Mantegna Reframed at Castello Sforzesco
February 27 2025
Picture: finestresullarte.info
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Andrea Mantegna's Trivulzio Altarpiece, one of the prized possessions of the Castello Sforzesco in Milan, has been reframed and redisplayed. The carved and gilded historic setting, which dates to the late 19th century, had been removed from the painting after the war in favour of a more sober configuration. The project to regroup and restore the frame had begun back in 2023 and was undertaken by Luca Quartana Restauri.
Fra Angelico's Deposition of Christ Restored
February 26 2025
Picture: ansa.it
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Italy that Fra Angelico's Deposition of Christ, one of the masterpieces of the Museo di San Marco in Florence, has been conserved. The project, which lasted approximately 2 years, was undertaken by Lucia Biondi (paintings conservator) and Roberto Buda (panel conservator).
Louvre acquire Drolling Portrait
February 26 2025
Picture: Adam Williams Fine Art via. fabparis.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from France (spotted via. @alexandrelafore on Instagram) that the Louvre has acquired Michel-Martin Drolling's Portrait of Caroline Macheron, née Hayard. The work was acquired through the New York dealers Adam Williams Fine Art and was recently exhibited at the FAB fair in Paris.
Buy a Renoir on Instagram
February 26 2025
Picture: @christiesinc via. Instagram
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
This blog has pointed out the interesting and innovative ways that auction houses are placing increasing emphasis on private sales (thus at times 'becoming' art dealers). I was intrigued that Christie's recently used their Instagram account (which has no less than 1.2 million followers) to promote this rather fine Renoir that is available for sale (ie. buy it now) via. their private sales page. 'Price on Request', of course.
DIY La Tour Kits on Amazon
February 26 2025
Picture: Amazon.co.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I was rather bemused to see (spotted via. @neiljeffares on 'X') that Amazon are selling some rather curious DIY painting kits at the moment. These 'paint by numbers' on canvas boxes will allow you to make copies of some rather interesting portraits by Maurice Quentin De La Tour, for example, and cost a mere £17 to purchase.
Here are some of my favourite lines from the instructions supplied:
This DIY Oil Painting provide great painting process for kids who are over 6 years old and adults, even if the beginners. Can not eat, put far away from children.
IT SHOULD BE PAINTED BY YOURSELF. [...]
The Canvas:
It is made of high quality pure cotton, and was treated by a special process.
The Paint:
This paint is propylene dye and green nontoxic but not edible.
Paint can be directly colored, no need to add water.
Paint coverage is strong, if made error during painting process, cover it with the correct color. [...]
Due to the painting reason, there maybe some discrepancy of the colors between the reference picture and the products.
It really is that easy.
I would be grateful to know if any readers of this blog ever give one of these a go. I'll be most happy to share your reviews here in full!
Upcoming Release: Clara Peeters
February 26 2025
Picture: Getty Publications
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Getty Publications will be releasing a new monograph on Clara Peeters next month. The new volume has been penned by Alejandro Vergara-Sharp who is the senior curator of Flemish and Northern European paintings at the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.
According to the blurb:
In this monograph, author Alejandro Vergara-Sharp discusses what is known of Peeters’s biography while presenting the historical and cultural context behind her art, style, and techniques. Clara Peeters establishes the artist as a leader in her field by examining Peeters’s artistry and the material culture reflected in her paintings. This timely volume sheds light on the limitations that Peeters encountered because of her gender, and how she responded to them in her art, while assessing her importance as a painter of still life.
UK PM Removing Historic Portraits (ctd.)
February 26 2025
Picture: artcollection.dcms.gov.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Following on from news last year that the UK's Prime Minister Keir Starmer had exclaimed 'I don't like it [portraits]. I like landscapes', there have been further stories in the press recently that historic portraits of the Duke of Wellington (x 3), Oliver Cromwell (x 5), King Charles I and Sir Winston Churchill have been removed from display in several Government buildings.
Upcoming: The Experience of Nature - Art in Prague at the Court of Rudolf II
February 26 2025
Picture: Louvre Press Department
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Louvre in Paris will be opening a new exhibition next month entitled The Experience of Nature: Art in Prague at the Court of Rudolf II.
According to their website:
Organised in partnership with Prague’s National Gallery, this exhibition comprises around a hundred works (objets d’art, sculptures, paintings, prints and drawings, scientific instruments, manuscripts, etc.), most of which were commissioned or purchased by Rudolf II for his Kunstkammer. The majority of the works come from Prague collections and the Louvre, but there are also items from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin, and the Bibliothèque de l'Observatoire in Paris.
