Berlusconi Art Collection Deemed Worthless
The late former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has a complicated legacy. Even after his death this past June, he continues complicating things, mainly through his large estate. Berlusconi was worth approximately €6 billion at his death, made primarily in … More…
“Unlocated”: Rodin Sculpture Reported Lost
In another incident of a major British museum messing up, the Glasgow Museums have recently admitted that it has misplaced its plaster copy of one of the most famous works by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. Glasgow Life, which oversees … More…
Upside-Down Anniversary
Last November, the State Collection of North Rhine-Westphalia in the German city of Düsseldorf received attention after it came to light that a work by the Dutch modernist Piet Mondrian had been hanging in their galleries upside-down for several decades. … More…
Christie’s London Sam Josefowitz Collection
On Friday, October 13th, Christie’s London hosted a sale featuring selections from the Sam Josefowitz collection. Sam Josefowitz was a Lithuanian immigrant to the United States who, along with his brother David, founded the Concert Hall Society, a mail-order club … More…
When Will This Stop? Probably Never!
Over the years, we’ve written numerous posts addressing the persisting issue of auction rooms and dealers selling fake artworks. Unfortunately, this problem shows no signs of abating. Almost every historical artist whose works we buy and sell has had inauthentic … More…
On-Again-Off-Again: Reattributing The Princeton Rubens
Humans are far from perfect, so the decisions we sometimes make aren’t as set in stone as we think. And the Princeton University Art Museum found this out recently. Its curators attributed a small oil-on-panel work to the Flemish Old … More…
Who Wants Theatre Tickets To A Show That Closed In 1865?
Who wants theatre tickets to a show that closed in 1865? At a recent auction, an anonymous buyer made a remarkable acquisition by securing a pair of tickets for the April 14, 1865 performance of ‘My American Cousin’ at Ford’s … More…
Ukrainian Soldiers Recreate Repin
The arts have assumed a prominent role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. All over the world, the conflict has caused both individuals and institutions to recognize and help remedy some of the effects of Russian cultural hegemony over Eastern … More…
Pokémon Meets Post-Impressionism At The Van Gogh Museum
As part of its fiftieth anniversary, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is teaming up with Pokémon to stage a new series of exhibits. This partnership will bring the creatures from the popular Japanese video game franchise into the vibrant … More…
Munich Museum Thief Sentenced
A German court has sentenced a former museum employee for stealing paintings and then replacing them with forgeries. German privacy laws protect the man’s identity, but the former museum technician was convicted of illegally selling cultural property, for which he … More…
Manet/Degas: The Met’s Look at Modern Masters
On Sunday, September 24th, the Manet/Degas exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York opened to the public. I arrived twelve minutes after the museum opened, and already there was a line out the door extending nearly to 84th Street. … More…
Another Divisive Raphael Attribution
It seems like everyone’s claiming they have an original Raphael these days. With the ongoing debates over the De Brécy Tondo coming back into the news recently, another group of researchers claimed that a Mary Magdalene portrait currently in a … More…
Bonhams London 19th Century
On Wednesday, September 27th, Bonhams’ location on New Bond Street in London hosted one of its 19th Century and British Impressionist sales, featuring one hundred nine lots by artists like Edward Seago, Archibald Thorburn, and Edward Lear, among many others. … More…
Caravaggio: Master Of Darkness
Earlier in the year, I wrote a piece on the British landscape painter J.M.W. Turner and his impact on modern art. Turner was known as a technical innovator, applying watercolor techniques to the medium of oil painting, achieving colors and … More…
Phillips London Evening & Day Editions
Starting on Thursday, September 21st, and continuing into the next day, Phillips London held a two-day modern and contemporary art extravaganza for their Evening and Day Editions. The two-part sale featured two hundred seventy-nine lots by twentieth- and twenty-first-century masters … More…
Sotheby’s London Modern Discoveries
On Tuesday, October 17th, Sotheby’s London hosted its Modern Discoveries sale, featuring over a hundred works by mainly twentieth-century artists, including Lucien Pissarro, André Brasilier, and Salvador Dalí. The sale started rather poorly, with some portraits by Suzanne Fabry bringing … More…