Displaying items by tag: altarpiece

Though musician and cultural icon David Bowie kept his life as an art collector almost entirely a secret, the lesser-known side of his life will be revealed when hundreds of pieces from his personal collection are staged in an exhibition and auction entitled “Bowie/Collector” at Sotheby’s next month. The three-part sale on November 10 and 11 will encompass over 350 works, including a 'spin' painting Bowie created in collaboration with Damien Hirst, an altarpiece by Renaissance master Tintoretto, works by 20th Century British Masters, and more. These pieces have been published in a catalogue, and images are displayed online to give the public a sneak-peek.

With a record-breaking 6.4 million visits during 2014, the National Gallery remains committed to researching its collection and offering visitors a unique insight into the history and many stories that still lay undiscovered in its paintings. The exhibition 'Visions of Paradise: Botticini’s Palmieri Altarpiece' (on view from November 4th to February 16th 2016) is the culmination of three years of research on Francesco Botticini’s monumental altarpiece (228.6 x 377.2 cm) of the Assumption of the Virgin, completed in about 1477 for the funerary chapel of Matteo Palmieri (1406 – 1475) in the church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence.

A very large painting by Guercino has been stolen from San Vincenzo church in Modena, Italy, the Agence France-Presse reports. The 1639 painting measures more than 9 feet tall and 6 feet wide, and depicts Mary accompanied by John the Evangelist and Saint Gregory. According to Italian art critic Vittorio Sgarbi, it is worth between €5–6 million ($6.7–8 million). The work was last seen around mid-day on August 10, a member of the church told the AFP.

“It’s an altarpiece with a magnificently dressed Saint Gregory,” Sgarbi told the AFP, “a monumental work from the first phase of the artist’s mature period.”

Seven works by the renowned Italian painter Piero della Francesca (1411/13-1492) are currently on view at the Frick Collection in New York. Piero della Francesca in America is the first monographic exhibition in the United States to focus on Piero, one of the founding figures of the Italian Renaissance.

Among the seven works on view at the Frick are six panels from the Sant’Agostino altarpiece (1454-69), a work commissioned for the Church of St. Agostino in Piero’s native Borgo San Sepolcro. Soon after the altarpiece was completed, it was dismantled, removed from the church, and the panels dispersed. Eight panels survive to this day including the four belonging to the Frick, three more, which are housed in European museums, and another belonging to the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.

The Frick’s reunion of the six panels is the largest reassembly from Piero’s masterpiece ever to appear on display. The panels are accompanied by the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Four Angels (circa 1460-70), the only intact altarpiece by Piero in the United States. Acquired by Sterling Clark (1877-1956), the heir to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune and an avid art collector in 1913, the work is now part of the Sterling and Francine Clark Institute’s collection in Williamstown, MA.  

The exhibition, which is on view in the Frick’s oval room, is accompanied by a number of lectures, gallery talks, and seminars. Piero della Francesca in America will be on view through May 19, 2013.

The Museo del Prado, the main Spanish national art museum located in Madrid, received the largest private donation in decades on Tuesday, January 29, 2013. Prado officials announced that the museum was the recipient of 12 medieval and Renaissance works by Spanish artists.

Barcelona-based businessman and engineer Jose Luis Varez donated the collection to the institution during a ceremony, which counted the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy among its guests. Jose Pedro Perez Llorca, president of the Prado’s board of trustees, said, “These aren’t times of lavish state spending, so this donation is generous and tremendously timely.” Spain’s dire economic standing has led to severe spending cuts in an attempt to meet public deficit targets.    

The recently acquired paintings and sculptures include the central panel of an altarpiece from a church in northeastern Spain titled The Virgin Tobed (1359). The Catalan Italo-Gothic painting is believed to be by 14^th century artist Jaume Serra (died after 1405). The works will join the Prado’s exemplary collection, which includes paintings by Spanish masters such as El Greco (1541-1614), Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), and Francisco de Goya (1746-1828).

To thank Varez for his generous donation, the Prado will name a room in the museum in his honor.