One of the most treasured paintings at The National Gallery in London was attacked last week by Just Stop Oil activists, almost 110 years since it was attacked by a suffragette. The Toilet of Venus by the leading Spanish Baroque painter Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) has been removed from display after sustaining some damage.
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Two climate activists from the group ‘Just Stop Oil’ have been arrested after throwing what appeared to be cans of soup at Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers last Friday at the National Gallery, before gluing themselves to the wall. The activists are part of the ‘Just Stop Oil’ climate change group who have targeted numerous museums recently with similar acts, including the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Manchester City Gallery and the Royal Academy of Arts. This is not the first time this year the group have targeted the National Gallery: in July two campaigners superglued their hands to the frame of John Constable’s The Hay Wain.
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For almost 60 years a National Gallery painting was dismissed as a copy and languished in their storerooms, but now experts have confirmed it is indeed an original work by the renowned French painter Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665).
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London’s National Gallery announces plans for a £25-30 million upgrade project, which will be partially finished by the institution’s 200th anniversary in 2024.
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London’s National Gallery confirmed on Thursday (16 February) that it lost the bid to acquire Pontormo’s ‘Portrait of a Young Man in a Red Cap’ (1530).
One of only 15 surviving portraits by the Italian Old Master, real name Jacopo Carrucci, it was sold to US hedge fund owner, Tom Hill, by the Earl of Caledon in 2015. In December 2015, it was temporarily barred from export by the former Minister for Culture Ed Vaizey who was concerned to help save the painting for the British nation. With the export bar in place, the National Gallery set to work raising the £30,618,987 necessary to match the sale price. Continue reading
London’s National Gallery was sued in a New York court last Wednesday (7 September) for the return of a 1908 portrait by Henri Matisse.
The three grandchildren of the portrait’s subject, Margarete Moll (known as Greta), filed suit for the oil painting or at least US$30 million in compensation (£23 million) in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Oliver Williams and Margarete Green of Great Britain and Iris Filmer of Germany claim the ‘Portrait of Greta Moll’ was stolen from their grandmother in the aftermath of World War II. Prior to her departure for the United Kingdom, Greta entrusted the painting to her husband’s art student. Agreeing to transfer the portrait to an art dealer in Switzerland for safekeeping from looters the student instead sold it to the dealer and absconded to the Middle East. From Switzerland, the painting moved to the US and passed through several collections including Manhattan’s now defunct Knoedler & Co art gallery before the National Gallery of London purchased it in 1979. Continue reading
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