Lundi 13 juillet 2020
Last update on 2/11/2016
Last update on 2/11/2016
The latest news in the History of Western Art from the Middle Age to the 1930's
No colour, just nuance ! Trompe l’œil and grisailles from Rubens to Toulouse-Lautrec 25/05/2008
Strangely enough, grisaille, the technique by which an artist works without colour, using only the resources of white and black, has been rarely studied. And yet the subject is fascinating, raising many questions about the very act of painting. (...)
The Dusseldorf School 22/11/2011
When German museums set up an exhibition, they usually do not do things halfway. After the sweeping retrospective on the Master of Naumburg which we discussed here, the current one on the Dusseldorf school, organized by the Kunstpalast which (...)
A strange exhibition on Henri Gaudier-Brzeska at the Musée national d’Art moderne 24/08/2009
Of the 23 sculptures presented at the Centre Pompidou in the exhibition of works by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska belonging to the collections of the Musée national d’Art modern, only five are authentic.
Restoration and Rediscovery of a Bartolomeo Manfredi in Le Mans 18/02/2014
The Musée Tessé in Le Mans holds a painting representing The Crowning of Thorns after a composition by Bartolomeo Manfredi, sent by the State in 1799, that is two years before the Chaptal decree which created fifteen museums in the provinces. It (...)
The Assemblée Nationale Rejects Including Art Works in the French Wealth Tax 21/10/2012
As expected since the government expressed its opposition and the Socialist Party its decision to vote it down, the amendment to article 9 of the 2013 Finance Law bill which provided for the inclusion of art works in the ISF or French wealth tax (...)
Roman Emperors versus Haute Couture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris 01/08/2012
We cannot help but regret the criticism leveled by Aurélie Filippeti - and recently repeated in fact - at the Wendel firm, a patron of the Centre Pompidou Metz. We say this because, to our knowledge, their funding is carried out in a perfectly (...)
A ter Brugghen and a Boulle cabinet join the Fitzwilliam Museum 10/11/2010
Despite the drastic budget reductions imposed on English museums, some are still able to make purchases. The question is : for how long ? In the meantime, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge has just enriched its collections with a major (...)
A Deshays and a Devéria for the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Quimper 31/01/2014
The Musée des Beaux-Arts in Quimper has just added a study by Jean Baptiste Deshays and a man’s portrait painted by Eugène Devéria to its collections. The first work is a grisaille in oil on paper glued to canvas, representing The Abduction of (...)
Reappearance of Antoine Callet’s morceau d’agrément 18/11/2007
At a sale in Antwerp on Monday, 12 November, at Bernaerts, a large painting
Vincent Pomarède Leaving the Département des Peintures at the Louvre 07/01/2014
Vincent Pomarède, Director of the Département des peintures at the Musée du Louvre since 2003 when he replaced Jean Pierre Cuzin, created an unexpected surprise yesterday, even in his own department, announcing that he was applying for a new (...)
Concrete question : how to mortgage the Hôtel de la Marine ? 24/10/2009
A meeting involving various ministries was held last 15 September with the purpose of determining the “Valorization of the Hôtel de la Marine”. In the minds of our political leaders, this monument built by Gabriel is now in fact only an asset to (...)
Philostrate : A Collaborative Site Devoted to Anonymous Works or Unknown Whereabouts 12/06/2012
A group of art historians on Facebook, under the name of Connoisseur, is now posting art works, inviting other members to identify the artists. This new game brings together many curators, academics, dealers or simply amateurs of various (...)
A Painting by Gagneraux and Drawings by Naigeon for Dijon 16/10/2012
A rather mediocre painter, François Devosge, born in Dijon, has gone down in history as the founder of the Ecole de Dessin in this city and the many talented students he trained there. Among these, (besides François Rude and Pierre-Paul Prud’hon) (...)
A painting is preempted in Bayeux for the Musee Delacroix 11/04/2008
On Monday, 24 March the Louvre preempted an oil on paper marouflé on canvas by Eugene Delacroix
A Gallé vase creates a controversy with the Hermitage 24/08/2009
The Orchidea Urn Phalaenopsis by Emile Gallé, one of a pair donated by the city of Paris to the Tsarina Alexandra Fjodorowna in 1896 and belonging to the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, has raised a heated (...)
Extension for applications to lease the Hôtel de la Marine 16/01/2011
Events are speeding up in the case of the Hôtel de la Marine. A few days ago, Le Figaro revealed that the Minister of Defense, Alain Juppé, would be “embarrassed” to have the government abandon this exceptional historical monument. On 13 January, (...)
