Sir Francis Grant's Society Sketchbook at Dickinson
November 13 2025
Picture: simondickinson.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The London dealers Dickinson will be opening a special selling exhibition next week of sheets from the portrait painter Sir Francis Grant's sketchbooks.
According to their website:
This winter, Dickinson will open a major selling exhibition of the drawings of Sir Francis Grant, P.R.A. (1803 – 1878). This group of drawings is the largest collection of Grant’s works assembled today and numbers over 250 individual pieces, all of which have descended directly in the artist’s family. [...].
None of the works included in this exhibition have ever been exhibited or offered for sale. Indeed, they were never intended by Grant for public exhibition, as the vast majority are sketches of personal subjects. His numerous pen-and-ink drawings of his beloved wife and children are particularly sensitive and intimate. The same can be said of his often humorous and insightful sketches of his large coterie of aristocratic, artistic and sporting friends. Through these drawings, we can build an accurate picture not only of the life of Victorian high society at work and at play, but also of Grant as a warm and sociable character – a skilled artist who was constantly absorbed in observing and sketching his companions.
Click here to see the full online catalogue. The display will run from 19th November until 19th December 2025.
Restoring Georges de La Tour
November 13 2025
Picture: C2RMF
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Centre of Research and Restoration of the Musées De France (C2RMF) have published an article on the recent conservation of Georges de la Tour's Job Mocked by his Wife. The picture belongs to the Musée d'Épinal.
Wadsworth Atheneum acquire Frederic Church Meteor
November 13 2025
Picture: Wadsworth Atheneum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Wadsworth Atheneum announced their acquisition earlier this year of Frederic Church's The Meteor. The picture was acquired from a private collection through the dealers Hazlitts.
According to the museum's Facebook post:
A rare meteor procession streaked across the North American skies on the night of July 20, 1860.
Frederic Church saw it from his farm near Catskill in upstate New York. The extraordinary sight seared itself into his memory. He captured the meteor on paper in this magnificent painting which he kept his entire life.
Church saw the fiery comet as a warning of national catastrophe as tensions over slavery threatened to tear the country apart. A #Hartford native, Church believed American democracy was born in our city—yet in the summer of 1860, he saw it in crisis. The Civil War began less than a year later.
The Sobieskis and Stuarts at the Palace at Wilanów
November 13 2025
Picture: wilanov-palac.pl
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Museum of King Jan III's Palace at Wilanów, Warsaw, opened a new exhibition last month entitled The Sobieskis and Stuarts – the Splendour and Spectre of the Crown.
According to their website:
The exhibition The Sobieskis and Stuarts – the Splendour and Spectre of the Crown is the first in Poland to trace a common thread in the modern history of two distant countries: the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland. It has its origin in the marriage in 1719 between Maria Clementina Sobieska (known as Clementina), the granddaughter of King Jan III, and James III/VIII of the royal House of Stuart, claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. [...]
In tracing the story of its main characters, this exhibition illustrates intricate dynastic relationships, the lives of individuals in the face of high politics, and of the art that became a political tool, yet which retains its high, timeless aesthetic value.
The show will run until 31st May 2026.
Caravaggio: Exhibition on Screen - Released Today
November 11 2025
Video: Exhibition on Screen
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The production company Seventh Art Productions, who created Vermeer: The Greatest Exhibition a few years ago, are releasing their latest film today on Caravaggio.
According to their website:
Five years in the making, this is the most extensive film ever made about this revolutionary artist. With first-hand testimony from the artist himself on the eve of his mysterious disappearance, this film reveals Caravaggio as never before. Featuring masterpiece after masterpiece and testimony from leading experts from around the world, Caravaggio immerses audiences in the hidden narratives of the artist’s life, piecing together clues embedded within his incredible art.
Sotheby's Reopens in Breuer Building
November 11 2025
Video: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The auction house Sotheby's have just reopened their New York headquarters in the brutalist Breuer building at 945 Madison Avenue. The video above provides a tour of the site. Highlights of the upcoming sales held within the new site will include Gustav Klimt's $150m+ Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer on 18th November and a $10m golden toilet, Maurizio Cattelan's America, on 19th November.
Imagining Shakespeare: Mythmaking and Storytelling in the Regency Era
November 11 2025
Picture: Folger Shakespeare Library
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A reader has very kindly been in touch to alert me to the following exhibition entitled Imagining Shakespeare: Mythmaking and Storytelling in the Regency Era which opened at the Folger Shakespeare Library last month.
According to their website:
Displayed together for the first time since 1805, 14 paintings from the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery in London are now on view at the Folger. The paintings, created by leading artists of 18th-century England, depict scenes from Shakespeare’s plays.
The Boydell Gallery contributed to the story of Shakespeare as a genius from birth—the Bard, a symbol of British imperialism and economic power. This exhibition offers visitors the chance to consider both the stories Shakespeare created and the stories that were created about him.
The show will run until 2nd August 2026, so there's lots of time to make your way (including myself, perhaps) to Washington D.C. to see it!
