AI to Reimagine Lost Delacroix Frescoes?
April 4 2025
Video: via Instagram
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Scientists and Art Historians in France may have finally come across a genuinely interesting way to employ AI in the field of art historical research. A new research project entitled Digital Delacroix has joined figures from the Sorbonne and AI geeks from Schmidt Sciences in order to recreate lost Delacroix frescoes that were destroyed by fire at the Hôtel de Ville in 1871. AI will apparently be bringing together and process surviving studies and archival material to digitally recreate these lost works. Click on the link above to read more.
Let's hope Delacroix's figures won't end up having 6 fingers and three arms (which often happens with lots of AI generated images these days)...
Online Lecture on Paulus Potter Rediscovery
April 4 2025
Picture: icon.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Institute for Conservation (ICON) are hosting an online lecture on 5th June 2025 entitled Uncovering a Lost Masterpiece: The Hidden Story Behind Paulus Potter’s The Abduction of Europa.
According ot their website:
A long-lost monumental painting by Dutch master Paulus Potter has been rediscovered - thanks to a 1664 newspaper announcement!
Research has now linked Head of a White Bull, a fragment in the National Gallery of Ireland, to this forgotten work. Technical analysis has uncovered Europa herself, hidden beneath layers of overpainting. Once a grand mythological scene, the painting was cut down and altered over time, obscuring Potter’s rare foray into mythology.
This discovery not only expands his known oeuvre but also challenges the long-held belief that his genius was confined to animal depictions.
Non-members are welcome to join and booking details are available via the link above.
Marie-Guillemine Benoist coming up in France
April 4 2025
Picture: Thierry-Lannon
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A portrait by Marie-Guillemine Benoist, rediscovered with the help of the art agents Turquin, is coming up for sale at Thierry-Lannon in France next week. Signed and dated 1806, the portrait depicts the playwright and administrator Jean-Louis Brousse-Desfaucherets, who had many works performed during the revolutionary period in France. The painting will be offered with an estimate of 120,000 - 150,000 EUR.
The Klesch Collection Scholarship for Graduate Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Painting
April 3 2025
Picture: The Klesch Collection
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Exciting news that The Klesch Collection are inviting applications for the 2025 The Klesch Collection Scholarship for Graduate Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Painting.
According to their website:
Who can apply?
Any graduate student who has been accepted into a full-time Art History MA, MPhil or PhD course of study worldwide, beginning the next academic year. PhD students are welcome to apply for any year in their programme. Applications will be considered from students who will focus/are focusing their studies on European and British painting of the Renaissance and Baroque periods (c. 1400–1700).
What does The Klesch Collection Scholarship include?
-Payment towards the yearly cost of the university fees.
-A paid internship at the collection for a minimum of 1 month.
Applications must be in by 20th June 2025.
Good luck if you're applying!
YCBA Reopens with Romney Show
April 3 2025
Picture: YCBA
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) reopened to the public last week. I am reliably informed that the redisplay of the center's Long Gallery features no fewer than 205 works of art in a tightly packed format. As images of the space makes clear, this approach does show off the YCBA's rich holdings in a way which is rarely encountered here in British institutions.
To celebrate the reopening the YCBA have even put on a new show at the nearby Yale University Art Gallery entitled Romney: Brilliant Contrasts in Georgian England. It will run until 14th September 2025.
Attributed Caravaggio on display in Gorizia
April 3 2025
Video: Telequattro
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Italy that a picture of the Taking of Christ attributed to Caravaggio, which relates to the famous painting in the National Gallery of Ireland, has been put on display in the town of Gorizia. The picture caused some controversy when it was unveiled in 2023, the first time it was exhibited in 70 years apparently. It will be on display until 30th June 2025 before it heads back to its vault until 2027.
Conservation and Technical Project on André Derain's Waterloo Bridge
April 3 2025
Picture: Thyssen Bornemisza Collection
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Thyssen Bornemisza Collection in Madrid have released news today of a conservation and technical project on André Derain's Waterloo Bridge (1906). This includes new insights into his technique and materials, details of which can be found on the page for the painting on their website.
Going going....
April 3 2025
Picture: BBC
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The BBC has published the latest news on the ongoing question of the future of Bouchardon's bust of Sir John Gordon. The Highland Council, who didn't know they had the sculpture until it was rediscovered in 1998, have applied for an export permit for it to leave the country so that £2.5m may be sought for the Invergordon Common Good Fund. More news when it appears.
Paul van Somer in the Burlington
April 2 2025
Picture: Burlington Magazine via. Edward Town on Instagram
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
April's edition of The Burlington Magazine features the usual array of fascinating bits of art history research, including on the late Elizabethan / Jacobean portrait painter Paul van Somer (pictured above).
Here's a list of the leading articles featured:
Turner’s ‘Staffa, Fingal’s Cave’: exporting ‘indistinctness’ - By Ian Warrell
‘The monarch of the glen’: painting for the new Houses of Parliament - By Stephen Duffy
The discovery of James Gibbs’s designs for the façade of Burlington House - By William Aslet
A serendipitous discovery: a lost Italian portrait from Horace Walpole’s miniature cabinet - by Adriana Concin-Tavella
The portraits of Alice Spencer, Countess of Derby, and her family by Paul van Somer - By Edward Town and Jessica David
Venetian Turner View for €38m in Vienna
April 2 2025
Picture: wien.orf.at
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Artnews.com have shared news (alongside the Austrian broadcaster ORF) that a Viennese gallery are offering a Venetian view by JWM Turner for €38m. The picture has been backed by a study which features contributions from curators at the Belvedere and members of Institute for Science and Technology in Art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
To quote the article above:
In the study published by Artziwna, researchers said that they believe their findings confirm Turner is the work’s creator. But they also wrote that they weren’t successful in attracting other international experts to peer-review their findings.
