Mercredi 19 juin 2013
Last update on 5/06/2013
Last update on 5/06/2013
The latest news in the History of Western Art from the Middle Age to the 1930's
Intimate Scenes. French Genre Painting between the Revolution and the Restoration 27/11/2011
The Musée des Augustins has chosen to approach the chaotic period between the French Revolution and the Restoration by way of genre painting. All of the canvases, some of which are unpublished, come exclusively from French collections, either (...)
A New Acquisition for the Ashmolean : a Portrait of Ruskin by Millais 23/05/2013
The painting recently received as acceptance in lieu by the Ashmolean Museum is important for three reasons : the model, the artist and the context in which it was created. This portrait of Ruskin by John Everett Millais was in fact on view at (...)
Strokes of Genius 09/05/2013
There is a fine line between bravery and ignorance. A contemporary artist who dares to stand alongside the old masters in any case comes across as being almost foolhardy. The Palais des Beaux-Arts wished to pay tribute to Jean-Baptiste Wicar, (...)
A Sculpture by Villabrille y Ron for the Meadows Museum 05/06/2013
This is the only known terracotta by this sculptor today ; a Spanish artist from the late Baroque period, Juan Alonso Villabrille y Ron produced works in polychrome wood and stone, the only one of which has been acknowledged for sure is a very (...)
Versailles Acquires a Louis XVI Clock and Sèvres Vases 22/05/2013
The château de Versailles pre-empted a Louis XVI clock decorated with an Offering to Cupid depicted by bronze figures, at an auction in Metz on 24 March 2013. It was probably produced by Charles Leroy or his son Etienne-Augustin who became (...)
The Musée Plantin-Moretus Acquires Ten Drawings by Vrancx 03/06/2013
Today, we know of sixty-five drawings attributed to Sebastian Vrancs recounting the incidents in the Aeneid. Fifty-nine of them resided in a private collection until 9 October 1981 when they were auctioned off at Drouot, Paris. Some of these (...)
Restoration of the Salon de Mercure 01/02/2012
At the same time as the press conference held yesterday by Catherine Pégard, on 26 January, in Versailles, we also visited the restoration site for the Salon de Mercure which should end in June 2012, after ten months of work supervised by both (...)
Two Exhibitions in Paris on Canaletto 07/11/2012
Anyone strolling through Paris, lovers of Italian painting and even the most uninformed know by now that Canaletto is the subject of two exhibitions currently showing simultaneously at two different venues, the first at the Musée (...)
Fables in the Flemish Landscape. Bosch, Bles, Brueghel, Bril 18/11/2012
Images are "made to mean something different from what we see with our eyes", asserted Cesare Ripa. The Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille makes a brilliant demonstration of this axiom in an iconological exhibition highlighting the "fables in the (...)
John Martin. Apocalypse. 13/12/2011
"The public wants to be treated like a woman, to whom you can only say what she likes to hear", Goethe said ; John Martin applied the same aphorism to his painting, conceiving catastrophic scenarios, of which the most spectacular are taken from (...)
Die Brücke. The Origins of Expressionism 14/05/2012
Germany and France each had its separate Fauve movements but the boundaries between them remained open. The members of Die Brücke and Fauvism observed each other carefully, sharing the same desire to exalt color and liberate line, even if the (...)
Three Busts by Thorvaldsen for the National Gallery in Washington 25/10/2012
The National Gallery in Washington did not own any works by Thorvaldsen except for a drawing. This gap has now been filled since November 2011 thanks to the addition of three busts acquired from the London dealer, Rainer Zietz. These are (...)
Le broyeur de sombre. Bourdelle, Early Drawings 27/04/2013
Here a Macabre Vision, there a Scene of Desolation rise in black or brown ink, India ink, graphite and charcoal... The dark drawings in "broyeur de sombre", as Bourdelle defined himself, are now displayed in full light, no doubt impregnated with (...)
Edgar Degas, The Late Work 31/10/2012
"If Degas had died at fifty, he would have left a reputation of being an excellent painter, nothing more ; it was after the age of fifty that his work opened up and he became Degas". The Fondation Beyeler develops Renoir’s reflection by (...)
A Maella Painting and a Bust by J.-B. II Lemoyne for the LACMA 05/03/2012
Before continuing with our complete accounting of acquisitions at the LACMA, we can already announce at least the most recent ones. The museum has just purchased two 18th century works in Paris : a painting by Mariano Salvador Maella, Saint (...)
Feininger, from Manhattan to Bauhaus 06/02/2012
Torn between the violin, the drawing pencil and the paintbrush, between the United States where he was born, raised and died and Germany where he spent most of his career and achieved celebrity, Lyonel Feininger was a tormented artist who never (...)
From Seurat to Matisse, Henri-Edmond Cross and Neo-Impressionism 04/04/2012
Henri Edmond Cross, who died prematurely and childless, though he was a pillar of Neo-Impressionism, has been relatively ignored. Now, the exhibition at the Musée Matisse, in Le Cateau-Cambrésis after its stop at the Musée Marmottan from October (...)
