“Lost” painting, the Ionian Dance by Sir Edward John Poynter, rediscovered after 100 years in hiding

LONDON.- The Ionian Dance by Sir Edward John Poynter, director of the National Gallery and President of the Royal Academy of Arts, will be offered for sale on 10th July at Bonhams’ 19th Century Paintings sale, estimated at £300,000-£400,000. In wonderful condition and contained within the original tabernacle frame, the painting has been rediscovered after almost 100 years out of the spotlight. Last seen on the market in 1915, the painting is one of the most important works by Sir Edward Poynter. [...]

Research uncovers new information about Spanish Baroque sculpture acquired by Meadows Museum

DALLAS, TX.- The Meadows Museum has acquired the first terracotta sculpture attributed to Spanish Baroque master Juan Alonso Villabrille y Ron. In-depth research conducted by museum staff members sheds new light on the identity of the bust-length sculpture’s subject and its historical significance. When the sculpture was initially offered to the Museum it was believed to depict St. Jerome, Doctor of the Church. Meadows curators’ research, however, determined that the subject is in fact St. Paul the Hermit. Villabrille y Ron is [...]

New documentary reveals story of WWII unit that duped Hitler’s army – with rubber tanks

NEW YORK, NY.- War, deception and art come together in Rick Beyer’s new documentary The Ghost Army, the astonishing true story of American G.I.s — many of whom would go on to have illustrious careers in art, design and fashion — who tricked the enemy with rubber tanks, sound effects, and carefully crafted illusions during the Second World War. A remarkable story of a top-secret mission that was at once absurd, deadly and amazingly effective, The Ghost Army premieres on Tuesday, May [...]

Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven announces unknown painting by El Lissitzky discovered

EINDHOVEN.- An up-to-now unknown Proun painting by the Russian artist El Lissitzky (1890 – 1941) will be exhibited in the Lissitzky – Kabakov, Utopia and Reality exhibition from Tuesday 9 April. The painting dates from the beginning of Lissitzky’s period in Vitebsk, circa 1919, and is entitled Proun Vrashchenia. Charles Esche, the director of the Van Abbemuseum, is very pleased with this exceptional loan: “The Van Abbemuseum has the largest Lissitzky collection outside Russia and we actively exhibit it and develop new [...]

Rembrandt self-portrait hanging in a British stately home confirmed in Britain

LONDON (AFP).- A painting hanging in a British stately home has been confirmed as a self-portrait by Rembrandt worth tens of millions of dollars, the National Trust heritage body announced on Friday. The picture, which has been at Buckland Abbey in Devon, southwest England, since it was donated to the trust in 2010, was thought for decades to be a portrait by one of the Dutch Master’s pupils. But the world’s leading Rembrandt expert has now reattributed it to the 17th-century master [...]

An exciting discovery at the Bowes Museum: Painting revealed as authentic work by van Dyck

COUNTY DURHAM.- A work of art from The Bowes Museum’s collection has been revealed on national television as an authentic painting by the artist Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), a 17th century Flemish Baroque artist who was the leading court painter of his day. The story behind Portrait of Olive Boteler Porter, purchased by The Bowes Museum’s founders, John & Joséphine Bowes in 1866, was broadcast on the flagship BBC2 programme, the Culture Show, on Saturday (9th March). The painting – an oil [...]

The Museo del Prado is presenting one of the most important new discoveries of early French painting

MADRID.- The Museo del Prado is offering visitors the chance to see the previously unknown panel painting of The Agony in the Garden with the Donor Louis I d’Orléans (1405-1407/8), on display in Room 58A of the Villanueva Building. This is one of the most important discoveries in many years within the field of Early French Painting. Acquired by the Museum’s Royal Board of Trustees in 2012, the painting enriches the Prado’s collection of 15th-century painting due to the fact that very [...]