In the art world, the Prague court is still associated with a paroxysm of late Mannerism with its sophisticated allegories, whimsical colouring and doctrines of artificial elegance. Its historical counterpart might be the figure of Rudolf himself: an aesthete and a neurasthenic emperor.
This exhibition aims to shed light on another, lesser-known facet of the art produced at Rudolf II's court. Alongside this ‘mannerist’ influence, there was a second ‘naturalist’ current: this included artists who depicted nature, whether they focused on capturing landscapes like Roelandt Savery, Peter Stevens and Paulus van Vianen, or on representing flowers and animals on parchment, as Hans Hoffmann, Daniel Fröschl and Joris Hoefnagel did, or on panels, as Savery did.
The show will run from 19th March until 30th June 2025.
Global Baroque Conference at University of York
February 26 2025
Picture: University of York
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The University of York are hosting a (registration required) conference in July on the subject of The Global Baroque: European Material Culture between Conquest, Trade and Mission, 1600-1750.
Here's the blurb from their website:
The period of Western art history known as “the Baroque” has traditionally been interpreted as a stylistic phenomenon. However, artistic production in Europe circa 1600–1750 was enabled by a proto-industrial world system dominated by Spain and Portugal, the Netherlands and later Britain. As a result, material culture became entangled in networks of trade, colonial rule and Catholic global mission stretching from Naples to Nagasaki.
This conference will broaden perspectives on the Baroque, embracing its transcontinental and multi-media character. By culturally decentring Europe and with materiality a special focus, the programme will recast the continent as a constituent part of an expanding artistic world driven by war, the exploitation of ecosystems and the first information technology revolution. Bringing together scholars and museum curators from the UK and internationally, the conference will demonstrate how objects can offer intimate insights into global histories often characterised by vast, impersonal economic forces.
Click on the link to find out more.
The Worlds of Watteau at Château de Chantilly
February 22 2025
Picture: Château de Chantilly
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Château de Chantilly will be opening their latest exhibition The Worlds of Watteau in a few weeks' time.
According to their website:
s mysterious as he is celebrated, Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) is a rare artist. The Condé Museum has the second-largest collection of his works in France after the Louvre – four paintings and six drawings – and this nucleus serves as the starting point for a new exhibition at the Château de Chantilly. Also featuring several loans, it offers a never-before-seen glimpse into the artist’s most important and iconic works, revealing the intimate secrets and studio practices behind his masterpieces. [...]
To present Watteau’s work in its best light, the Condé Museum has restored many of its masterpieces, which will be presented alongside loans of paintings and drawings to shed light on the artist at the height of his career. Leading experts on Watteau have also collaborated on the show, resulting in new discoveries and research. The exhibition explores the sources of Watteau’s inspiration, revealing how he crafted his compositions and the effects he aimed to create, to offer a unique glimpse into the origins of some of the most mysterious paintings ever produced.
The show will run from 8th March until 15th June 2025.
New Release: Beyond Ophelia: The True Legacy of Elizabeth Eleanor Rossetti
February 21 2025
Picture: Unicorn
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A new book on the artist and muse Elizabeth Eleanor Rossetti (more widely called Elizabeth Siddal) was published this week. The new volume is penned by Glenda Youde of the University of York.
According to the blurb:
Better known as ‘Lizzie Siddal’, the model who posed for John Everett Millais’s painting Ophelia, Elizabeth Eleanor Rossetti is now finally recognised as a Pre-Raphaelite artist in her own right, working alongside her male colleagues on equal terms. Elizabeth’s designs were truly original, the creation of her own imagination. They embodied the essence of Pre-Raphaelitism that her husband Gabriel and other members of the circle were striving to achieve. The male members of the group shamelessly copied the ideas from Elizabeth’s small sketches to create their own large masterpieces which have since become the epitome of Pre-Raphaelite art. The exclusion of women from the narrative has had a major impact in creating the perception of the Pre-Raphaelites as a predominantly male artistic movement; in Beyond Ophelia Dr Glenda Youde shows Elizabeth not as a pathetic drowning figure, but as the initiator of a directional change in the visual development of Pre-Raphaelite art. Featuring a unique collection of photographs of Elizabeth’s work commissioned by her husband after her death, this book highlights the critical importance of her role within the Pre-Raphaelite circle, and one which ultimately led to the evolution of the Aesthetic Movement.
