A look ‘beneath’ Titian’s canvases reveals the tweaks and changes he made as he worked over four hundred years ago. Find out more with Restorer Jill Dunkerton.
Category Archives: History
Art: “An Introduction To Young Rembrandt” (Ashmolean Museum)
The Ashmolean’s 2020 Young Rembrandt exhibition is currently closed, but you can still visit virtually. Watch this introduction from exhibition curator An Van Camp, and explore the exhibition section by section at ashmolean.org
The Young Rembrandt exhibition charts the astonishing transformation of the Dutch master Rembrandt. Spanning the years 1624 to 1634, it traces how a young and unremarkable artist from Leiden became the superstar of 17th-century Amsterdam and one of the greatest artists of all time.
Art Books: “Velázquez – The Complete Works”
Manet called him “the greatest painter of all.” Picasso was so inspired by his masterpiece Las Meninas that he painted 44 variations of it. Francis Bacon painted a study of his portrait of Pope Innocent X. Monet and Renoir, Corot and Courbet, Degas and Dalí…for so many champions of art history, the ultimate soundboard was—and remains—Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660).
This updated catalog raisonné brings together Velázquez’s complete works, jaw-droppingly reproduced in extra-large format, with a selection of enlarged details and brand new photography of recently restored paintings, achieved through the joint initiative of TASCHEN and Wildenstein. The book’s dazzling images are accompanied by insightful commentary from José López-Rey on Velázquez’s interest in human life and his equal attention to all subjects, from an old woman frying eggs to a pope or king, as well as his commitment to color and light, which would influence the Impressionists over two centuries later.
Art History: “Cocktails With A Curator – Van Dyck” (The Frick Collection)
In this episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, tells us the story of Sir John Suckling, the subject of Anthony van Dyck’s full-length portrait in The Frick Collection. Xavier has appropriately paired his story of art and literature with an English cocktail called Pink Gin.
Art History: “Was Vincent Van Gogh Lonely?” (Video)
In Van Gogh Questions, our researcher Bregje Gerritse answers the most frequently asked questions about Vincent van Gogh.
Art & Landscape: Gardens & Grounds Of The Natural History Museum, London”
The Museum’s gardens were originally set aside for future expansion of the building, but when money ran out they became an outside space for the public. They haven’t just been for show – over the years they’ve been a burial ground for whales, they’ve hosted a secret war bunker, and they’ve been converted to a farm complete with eight Sussex pigs.
The Natural History Museum in London is home to over 80 million specimens, including meteorites, dinosaur bones and a giant squid.
Art History: “Travels With A Curator – Ca’ d’Oro Museum In Venice” (Video)
In the first episode of “Travels with a Curator,” Xavier F. Salomon, Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, transports us to Venice. He introduces us to the Ca’ d’Oro, a house museum which was lovingly restored around the same time that the Frick mansion was built in New York City.
The Art Of The Curator : “A Day In The Countryside” (National Gallery Video)
Lucy Chiswell, the Curatorial Fellow for Paintings 1600-1800, explores a day in the countryside through paintings by Rubens, Constable and Corot.
Paintings mentioned
0:50 Peter Paul Rubens ‘An Autumn Landscape with a View of Het Steen in the Early Morning’ 🎨 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/pa…
Find out more about Rubens the artist 🖌️ https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/ar…
4:19 John Constable, ‘The Hay Wain’ 🎨 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/pa…
Find out more about Constable the artist 🖌️ https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/ar…
8:03 Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ‘The Four Times of Day: Night’ 🎨 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/pa…
See more: the four times of day (Morning, Noon, Evening, and Night) 🎨 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/pa…
Art Insider: “Monet’s Groundbreaking ‘Poplar’ Series” (PhilaMuseum)
In the summer of 1891, Claude Monet began to paint a row of poplar trees that lined the river Epte near his house at Giverny. The trees were auctioned off for timber shortly thereafter, but Monet made a deal with the purchaser to delay cutting them so he could continue to paint the trees through the autumn. Using a shallow rowboat that had slots in the bottom capable of holding several canvases at once, Monet painted twenty-four pictures of the poplars from his floating studio.
The resulting pictures reflect the view at different seasons and times of day and were known as the “Poplar Series” when they were exhibited in February 1892.
Paleontology: “The Battle Over Dinosaur Fossil Hunting” (WSJ Video)
Should anyone be able to dig up and sell dinosaur fossils? It’s a question that’s increasingly being asked as the commercial fossil market booms. WSJ met with fossil hunters and scientists to learn more about this niche market and the big bucks at stake.
Boomers Daily 