Board member of Philadelphia Museum of Art connects medical research & art authentication

PHILADELPHIA, PA.- As an avid collector of contemporary art, I very much depend on the veracity and truthfulness of the artwork I purchase. It is important to have trust in the art dealer, and that the dealer is transparent about the provenance. And, as a medical professional as well, much of the same resonates in the relationship between a patient and a physician. There are strong parallels between the models and procedures followed in diagnostic medical research and art authentication. In [...]

Mona Lisa Foundation says new results confirm ‘earlier’ Mona Lisa by Leonardo

ZURICH.- ”The results of these further tests are very convincing. They confirm our conclusion that this painting is indeed Leonardo’s ‘Earlier Version’ of his Mona Lisa”, says Dr. Markus Frey, President of The Mona Lisa Foundation. Alfonso Rubino, a specialist in the geometry of Leonardo, has recently presented his latest findings which show that Leonardo worked the geometry found in his design of the Vitruvian Man (1487) into his paintings. According to Rubino, the ‘Earlier Mona Lisa’ portrait embodies the intermediate [...]

Experts identify new Mozart portrait

VIENNA (AP).- A round-faced young man with a thick head of hair depicted on a tiny 18th century portrait that had the experts puzzled for centuries now has a name — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Researchers at Salzburg’s Mozarteum museum announced Friday that they have definitely identified the person in the picture as the musical genius. And it’s not any likeness either. They say that of 14 known portraits, it is one of only a few showing him gazing directly at the [...]

Paintings hidden beneath Tudor portraits revealed through new National Portrait Gallery research

LONDON.- The National Portrait Gallery, London has announced today (Thursday 3 January 2013) that is has discovered hidden paintings beneath Tudor portraits in the Collection including its portraits of Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset and Sir Francis Walsingham. The discoveries are displayed as part of Hidden: Unseen Paintings Beneath Tudor Portraits in the recently remodelled Room 3. Recent analysis undertaken as part of the Making Art in Tudor Britain project has used scientific techniques to analyse the portraits in the [...]

Zurich misplaces more than 5,000 works of art; expected to find most of the missing artwork

GENEVA (AFP).- Switzerland’s largest city Zurich acknowledged Monday it had lost trace of 5,176 works of art, including an original painting by Swiss-born architect Le Corbusier. The city had carried out its first full inventory of its vast collection of 35,000 pieces in nearly a century, only to discover that nearly 15 percent were missing, including nearly 1,400 original works, it said in a statement. It stressed though that it expected to find most of the missing artwork. “The collection moves [...]

Art’s perfect theft: the ‘Ghent Altarpiece’, Gothic masterpiece hasn’t been seen since 1934

GHENT (AP).- The main suspect in the legendary art heist is said to have whispered with his dying breath: “Only I know where the ‘Adoration’ is…” More than seven decades later, the whereabouts of a panel belonging to one of Western art’s defining works, the “Adoration of the Mystic Lamb,” also known as the “Ghent Altarpiece,” remains a mystery. If the stunning heist of Picasso, Monet and Matisse paintings in Rotterdam, Netherlands, last month focused attention on the murky world of [...]

Original Rubens “Mary Magdalene in mourning with her sister Martha” found in museum

MOSCOW (AFP).- Russian art experts have uncovered what is believed to be an original Rubens painting in a small-town museum in the Urals mountains region, its director said Friday. The painting called “Mary Magdalene in mourning with her sister Martha” was long assumed to be a copy, but restoration revealed it to be “undoubtedly” an original by the 17th century Flemish painter, museum director Valery Karpov told AFP. It was unveiled Thursday in the museum in the small town of Irbit [...]

Earliest known copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa found at Spain’s Prado Museum

MADRID (AP).- A “Mona Lisa” copy owned by Spain’s Prado Museum was almost certainly painted by one of Leonardo da Vinci’s apprentices alongside the master himself as he did the original, museum officials said Wednesday. The stunning find of what the Prado now says is probably the earliest known copy of La Gioconda will give art lovers and experts an idea of what the Mona Lisa looked like back in the 16th century, said Gabriele Finaldi, the museum’s deputy director collections. [...]