Fri - July 6, 2007

Sold for £18.5m, a Raphael portrait that once cost $325

By Emily Dugan

A rare portrait by Raphael that had not been seen by the public for more than 40 years sold for £18.5m at Christie's last night. It was the largest sum ever paid at auction for a work by the Renaissance painter.

The work, an oil portrait of the Florentine ruler Lorenzo de' Medici which has been described as "the most important Renaissance portrait to be offered at auction for a generation", had been predicted to fetch between £10m and £15m.

But its recent history has been far from illustrious. Sold to the American collector Ira Spanierman for just $325 in 1968, the painting ­ then in poor condition ­ was regarded with scepticism by many, who doubted that it was the work of the Italian master.

Three years later, art historians confirmed that the work was indeed by Raffaello Sanzio, popularly known as Raphael, leaving Mr Spanierman sitting on a potential gold mine.

Full article at independent.co.uk >>>

Posted at 12:51 PM    

Fri - May 25, 2007

The readiness to deconstruct is all

A.D. Nuttall, Shakespeare the Thinker, Yale University Press. 428 pp.

Colin McGinn, Shakespeare's Philosophy, HarperCollins. 230 pp.

Review by Carlin Romano

To be or not to be a philosopher did not concern Shakespeare, so far as we know. And we know very little.
Indeed, it might be said that the endless interpretations of scholars who claim Shakespeare meant this or that, or wrote from a familiar ideological position - "closet Catholic" keeps rising as a trendy view in recent bios - die many times before their deaths (savaged by rival scholars), while modest approaches taste of deconstruction but once, when the books in which they appear get pulped.

And there's the nub - the paradox of Shakespeare scholarship that continues nearly 400 years after his death.

On the one hand - a phrase Shakespeare may have invented, along with a higher percentage of English truisms than anyone else - the Bard endures as the supreme writer in the history of the English language and, to many, the most profound ever across all cultures.

When we refuse to "budge an inch," excoriate "rotten apples," or admonish slackers to "sink or swim," we speak in his voice. Although the arts sections of newspapers teem with products from self-anointed "artists" who will not survive their publicity budgets, Shakespeare after roughly four centuries still pleases general audiences, challenges intellectuals, and provokes academics. How can we not presume that such a stupendous orchestrator of character and insight operated with a coherent, multifaceted theory of human nature?

On the other hand, our ignorance of Shakespeare the man - he left no diaries or letters in his short life of some 52 years - and the clashing multiple versions of some of his texts, have always dovetailed with a contrary belief that his greatness arises precisely from utter openness to the varieties of human behavior, emotion and thought, his ability to render in concrete scenes and daring metaphors more non-reductionist nuances of the heart and mind than an army of writers centuries later.

Full review at philly.com >>>

Posted at 08:38 AM    

Mon - May 7, 2007

Liberated by Skepticism

Edward Muir, The Culture Wars of the Late Renaissance, Harvard, 175 pages

Review by FRANCIS X. ROCCA

Finding the roots of opera in the history of science is a task that would daunt even a polymath of Renaissance stature. Yet in "The Culture Wars of the Late Renaissance," Edward Muir plausibly explains how the skepticism taught by a professor at the University of Padua in the early 17th century fostered a musical revolution in neighboring Venice -- and much else besides.

Could art really imitate nature? Followers of Cesare Cremonini (1550-1631) did not think so, elaborating their master's philosophical skepticism into a "profound rhetorical skepticism" that "eroded confidence in artistic norms and rules." Cremonini's thinking, Mr. Muir shows, helped to free up the whole idea of what the arts might do. Composers and librettists, under the influence of Cremonini's disciples, felt themselves set loose from convention. They made a place for "pure voice . . . utterly disconnected from the text of the libretto, a practice that led to the musical, lyrical and emotional excesses so characteristic of early opera." Mr. Muir's exhibit A is Monteverdi, specifically "L'Incoronazione di Poppea" (a work that is still in the repertory today).

Full review at wsj.com >>>

Posted at 11:22 AM    

Thu - April 19, 2007

DüRER TO FRIEDRICH - GERMAN DRAWINGS FROM THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM OXFORD

By Neil Cooper

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is currently holding an exhibition of drawings that highlight the Museum’s small but prestigious collection of pieces by German artists from the 16th to 19th centuries.

Durer to Friedrich – German Drawings from the Ashmolean runs until May 20 2007 and consists of the collections of two different antiquarians.

Francis Douce bequeathed the earlier works, containing a number of works by Albrecht Durer, to Oxford University in 1834. The second group, dating from the 19th century, was given to the museum by Dr Grete Ring who came to England from Germany in the 1930s.

Full review at 24hourmuseum.org.uk >>>

Posted at 10:59 AM    

Thu - April 12, 2007

New Audio Guide Reveals True Meaning of Fra Angelico Frescoes at San Marco, in Florence, Italy

Fra Angelico’s magnificent 15th Century frescoes at San Marco monastery in Florence are among the greatest achievements in the history of art. Now visitors can tour this historic site guided by the scholarship of a highly-regarded art historian.

Fra Angelico at San Marco: Audio Guide to San Marco in Florence and its Remarkable Fresco Cycle is the audio adaptation of a popular book in the series The Great Fresco Cycles of the Renaissance, written by William Hood, Professor of Art History at Oberlin College, and a renowned Fra Angelico scholar.

This audio tour is for use by travelers as a guide when they’re actually at San Marco, looking at the frescoes and wanting to understand the artistic and historical context of what they’re seeing. “Audio is an efficient and entertaining way to absorb a lot of information,” says Jane McIntosh, producer and narrator of Jane’s Smart Art Guides. “It’s like taking your favorite art history professor on your trip with you.”

Press release at mmdnewswire.com >>>

Posted at 05:27 PM    

Mon - March 26, 2007

Lesson in Perspective

By Blake Gopnik

Here's what's not in doubt: In Renaissance Europe, women were basically the property of their fathers and husbands. They had almost no legal rights; they were not supposed to control property or sign contracts. They were the frequent victims of rape and vicious beatings. They had a range of career options: They could be wives, nuns or prostitutes.

But what's still at issue is the precise cultural effect of that oppression. "Italian Women Artists From Renaissance to Baroque," a gripping show staged at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in honor of its 20th anniversary, raises several crucial questions.

Do this show's 67 portraits, flower pictures, still lifes, holy scenes and classical narratives speak to us as special woman's work, or are they just more of what men made? Could a famous artist like Artemisia Gentileschi, by far the greatest talent in this show, benefit from being born a woman or only suffer for it?

Full article at washingtonpost.com >>>

Posted at 01:03 PM    

Thu - March 22, 2007

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Tue - March 6, 2007