FRATELLO SOLE, SORELLA LUNA: Nature in Art, from Fra Angelico to Corot
March 14 2025
Picture: gallerianazionaledellumbria.it
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Gallery of Umbria will be opening their latest exhibition tomorrow entitled FRATELLO SOLE, SORELLA LUNA: Nature in Art, from Fra Angelico to Corot.
According to the gallery's website:
From 15 March to 15 June 2025, the National Gallery of Umbria in Perugia will be hosting the exhibition Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna. Nature in Art, from Fra Beato Angelico to Corot, on the occasion of the eighth centennial of the composition of the Canticle of the Sun by Saint Francis of Assisi. Not only one of the very first works of poetry in old Italian, it was also the first expression of a new relationship with Nature, to which the saint spoke for the first time in terms of intimacy, in an ecological ideal, in the etymological sense of the term, that was to exert an incredible influence on art from the thirteenth century onwards. [...]
[...] the exhibition will present more than eighty works, comprising paintings, drawings, etchings, sculptures and printed volumes by some of the most famous artists from Italian and European art history, such as Pisanello, Stefano da Verona, Paolo Uccello, Jan van Eyck, Fra Angelico, Piero della Francesca, Antonello da Messina, Leonardo da Vinci, Leon Battista Alberti, Albrecht Dürer, Lorenzo Lotto, Dosso Dossi, Giambologna, Jan Brueghel the Elder, Domenichino, Annibale Carracci, Nicolas Poussin, Salvator Rosa, Giambattista Piranesi, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot and many more [...]
Curate British Art at Tate!
March 14 2025
Picture: tate.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Tate are currently hiring a Curator British Art, 1730-1830 (fixed 7-month contract).
According to the job description:
We are looking for an experienced curator with a focus on the long eighteenth century. This temporary role will see you will work within the Historic British Art team at Tate Britain, reporting to the Manton Senior Curator. This varied role will see you use and share your expertise of the period and project management skills to develop and oversee programmed exhibitions and collection displays. The role will also entail researching and writing texts for Tate's website and supporting the activities of the Historic British team more widely.
You will undertake these activities in alignment with Tate's priorities, including those concerning our audiences, our environmental impact, and our staff values (to be open, bold, rigorous and kind).
The job comes with a salary of £40,717 and applications must be in by 23rd March 2025.
Good luck if you're applying!
TEFAF 2025 Open!
March 14 2025
Video: Chapeau Magazine
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
TEFAF 2025 (The European Fine Art Foundation) in Maastricht officially opens to the public tomorrow. There have already been lots of posts on social media with some of the highlights from the top art dealers in the world. Museums have been buying up quite a lot in the past few years, so let's see if any news emerges soon!
The fair will run until 20th March 2025.
Apologies...
March 13 2025
Picture: AB
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Apologies for the slow service this week. It has been rather busy with various projects, including presenting tours of the Old Masters collection at Burghley House yesterday for the Master's Degree students at the Sotheby's Institute. In fact, I was very lucky that the curators there were kind enough to bring down this rather beautiful Joan Carlile from the family's private quarters for us to look at. I think it is one of her most extravagant portraits, laden with pearls, a copper coloured dress (Joan had a penchant for white ones it appears), an ornamental fountain and other details that aren't present in many of her other known works. It was a real joy to see it in the flesh.
Upcoming Release: Lady Charlotte Schreiber, Extraordinary Art Collector
March 10 2025
Picture: Lund Humphries
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The publishers Lund Humphries will be releasing a rather interesting new book by Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth on the collector Lady Schreiber in September 2025.
According to the publisher's website:
This book emphasises Lady Charlotte Schreiber (1812-1895) — also known as Lady Charlotte Guest, née Bertie — as one of the most significant women in the history of collecting. An extraordinary collector, historian and philanthropist, Charlotte subverted gendered norms and challenged Victorian conventions. This new study establishes Charlotte’s contribution to ceramic history and cultural education, and demonstrates her influential role in transnational artistic networks.
Charting Charlotte’s eventful life, McCaffrey-Howarth focuses on her identity as a renowned connoisseur, whose donation of thousands of objects to the Victoria & Albert Museum and the British Museum marked a pioneering move for a female benefactor. Lady Charlotte Schreiber, Extraordinary Art Collector presents unique insight into the social and cultural world of Victorian England and the role of women within this.
Clara Peeters to headline Koller sale
March 10 2025
Picture: Koller
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A still life with fish by Clara Peeters is one of the top lots in the upcoming Koller auction in Zurich later this month. Notably, the National Gallery of Denmark purchased the most recent example the Swiss auction house offered last year. The fish (a slightly trickier subject commercially) will be carrying an estimate of 70,000 - 100,000 CHF on 28th March 2025.
