A rare Bernini sculpture that many historians had thought lost or destroyed has been acquired by the Getty Museum. The marble bust of Pope Paul V will “become one of a handful of the most important sculptures in the Getty’s collection, no question,” says Director Timothy Potts. (more…)
Kehinde Wiley, Arms of Hugo von Hohenlanderberg as Bishop of Constance with Angel Supporters (2014)
The Brooklyn Museum is hosting a mid-career retrospective of Kehinde Wiley, the L.A.-born and New York-based artist known for his juxtapositions of contemporary youth through the lens of a classical notion of aesthetic. Wiley’s mostly street-cast models, sporting untouched urban attires, replace the highly familiar figures of classic European paintings that generally exclude people of color. Wiley consequently redeems what is missing from the canon of Western art in his intricately detailed oils on canvas, yet pays homage to Old Masters such as Velásquez or Ingres. Maintaining some distinct elements such as outfits and posture, his models, mostly young males of African descent, do not simply recreate what was already done centuries ago, but also reclaim a collectively missing part of their history. (more…)
An El Greco from the collection of industrialist Julius Priester, and seized by the Gestapo during WWII, has been returned to its rightful owners. Portrait of a Gentleman has traveled widely since its confiscation in 1944, turning up in galleries in Stockholm, New York and London before a European Commission for Looted Art claim led to its return. “The story of the seizure and trade of this painting shows how much the art trade has been involved in the disposal of Nazi-looted art and how difficult it is for those who have been dispossessed to find and recover their property,” says Anne Webber, co-chair of the Commission. (more…)
A painting recently authenticated as the work of Peter Paul Rubens is set to go on view at the Rubenshuis Museum in Antwerp. The work, Portrait of a Young Girl, was purchased $626,500 in 2013, and was confirmed as authentic shortly after. (more…)
A self-portrait attributed to Van Dyck has been reconfirmed as a work by the master painter, after a study of the work uncovered a gold watch that was the property of the artist himself. The work is currently held at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota, and was confirmed by four separate experts on the painter. It is considered particularly relevant as it was a work the artist had intended to complete as his ideal portrait, and was documented as an etching for his book Iconography. (more…)
A pair of classic bronze works have been revealed to be the work of Michelangelo, after an extensive research undertaking in Cambridge, a discovery that would make the sculptures the only surviving bronzes by the artist in the world. “They are clearly masterpieces,” says Victoria Avery, keeper of applied arts at the Fitzwilliam Museum. “The modelling is superb, they are so powerful and so compelling, so whoever made them had to be superb.” (more…)
Agnolo Bronzino, Portrait Of A Young Man With A Book, Via Christie’s
Old Masters Week has concluded in New York, following a set of auctions over the past few days that saw mixed results at both Sotheby’s and Christie’s. (more…)
Christie’s Old Masters Week sale later this month will feature a rare early Caravaggio, titled Boy Peeling a Fruit. The work is valued at $3 million to $5 million. (more…)
The Victoria and Albert Museum is preparing to unveil a cast of Michelangelo’s David, which was given to Queen Victoria in 1857, after a lengthy restoration. The 16-foot statue will go on view November 29th inside the the newly renovated Weston Cast Court. (more…)
A masterwork piece by Joseph Turner, depicting a view of the city of Rome from Mount Aventine, will go on sale at Sotheby’s in London this December. The piece, estimated to sell for £20 million, has remained in the same family for nearly two hundred years, and was only sold once before, setting a then-record auction price of £6,000. “This painting, which is nearly 200 years old, looks today as if it has come straight from the easel of the artist; never relined and never subject to restoration, the picture retains the freshness of the moment it was painted: the hairs from Turner’s brush, the drips of liquid paint which have run down the edge of the canvas, and every scrape of his palette knife have been preserved in incredible detail,” says Sotheby’s Old Masters head Alex Bell. (more…)
A painting by Baroque artist Guercino has been stolen from the Church of San Vincenzo in the northern town of Modena, Italy this week. The work, depicting the Madonna with St. John the Evangelist, is valued at over $8 million, and was stolen in the middle of the night when the alarm system failed to function properly. “This precious painting is part of the cultural heritage of Modena,” says Modena’s mayor Gian Carlo Muzzarelli. (more…)
The Tuscan town of Porto Ercole has announced plans to bury the remains of Renaissance painter Caravaggio after the artist’s remains were discovered in a church there in 2010. Caravaggio’s body will be stored in an enormous arch monument created by the sculptor Giuseppe Conte, which will be inaugurated on July 18th, the date of the the painter’s death. (more…)
Ali Banisadr, Ran (2014), all images courtesy Sperone Westwater
Currently on view at Sperone Westwater in New York is an exhibition of new works by Iranian painter Ali Banisadr. Entitled Motherboard, the exhibition is Banisadr’s first solo show at at the gallery, and will remain on view through April 19, 2014.
