 paintings, sculptures and other works from many of the most important collections of Europe and the United States of America.
The show will run from 19th March until 30th June 2024.
The University of Oxford are Hiring!
March 14 2024
Picture: stcatz.ox.ac.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The University of Oxford are hiring an Associate Professorship in the History of Medieval Art. The role also comes with a Tutorial Fellowship at St Catherine’s College (pictured).
According to the job description:
We are looking to appoint an Associate Professor with particular research and teaching expertise in Medieval European Art before 1500. The appointee will be able to bring together students and scholars working in this period across the Humanities Division and in Oxford’s libraries and collections through a consideration of visual and material cultures, including in Oxford's own collections and beyond--and ideally encompassing research and teaching that expands the field's traditional geographic and methodological boundaries. The appointee will have the opportunity to co-convene the Medieval Visual Culture research seminar, contribute to other pre-1500 research seminars and projects across the Division, and build on the numerous research collaborations established locally, nationally and internationally by Professor Gervase Rosser over the past 30 years.
The appointee will be able to critique constructively the geographic and methodological boundaries of the field, which would complement similar work being undertaken across the Humanities. This has been generating new and creative work both at and beyond the margins of Europe before the Reformation and beyond traditional canons, e.g. in Medieval Islamic art, in Byzantine artistic connections with Western Christendom, and in the diverse media deployed by artists and requested by their patrons in the period before 1500.
The job comes with an annual salary between £44,296 and £59,479 and applications must be in by 18th March 2024.
Good luck if you're applying!
Holkham's Rosalba Carriera Conserved
March 14 2024
Picture: holkham.co.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I'm a little late to the news that Holkham Hall have conserved their portrait of Edward, Viscount Coke (1719-1753) by Rosalba Carriera. Click here to read a blog about the artist and sitter, alongside a description of the conservation work undertaken by Deborah Bates. Many readers will know of how tricky it is to conserve pastels due to their incredible fragile nature. What a transformation!
Chirk Castle Servant Portrait
March 14 2024
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Trust published a press release last week regarding a conservation and research project into a rare portrait at Chirk Castle. The painting depicts a former servant at the castle, John Wilton (c.1691-1751), who suffered from physical disabilities.
According to the trust's website:
John Chu, National Trust Senior Curator for Paintings and Sculpture explains: “We don’t know why Sir Richard Myddelton specifically gave John Wilton a home at the castle and why his cousin commissioned such a large portrait of him. The rarity of examples of full-length portraits of servants means we don’t know for sure how they were regarded at the time.
“While John Wilton is being celebrated as an individual, the gold inscription describing him as the ‘glory’ or ‘pride’ of the kitchen is in Latin. If there's a play on high and low forms of art and stations in life here, how fully could he have been in on the joke in this learned language?
"However, historic portraits typically record a relationship between at least three people; the artist, the sitter and the person who commissioned it. While this picture was painted for Robert Myddelton, a man of very high status, this is also an artistic document of one working man's encounter with another. We're seeing Wilton through Whitmore's eyes: and in that respect it provides an incredibly rare if not unique insight."
Click on the link to read more about this very intriguing work of art.
Rediscovered Klimt on display at Daniel Katz Gallery
March 14 2024
Picture: @danielkatzgallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Daniel Katz Gallery in London have shared news on Instagram that they are hosting Klimt's rediscovered Portrait of Fräulein Lieser. The work is due to come up for sale at Kinsky in Vienna on 24th April 2024 carrying an estimate of €30 - €50m. It isn't clear whether members of the public can go and see it, or how long it will be on display for, but why not try your luck if you can't make it to Vienna next month! It's rather beautiful and slightly eerie how much Robin Katz (pictured) appears to have been teleported from fin de siècle Vienna for this photo...
Roman Bust Unearthed during Car Park Extension at Burghley
March 14 2024
Picture: burghley.co.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Interesting news from Burghley House in Lincolnshire, that a Roman bust that was unearthed during the extension of their car park has been redisplayed in the house. The ancient marble was discovered by a digger driver who was working on the site, who swiftly brought it to the attention of curators at the property.
According to the website:
But it remains a complete mystery how the head and bust ended up buried in the park, with explanations ranging from a bungled burglary to someone simply discarding the statue and it later being covered by soil.
It is also unclear how long it has remained hidden underground before being discovered in late April 2023 when the new car park was nearly complete.