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As it happens, this exhibition has provided me the chance to publish an image of one of my favourite paintings of all time, George Romney's The Infant Shakespeare attended by Nature and the Passions. It is a composition where Romney almost seems to leap decades ahead in a very strange yet beautiful reimagining of Shakespeare in the quasi-guise of the Christ Child. An example, perhaps, of a very concerted effort to show that English painting (as the Boydell Gallery tried to demonstrate) could produce works of a native inspired genius (although many of its most prominent artists like Fuseli were foreign born, of course). Romney's work for the gallery proved to be amongst some of his best, even during this late stage of his career when the quality of his painting did begin to wane somewhat. I have a Boydell print of the composition, which I admire almost every day.
Meadows Museum hiring Curatorial Assistant
November 11 2025
Picture: Meadows Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Meadows Museum in Dallas are hiring a Curatorial Assistant.
According to the job description:
The Museum Curatorial Assistant will partner with the curator in routine duties of the curatorial department. These include both supporting and conducting independent research on the permanent collections of Spanish and Texas art, for exhibitions and publications, as well as performing administrative duties. They will be expected to support long-term relationships and collaborations with internationally recognized museums, investigate the provenance of the permanent collection, participate in conferences (to be determined in consultation with the curator), curate exhibitions, advise on acquisitions, administer the Moss/Chumley Award, interact with museum patrons, and cultivate relationships with galleries and dealers, among other duties.
Applications must be in by 28th November 2025 (no salary has been indicated).
Good luck if you're applying!
Uffizi acquire Ceruti from Robilant+Voena
November 10 2025
Picture: Robilant+Voena via Instagram
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Art dealers Robilant+Voena have announced that the Uffizi in Florence have acquired the following Portrait of a Moor by Giacomo Ceruti (1698–1767).
According to their Instagram post:
It is among the earliest known portraits of a Black African in Italian painting; Black figures had appeared in Italian art since the Renaissance, but almost always as generic ‘types’, in set roles such as magi or servants. Yet here, Ceruti – nicknamed ‘Il Pitochetto’, meaning ‘Little Beggar’ – paints the figure with an empathy and realism akin to his treatment of other protagonists from the margins of society, for which he is best known.
This is a significant addition to the Uffizi’s 18th-century collections, demonstrating the museum’s commitment to its mission of creating a comprehensive history of Italian painting.
Restored Bellini heading to New York
November 10 2025
Picture: City Museum of Rimini
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Giovanni Bellini's recently restored Pietà will be heading from the City Museum of Rimini to the Morgan Museum and Library in New York for a special exhibition opening early next year.
According to artnet.com:
“We already see him merging a few key traditions and influences,” the Morgan’s curator John Marciari said over email. “Thus forging the modern manner for which he is still famous.” The half-length is drawn from the tradition of Byzantine icon painting, the sculptural elements taken from Bellini’s study of Donatello, and his sense of classical form likely gleaned from his brother-in-law Andrea Mantegna.
The painting, which remained at Migliorati’s memorial from his death in 1499 until the end of the 18th century, was in need of serious treatment. Humidity had long ago caused the panel to shift and split, resulting in a loss of paint and a large crack running across the middle of the painting. In celebration of its rejuvenation, Pietà will travel to Ca’ d’Oro in Venice ahead of its stateside showing.
The show will run from 15th January until 19th April 2026.
Althorp Mytens Conserved
November 10 2025
Picture: @cspencer1508 via 'X'
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Charles Earl Spencer has shared some rather nice images on social media of a portrait from Althorp, Northamptonshire, which has recently been cleaned. The painting by Daniel Mytens depicts Henry, 3rd Earl of Southampton. Click on the link above to see how the picture looked before treatment and some rather pleasing high-definition details too...
Two Van Gogh Sunflowers in Philadelphia in June 2026
November 10 2025
Picture: artnews.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Philadelphia Art Museum will be opening a new show next summer dedicated to the reuniting of two flowerflower paintings by Vincent Van Gogh.
According to artnews.com:
The exhibition, which is set to run from June 6 to October 11, 2026, will be titled “Van Gogh’s Sunflowers: A Symphony in Blue and Yellow”. It will feature the PAM’s Sunflowers (1889), with its distinct turquoise background, and the artist’s original iteration of the subject Sunflowers (1888), with the better-known yellow background.
The exhibition is part of an ongoing collaboration between the two institutions. The PAM loaned its Sunflowers to the National Gallery last year for an show, marking the first time the work had left the museum since its acquisition in 1963. The National Gallery Sunflowers, which it acquired in 1924, has only traveled abroad four times.
Update - Here's the original exclusive article from The Art Newspaper.
Artemisia Gentileschi Self Portrait coming up at Christie's New York
November 7 2025
Picture: Paul Jeromack @pjeromack
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
It's that exciting time of the year when the big sales tend to bring out previews of Old Master highlights (usually hanging in adjacent galleries) from the upcoming sale seasons. Most of these usually fly very far under the radar, without any online presence from any of the auction house websites whatsoever. This means it's up to followers on Instagram, if we're not lucky enough to be in the salerooms at the time, to spread the news of what's to come.
