Home Archive by category "Art News" (Page 10)

Category: Art News

Catch-up post

These are mostly updates to previous topics, so I’m just going to lump them all together:

* Henry, Mind of a Tyrant by David Starkey will be running on Channel 4 in the UK on Mondays in April. You can listen to a stream of the soundtrack by Philip Sheppard on the composer’s website

* A new painting of the Mary Rose that was reconstructed with new information of examination of the wreck and artifacts.

* Rediscovering Henry VIII – An article by David Starkey from the Times Online about the upcoming British Library exhibition Henry VIII: Man and Monarch that he is the guest curator of.

* Two articles about information that may have been lost during the restoration of the Cobbe portrait (that may or may not be of Shakespeare): Forsooth, restorers botched up bald bard William Shakespeare from The Guardian and Restorers ‘wiped away’ precious details from rare William Shakespeare portraits from The Telegraph

Follow up on Shakespeare portrait

There were a lot of follow-up articles on this possible new portrait, but I thought this particular one (with some interesting comparison images) was good.

From The Times Online:

Shakespeare Unfound(ed)?
The real identity of the sitter for the new “Shakespeare” portrait

A claim by the eminent Shakespearean Stanley Wells that a Jacobean painting from the family collection of Mr Alec Cobbe, long held in Ireland, is a

Follow-up on Elizabeth of York portrait

Henry VIII’s mother unveiled

The link above from the BBC News site has a video of the unveiling.

As expected, it is a variation on the Elizabeth in the red dress portrait that we’re familiar with. In fact, I think I was correct in my guess that Hever bought this portrait. When they show a close-up of the portrait in the video you can see the painted round bottom, the same as the link above.

I’ll add additional links in this post as they come in.

Previous post on this topic

Creative Spaces – Museum social networking

I got an email about this yesterday (thanks again Tom!) and here is a BBC article about the new service (currently in beta testing):

A group of the UK’s most famous museums, including the British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum, is creating a collective website.

As well as finding information about exhibits, museum lovers can use the website to create communities based on their historic and creative interests.

The National Museums Online Learning project is to be launched this week.

The

Starkey to unveil portrait of Elizabeth of York at Hever Castle

From This is Kent:

TELEVISION presenter David Starkey is set to unveil a rare royal portrait in Hever in March.

The Tudor historian will unveil the 16th century portrait of Henry VIII’s mother Elizabeth of York, which will mark the start of Hever Castle’s celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the famous monarch’s accession to the throne on March 13.

A spokesman for Hever Castle said: “The portrait will form part of the Henry VIII: The Pampered Prince exhibition, which will provide an insight into a mother who spoiled and doted on her son, which had a great affect in shaping Henry VIII, famous for his pursuit of fame, indulgence and women.” Visitors will also see a representation of the complete collection of portraits of the six wives of King Henry VIII.

Hever Castle re-opens on March 1 and is open Wednesdays to Sundays.

Source page

Official Site of Hever Castle

Scotland’s Images online

From the BBC:

Images from Scotland’s national collections are available online for the first time.

The photographs, many of which are previously unpublished, can now be downloaded for licensed use.

The images on www.scotlandsimages.com are from the National Archives of Scotland and other collections.

Culture Minister Linda Fabiani said: “I’m delighted that our unique National Collections which capture so much of our nation’s story, are now available.”

She added: “The new website features images ranging from people, places and objects, to maps, plans, drawings and iconic documents offering a remarkable illustration of the life, history and culture of Scotland and the wider world.”

Full article

Scotland’s Images website

16th century wood carvings from Stirling Castle studied

From The BBC:

Researchers are working to uncover the mysteries of 33 wood carved medallions which would have decorated the Royal Palace at Stirling Castle.

Historic Scotland is trying to find out why the works, known as the Stirling Heads and carved between 1530 and 1544, were created and whom they depict.

The carvings are thought to feature monarchs such as James V and England’s Henry VIII.

The research is part of

Portrait of Mary Neville and Son Purchased by NPG

If I remember correctly, this portrait had been on loan to the gallery from the private owner for sometime, but now the gallery permanently owns it.

From the BBC:

Lady Dacre, and her son, Gregory Baron Dacre, by Hans Eworth, is described as “one of the finest works to be painted in Britain in the mid-16th century”.

The gallery paid just under

Portrait of Lucrezia Borgia identified

From The BBC:

A mysterious Renaissance portrait has been identified as a painting of infamous Italian femme fatale Lucrezia Borgia by artist Dosso Dossi.

Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria said it could be the only surviving painted portrait of Lucrezia.
…
The painting will go on public display identified as Dossi’s Lucrezia Borgia later this week, following years of painstaking research, the gallery said.
…
“It has been very exciting to unlock the secrets of this beautiful and enigmatic painting, which now has unique standing in view of the fame of its sitter and the strength of the artist,” said Mr Villis.

“Generations of art historians have attempted to identify portraits of Lucrezia Borgia, but this appears to be the only one which contains direct personal references to this intriguing historical figure.

Full article (with image)

Lucrezia Borgia is yet another one of those interesting Tudor-period contemporaries that I need to read more about. Tip of the French hood to Kathy for the link!

Portrait of Elizabeth I from early in her reign re-discovered

Makes me wonder what other treasures are still waiting to be found in these country houses!

From The Times Online:

A portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, completed just months after she came to the throne, has been found in a dusty and dirty condition in a country house in East Sussex.

Elizabeth became queen 450 years ago next month. The picture shows her as a simply dressed woman in her mid-twenties with a pale face. It is a far cry from later portraits where she is depicted in full regalia after defeating the Spanish Armada.

Its discovery is being hailed by historians because only two other portraits of Elizabeth in the first few years of her reign are known to exist. There are many from later in her reign, including 10 in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Even more tantalising is that x-rays of the painting have revealed another, earlier picture of the queen beneath.

Full article (with photo of the portrait and the x-ray)

Renaissance Faces exhibit at the National Gallery in London

From Metro.co.uk

If portraits capture not just appearance but the soul then what are we to make of the cherubically grinning, charmingly animated features of a young Henry VIII? Guido Mazzoni’s Laughing Boy is believed to be a bust of the chubby-faced prince – and if the portrait’s soul-penetrating properties are to be believed, moral corruption seems a long way off.

Full article (short, but I chose this one because it has a nice photo of the bust mentioned above)

National Gallery website

More on the Tudor collar auction

I originally blogged about this item back in August, although the original auction date and estimated price have changed.

From The BBC:

The only known surviving chain of office from the time of Henry VIII is being put up for auction.

The king gave the gold Coleridge Collar to one of his closest advisers, Sir Edward Montagu, around 1546.

The chains showed allegiance to the monarch and the intricacy of the design and quality of the metal signified the status of the wearer.

It is expected to fetch

Tudor-era paneling returned to Raglan Castle

After being part of a cow shed for a while…

From the BBC:

Tudor wooden panelling, missing from a castle for more than 300 years, is to be returned to its home after once being part of a farmer’s cow shed.

It was among items taken from Monmouthshire’s Raglan Castle during the Civil War in the 17th Century.

But the large panel, once owned by a courtier of Henry VIII, was found after it was sold by a collector, who bought it from a farm for