It was during work on an overflow parking area, at the edge of the main site, that digger driver Greg Crawley noticed a pale object amongst the lifted earth, which turned out to be the head. Thrilled with the discovery of the ancient artifact, to everyone’s amazement just weeks later a second discovery was made within a short distance of where the head was found, when the bust was also unearthed.
Hedreen Gifts $300m Collection to Seattle University
March 14 2024
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from the US that the businessman Richard 'Dick' Hedreen is gifting his collection of more than 200 artworks to Seattle University. The collection, which is believed to be valued at over $300m, will be housed in a new museum funded by an additional $25m provided by the philanthropist.
A little background on the collector:
In the early 1960s, Hedreen founded the development company R.C. Hedreen Co. (now known for major local hotels like the Hilton and Hyatt Regency). The Hedreens started collecting a few years later. The couple initially chose “regional paintings” to decorate their house but soon broadened their scope.
In the following decades, they purchased artwork at galleries and auction houses in New York, California, Chicago and Europe, scooping up paintings by famed and historic artists like Titian and Jan Lievens as well as 20th-century photos by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Irving Penn and Andy Warhol, plus contemporary art by living painters like Amy Sherald, Cecily Brown, Tomma Abts and Rashid Johnson. Some of the most recent works in the collection are basically brand-new, created in 2022.
Holbein's Anne of Cleves Cleaned
March 13 2024
Picture: Louvre
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A few accounts on social media have pointed out that the Louvre in Paris have conserved Hans Holbein's portrait of Anne of Cleves. As you can see, the results are miraculous, especially compared with its previous appearance (click on the link to see the old images). It just shows that Holbein really was amongst the leading portrait painters of his era, the face, colouring and details are just otherworldly. For an institution that is usually rather cautious with restoring their masterpieces, perhaps the tides are finally turning?
I can't see any further details yet on their press room website, so stay tuned!
Free Talk: Cosmetics, Beauty and the Nature of Renaissance Women
March 13 2024
Picture: Detroit Institute of Arts
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Paul Mellon Centre are hosting a free talk next week on the subject of Cosmetics, Beauty and the Nature of Renaissance Women. The lecture will be presented by Professor Jill Burke and will be available online and in-person.
According to the blurb on the website:
In Caravaggio’s Martha and Mary (Detroit Institute of Arts, ca.1598), Mary’s vice-filled life is represented by a comb and cosmetic jar, set out on the table in front of her, as her sister Martha attempts to convert her to the virtuous path. The painting serves as a metaphor of the period’s starkly opposing attitudes to adornment of the female face and body. In 1575, the women of Cesena argued that if they were forbidden to beautify themselves, they might be forced to “wave goodbye to [their] families and break the chains of female servitude”. Other texts condemn women for their perceived love of clothing, cosmetics and jewellery – written both by early feminists such as Laura Cereta and by misogynistic churchmen who saw vanity as a particularly feminine sin. Men who used cosmetics were even more a focus for social disapprobation, decried for unaccountably behaving “like women”, the sex believed by many to be inferior in both physicality and intellect.
The relationship between cosmetic adornment and gender, between artifice and nature, is culturally and historically contingent. Focusing particularly on sources written and made by Italian Renaissance women, this talk will consider how this period was a flashpoint for discussions about gender and bodily ornamentation. Encompassing a wide range of objects, images and texts from “ladies at their toilet” paintings to witch trial narratives, it will also explore why this may be, showing how even seemingly intimate choices – body hair removal, skin treatments, hair dye – were bound up with larger social and cultural forces in an age of burgeoning colonialism, scientific experimentation, religious division and social turmoil.
The talk has been scheduled for 20th March 2024 between 5pm - 7pm (GMT).
Tate in a Lorry
March 13 2024
Video: Art Explora
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Tate have teamed up with the Mobile Museum (MuMo) initiative Art Explora to provide a touring exhibition of a show entitled Soup, Socks and Spiders !Art of the Everyday. The lorry will be touring locations in Ashfield, Nuneaton, Stoke-on-Trent, Tarporley, Walsall and Wigan in 2024 to bring art to these communities in the Midlands.
Salon du Dessin 2024
March 13 2024
Picture: salondudessin.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Salon du Dessin 2024 will open in Paris next week, providing drawings collectors another chance to snap up some masterpieces after TEFAF. The fair will feature 39 exhibitors alongside a special mini-exhibition by The Tavolozza Foundation of French drawings from the 18th to the early 20th century in the Katrin Bellinger Collection.
