The review for the Turner retrospective at the Met will be posted shortly.
A few news links and topics of interest for the weekend:
Artists Represent Most Powerful Emotion: Love at the National Gallery in London [Art Daily]
The National Gallery comes up with an innovative way to combine works from over 500 years, in a show that compares and contrasts the changing interpretations of this universal subject. Contributions from Old Masters include works by Raphael, Tiepolo, Vermeer, and Joseph Wright of Derby among others.
Why we must ‘save Rubens’ [Jonathan Jones. Guardian UK]
Retaining cultural treasures is always an ongoing topic in the UK. Every year brings about a new plea to the UK Lottery Fund to keep an Old Master work from being lost at auction. There seems to a particular strain on the fund these days. Sir John Soane’s museum in London had to turn elsewhere to receive funds (further information above, in the NEWS section). And recently, the Tate Britain has started a campaign called “Save the Rubens,” which is making a public plea for donations towards keeping a sketch by the artist-”The Apotheosis of James I and Other Studies,” (pictured above) from going onto the auction market. It would be a shame if this drawing is sold to a private collection and becomes inaccessible to the public. It really is a magnificent work- Rubens almost looks like he is beating Tiepolo at his own game. The adept handling of flowing drapery and upward looking perspective imbues the work with grandeur and movement. The conclusion to this saga shortly awaits-the deadline for fund raising is at the end of this month.
Collecting Collectors [Economist.com via Moreintelligentlife.com]
The Economist profiles James Stourton, chairman of Sotheby’s London, his extensive knowledge of “the pilot fish of taste,” and the shifts in collecting trends over the past few centuries.
A gem of an academic find. This site is recommended to the OM connoisseur, or anyone else who just likes being really smart. If you get giddy over the prospect of sounding esoteric at a dinner party explaining how Michelangelo hid his self portrait in “The Last Judgement,” consider some of the papers on here as required Sunday reading.
[...] In some cases, public pleas have been made- the UK Art Fund has been set up to save works, such as the recent case of Peter Paul Ruben’s drawing “Apotheosis of St. James I,” for which the Art Fund is seeking public donations in the range of 6 million to purchase the [...]
[...] the fate of Pieter Paul Ruben’s sketch "Apotheosis of James I", as covered by OMNP here came to an end this week, as the UK was able to retain what was described as a "unique [...]