Previous Posts: September 2011
View from the Artist no.3
September 2 2011
Time for another go I think. This one's a bit easier...
It's just for fun, but laudatory congratulations to the first correct answer.
That stolen 'Rubens' in Greece?
September 2 2011
Further to the story below, a reader has sent me an image of what he says is the painting recovered in Greece. He says it is a copy. If true, it means the villains were a bit dense...
Update: The villains were in fact spectacularly dense - for they originally stole two paintings - one of which was an undoubted Rubens. But they dropped it on the way out.
Rant: Paris v London
September 2 2011
Picture: BG
Above is a photo taken outside the National Gallery, London, yesterday. To the right, a not very talented busker is singing the same Cat Stevens song repeatedly, with an amplifier. In front of him a couple of drunks are leering at passersby. Behind, a variety of 'acts' try to entertain the tourists (one is a man dressed as Sherlock Holmes on stilts). To the left a police van patrols slowly up and down. Out of shot are the litter-strewn grass banks in front of the gallery (which at night become home to more drunks).
It seems to me that the chaos in front of the Gallery diminishes its calming presence in London. The building and its contents often feel cowed by the loud 'events' and concerts which take place in Trafalgar Square almost every other day.
Or am I being a killjoy? Having just returned from Paris, I'm struck by how well its museums and cultural attractions are presented. You'd never see the above in front of the Louvre. When Boris Johnson first ran to be Mayor of London, I was asked to advise him on cultural policy. My one suggestion was that he should make London's cultural areas nicer places to be. London's theatreland, for example, is not a pleasant place to go in the evening. I know the National Gallery have also tried to do something about the noise in Trafalgar Squre. But it seems Boris isn't interested.
LA Police stumped by stolen 'Rembrandt'
September 2 2011
Police in Los Angeles are refusing to hand back a stolen 'Rembrandt' drawing - because they cannot determine whether it is by Rembrandt or not. 'The Judgment' was stolen from the Ritz-Carlton, but then found in a church two days later. More details here.
Stolen Rubens recovered in Athens sting
September 2 2011
Picture: RKD
Police in Athens say they have recovered a lost Rubens. The picture was seized as villains tried to sell it to undercover police for EUR1m.
The police aren't saying what the picture is, officially. But press reports have linked it to a sketch of a Boar Hunt stolen from the Ghent Museum of Fine Arts in 2001. The museum has refused to comment.
The only relevant image I can find is the above sketch, of a boar hunt, listed in the RKD as being at Ghent. But in the RKD database it is catalogued as 'After Rubens' - so it may not be that picture.
If the villains had been a little sharper, they could have 'stolen' a Rubens Boar Hunt scene quite legitimately, just a few years ago. In 2005, The Calydonian Boar Hunt (1611/12) by Rubens was sold at auction in Paris as 'Follower of Rubens', with an estimate of just EUR10,000. It now belongs to the Getty Museum.
More details when I get them...
History of Art books out this week
September 1 2011
I hope to make this a regular feature. Out this week are:
- The Louvre: All the Paintings, by Vincent Pomarede
- Bernini: His life and his Rome, by Franco Mormando
- Miraculous Bouquets: Flower and Fruit Paintings by Jan Van Huysum, by Anne T. Woollett
- Pieter Bruegel, by Larry Silver
- The Spanish Manner: Drawings from Ribera to Goya, by Jonathan Brown
- Johan Zoffany RA: Society Observed, by Martin Postle
- Artemisia Gentileschi: A Woman's History, Passion of an Artist, by Roberto Contini
- Gauguin and Polynesia, by Suzanne Greub
- Michelangelo: The Achievement of Fame, 1474-1534, by Michael Hirst
- Gabriel Metsi: Life and Work, Catalogue Raisonne, by Adriaan Waiboer
- Richard Parkes Bonnington: The Complete Drawings, by Patrick Noon
- Facing Beauty: Painted Women and Cosmetic Art, by Aileen Ribeiro
- Fragonard's Prgress of Love at the Frick Collection, by Colin Bailey
Apologies for the lack of links; if you want to buy, just cut & paste to Google the titles. If I've missed out yours, let me know!
German fake trial begins
September 1 2011
Picture: morgenweb.de
The trial of a forgery gang whose works fooled major dealers and auction houses such as Lempertz and Christie's has begun in Germany. You can see some of their fakes here, including the truly awful 'Van Dongen', above. How did they ever succeed?
Update: A brief video report here.
New works by Leonard Foujita
September 1 2011
Picture: Pola Museum of Art, Japan
A cache of newly discovered works by Leonard Foujita, the celebrated 20th Century Japanese artist, will go on display this month at the Pola Museum in Hakone, Japan. More here.
Van Gogh goes to the Rockies
September 1 2011
Picture: Van Gogh Museum
The Denver Art Museum has announced a new Van Gogh exhibition, 'Becoming Van Gogh', to be held from October 2012-January 2013. More here.
Another Bolton deaccessioning sale falters?
September 1 2011
Picture: Bonhams
Last night, another of Bolton Council's 35 deaccessioned paintings went up for sale at Bonhams in Edinburgh. Sea Gulls and Sapphire Seas by Robert Gemmell Hutchison was estimated at £120-£180,000 - but sold for £120,000 including buyer's premium. This means that the bidding fell some way short of the lower estimate. The same thing happened with Bolton's Somnambulist by Millais earlier in the summer, also at Bonhams.
Was the estimate too high? Was it the right sale? An August general sale in Scotland is perhaps not the best time for a museum to be selling a highly prized picture. It seems quite a few pictures failed to sell. Still, the price was the second highest achieved at auction for a work by the artist.