Seville Cathedral loaned Botticelli
March 10 2025
Picture: musee-jacquemart-andre.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Spain that Seville Cathedral has been loaned a Botticelli from the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris, due to their Artemisia Gentileschi being sent for an exhibition in the French capital. Famously, the attribution of the Paris Flight into Egypt had been doubted for a long time until the painting's condition (as it was transferred from panel to canvas) was fully understood.
The painting will be on loan there until 3rd August 2025.
The Leiden Collection on loan to H'ART Museum
March 10 2025
Picture: H'ART Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The H'ART Museum in Amsterdam (formerly known as the Hermitage Amsterdam) will be displaying 75 works on loan from the Leiden Collection from next month onwards.
According to the museum's website:
To celebrate the city’s 750th birthday, eighteen works by Rembrandt – seventeen paintings and one drawing – are shown together in Amsterdam for the first time.
Other renowned artists in the exhibition include Frans Hals, Jan Steen, Ferdinand Bol, Gerard Dou, Frans van Mieris and Maria Schalcken. The cherry on top is a remarkable painting by Johannes Vermeer, restored especially for this occasion. Together, these influential artists paint a vivid picture of daily life in the Netherlands in the 17th century.
Showing off your wealth, strengthening your reputation with a self-portrait, growing old and wrinkled, or indulging in food, drink, literature and music: in 75 artworks, From Rembrandt to Vermeer sketches urban life in all its facets. People are at the heart of these paintings: both young and old, rich and poor, beautiful and ugly.
The show will run from 9th April until 24th August 2025.
Michelangelo's Tomb Conserved
March 8 2025
Video: tianimu on YouTube
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Florence that Michelangelo's freshly conserved Tomb in the basilica of Santa Croce in Florence has been presented to the public. The 100,000 EUR project, completed to mark the artist's 550th birthday, was conducted by Opificio delle Pietre Dure (Factory of the Hard Stones).
As I'm unable to share photos (click on the link above to see more), instead I thought I would share the late Brian Sewell's reflection on the monument from one of his television series.
Possible Lady Jane Grey Portrait on loan to Wrest Park
March 7 2025
Picture: English Heritage via news.artnet.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A sixteenth century portrait which may depict the famous 'nine days Queen' Lady Jane Grey has been loaned to Wrest Park, an historic property in Bedfordshire run by English Heritage. The loan, from a private collection, is accompanied by interpretation regarding a recent research and conservation project on the picture.
Although the articles linked above make claims that the painting, and its dating, is a new discovery of sort, Bendor has published his catalogue entry on 'X' for the picture from a 2007 exhibition which contained the same arguments backed up with dendrochronology undertaken all those years ago.
The painting will be on display from today.
Upcoming: Artemisia - Heroine of Art
March 7 2025
Picture: Musée Jacquemart-André
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris will be opening their latest temporary exhibition on the 19th March 2025 entitled Artemisia - Heroine of Art.
According to their website:
The Musée Jacquemart-André will be honouring the Roman artist Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 - circa 1656). As one of the rare female artists of the modern era to have achieved international fame during her lifetime and to have been able to make a living from her painting, this Caravaggesque painter had an extraordinary destiny. Featuring some forty paintings, ranging from the artist’s recognised masterpieces to canvases of recent attribution, as well as paintings rarely shown outside their usual place of conservation, this exhibition highlights Artemisia Gentileschi’s role in the history of 17th century art.
The exhibition aims to demonstrate the profound originality of her work, career and identity, which remain a source of inspiration and fascination to this day. Artemisia’s story spans the centuries, and the reading we can make of her work – a reflection of her experience and resilience – is timeless and universal.
Rediscovered Mathieu Le Nain Coming Up in France
March 7 2025
Picture: Euvrard & Fabre
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
La Gazette Drouot has drawn attention to this rather curious and rare rediscovered Madonna and Child by Mathieu Le Nain (1607- 1677) which is coming up at Euvrard & Fabre later this month. The picture has been compared to other such rare examples that survive in various museums and even appears to have been painted over a portrait by the artist (for images click here).
Leonardo – Dürer: Renaissance Master Drawings on Colored Ground
March 7 2025
Picture: albertina.at
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Albertina in Vienna will be opened their latest exhibition today entitled Leonardo – Dürer: Renaissance Master Drawings on Colored Ground.