Journalist Paul Jeromack has published (and given his consent for us to use) an image of this very beguiling Self Portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi which is coming up at Christie's New York on 4th February 2026. Their wall label explains it shows the artist in the guise of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (like the NG's painting acquired in 2018 for £3.6m) and is perhaps one of her earliest self portraits. Infra-red scans also purport to show changes in the composition, which sounds exciting too. A quick Google explains that the painting has more recently been on loan to the National Museum of Norway from a private collection.
It will be offered with an estimate of $2.5m - $3.5m.
Curate at The National Gallery
November 7 2025
Picture: The National Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Gallery in London are hiring an Associate Curator of Paintings 1600-1800.
According to their website:
he National Gallery has a vacancy for Associate Curator of Paintings 1600-1800 to support both the Curator of Later Italian, Spanish and French Paintings as well as the Curator of Dutch and Flemish Paintings with the care and growth of the National Gallery’s collection of Baroque paintings, and for associated scholarly research, publication and interpretation.
This role supports the Curators in seeking and recommending relevant new acquisitions and loans, and, as appropriate, acts as the curatorial lead on exhibitions, collection displays and gallery refurbishment projects.
As a member of the Department, the Associate Curator will have line management responsibilities, provide leadership and pastoral care to the curatorial team, helping deliver an innovative, scholarly and collaborative curatorial vision.
The job comes with an annual salary of £47,355 per annum and applications must be in by 23rd November 2025.
Good luck if you're applying!
$12m - $18m Turner in Christie's New York 20th Century Evening Sale
November 7 2025
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Interesting news that Christie's New York will be offering a magnificent Turner in their 20th Century Evening Sale (alongside all the usual big-ticket 20th century artists) on 17th November 2025. Ehrenbreitstein, or The Bright Stone of Honour and the Tomb of Marceau, from Byron’s 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage' will be sold from the collection of Elaine Wynn carrying an estimate of $12m - $18m.
The picture last sold at Sotheby's London in 2017 where it made £18,533,750 (inc. commission) over its estimate of £17m - £25m.
Luca Giordano conserved at the Palazzo Grimani
November 7 2025
Picture: finestresullarte.info
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Italy that Luca Giordano's Samaritan Woman at the Well has been conserved and redisplayed in the Palazzo Grimani, Venice. The work had only been assigned to the museum by the Italian Ministry of Culture in 2022, due to various connections of patronage between the artist at the Grimani family.
Click on the link above to see more conservation photos.
Poetic Portraits at the Timken Museum of Art
November 7 2025
Picture: Timken Museum of Art
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Timken Museum of Art opened their latest temporary exhibition this week entitled Poetic Portraits: Allegory and Identity in Sixteenth-Century Europe.
According to their website:
The Timken Museum of Art unveils Poetic Portraits: Allegory and Identity in Sixteenth-Century Europe, a landmark exhibition exploring the rich interplay of art, literature, and identity during the Renaissance. On view from November 3, 2025, through March 29, 2026, this exhibition brings together more than a dozen exceptional images that trace the impact of sixteenth-century art on ideas about portraiture. At the heart of the Poetic Portraits is a masterwork by Sofonisba Anguissola, one of the most celebrated women artists of the Renaissance. Her Portrait of Giovanni Battista Caselli, on loan from the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, anchors the exhibition and is shown in the United States for the first time at the Timken.
Pinacoteca Ancona Reopens on 6th December
November 7 2025
Picture: Pinacoteca Ancona
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Pinacoteca Ancona will be reopening to the public on 6th December 2025 after undergoing a two-year renovation project. The gallery is home to paintings by the likes of Lorenzo Lotto, Titian, Sebastiano del Piombo and others.
Direct the Musée Granet
November 7 2025
Picture: Musée Granet
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Musée Granet in Aix-en-Provence are hiring a new Director.
The job includes leading into the future their collection of 12,000 objects and 3,500 m2 of permanent and temporary exhibition space of this important regional French museum.
Applications must be in by 18th November 2025 (no salary indicated).
Good luck if you're applying!
Maarten van Heemskerck acquired by Frans Hals Museum
November 7 2025
Picture: Frans Hals Museum Haarlem
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from CODART (the international network of curators of Dutch and Flemish art) that the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem have acquired a rare genre painting by Maarten van Heemskerck. It was acquired with the support of the Rembrandt Association.
According to their article:
The painting by Maarten van Heemskerck, from circa 1526/1527, is a particularly early work by the master painter. It was on show from September 2024 to January 2025 as part of the first survey exhibition of his work, hosted simultaneously by the Frans Hals Museum, Teylers Museum and Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar. The painting drew the attention of experts because of the unusual scene, which depicts ordinary people going about their daily business. No other genre painting by Van Heemskerck is known to exist.
