The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd

Dramatic discoveries of previously unknown works by major sculptors are very rare. However, we publish here Maichol Clemente’s discovery of a hitherto undiscussed important work by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the genius of the Roman Baroque. His white marble ‘Andromeda and the sea monster’ (c.1616—17; private collection) was sculpted when Bernini was about eighteen or nineteen years old. It is a remarkable sculpture that demonstrates all the invention and bravura associated with his prodigious creations and represents a major addition to our understanding of his formative years, when he was emerging from the influence of his father, Pietro Bernini. It also has the additional fascination of being a work that was offered to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, First Minister of Louis XIV, and later formed part of the collection of the Prince of Soubise.   Earlier Italian sculpture also features prominently in the November issue. Paula Nuttall provides a richly nuanced study of Michelangelo’s ‘Bruges Madonna’ – considering its patronage, facture and critical fortunes. Meanwhile, Marco Scansani publishes for the first time a fragment from a terracotta sketch by Donatello, which probably dates from his period of work in Ferrara in 1450. We also touch on modern Italian sculpture and its wider reception, as Sharon Hecker considers a pioneering collector of Medardo Rosso’s works in Britain.   Leading this month’s book reviews, an impressive catalogue of silver in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, is assessed by Philippa Glanville, who notes that two early eighteenth-century wine coolers that now form part of the Louvre’s collection were re-discovered in a New York restaurant in the 1980s, where they were being used as champagne buckets.   Finally, Pierre Rosenberg writes about the new catalogue of French paintings in the National Gallery of Scotland; clearly with the recent Olympics in mind, he muses on which collections of such paintings around the world might receive medals and concludes that Edinburgh would score highly in such art-historical games. https://lnkd.in/e-CEMA-2

Van Gogh or not? It’s a simple question that requires a sophisticated answer. October’s Burlington Magazine features the latest research by the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, on how it assesses works that have been submitted to it for analysis. Are they by the painter or innocent copies or fakes intended to deceive? Teio Meedendorp, Louis van Tilborgh and Saskia van Oudheusden consider three examples which prompt different, nuanced conclusions.   Long familiarity with a subject can lead to profound insights in other ways. This is undoubtedly the case with the very important scholarly re-assessment Susie Nash brings to bear this month on the extraordinary late medieval masterwork, Claus Sluter’s so-called ‘Well of Moses’ (Dijon, 1395-1404). Close looking and reading of sources lead to the conclusion that Philip the Bold’s commission can be intimately connected with the crusades and seen as a highly personal memorial to the losses they entailed.   Later French royal commissions are scrutinised by Samantha Happé in her article on the jewelled miniatures used as diplomatic gifts during the reign of Louis XIV. The first probable owner in the 1670s of an especially fine example in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, is identified. The later history of the miniature is also of interest as the museum acquired it from the estate of Yves Saint Laurent.   In a particularly richly mixed Magazine we also publish James Cahill’s assessment of an Ed Ruscha exhibition in Los Angeles and Colin Thom’s review of the new survey of British architecture by Steven Brindle published by the Paul Mellon Centre. It is seen as a worthy successor to John Summerson’s magisterial survey of the subject, which was first published in 1953.   Finally, Alexander Collins reviews the André Charles Boulle exhibition in the grands appartements of the princes of Condé at the château de Chantilly, which is somewhat surprisingly the first exhibition in France to explore the outstanding ancien régime ébéniste’s work. https://lnkd.in/eQkhtAJR

We are delighted to announce the winner of the 2024 Burlington Contemporary Art Writing Prize.⁠ ⁠ This year’s Prize was judged by the scholar and author Julia Bryan-Wilson and the artist Trevor Paglen. The Prize was awarded to Grace Tomlinson, who chose to write about Rheim Alkadhi’s solo exhibition 'Templates for Liberation' at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (ICA). ⁠ ⁠ The judges were impressed by Grace’s examination of the show, which ‘immediately draws the reader into the work with careful attention to material properties and astute visual description. Using language that is clear without sacrificing complexity, the writer demonstrates respect for how Alkadhi's art engages with the collision of history and the present moment’. https://lnkd.in/efnAHKFM

New perspectives on familiar masterpieces and fascinating discoveries feature in the September issue of The Burlington Magazine, which has a strong Italian flavour.   Why did Leonardo da Vinci create his magnificent ‘Burlington House Cartoon’ (National Gallery, London)? Per Rumberg offers a persuasive proposal. And why did Parmigianino place a column so prominently in the background of his splendid ‘Madonna of the long neck’ (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)? Mary Vaccaro provides a compelling explanation.   We also publish previously unknown portraits by sixteenth-century women painters. Two by the Bolognese artist Lavinia Fontana dating from the early 1580s are in a Neapolitan private collection; they were discovered by Antonio Ernesto Denunzio and expand our understanding of the learned patrons for whom Fontana worked. Another portrait from the 1550s in the Museo d’arte della città di Ravenna by the family of the Cremonese artist Sofonisba Anguissola is discussed for the first time by Emanuele Lugli.   Exhibitions and openings covered in the September issue include the Federico Barocci show in Urbino and the Museo Internazionale del Tappeto Antico in Brescia. Meanwhile, Venetian art features strongly amid book reviews, where Tom Nichols considers Bonifacio de’Pitati’s paintings, Stéphane Loire assesses the extent of the frescos in the city’s palazzi, Dora Thornton discusses the international taste for Venetian cristallino and Deborah Howard writes on the Villa Barbaro.   Finally, moving away from such sunlit idylls, Sarah Whitfield praises Richard Dorment’s new investigative book on the very murky business of authenticating the works of Andy Warhol. https://lnkd.in/ez--bnHm

