Displaying items by tag: art historians

A drawing of hell previously attributed to a workshop assistant of Hieronymus Bosch has now been recognized as an authentic work by the master himself according to the experts conducting the Bosch Research and Conservation Project (BRCP) examining the artist's works worldwide.

The drawing has been hidden away in a private collection and will go on public display for the very first time as part of the major exhibition of works by Hieronymus Bosch at the Noordbrabants Museum in Den Bosch opening on February 13, 2016. Art historian and co-ordinator of the BRCP, Matthijs Ilsink, calls the drawing "an extraordinary find."

Where the newness of art comes from (when it comes) is something of a conundrum. The New Presentation of the Modern Collection at the Centre Pompidou Musée National d’Art Moderne (the second largest collection of modern and contemporary art in the world, after the Museum of Modern Art in New York) attempts to remedy this conundrum by pointing out and celebrating certain shrewd and ardent theorists, art critics, art historians, publishers, editors, poets, and thinkers who helped shape Modern art’s prevailing theories and tastes. As selected by Pompidou director Bernard Blistène, these influential figures of theoretical inquiry are shown putting forth key concepts that inspired and framed the artworks made between 1905 and 1965.

X-ray radiography is a standard technique widely used by art conservators, art historians, and curators to discover information about the manufacturing process and the condition of a painting. However, cradling—wooden slats attached to the back of many old paintings executed on wooden panels—creates lattice patterns that appear as grids or a series of stripes on an X-ray image. These patterns can obscure the image and distract art conservators from reading the image and analyzing paint layers.

“Cradle patterns in X-ray images has been an ages-old problem for conservators studying collections of Old Master paintings, and until Platypus, required many hours of tedious manipulation of the X-ray image in Photoshop or various other techniques, some of which could be damaging to the painting,” says William Brown, chief conservator at the NCMA.

Since the late 1960s, art historians have known that another painting lay underneath Rembrandt’s famous An Old Man in Military Costume (painted about 1630-1631), a compelling character study (tronie) of age and one of the J. Paul Getty Museum’s most beloved Dutch paintings. Until now, however, seeing that hidden image in detail has been frustratingly elusive.

A recent collaborative study conducted by experts from Los Angeles, Antwerp, and Delft, using two complementary, element-specific imaging techniques, has provided the most detailed representation of the underlying painting—an image of a young man wrapped in a cloak—to date.

Italy’s culture ministry has appointed 20 new directors to manage some of its top museums, including Florence’s Uffizi Gallery, with a number of foreigners brought in to revamp the way the country’s vast heritage is presented to the public.

Fourteen art historians, four archaeologists, one cultural manager and a museum specialist make up the new directors, who will be at the forefront of cultural reform in Italy. The majority have international backgrounds and half are women, although the culture minister, Dario Franceschini, said nationality and gender had no influence on Tuesday’s appointments.

The J. Paul Getty Museum has just acquired an important early sculpture by the Baroque master Bernini: a marble bust of Pope Paul V that many art historians did not believe still existed.

Originally commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V, in 1621, the sculpture was the 23-year-old artist’s first documented portrait of a pope — a subject that would define his career.

All known drawings from Francisco Goya’s private “Witches and Old Women” album are being presented in their original sequence, thanks to extensive technical research undertaken by conservators, curators and art historians. An exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery in London (until May 25) marks the first time that all 22 ink drawings, which include depictions of elderly women fighting, witches carrying babies on their backs and pensioners dancing, have been shown together since their sale and dispersal in Paris in 1877.  

In what the noted Goya scholar Juliet Wilson-Bareau calls a “feat in forensics”, conservators and curators spent months examining the sheets to determine the pictures’ correct order. Although Goya (1746-1828) meticulously numbered each sketch, eight lost their numbers over the years.

Thanks to a new film based on the critically acclaimed exhibition "Rembrandt: The Late Works" that debuted at the National Gallery, London, and opens at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, on February 12, U.S. audiences will be able to experience the exhibition on screen. For one night only, on February 24, the new film "Rembrandt from the National Gallery London and Rijksmuseum Amsterdam" will be presented at over 300 movie theaters across the country.The film gives viewers an opportunity to see the once-in-a-lifetime installations of Rembrandt's paintings, prints, and drawings in these two preeminent institutions and learn more about the revered Dutch artist from scholars, curators, and art historians. Given exclusive access by both museums, the film documents this extraordinary presentation and interweaves Rembrandt's life story with the preparations at both institutions.

Betsy Wieseman, Curator of Dutch and Flemish Paintings, National Gallery, and Jonathan Bikker, Curator of Research at the Rijksmuseum, among others, provide illuminating context regarding Rembrandt's life and times.

Leonardo da Vinci always impressed on his students the importance of depicting nature accurately. He wrote: “Painter, you should know that you cannot be good if you are not a master universal enough to imitate with your art every kind of natural form.” Indeed, his own paintings and drawings of the natural world are as scientifically accurate as they are beautiful.

Five centuries on, scientists and art historians are trying to work out to what extent Leonardo had a hand in both versions of "Virgin of the Rocks" – the one in the Louvre, in Paris, and the replica in the National Gallery in London.

As it approaches its 25th anniversary, the Wexner Center for the Arts is set to feature a variety of works this fall, as well as give visitors a peek into the personal gallery of Les Wexner and his wife, Abigail.

Beginning Sept. 21 and running through Dec. 31, the Wexner Center is set to celebrate its 25th anniversary with “Transfigurations: Modern Masters from the Wexner Family Collection,” displaying works from the art collection of the businessman and Ohio State alumnus.

Pieces to be on view include original masterworks of artists Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti and Jean Dubuffet, who are known virtuosos in their respective art movements, including cubism, expressionism, surrealism and modernism.