Dorotheum October Sale
October 6 2025
Picture: Dorotheum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Vienna's Dorotheum have uploaded their upcoming Alte Meister sale online. The auction will take place on 23rd October 2025.
Flemish Panels to be reunited in Tokyo
October 6 2025
Picture: nmwa.go.jp
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, will be reuniting several panels from a dispersed Flemish altarpiece later this month for a special exhibition. The display, which opens on 25th October 2025, has been made possible by a loan from the Groeningemuseum in Bruges.
According to their website:
The two works were property of Farr Gallery, London in 1909. Then, the Bruges panel was transferred to Kleinberger Gallery, Paris by 1911, and entered the Groeningemuseum in 1912. There is no record of the Tokyo panel in the catalogue compiled by Kleinberger Gallery in 1911, and it appears that the two works were separated before that. The Tokyo panel was purchased by Matsukata Kōjirō at the beginning of the twentieth century and sent to Tokyo. Thereafter, via a private collection in Japan, it was acquired by the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo in 2017.
On the occasion of the acquisition in 2017, the National Museum of Western Art conducted a survey of the panel, through which it was confirmed that the Tokyo panel and the Bruges panel once belonged to a larger ensemble such as an altarpiece. This exhibition was planned as a result of this rediscovery, and the two panels which went separate ways, one to Belgium and one to Japan, at the beginning of the twentieth century are to be “reunited” after more than a hundred years. The fruit of the surveys of the panels undertaken by the Groeningemuseum and the National Museum of Western Art from 2017 onward will also be reported through a display, lectures, and a collection of papers.
New Taylor Swift Album Cover 'References' Tate Ophelia
October 6 2025
Picture: Tate / Taylor Swift via. Instagram
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The online Galerie Magazine has published an article on news that the billionaire musician Taylor Swift's new album cover The Life of a Showgirl 'references' John Everett Millais' Ophelia in Tate Britain.
According to the article:
Swift herself confirmed the artwork’s influence in a recent interview with BBC Radio 1’s Greg James, stating, “the album cover is a reference to the famous Ophelia painting, which then ends up being referenced in the music video.” In true Swift fashion, this was a moment of foreshadowing that there is more to come concerning the painting’s inspiration for her new album, with The Official Release Party of a Showgirl set for a later release than the music itself. “There’s more references to this painting,” Swift added.
Well, it sounds like they did their art historical homework...
Empire of Sleep at the Musée Marmottan Monet
October 6 2025
Picture: Musée Marmottan Monet
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris will be opening their latest exhibition The Empire of Sleep this week.
According to the museum's website:
Curated by Laura Bossi, a neurologist and science historian, and Sylvie Carlier, director of the Musée Marmottan Monet collections, this exhibition will explore the symbolic and allegorical implications of sleep, its importance in secular and sacred imagery, and the ways in which sleep-related scientific, philosophical and psychoanalytical research have influenced art.
The exhibition will focus on the 19th and 20th centuries, when ideas relating to sleep underwent major transformations. A corpus of artworks dating from 1800 – 1920 will be shown together with significant works from Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the modern and contemporary eras in order to highlight certain key enduring themes: the sleep of the innocent, dreams in Bible stories, the ambivalence of the notion of sleep as it applies to both day-to-day rest and eternal rest, the Eros of the sleeping figure, and dreams and nightmares.
The show will run from 9th October 2025 until 1st March 2026.
New Digital Magazine for Trois Crayons
October 3 2025
Picture: troiscrayons.art
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The drawings collective Trois Crayons have just released the first edition of their free digital magazine. Having had a chance to browse through the vast amounts of information, events, exhibitions, auctions, acquisition news etc., I have to say it really does show the rest of us art news platforms (including AHN) what can be done. Happy browsing!
Fake Rubens Book Review
October 3 2025
Picture: newcriterion.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Subscribers to The New Criterion will have the pleasure this month of reading dealer Otto Naumann's review of the new book by Euphrosyne Doxiadis on 'The Fake Rubens' which has been covered on AHN several times (1) (2) since 2021. I am not a subscriber, alas, but, what I've been able to read thus far has been very enjoyable indeed.
Portrait of Frederick acquired by Mississippi Museum of Art and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
October 3 2025
Picture: artnet
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Artnet has published an interesting article on the following portrait of a gentleman named Frederick, who was enslaved to the Nutt family of the Mississippi town of Natchez in the early/mid-nineteenth century. The painting was sold at Neal Auctions in New Orleans earlier in April where it realised $508,750 (inc. commission) and was subsequently acquired by the Mississippi Museum of Art and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The article examines research into the painting and sitter.