A.W. Devis Indian Scene Soars!
March 12 2024
Picture: Gorringe's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The following scene of Indian Weavers by Arthur William Devis realised an impressive £130,000 (hammer price) over its £5,000 - £8,000 estimate at Gorringe's today. An incredible example of the interest in such paintings these days, I suppose!
Upcoming Release: Fred Meijer's Jan Davidsz. de Heem
March 12 2024
Picture: @eijgenstijl
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Exciting news that Fred G. Meijer's long-awaited tome on Jan Davidsz. de Heem will be published on the 26th April 2024. The two-volume book will contain no fewer than 768 pages and will published by Waanders in the Netherlands. It seems likely (I can't find the information online) that the publication will contain an updated version of Meijer's catalogue raisonné for the artist, a digital version of which has been available online since 2016.
PhD Scholarship in Oslo
March 12 2024
Picture: nasjonalmuseet.no
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
As far as PhD scholarships go, I don't think I've ever come across a more interesting sounding and generously supported example than this one in Norway. The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo are looking to support a 3-year fully funded PhD Scholarship, assisted by the University of Oslo and financially supported by the Fredriksen Family Art Company.
According to the description available online:
Applicants interested in the PhD position are asked to submit a project proposal that aims at new readings of and/or new insights to Norway’s history of art broadly defined. The proposed project may thus focus on artworks of all media, time periods, and geographies, and seek to explore the chosen topic from art historical, artistic, conservation, museological and/or educational perspectives. We welcome proposals that critically consider the mobility of objects and actors and place the histories of art and visual culture of Norway in dialogue with global concerns and/or phenomena. Moreover, the proposed project needs to prove beneficial for the National Museum by furthering and diversifying the museum’s recognized practices regarding collecting, exhibiting, educating and/or preserving art.
The scholarship comes with an annual salary of 545,000 – 575,000 NOK (the equivalent of around £41,000 – 43,000 per year) and applications must be in by 28th April 2024.
Good luck if you're applying!
March Issue of the Burlington Magazine
March 12 2024
Picture: burlington.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
March's edition of The Burlington Magazine appears to be filled with the usual offering of exciting and interesting pieces of art historical research.
Here's a list of the articles contained within:
A ‘crucifixion complex’: two newly discovered sketches attributed to Francis Bacon - BY REBECCA DANIELS
A rediscovered ‘Pietà’ by Andrea del Sarto - BY DAVID FRANKLIN
The permanence of ephemera: a rediscovered fragment by Frans Floris - BY MARIA CLELIA GALASSI
Johannes Lutma the Elder: goldsmith, designer, draughtsman - BY REINIER BAARSEN
Giuseppe Antonio Ghedini’s drawings for ‘Il Ricciardetto’ - BY CECILIA VICENTINI
Jean-Charles Cazin, 1881–83: naturalism and networking, regionalism and republicanism - BY RICHARD THOMSON
Ter Brugghen in Italy - BY JOHN GASH
New Acquisitions Display at the Courtauld
March 12 2024
Video: The Courtauld
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Courtauld Gallery in London have just opened a new display of recent acquisitions of works. Entitled From the Baroque to Today: New Acquisitions of Works on Paper the gallery has drawn particular attention to the increased representation of female artists on display. The exhibition will run until 27th May 2024.
L' Enigma del Maestro di San Francesco
March 11 2024
Video: askanews
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A new exhibition has just opened at the Galleria Nazionale dell' Umbria dedicated to unravelling the mystery of the thirteenth-century artist known as the Maestro di San Francesco. The exhibition features seven out of nine of the master's recognised corpus, and will run at gallery until 10th June 2024.
'Activists' Escalate Protests with Box Cutters
March 11 2024
Video: Evening Standard
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A group of 'activists' attacked Philip de László's portrait of Lord Balfour at Trinity College Cambridge last week. In contrast to previous cases, de László's canvas was unglazed and thus defenceless against both the sharpened blades of box cutters and spray paint. These weapons, especially the blades, represent something of a very worrying escalation of acts of violence against works of art. The University published a statement expressing 'Trinity College regrets the damage caused', but despite the video evidence no arrests had been made.*
* - It seems we are now living in an age where acts of vandalism may well have become legalised in the UK.
