In the early hours of 7 November 1980, the notorious art thief ‘Erik the Belgian’ stole six Flemish tapestries from a church in northern Spain. Whilst most were recovered later by Interpol, a fragment of one of the tapestries was feared lost until recently.
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Last week, Unit Gallery in London opened a pioneering new exhibition titled ‘Eternalizing Art History: From Da Vinci to Modigliani’, featuring six NFTs from major Italian museums. The objects exhibited are authorized digital copies shown on screens and mounted in handmade replicas of the original frames. The buyer of the works receives both the physical components (the screen, a built-in drive that generates the image, the replica frame and a certificate of authenticity) as well as the digital elements (the NFT and a unique login to the app).
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On Valentine’s Day, Gustav Klimt’s (1862-1918) world-famous ‘The Kiss’ joined the metaverse – a network of 3D virtual worlds. Österreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna celebrated the day of love by giving art fans the chance to own a non-fungible token (NFT) of the romantic painting.
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A handover ceremony took place last week in an exhibition room dedicated to works of art with uncertain provenance which had been given to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in 1951.
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Australian experts and Scottish authorities have launched an international hunt for a long-lost Renaissance masterpiece, which could be worth up to £13 million. The oil painting was last recorded in an Aberdeenshire town more than 100 years ago, but at the time nobody was truly aware of its importance.
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Residents of MHA Brookfield care home in Oxford have transformed themselves into iconic paintings using only everyday items. The 14 residents posed for the photographic portraits as part of the care home’s second annual calendar.
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Discovered on the Isle of Man in 2018, a pair of ancient ornate brooches are now casting doubt on the long-held theory that only male Vikings ventured to the remote island. Like an early Christmas gift to the island, the brooches were put on display for the first time at the Manx National Heritage museum in Douglas earlier this month.
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Last Thursday, a carved wood and paper globe dating to the 1550s or 1560s sold at Hansons Auctioneers for £116,000 against a pre-sale estimate of £20,000-30,000, a huge sum considering the owner had purchased it recently for just £150.
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100 paintings, sculptures and artefacts hidden away in Italian storage facilities will be redistributed to less widely known state museums across the peninsula. “This project gives new life to works of art that are in fact not very visible,” explained Dario Franceschini, Italy’s culture minister.
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One of the few portraits by Rembrandt left in private hands is likely to be purchased by the Rijksmuseum with assistance from the Dutch government. The total price of the painting is €175 million ($198 million), with the Rembrandt Association contributing €15 million and the Rijksmuseum Fund providing €10 million. The Dutch Government is set to pay the remaining €150 million, although final approvement from parliament is yet to be granted.
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