De Ruyter brothers back together in Cologne
October 3 2025
Picture: Wallraf-Richartz Museum via CODART
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
CODART (the international network of curators of Dutch and Flemish art) has shared news that the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne have acquired Jan van Ravesteyn's portrait of Joannes de Ruyter (left) earlier this year in order to reunite it with the painting of his brother Daniel (right) which they acquired back in 2023. The portrait of Joannes was sold by Sotheby's London earlier in April for £40,460 (inc. commission).
According to the article:
Curator Anja Sevcik is now appealing to the public for help: “We’ve reunited the brothers, but our ‘family’ search isn’t over. We are now seeking information on the whereabouts of the children’s grandparents’ portraits.”
Le Grand Dauphin at the Palace of Versailles
October 3 2025
Picture: The Palace of Versailles
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Palace of Versailles will be opening their next exhibition later this month examining the life and patronage of Le Grand Dauphin.
According to their website:
The Palace of Versailles is presenting an exhibition devoted to the Grand Dauphin, Louis de France, the eldest child of Louis XIV. It traces the life of this often overlooked prince through nearly 250 works from French and international collections. As heir to the throne, he was the focal point of Bourbon dynastic ambitions, without ever reigning, but his education, residences and taste for the arts reflect the destiny which was his due.
The show will run from 14th October 2025 until 15th February 2026.
Jan Lievens drawing acquired by Rijksmuseum
October 3 2025
Picture: Sabrier & Paunet
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The French dealers Sabrier & Paunet have announced that their Jan Lievens drawing of Saint John the Evangelist, which was exhibited at Trois Crayons in London this summer, has been acquired by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Upcoming Release: Turner and the Slave Trade
October 3 2025
Picture: Yale University Press
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Yale University Press will be publishing a new book on Turner and the Slave Trade next month. The volume was penned by Sam Smiles of The University of Exeter.
According the book's blurb:
Drawing on extensive archival research, Turner and the Slave Trade traces the artist’s interactions with patrons tied to the plantation economy and examines the impact of abolitionist discourse on his work. Key chapters investigate The Slave Ship, its inspiration, and its contested interpretations, while situating Turner within broader debates about art, slavery and shifting public sentiment.
Offering a nuanced understanding of how art engages with history’s most urgent issues, this important new study presents Turner as an exceptional yet complex figure, whose legacy is intertwined with the institution of slavery and its eventual abolition.
Upcoming: Women Still Life Painters of the Seventeenth Century and Beyond at The Hyde Collection
October 2 2025
Picture: The Hyde Collection
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Hyde Collection in Glen Falls, NY, will be opening their latest exhibition A Feast of Fruit and Flowers: Women Still Life Painters of the Seventeenth Century and Beyond later this month.
According to their website:
A Feast of Fruit and Flowers explores the important role women artists played in the development of the still life genre in seventeenth-century Europe. Still life painting emerged as a recognized genre during this time period, with subjects ranging from artfully composed floral arrangements to tables brimming with food. Many of the leading still life painters were women: at a time when women were limited in the subjects they were able to paint, still life was a genre that was deemed proper, and could be done in the privacy of one’s home. The exhibition features loans from museums from across the country and includes paintings by Fede Galizia, Clara Peeters, Maria Sibylla Merian, and Rachel Ruysch.
The show will run from 25th October 2025 until 8th March 2026.
Alba Collection Borrows and Cleans Duke of Pastrana's Painting
October 2 2025
Picture: vanitatis.elconfidencial.es
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Spain that the Casa de Alba Foundation in Madrid have restored and put on display the Duke of Pastrana's double portrait of María Enríquez de Toledo, the III Duchess of Alba and her husband Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel. It appears that the picture has been catalogued simply as 'Spanish School' for the time being. The display is part of a new collaborative project to highlight paintings from private collections not usually accessible to the public. The Pastrana painting has been placed alongside Rubens' double portrait of Charles V and Isabella of Portugal from the Alba collection.
Stubbs at The National Gallery in 2026
October 2 2025
Picture: National Gallery, London
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Gallery in London announced yesterday that they will be hosting a special temporary exhibition in 2026 entitled Stubbs: Portrait of a Horse. The true headline of the exhibition is that the artist's painting of Scrub, which remains in the collection of the Earls of Halifax, will feature nearby* the gallery's famous painting of Whistlejacket. It appears that the last time they were actually hung next to another was at the Leeds City Art Gallery in 2008.
The free display will run from 12th March until 31st May 2026.
* - The NG have kindly been in touch to let me know that actually 'Scrub will be shown in Room 1 whilst Whistlejacket will remain in Room 34.'