Manet’s Portrait of Madame Brunet Acquired by the Getty Museum 03/12/2011
t is still possible to acquire a Manet as recently proven by the Getty Museum which announced its purchase of the Portrait of Madame Brunet or Young Woman of 1860 from a private collector. The painting was in the famous Joan Whitney Payson (...)
Le Cercle de l’art moderne : Avant Garde Collectors in Le Havre 12/10/2012
Le Havre, "a sea port which intends to remain that way", as General de Gaulle might have said, was a "temple of commerce and money" at the turn of the 20th century, built notably thanks to the importation of coffee, cotton, spices and wood. The (...)
A Landscape by Robert Seldon Duncanson Acquired by the Amon Carter Museum 13/05/2013
The Amon Carter Museum of American Art recently announced the acquisition of a work by Robert Seldon Duncanson (1821-1872), presented as the first Afro-American artist to have gained international stature. Entitled The Caves and painted in (...)
Acquisition of Latin-American and American Paintings in Philadelphia 19/03/2013
The Museum of Art in Philadelphia received several donations in the past few months of Latin-American and American works. Donated by Roberta and Richard Huber in 2012, four paintings - three of which are anonymous - reflect 18th century Colonial (...)
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner 25/06/2012
He was a major figure of Expressionism but not only, as demonstrated by the MAPFRE Foundation with about 153 works by Ernst Kirchner, highlighting in particular the last twenty years of his production, spent mainly in Switzerland. Assembled (...)
Renaissance Feasts. Cooking and Table Treasures 13/08/2012
The château in Blois is highlighting Renaissance feasts by presenting objects - archeological and museum pieces - related to aristocratic dining in their context. This is a challenging choice as sources are rare and the 16th century is a (...)
A Lanfranco Acquired by the Palazzo Barberini 07/02/2012
A painting by Giovanni Lanfranco recently joined the collections of the Museum at the Palazzo Barberini in Rome ; sold by the Italian gallery, Alberto Di Castro, it represents Saint Luke Healing the Dropsical Child. The iconography seems to (...)
Recent Acquisitions by the National Gallery in Washington 09/01/2013
Thomas Moran has definitely found his place at the National Gallery which, after receiving a donation of two of his paintings, recently acquired a watercolor from 1890 representing the Mountain of the Holy Cross. This Rocky Mountain peak in (...)
A Terracotta from the Buen Retiro Factory for the Museo Arqueológico Nacional 16/08/2012
Made famous by Goya’s portrait, Bartolomé Sureda y Miserol (1746-1828) directed the Royal Porcelain Factory of Buen Retiro, created in 1760 in Madrid by Charles III, in the style of the one the king had opened in Capodimonte - he even brought (...)
The Napoleonic Wars. Louis François Lejeune, General and Painter 28/02/2012
Louis François Lejeune was adept at wielding the sword, the brush and the pen, putting them at the service of the Empire and his own, as attested by the almost 120 works deployed in the Africa and Crimea galleries at the château in Versailles : (...)
Acquisition of a Jan Lievens Painting by the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm 14/09/2012
The Nationalmuseum in Stockholm recently acquired a painting by Jan Lievens, Saint Paul, dating from 1627-1629, the period when the artist worked in Leiden alongside Rembrandt. The painting in fact reveals a strong influence by the master as (...)
A Painting by Schiavone Acquired by the Caen Museum 12/04/2013
Patrick Ramade, the director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Caen, purchases an important old master painting nearly every year, often an Italian work, which we mention regularly on this site. His latest acquisition, made at the Galerie Canesso (...)
Paul Salmona Appointed Head of the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme 06/04/2013
Paul Salmona will take over as head of the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme next 8 April, succeeding Laurent Héricher and Laurence Sigal, who founded the institution and with whom he had organized a colloquium on L’Archéologie du judaïsme en (...)
A Corot for the National Gallery in London 05/02/2013
An Italian Woman has just become an important addition to the National Gallery for two reasons : painted by this eminent artist, it was part of the collection of a famous painter, Lucian Freud who disappeared in 2011. However, the press (...)
Impressionism and Fashion 02/10/2012
Fashion week in Paris, the meeting place for the world’s designers and couturiers. How does it relate to art history ? Apparently thanks to Impressionism, as stylish as ever, as "in" as today’s jeans (created at about the same time). In fact, (...)
A 19th century Allegory for the Spanish Romantics Museum 07/09/2012
Last 24 May the Spanish government pre-empted an Allegory of Industrial Progress, produced in Paris in 1852 by a Spanish artist who left only his initials : "MMA pintó en Paris en 1852". Sold for 6,000€, the canvas will join the collections of (...)
A Painting by Gustave Doré for the Monastery in Brou 19/03/2013
All fairies are not good and all wizards are not infallible. This is what Gustave Doré tells us in his painting, Vivian and Merlin, just acquired by the museum in Bourg-en-Bresse and part of the recent exhibition on the artist at this (...)