The Exhibition "L’Héritage de van der Weyden" : the Opaqueness of the Musées Royaux 22/11/2013
We received the official press release from the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts today announcing the definitive closing of the exhibition "Les suiveurs de Roger van der Weyden". But the story behind this statement is not quite as clear as the (...)
A miniature by Hilliard purchased by the Amis du Louvre in London 10/12/2007
he Societé des Amis du Louvre has purchased on 20 November at Christie’s, London, a miniature by Nicholas Hilliard representing
Salon du Dessin 2012 31/03/2012
Endowed, as usual, with very beautiful sheets many of which in fact have not been viewed (at least in our case) often, the Salon du Dessin 2012 for once reflects a drawback : the number of galleries and drawings from the second half of the 20th (...)
Jean-Antoine Houdon. La sculpture sensible 22/06/2010
Although sculpture is not often taken into consideration by museums, alas, Houdon is an exception to the rule. The exhibition at the Musée Fabre in Montpellier is the third one highlighting the artist in the last few years. Versailles had (...)
Acquisitions by the Musée Georges de La Tour at the Jacques Thuillier Auction 05/04/2012
We had pointed it out at the same time as the acquisition of a Sébastien Bourdon painting by Montpellier at the Artcurial auction of the Thuillier collection : the Musée départemental Georges de La Tour in Vic-sur-Seille has added five more works (...)
A painting by François de Nomé acquired by the Musée de Metz 18/11/2007
Three years ago, the Musée de Metz had devoted an exhibition to the painters known under the generic name of « Monsu Desiderio », François de Nomé and Didier Barra.
Jean-Patrice Marandel has been a curator at the LACMA for almost 15 years now. He is especially active in his acquisitions policy which is particularly discerning, often favoring Old Masters, French and Italian from the XVIth to the XVIIIth (...)
Two Appointments for Heads of Department at the Louvre Submitted to the French Minister of Culture 18/06/2013
The directors of the departments at the Louvre are appointed by the French Minister of Culture based on proposals made by the President of the Museum. He has now submitted two names to Aurélie Filippetti to head the Département des Arts (...)
Two Paintings Acquired by the Musée de Fécamp 16/11/2012
The new Museum in Fécamp, located in a former cannery, was supposed to open in late 2011. At least, this is what we had announced in an article published on 7 June 2010. Since then, delays - as is often the case in this type of project - had (...)
The Church of St Jacques in Abbeville near Destruction 05/02/2013
Nicolas Dumont, the mayor of Abbeville, must be feeling proud of himself. His strategy of letting the matter fester indefinitely will soon be the undoing of the church of Saint Jacques. We had provided a lengthy description here of the (...)
The Amis du Musée in Morliax Worried about its Future 26/11/2013
Last summer we had pointed out the interesting exhibition at the Musée de Morlaix highlighting Louis Marie Baader, a welcome retrospective which focused on an artist who is well represented with several works in the museum, reflecting the (...)
Charles de Wailly’s panels restored 16/03/2008
Early last year, the Société du Salon du Dessin launched a fundraising drive to restore seven large decorative panels drawn in watercolors by Charles de Wailly.
Two Portraits by Cornelis Jonson van Ceulen Acquired by the Catharijneconvent in Utrecht 14/08/2012
Born in London of Flemish or Dutch parents (documentary sources vary on this point), no doubt trained in Holland before returning to settle in England around 1618, the portraitist Cornelis Jonson van Ceulen left the country in 1643 when he moved (...)
Versailles acquires a Savonnerie rug, a national treasure 16/09/2009
A year ago, we pointed out the fund raising appeal for the acquisition of a national treasure, the central section of a Savonnerie rug commissioned by Louis XV for the chapel at Versailles
A Sébastien Bourdon from the Jacques Thuillier Collection Acquired by Montpellier 29/03/2012
Of all the 17th century painted décors in Paris now disappeared, commissioned from Sébastien Bourdon in 1662 for the Hôtel de Bretonvilliers at the east end of the Ile Saint Louis, but destroyed along with the building housing it in 1840, this is (...)
Eric de Chassey, an art historian appointed to the Villa Medicis 07/09/2009
The Villa Medicis is not a favor to be handed out to friends not qualified for this distinction. Therefore, we can only rejoice at the appointment by the president of the French Republic and as suggested by the Minister of Culture, of Eric de (...)
The French Ministry of Culture Applies for Listing of the Halle in Fontainebleau 11/03/2013
The covered market in Fontainebleau, built during WWII, falls slightly outside The Art Tribune’s chronological field, which is why we had not discussed it earlier. But this affair sets an example and is worth retelling, especially since the (...)