Latest Burlington Magazine
October 2 2025
Picture: burlington.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
October's edition of The Burlington Magazine contains the usual feast of interesting new research and articles.
Here's a list of the main pieces within this month's edition:
Waiting for 'The Three Musicians'. G.F. and Erna Reber's First Picassos - By Ana Jozefacka and Luise Mahler
The Renaissance in the Kingdom of Naples: new perspectives on Sebastianodi Cola da Casentino - By Rossella Monopoli
New proposals about Ingres’s ‘Self-portrait at the age of twenty-four’ - By Sylvain Bédard
Scraps of genius, taste and skill: works by John Constable in the Mason album - By Emma Roodhouse
Discussing John Constable: an interview with Bridget Riley - By Bridget Riley and Amy Concannon
Theodoor van Loon’s sketch of St Anne and her family with angels and St Gertrude - By Sabine Van Sprang
A recently identified Scottish portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie by Katherine Read - By Edward Corp
Louis Finson gifted to Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille
October 1 2025
Picture: Drouot
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from France (spotted via @Gazette_Inter & @Mweilc) that Louis Finson's St Sebastian, which sold earlier in June for 416,000 EUR at Drouot, has been gifted to the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille from the JG Foundation.
Städel Museum to conserve Rembrandt's The Blinding of Samson
October 1 2025
Picture: Städel Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Exciting news from Frankfurt that the Städel Museum are embarking on a conservation project on Rembrandt's The Blinding of Samson. The latest campaign is expected to take 3 or 4 years and has been funded in part by the Bank of America Art Conservation Project. The article linked above has more details regarding technical examinations undertaken on the picture a few years ago.
To quote the article linked above:
“Our goal is to restore Rembrandt’s painting to its original intensity while ensuring the long-term preservation of the painting’s substance,” Stephan Knobloch, the Städel’s head of art technology and restoration, said in a statement. “Every measure is carefully tailored to the original techniques and materials in order to preserve the work as the artist intended.”
2025 Release: The Miniature Painter Revealed
October 1 2025
Picture: Lyons Press
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I'm very slow to news that a new book on the miniature painter Amalia Kussner was published earlier this summer. The volume was penned by Kathleen Langone.
Here's the publisher's synopsis:
From simple beginnings, Amalia Kussner rose to fame as a talented and bold artist and ultimately became one of the most sought-after miniature portrait painters of the Gilded Age. At a time when the use of photography was on the rise, many still loved miniatures, which had a feeling and soul to them that photos could not duplicate. Miniatures could be worn as jewelry or carried between winter and summer homes and easily set out on display. Amalia's portraits provided a grandeur that matched how the Gilded Age elite perceived themselves: as royalty.
Yet no female portrait artists had the notoriety or esteemed clientèle that Amalia did. Her subjects included members of the Astor family, Consuelo Vanderbilt, "dollar heiress" Minnie Paget, England's Edward VII, Russia's Czar Nicholas II and Alexandra, and diamond mine magnate Cecil Rhodes. At the height of her career, from the mid-1890s to early 1910, having a Kussner miniature was just as important an accessory as owning fine jewelry or a mansion in Newport. "Famous sitters, drawn to her by the accuracy and skill of her brush, never failed to become life-long friends," read her obituary.
AHRC Funding for Early Career Fellowships
October 1 2025
Picture: ukri.org
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A quick note that the UK AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) are inviting applications for funding for Early career fellowships in cultural and heritage institutions: 2025. With awards of up to £312,500, the scheme is ideally placed for those seeking to undertake research alongside UK galleries, libraries, archives and museums with independent research organisation status. Click on the link above for the full terms and conditions.
Applications must be in by 10th December 2025.
Recently Opened: Squalor City: William Hogarth's London
September 30 2025
Picture: Pruzan Art Center
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Pruzan Art Center at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, have just opened a temporary exhibition entitled Squalor City: William Hogarth's London (spotted via enfilade18thc.com).
According to their website:
A peerless storyteller with great satirical flourish, William Hogarth (1697–1764) brings spectators into the raucous streets and parlors of Georgian London, at once the center of a mighty empire and, in the artist’s view, a den of grifters, social climbers, cynics, and fools. Though his images teem with references to actual personalities and places of 18th-century London, Hogarth’s concerns were more universal than specific. With a balance of humor and sincerity, his art contends with the quandaries of how to hew to a moral path within a competitive, market-driven society; how to build social institutions that serve their communities faithfully; and fundamentally, what kind of society the people of a given time and place ought to build—all questions that demand our attention in the present. This exhibition draws from the Davison Art Collection’s deep holdings of Hogarth’s prints.
The show will run until 13th December 2025.