The Art of the Popes at the Castel Sant'Angelo
February 21 2025
Video: Il Sole 24 ORE
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome is set to open a new display of 38 paintings on 6th March 2025 dedicated to The Art of the Popes. The display will feature many works on loan from institutions across Italy, including pictures by Andrea Del Sarto, Federico Barroci, Perugino, Annibale Carracci, Pietro da Cortona, by Cavalier d'Arpino, Pompeo Batoni, Sassoferrato, Anton Raphael Mengs and Battistello Caracciolo.
Giovan Battista Trotti in Piacenza and Cremona
February 21 2025
Picture: ilpiacenza.it
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The artist Giovan Battista Trotti will be celebrated with two exhibitions in Piacenza and Cremona later this spring. The shows are partly to celebrate the reunification the so-called Salazar Triptych, after two missing wings (to accompany the central panel which belongs to Bank of Piacenza) were discovered on the Italian art market. Click on the link above for more details.
Nationalmusée Luxembourg acquire Bartholomäus Sarburgh
February 21 2025
Picture: @ruudpriem
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Ruud Priem, curator of the Nationalmusée Luxembourg, has announced on 'X' the museum's acquisition of a portrait by Bartholomäus Sarburgh. The portrait captures the likeness of Sebastian Sporlin, a burgomaster of Basel, and was acquired from the London dealers Rafael Vals Ltd.
Wheelie bin Romney up for sale
February 21 2025
Picture: Roseberys
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Amusing news that a drawing by George Romney, that was discovered in a wheelie bin in upstate New York, is going to be featured within an upcoming sale at Roseberys. The drawing is said to depict Henrietta Greville, 2nd Countess of Warwick.*
According to the article linked above:
The collector, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "When I first found it buried in the wheelie bin it looked interesting but I had no idea it was nearly 300 years old.
"After taking it home and doing some research I couldn't believe it. How did this mid-18th century drawing from England end up in the trash in upstate New York?"
The drawing will be offered for sale on 12th March 2025 carrying an estimate of £600 - £800.
_________
* - As it happens, the Earls and Countesses of Warwick are one of my pet subjects. The identification comes from what appears to be a much later inscription on the mount and is curious since the work does in no way resemble Romney's portrait of the Countess and her children (now in the Frick) or a lost portrait of her that was engraved. Was the identification made at some point in the 20th century by someone who had knowledge of the Frick collection painting, which happened to have been acquired in 1908? A mystery.
Upcoming: Simone Cantarini Exhibition in Urbino
February 21 2025
Picture: michelangelobuonarrotietornato.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Exciting news that the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche in Urbino will be opening a monographic exhibition dedicated to Simone Cantarini in May. Organised in collaboration with the Barberini and Corsini galleries in Rome, the show will contain 54 paintings by the artist and run from 22nd May until 12th October 2025.
Rosalba Carriera Pastel Soars!
February 19 2025
Picture: Drouot
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The following pastel by Rosalba Carriera, a rather beautiful example of its kind which was given by the artist to the celebrated collector Jean de Jullienne in 1721, soared to 78,000 EUR over its 8k - 12k EUR estimate at Baratoux-Dubourg Enchères in Bourdeaux this afternoon (spotted via. @neiljeffares).
Musée d'Orsay acquires Anna Boch
February 19 2025
Picture: Musée d'Orsay
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
La Tribune de l'Art has published news that the Musée d'Orsay acquired a work by Anna Boch at the end of last year. The work, entitled Cueillette and dated 1890, had been exhibited in a travelling show on the artist last year. Here's the full catalogue note from the museum if you'd like to read more about the painting's history.
SMK acquires Clara Peeters from Koller sale
February 19 2025
Picture: Koller
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I'm a little slow to news that the National Gallery of Denmark (SMK) has announced its aquisition of Clara Peeters' Bird Still Life which appeared at Koller in Zurich at the end of last year and made a respectable 622,000 CHF (inc. premium) over its 300k - 500k CHF estimate. The picture is now the earliest dated painting by a woman artist in the SMK collection.
Jordaens to be conserved in open studio at Snijders&Rockox House
February 19 2025
Picture: codart.nl
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
CODART (the international network of curators of Dutch and Flemish art) has shared news that Jacob Jordaens' Christ and the Fishermen will be conserved in an open studio at the Snijders&Rockox House in Antwerp over the next few months. The picture is usual on display at the city's Sint-Jacobskerk and will be on display in the museum until the end of the year.