A new historical study is providing evidence that Michelangelo’s abilities as an artist may have been paralleled by equally exceptional skills as an art forger. Historian Thierry Lenain of the Institut Français in London has just published a book tracing the history of forgeries in art, and notes the Italian master’s reputation as a skilled forger, often exposing paintings to smoke or dirt to make them look considerably aged. “He admired these originals for the excellence of their art and sought to surpass them,” Lenain says. (more…)
El Greco, The Annunciation, via Sotheby’s
The past week of Old Masters auctions in New York has concluded with a series of successful auctions at both Sotheby’s and Christie’s this week, bringing respectable sums that set the stage for the next two weeks of Modern and Contemporary Works at both houses. Notably more subdued than last year’s competitive sales, a number of works still managed to drive the auctions beyond their anticipated figures. Sotheby’s capped a series of well-attended auctions that brought in a total sum of $71 million, while Christie’s closed a series of auctions bringing in just over $65 million. (more…)
Albrecht Dürer, Bildnis der Mutter des Künstlers, Barbara Dürer, geb. Holper (1490) Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg Foto: Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg
The Städel Museum in Frankfurt is currently presenting an exhibition of around 250 works focused on the art and influence of German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer, including 190 works by the artist himself, a massive project which required many loan negotiations with museums around the world. Dürer: His Art in Context gives an overview of the artist’s entire career, including 25 panel and canvas paintings, 80 drawings, and 80 prints and books. Also on display are works by some German, Italian, and Dutch artists who inspired Dürer, both contemporaries and those who worked before him, providing a context through which viewers can see the world of Dürer including Martin Schongauer, Hans Baldung Grien, Hans von Kulmbach, and Lucas van Leyden.
Albrecht Dürer, Melencolia I (Die Melancholie) (1514), Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main Foto: Städel Museum – ARTOTHEK
Johannes Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring (1665), Courtesy of The Frick Collection
On view at The Frick Collection in New York is a traveling exhibition of beloved Dutch paintings selected from the collection of the Royal Picture Gallery Maurithuis in The Hague, the Netherlands. The paintings will remain on view to the public through January 19, 2014.
Lynette & Janette (2013). All images courtesy the Gagosian Gallery.
John Currin’s work is currently on view at the Gagosian Gallery in Paris through December 21st. Currin is known for his seductive and, to some, lewd appropriations of sixteenth and seventeenth century European painting. His paintings pair explicit sexual representations with the extremely polished and delicate details of this classical style. The result is a fascinating, touching and often hilarious interpretation of the politics of visual representation and sexual provocation. (more…)
Acquavella Galleries New York. All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.
Running alongside the hustle and bustle of Frieze’s Contemporary Art proceedings next door, the Frieze Masters section is showing an exceedingly strong set of galleries and works, albeit somewhat removed from the spotlight its adjacent fair receives each year. Mixing classic works by artists like Francis Bacon and Picasso with works by still active artists like Robert Long and Richard Serra, the fair offered a more subdued, but equally impressive offering. (more…)
Experts have identified a work found in a private Swiss collection to be a portrait by Leonardo da Vinci, which has been considered lost for over 500 years. The portrait, depicting noblewoman Isabella D’Este, is believed to have been painted by Da Vinci and several of his assistants. “There are no doubts that the portrait is Leonardo’s work,” said Carlo Pedretti, an emeritus professor of art history at the University of California. (more…)
The Morgan Library has announced an ambitious plan to digitize its full collection of drawings and make them available online. The project is expected to reach completion by October of next year, and will yield over 10,000 individual images by the likes of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Dürer, for free access on the Morgan’s site. The digitization “is critical to our institutional goal of promoting drawings scholarship and reaching out to an ever larger audience,”said William M. Griswold, the museum’s director. (more…)
One of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks exploring the possibilities and potentials for human flight will come to the Smithsonian Institution this fall, on view at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. Codex on the Flight of Birds, which will begin showing in mid-September, explores the various concerns of flight, including weight, space, and an early exploration of the force of gravity, years before Newton formally named it as such. “Centuries before any real progress toward a practical flying machine was achieved, Leonardo expressed the seeds of the ideas that would lead to humans spreading their wings,” says National Air and Space chief curator Peter Jakab. (more…)
A work depicting Saint Helen in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum has been revealed as a Tintoretto. Previously credited to Schiavone, The Embarkation of St Helena to the Holy Land was discovered as a misattribution during a digitization of the museum’s records. National Inventory Research Project director Andrew Greg said: “Non-British paintings are sometimes a comparatively neglected aspect of a museum’s collections and we also recognised that few museums have complete up-to-date catalogues of their picture collections. (more…)
Candida Höfer, Teatro Scientifico Bibiena Mantova I (2010), Courtesy Ben Brown Fine Arts
Ben Brown Fine Arts in London presents work by German photographer Candida Höfer, showcasing the artists masterful control, precision, and detail in capturing the grandiosity of Italian Renaissance architecture. The exhibition, which features images of brightly lit, cavernous interiors of several ornate Italian buildings, depict these majestic spaces as part of the everyday, highlighting the grandeur of the Italian architectural tradition.
Candida Höfer, A Return to Italy (Installation View), via Ben Brown Fine Arts