A September Tapestry for Chambord 09/12/2012
The Domaine national de Chambord recently acquired a tapestry from the Months series, also known as the "Maisons royales", made up of twelve pieces, from the Chevalier gallery. The ensemble was produced by the Manufacture des Gobelins between (...)
Recent Acquisitions at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam 28/05/2012
This Dutch museum had not acquired a Van Gogh work in the last five years but last 7 February, it finally purchased a gouache watercolor entitled The Silver Willow at Christie’s London for £1,273,250 (including charges). Executed on 27 July 1882 (...)
An Update on the Frick Collection 26/10/2011
An appointment, acquisitions, a restoration, publications... Events at the Frick Collection have moved briskly of late. The foremost of these is the new face of this prestigious establishment, Ian Wardropper, appointed director of the Frick (...)
Ferdinand Hodler 25/03/2013
An artist should be a forerunner, thus justifying an exhibition of his works. A forerunner of what ? Of modernity of course, the nec plus ultra being Abstraction. Ferdinand Hodler corresponds to this rule and today, we can enjoy looking at his (...)
A Painting by Emile Bernard Pre-Empted by the Musée d’Orsay 01/12/2012
Emile Bernard left France in 1893 and, after various stops in Italy, Greece and Turkey arrived in Cairo where he lived for about ten years, painting a series of orientalist works. After returning to Paris in 1904, he swore only by the Old (...)
The Metropolitan Acquires a Carlo Francesco Nuvolone and a Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg 25/04/2012
The Metropolitan Museum recently acquired two 17th and 19th century paintings, their only point in common being that they are both from Italy. The first is a Woman Martyr by the Lombard painter, Carlo Francesco Nuvolone , bequeathed to the (...)
Two Paintings Acquired by the Fine Arts Museum in Seville 25/01/2012
The Museum of Fine Arts in Seville has made some beautiful additions to its already rich collections. The first, acquired by the Spanish Ministry of Culture, illustrates the Rest during the Flight into Egypt ; produced at the end of the 17th or (...)
A Bouchardon Bust Pre-Empted by the Louvre 13/06/2012
The Louvre pre-empted a Bouchardon bust during the Aguttes auction at the Hôtel Drouot yesterday. Estimated at 3.5 to 4 million euros, this portrait of Charles-Frédéric de la Tour du Pin, Marquis du Gouvernet, which had remained in the family (...)
A Drawing by Baron Gérard for the Metropolitan 20/09/2012
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has recently acquired a drawing by Baron Gérard, Daphnis Running after Chloé, an illustration project which was never used for The Pastoral Loves of Daphnis and Chloé, from the Terrades Gallery in Paris. This (...)
Acquisition of a Lima Painting by the Brooklyn Museum 30/07/2012
The profits from the sale of Vereshchagin’s Crucifixion have enabled the Brooklyn Museum to acquire last 21 June a new painting by an artist from the Lima school produced in the late 18th century, corresponding to the American colonial period. (...)
Two Medieval Sconces Acquired by the Metropolitan Museum 15/03/2012
The Metropolitan Museum recently purchased two copper sconces representing the Evangelists Mark and Luke from the Parisian gallery, Brimo de Laroussilhe. The identification is indicated by the inscription visible on the tablets : Christum de (...)
Two Studies by Papety for the Musée Vivenel 23/11/2012
"There are, in the cool air of the garden, / Lovers sitting on the soft grass, / Negligently dressed with satin jackets, / Chatting of love, dancing or playing the viol..." The Dream of Happiness which Dominique Papety, a student of Léon Cogniet (...)
A Drawing by Piero del Pollaiuolo Acquired by the Getty Museum 31/01/2012
The Getty Museum has just announced the acquisition of a drawing attributed to Piero del Pollaiuolo which is a portrait of a young man dating from around 1470. Purchased at auction at Sotheby’s New York on 25 January, it was estimated at (...)
A Portrait by Mengs Acquired by the San Diego Art Museum 09/12/2011
The San Diego Museum has just disclosed a new acquisition : a painting by Anton Raphaël Mengs representing a bust portrait of the Infante Don Luis, known also as Luis Antonio de Borbón (1727-1785) in court dress, wearing the medals of the orders (...)
Two International Gothic Altarpieces Acquired by the Museu Nacional d’Art in Catalonia 29/11/2011
Lest we might have forgotten, International Gothic was also a Catalonian style, explaining perhaps the reason for the recent acquisitions by the Museu Nacional d’Art in Catalonia. This establishment has succeeded in reuniting the altarpiece of (...)
Two Works Pre-Empted at Sotheby’s by the Louvre and Angers 16/11/2012
During the auction "Collection d’un érudit parisien" at Sotheby’s Paris on 9 November, the Musée du Louvre pre-empted a Bourbonnais drawing produced around 1515, Narcissus Looking at Himself in the Fountain of Love, Spied on by Echo, sold for (...)