According to their website:
In this exhibition 26 drawings by Albrecht Dürer meet as many works by Leonardo da Vinci. In addition to works by Leonardo and Dürer, the exhibition presents top-class works by Raphael, Titian, Albrecht Altdorfer, Hans Baldung Grien, Hans Holbein the Elder and other outstanding Renaissance masters. The starting point for the extensive show is the museum's own collection: around two thirds of the masterpieces on display come from the ALBERTINA Museum. [...]
The exhibition offers a unique opportunity to discover this virtuoso technique with top-class works from the museum's own collection as well as important international loans from the Royal Collection Trust Windsor Castle, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum New York, the Uffizi in Florence, the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin, the British Museum and numerous other international collections.
The show will run until 9th June 2025.
Rubens' Martyrdom of St Andrew on Display at the Prado
March 7 2025
Video: Fundación Carlos de Amberes
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Rubens' monumental Martyrdom of St Andrew has been loaned to the Prado in Madrid whilst the Fundación Carlos de Amberes, its usual home, is undergoing renovation works. Here's a video of the art handlers preparing the work to be shipped (including the painting's enormous crate).
Tudor Portrait rediscovered on 'X' to be redisplayed in Museum
March 7 2025
Picture: Warwickshire County Council
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A small plug that I'm helping the Warwickshire Museum Services fundraise for the conservation and redisplay of Ralph Sheldon's Lost Portrait of Henry VIII, which I accidentally rediscovered on social media last summer. Alongside repairs to the oak panel, frame, followed by reglazing, the painting will have its rather clumsy and discoloured retouchings removed and replaced to allow the obvious quality of the picture to shine through.
Due to the fact that funds are being raised through the Warwickshire County Council, it is not possible to set up a 'go-fund-me' style page alas (more details of how to get in touch to donate via the link above). Any donations are gratefully received as ever!
____________
As an aside, do get in touch if you ever hear of any similar fundraising projects that are worth posting here on AHN.
Update - Here's the BBC's article on the fundraising campaign.
Update 2 - Here's an interview I gave for BBC Midlands Today on the painting, including pointing out some interesting pentimenti etc.
Titian in the Burlington
March 6 2025
Picture: Burlington
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I'm excited to get my hands on this month's edition of The Burlington Magazine, which appears to have a very interesting selection of fresh research on many intriguing paintings. This includes new technical analysis on the Titian portrait illustrated above, which is preserved in a private collection.
Here's a list of the other articles in March's edition:
Cristoforo de Predis at the Sforza Court - By Jeffrey Schrader
A portrait of an unknown woman by Titian - By Peter Humfrey and Paul Joannides
A Safavid ambassadress in Rome: the last testament of Teresa Sampsonia Shirley - By Alexandria Brown-Hedjazi
Additions to Ter Brugghen in Italy: ‘Christ bound to the column’ and ‘St John the Baptist in the wilderness’ - By John Gash
‘Two boys with a bladder’ in the J. Paul Getty Museum and Joseph Wright of Derby’s early candlelights - By Julia Siemon
Paul Sandby and Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn revisited - By Oliver Fairclough
Observations about the abandoned portrait beneath Gainsborough’s ‘Blue boy’ - By Christina Milton O'Connell
Velázquez Portrait and Michelangelo Bronze to be exhibited at TEFAF
March 6 2025
Picture: The Guardian
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
There's lots of exciting news in the press at the moment regarding upcoming highlights from this year's edition of TEFAF in Maastricht. The Guardian has published news that the dealer Stuart Lochhead will be displaying both a portrait by Velázquez of Jerónima de la Fuente (pictured) and a bronze attributed to Michelangelo which may have inspired the example painted into the picture.
According to the article:
The 25cm-high bronze corpus has been priced at €1.8m (£1.5m). Stuart Lochhead Sculpture, the company behind the sales, is not giving any estimates on the price of the Velázquez, which was kept in a convent in Toledo until it came into the hands of a Madrid family in the 1940s.
Rijksmuseum displays newly acquired Maria Van Oosterwijck
March 6 2025
Picture: Rijksmuseum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has displayed a still life by Maria Van Oosterwijck in the Gallery of Honour this week. The work, acquired by the museum in 2023, has also been freshly conserved. Click on the link to read more about the artist and painting.
Rubens loaned to Museo di Capodimonte
March 6 2025
Picture: Corsini Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Museo di Capodimonte in Naples is being lent Rubens' St. Sebastian Tended to by Angels from the Corsini Gallery in Rome this month for a special display. The painting will be placed in dialogue with works by Giovanni Baglione, Bartolomeo Schedoni, Andrea Vaccaro and Mattia Preti from 11th March onwards.
Christie's Paris Drawings
March 6 2025
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Christie's Paris have uploaded their aforementioned Dessins Anciens et du XIXe siècle sale online. The auction will take place on 26th March 2025.