The Musée Gustave Moreau posts a database for its drawings 24/05/2009
The new database, devoted to the drawings of the Musée Gustave Moreau, is remarkable as are the others already offered by the RMN. User friendly and highly commendable for its ergonomics, this is a veritable scholarly catalogue which also (...)
A Burne-Jones tapestry donated to the Musée d’Orsay 24/02/2009
The Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé auction has given rise to last minute negotiations.
The Opening of the Louvre-Lens 06/12/2012
In the December issue of The Art Newspaper, Vincent Pomarède, director of the Département des peintures at the Musée du Louvre, responded to our criticism of the Louvre Lens, notably the "Galerie du Temps" for which he is one of the curators, with (...)
A Pompeo Batoni Painting for Ottawa 19/03/2012
At the first Paris-Tableau Salon, the Galerie Canesso had presented a superb canvas by Pompeo Batoni, Vulcan in his Forge. The work immediately attracted the attention of Paul Lang, deputy director and chief curator for paintings at the Musée des (...)
Amaury Lefébure appointed Director of Malmaison 10/09/2008
It always helps to look on the bright side of things. Thus, the appointment of an administrator from the ENA (French National Administration School) which had been seriously considered by the Ministry of (...)
Acquisitions for the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Valenciennes 30/06/2010
Some museums, despite particularly low acquisition budgets, at times manage to make purchases or else receive donations, thus continuing to enrich their collections, albeit in a modest way. We have not yet mentioned (except perhaps on one (...)
The Fédération Française des Sociétés des Amis de Musées against the ban on taking pictures 22/04/2011
The Fédération Française des Sociétés d’Amis de Musées, which in fact represents most of the Friends of Museums associations voted unanimously during its annual meeting which took place in Aix-en Provence on 2 April, to approve the following motion (...)
Two Pastels by Vigée Le Brun Pre-empted by the Louvre 23/03/2014
The Département des Arts Graphiques at the Musée du Louvre this afternoon pre-empted two pastel portraits by Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun representing respectively Louis-Philippe d’Orléans and Madame de Montesson for 52,000€ (before charges) at (...)
The Wildenstein Gallery donates two paintings to the Musée d’Orsay 26/07/2009
The Musée d’Orsay has just benefited from a donation made by Wildenstein & Co., Inc. of two paintings, one by Jean-Fançois Raffaëlli, the other by Edmond Aman-Jean.
A Last Judgement by Nicolas Pickenoy acquired by the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Pau 15/10/2008
The Museum in Pau has just acquired a painting by Nicolas Eliasz, called Pickenoy, representing The Last Judgement
A Louis Anquetin painting joins the Van Gogh Museum 01/06/2010
At the forefront of modern pictorial trends, close to the art of Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh and Gauguin, Louis Anquetin underwent a conservative revolution towards 1894 returning to decorative historical painting influenced by the Old (...)
Sixteen drawings by Claude acquired by the Clark Institute 27/11/2007
The Clark Institute continues to affirm its stature as a major establishment in the United States thanks to some spectacular acquisitions.
Acquisitions by the Musée de la Révolution Française in Vizille : the 19th century 03/09/2010
The acquisitions policy at the Musée de la Révolution Française in Vizille pursues a dual objective : works executed during the revolutionary period and successive ones presenting notably the 19th century vision of the French Revolution. In the (...)
An Auction of Old Master Drawings in Paris 28/11/2011
On 30 November, the Hôtel Drouot, under the gavel of the Millon auction house, will be featuring the first of four or five public sales offering an important collection of old master drawings. The seller’s name has remained anonymous (Monsieur (...)
120 Drawings Acquired by Berlin and Augsborg 12/01/2012
The engravings room in Berlin and the Augsborg Museum have jointly acquired, thanks to funding from the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (Stiftung Preubischer Kulturbesitz), with the services of the Arnoldi-Livie Gallery in Munich, an (...)
Only a few Days left to See the Loutherbourg Exhibition in Strasbourg 07/02/2013
It sometimes happens, though a rare occurrence fortunately, that we visit exhibitions which arouse our enthusiasm but that we nevertheless, for reasons mostly related to an abundance of artistic events, do not present timely enough on The Art (...)
Ribera and Hubert Robert : Two Successful Fundraisers 13/01/2014
Two French museums recently succeeded in reaching their fundraising goals to acquire important works for their collections. The Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rennes which wanted to purchase an early work by Ribera thus raised the needed 300,000€ for (...)
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