“We were unable to win other established Turner experts for our research,” the gallery’s director, George Ziwna, said in a foreword included in the publication. All inquiries to the Tate museum network in London to discuss the work went unanswered, he said.
Stolen George Washington Portrait Found in Vacated Hotel Room
April 2 2025
Video: CBSNews
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Colorado that a portrait of George Washington, which was stolen from a storage facility in 2024, has been recovered. The picture was apparently found in a vacated hotel room.
Constable, Stubbs and more coming up at Christie's London
April 2 2025
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Eagle eye watchers of the Art Council Private Treaty Sales page will spot that several paintings from the upcoming Christie's London Part I sale have been published online.
Some of the more exciting lots are John Constable's The Ferry (pictured), a picture which has been on long-term loan at Tate and will be offered with a guide price around £2m. Additionally, the list features a rather fine George Stubbs of a Prancing Horse in a Landscape with Two Dogs estimated at around £1.2m.
Other intriguing lots include this rather interesting painting of King Charles I by Cornelis Johnson signed and dated 1622, which carries an estimate of around £200,000.
Click on the link above for more details regarding these pictures and other upcoming lots.
Bernardo Strozzi in Estonia
April 1 2025
Video: TV3 Eesti
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Kadriorg Art Museum in Tallinn, Estonia, has just opened a new exhibition on Bernardo Strozzi.
According to the museum's website:
The comprehensive exhibition of the works of the Italian painter of the early Baroque Bernardo Strozzi (1582–1644) is being co-curated by Anna Orlando from Genoa, a distinguished scholar on Bernardo Strozzi and 17th century art culture in Genoa, and Greta Koppel, a curator at the Kadriorg Art Museum.
The exhibition brings together around 45 paintings and graphic works by this highly talented and versatile Italian artist, from European museums and from private collections, including masterpieces that have not been publicly displayed before. It is the first time that the two famous masterpieces by Strozzi, The Allegory of Painting (ca 1635, Palazzo Spinola, Genoa) and the Portrait of Barbara Strozzi (?) (ca. 1640, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden) will be shown together.
The show will run until 6th July 2025.
$12 Renoir?
April 1 2025
Video: ABC News
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from the US that a potential drawing by Renoir, purchased for $12 at a regional auction house in Montgomery county, is currently sitting with the Wildenstein Plattner Institute waiting for a verdict on its authenticity. Click on the link above to read The Guardian's coverage of the story.
Lambert Doomer Restored at the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar
April 1 2025
Video: Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
CODART (the international network of curators of Dutch and Flemish art) has drawn attention to news that the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar have conserved and redisplayed their two group portraits by Lambert Doomer (1624-1700). The two works Three Regents of the Civil Orphanage in Alkmaar (1680) and The Regents of the Proveniershuis in Alkmaar (1681) have been in storage for several years due to their poor condition.
'La Vecchia popolana' acquired by Museo d'Arte Sorlini
March 31 2025
Picture: ansa.it
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Italy that the Museo d'Arte Sorlini in Carzago Riviera has acquired Pietro Bellotti's La Vecchia popolana. The work, which had last been published in the 1940s, had apparently been acquired by the museum from a private collection in the recent past.
The Duke of Wellington's Dutch Masterpieces at Apsley House
March 31 2025
Picture: English Heritage
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Apsley House, the 1st Duke of Wellington's London home, will be putting on a special display of their Dutch masterpieces this spring.
According to English Heritage's website:
From 2 April 2025, discover this exhibition which brings together 18 of the finest Dutch paintings purchased by the 1st Duke of Wellington. During his lifetime, he chose to display them in the principal rooms of Apsley House, where they remain a highlight of the collection today. These works were primarily landscapes and genre scenes – depictions of ordinary people and everyday life. Highly prized by 19th-century collectors, Dutch paintings were admired for their technical brilliance and their compelling narratives. Insightful and amusing, they still engage us with their stories and invite us to reflect on the richness of everyday life.
Cambridge seeking Professor in the History of Late Imperial Chinese Art
March 31 2025
Picture: jobs.cam.ac.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The University of Cambridge are hiring an Assistant Professor in the History of Late Imperial Chinese Art (ca. 1200-ca. 1800).
According to the job description:
The Department of History of Art at the University of Cambridge seeks to appoint a permanent Assistant Professor in the History of Late Imperial Chinese Art (ca. 1200-ca. 1800). The Department welcomes applications from specialists in all mediums of art, including painting and the graphic arts, sculpture, metalwork, ceramics, and textiles, all of which are well represented in University collections. The successful candidate will be expected to take up appointment on or close to 1 September 2025.
The job comes with an annual salary of between £46,735 - £59,139 and applications must be in by 30th April 2025.
Sleeper Alert!
March 31 2025
Picture: Wimbledon Auctions
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News on social media (via. milesbartonpaintings) that this portrait of Robert Burns catalogued as 'Manner of Sir Henry Raeburn' achieved £68,000 (hammer) over its £300 - £500 estimate at Wimbledon Auctions today.
Queen Charlotte Pentimenti in Royal Collection Infrared Scan
March 31 2025
Picture: Royal Collection Trust via. Instagram
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Royal Collection Trust have revealed this rather fascinating infrared scan of Benjamin West's portrait of George III and Queen Charlotte. It shows that the artist had initially positioned the Queen's head rather differently than it appears now. There are also changes to the King's eyes, which are also visible in the scans.
The picture is back on display at Kew Palace, where it appears to hang above a doorway, which has recently opened for the season.