The splendour of 'ancien régime' court culture dominates research in this month’s issue. In 1696 the 1st Duke of Devonshire acquired two magnificent beds that had belonged to Mary II, one of which was made by Louis XIV’s upholsterer, Simon Delobel; Lucy Wood and Olivia Fryman publish their analysis of the documents and fragments of rich hangings that allow us to study this important, although now dismantled, state furniture.⁠  ⁠ In 1715, the last year of Louis XIV’s life, he sent a magnificent gift of Spanish stallions and embroidered trappings, along with flintlock pistols, to Augustus the Strong of Saxony-Poland. Stefano Rinaldi’s article considers the political context for this munificence and indentifies all the craftsmen who contributed.⁠  ⁠ Rosalind Savill’s latest research is a salutary reminder that scholars should be open to revising their opinions. Savill revisits two porcelain trays she previously dismissed as fakes. The trays are set into tables in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; now confirmed as Sèvres, they are shown to feature very rare and intimate representations of the family of the Marquis de Courteille, Louis XV’s representative at the factory. ⁠  ⁠ Books reviewed include major maiolica catalogues assessed by Timothy Wilson and John Mallet, a study of American Grand Tourists by Clare Hornsby, and a survey of Surrealist Sorcery by Michael Richardson. Exhibition catalogues on William Blake, Goya and Gustave Moreau are all discussed in detail, as are exhibitions on Henry VIII’s Queens, by Karen Hearn, and André Masson, by Brandon Taylor.⁠ ⁠ https://lnkd.in/e5ApzEnb

It’s here! This month’s issue of The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd features our article “‘The Abduction of Europa’ by Paulus Potter: a mythological painting rediscovered.” Many thanks to all wonderbull co-authors Muirne Lydon, Dr Lizzie Marx, Natalia Macro, and Abbie Vandivere 🐮

We are seeking a new Office Administrator to work in our small but busy office in Bloomsbury, London.⁠ ⁠ Reporting to the Managing Director, the Office Administrator is responsible for the smooth day to day running of the office, supporting the Finance Manager, fulfilling trade and product sales and helping with various event- and client-related activities.⁠ ⁠ Apply by Friday the 26th July 2024.⁠ ⁠ For the full job description and how to apply: https://lnkd.in/ejScK_Cm

Thrilled to see my article on "the painter king of Norway" in the new issue of The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd: https://lnkd.in/dds_drXz

Correctly identifying the subjects of familiar portraits transforms our perception of them. We publish here research by Gregory Martin and Anna Orlando on the famous Anthony van Dyck portrait of the so-called Balbi Children in the National Gallery, London, which shows that the artist’s beguiling subjects are in fact members of another Genoese family.   This month’s articles also include the rediscovery in the Czech Republic of the largest known seventeenth-century reverse-glass painting; it is connected with the Lichtenstein collections and replicates an etching to evoke a lost Rembrandt. The July issue in addition features new technical and art historical research on the work of the celebrated animal painter Paulus Potter undertaken as a collaborative project by The Mauritshuis, The Hague, and The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.   Caroline Elam reviews the inspiring Michelangelo exhibition at the British Museum, London; her article includes fascinating analysis of the subject of Michelangelo’s ‘Epifania’ cartoon in the British Museum and the related painting from the Casa Buonarroti, Florence. The two works are published side by side for the first time after their recent conservation.   Other reviews include: Desmond Shawe-Taylor assessing Van Dyck in the Musée du Louvre, Paris; Kathryn Lloyd on the 60th Venice Biennale; Elena Marchetti analysing Théodore Rousseau; Charles Saumarez Smith discussing the Kunstsilo, Kristiansand; and James W.P. Campbell on J.Pierpont Morgan’s Library, New York. https://lnkd.in/e45J3HX2

What better way to celebrate my return from an incredible research trip to China than to find my article on the cover of the latest issue of The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd The extraordinary handscrolls depicting 'ancient playthings' at the Victoria and Albert Museum and The British Museum are among the longest and most impressive paintings in the world. In the article, I show how they are composed of individual sheets of paper with a recurring iconography, perhaps originally designed for decorative purposes as wallpaper. Decades later, the paper sheets were remediated into handscrolls and repurposed for an afterlife at the Qing imperial tombs. I also discuss the paintings' #provenance, which is related to the uncomfortable story of the Boxer War (1900-01), during which eight nations (from Britain, to Austro-Hungary and Japan) rallied together to suppress a peasant uprising in Qing China. In the aftermath of the war, rampant looting occurred across Beijing and its environs, including at the imperial mausolea. By bringing together this provenance with Chinese archival sources, we can finally piece together the paintings' complex life-story: its origin, originally intended purpose, and its afterlife. Thanks to the amazing staff at The Burlington, the article is free to read online until Friday, June 21: https://lnkd.in/eX2MJEcQ Please share widely with anyone else you think might be interested. Happy reading!