Mysterious cave paintings in Patagonia are thought to be the oldest examples of rock art in South America, a new study in Science Advances finds. Radiocarbon dating suggests pigments on the cave walls are in fact over 8,200 years old and not only a few thousand as first assumed.
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Christie’s special auction of Sir Elton John’s collection rocketed to success on the opening night in New York, achieving $8 million (£6.3 million). The megastar, known for his visionary music and fabulous fashion, has sold a treasure trove of one-of-a-kind pieces from his luxury Atlanta home on Peachtree Road.
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The Dean of Westminster Abbey in London has decided “in principle” to return a sacred Ethiopian tablet, which was looted over 150 years ago at the height of the British empire.
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Scientists and scholars have joined forces to resurrect a 2,000-year-old charred papyrus scroll using artificial intelligence. The previously illegible text was damaged during the violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, which caused the deaths of over 1,500 people and the destruction of Pompeii and Herculeum.
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A group of hackers has hit a popular software used by major international museums. Since the cyberattack in December, several cultural organisations like the Rubin Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston are still struggling to access their online collections.
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A small 12th-century ivory carving is currently the subject of an acquisition battle between two art world giants, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). Both museums are vying for ownership of the exquisite sculpture, which has been on loan to the V&A since 1982.
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) in New York has announced that they will be returning 16 sculptures to Cambodia and Thailand. The works have been associated with known antiquities smuggler Douglas Latchford, who was indicted in 2019 prior to his death in 2020. Latchford was a dealer who was charged with “running a vast antiquities trafficking network” in southeast Asia.
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Earlier this month, Artist Jesse Darling has won the 2023 Turner Prize for his dystopian sculptures made of everyday detritus that comment on modern British life. As the winner of the most prestigious British art prize, Darling will receive a £25,000 award. “There’s a lot of humour in the work and you feel immersed in its world,” commented Alex Farquharson, Tate Britain director and chair of the Turner Prize jury.
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On the 24 November, an exhibition titled ‘The First Mona Lisa’ opened in Turin’s Promotrice delle Belle Arti gallery. On display is a painting which, according to some, is an earlier version of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous ‘Mona Lisa’, one which – it is argued – he painted in around 1505.
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After disappearing in mysterious circumstances, a beloved artwork by the Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) has been discovered at a private residence outside Naples. Valued at around €100 million (£85.7 million), the “forgotten” painting is one of the last known works by the artist.
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