Mon Dieu - le feu! (ctd.) - Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor Mon Dieu - le feu! (ctd.) April 2 2014 Picture: BBC/BG Sad news that Martin Lang, the owner of the fake Chagall we featured on our BBC1 programme, ' Fake or Fortune? ' , has given up his legal battle to prevent the Chagall Committee from burning his picture (for which he paid £100,000...
- Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor National Gallery membership scheme? April 1 2014 Picture: NG The National Gallery in London doesn't have a membership scheme, giving free entry to exhibitions and events, which I've always thought odd. I'd certainly sign up. Now, however, it seems they may at last be thinking about it. A reader has been asked...
The white glove fallacy (ctd.) - Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor The white glove fallacy (ctd.) April 1 2014 Picture: via ArtDaily Regular readers will know that one of my favourite ranting topics is the needless use of white gloves (see here , for example), especially when photographers or TV crews are around. The above photo, in which someone...
Exclusive - 'Mona Lisa' being cleaned - Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor Exclusive - 'Mona Lisa' being cleaned April 1 2014 Picture: Louvre It's the big one, folks: the Louvre has finally decided to take the plunge and clean the Mona Lisa . Pleased with their success in cleaning Leonardo's Virgin and Child with St Anne , curators decided that...
- Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor Germany returns Guardi April 1 2014 Picture: BBC The Germany government has returned a painting by Guardi, looted in 1939, to Poland. The case highlights the continuing tensions over the question of looted art between Germany and Poland, which I wasn't aware of. As the BBC explains: After World War Two, the...
- Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor New clues in hunt for missing Ghent Altarpiece panel March 31 2014 Picture: artinfo Every now and then someone says they know the whereabouts of the missing panel, Just Judges , from Van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece, stolen in 1934. In January this year, for example, a retired police commissioner said he thought...
- Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor Wadsworth acquires Gentileschi self-portrait March 28 2014 Picture: Wadsworth Atheneum Regular readers may recall that I was surprised the above Self-Portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi failed to sell at Christie's most recent Old Master sale in New York. It's a fine picture, and I thought Christie's estimate...
- Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor Was Veronese the Ai Wei Wei of his day? March 28 2014 Picture: Accademia Yes, says Jonathan Jones in this interesting piece on Veronese's greatest commission, the Feast in the House of Levi (above). Share This Categories Research More records added to 'Art World in Britain' Turner on Climate Change? Connoisseurship...
Brian asks 'Who was William Kent?' - Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor Brian asks 'Who was William Kent?' March 28 2014 Picture: Standard, interior of Chiswick House, designed by Kent Brian Sewell, on good form as ever, reviews the V&A's new exhibition on William Kent , architect and artist, and is not overly impressed. Concluding paragraph: In...
Richard III? (ctd.) - Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor Richard III? (ctd.) March 28 2014 Picture: BBC There was great excitement last year when the University of Leicester claimed it had found Richard III's body in a Leicester car park. There were immediate calls to re-bury the body in either York or Leicester cathedrals. At the time, I posted...
"Restoring" Rothko - Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor "Restoring" Rothko March 28 2014 Picture: Economist Reader (and now fellow blogger ) James Mulraine has kindly alerted me to an interesting piece in the Economist on how Harvard University is dealing with its seriously faded Rothko paintings: The pictures in question were painted for the dining...
Gurlitt's Monet - Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor Gurlitt's Monet March 27 2014 Picture: BBC There's a good video on the BBC News site here from correspondent Stephen Evans as he takes a look at some of Cornelius Gurlitt's allegedly Nazi-tainted collection. Share This Categories Research More records added to 'Art World in Britain' Turner...
Van Dyck update (ctd.) - Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor Van Dyck update (ctd.) March 26 2014 Picture: Philip Mould Ltd So, with belated apologies for the rather sparse blogging recently, let me be the first to tell you about what I've been working on over the last week or so: a new deal to help the National Portrait Gallery's campaign to acquire...
More records added to 'Art World in Britain' - Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor More records added to 'Art World in Britain' March 26 2014 Picture: York.ac.uk One of the most useful online art history resources, The Art World in Britain 1660-1735 , just got even better, with the addition of a load of new primary sources . Here's what's new: 11,000...
- Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor Tate must return looted Constable March 26 2014 Picture: Tate This is big news: the UK's Spoliation Advisory Panel has today ruled that Tate Britain must return a painting by Constable to the heirs of a Hungarian art collector, Baron Ferenc Hatvany. They said the picture, 'Beaching a Boat, Brighton ', was deposited...
- Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor Turner on Climate Change? March 25 2014 Picture: atmos-chem-phys.net Crikey, the scientists have been playing with Old Masters again. A new article in Atmosphere, Chemistry and Physics claims that paintings can be used to assess climate changes, and in particular aerosol optical depths (things like levels of...
- Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor More arts stuff on the BBC March 25 2014 Picture: BBC Good news today from the BBC - they're significantly increasing their arts output. This isn't just good news for your humble correspondent, who might if he's lucky get the odd presenting gig. A whole series of new programmes was announced, from a six-parter...
- Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor New Titian drawing discovered March 24 2014 Picture: Sotheby's The National Gallery of Scotland has been buying sleepers. Competition for your humble correspondent. Yesterday, the Gallery unveiled a newly discovered drawing by Titian (above). It was spotted by a sharp-eyed curator, Aidan Weston-Lewis, who saw...
Waldemar on 'Veronese' - Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor Waldemar on 'Veronese' March 24 2014 Picture: BG I said last week that I would post some more thoughts on the new Veronese show at the National Gallery. But since Waldemar Janusczczak says exactly what I think, and much more eloquently, then have a read of his Sunday Times review instead....
- Art History News - by Bendor Grosvenor about articles contact edited by Bendor Grosvenor At the Ashmolean... March 24 2014 Picture: Ashmolean Museum ...they're restoring the original Grinling Gibbons frame for John Riley's portrait of Elias Ashmole (1617-1692). The frame was carved in 1681-2, but the gilding now being removed was only added in 1729-30. I was lucky enough to see this work in progress...