Unknown Imagine an absurd situation where there’s a canvas measuring 144cm x 173cm whose author remains unknown, whose sale price also remains unknown, and whose buyer’s identity isn’t really known either. This mass of mysteries has been the subject of intense...
Endless speculation There’s been endless speculation in the media surrounding the nature and whereabouts of the Salvator Mundi, a heavily restored painting depicting Christ blessing the world, not because it is (or isn’t) by Leonardo but primarily...
A pyramid of artists The history of the Italian Renaissance resembles a virtuosic acrobatics show, in which each great master climbs onto the shoulders of his predecessor in a tower reaching up to the sky. This pyramid of artists is revealed almost in its entirety in...
Uncertainty for ever In the field of Old Masters art uncertainty reigns. The most distinguished specialists spend their time contradicting each other and new discoveries from the history of art flourish in publications. For in the distant past, more...
War Machine Tefaf in Maastricht, Holland, is a veritable war machine dedicated to the antiques trade. With its 279 participants and renowned for its excellent organization, it’s been running for 32 years and has recently spawned two sister fairs in New...
Vanished Leonardo After a little over a year in existence and with over a million visitors, the Louvre Abu Dhabi has shown itself to be a force to be reckoned with in the museum world. To do so it wasn’t necessary to acquire an overly restored Leonardo da Vinci...
Certain figures take their place in the art history pantheon because they’ve invented something new. These rare artists have looked at the world with unusual acuteness and have been bold enough to convey a new message through their art. Within this hall of fame...
The museums with the richest collections of paintings always stage the most beautiful temporary exhibitions of Old Masters art. This is, quite simply, because these collections constitute a great currency of exchange. But it’s also because they naturally attract the...
One woman has her breasts showing through her white, nearly transparent shirt as she hacks away with a sword amid great spurts of blood at a man who only moments earlier was perhaps her lover. The other’s neckline dips low to reveal a milky-white neck, her head tilted...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mAt6S_zdWY Imagine an artist who would become a legend within the first decade of his career. What would he do with the rest of his life? In the contemporary period, we could say that Damien Hirst (born in 1965), who was...
Those who take great delight in the treasures of art history and its curiosities know that there is only one fair in the world that displays such an array of offerings: the Tefaf in Maastricht. 280 galleries with works ranging from antiquity to contemporary art...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqtRGAW_yLQ In these times when extreme nationalism is sweeping the globe it is good to remember that the greatest art is always the fruit of multiple influences of disparate origins. In his “Introduction to the History of...