paintings

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Climate Activists Hit London's National Gallery

'Just Stop Oil' protesters smash glass protecting Diego Velazquez's 'Toilet of Venus' painting

(Newser) - Two climate change protesters smashed a protective glass panel covering a famous Diego Velazquez oil painting at London's National Gallery, the group Just Stop Oil said Monday. The two activists targeted Velazquez's The Toilet of Venus, also known as The Rokeby Venus, with small hammers. Photos showed the...

Berlusconi Left a Lot of Worthless Art Behind
Berlusconi's Heirs Have
25K Worthless Paintings
in case you missed it
Oct 22, 2023 11:50 AM CDT

Berlusconi's Heirs Have 25K Worthless Paintings

They're reportedly planning to destroy late Italian leader's vast collection of bad art

(Newser) - Silvio Berlusconi's heirs inherited a media empire worth billions of dollars, along with a vast portfolio of properties, after he died in June . They also inherited a huge collection of mostly worthless art. Berlusconi, Italy's longest-serving prime minister, reportedly bought around 25,000 paintings in the last years...

Painting Valued at $15K Turns Out to Be a Rembrandt

18-month investigation confirms origins, and raises price tag to $18M

(Newser) - A painting that was last valued to be worth around $15,000 is up for auction this winter, only with a few more zeros added to the price tag now that experts have confirmed it's a work of the Dutch master Rembrandt. Smithsonian Magazine has the scoop on The ...

A Find Like This Comes 'Once in a Generation'
A Find Like This Comes
'Once in a Generation'
in case you missed it
Oct 1, 2023 7:00 AM CDT

A Find Like This Comes 'Once in a Generation'

Long-lost work by old master Artemisia Gentileschi rediscovered in palace storage

(Newser) - England's King Charles I owned seven paintings by Artemisia Gentileschi, a 17th-century Italian artist born to a father who associated with the famous realist painter Caravaggio. She is now considered "one of the finest artists of her era, up there with Caravaggio," per ARTNews , but unfortunately for...

Misidentified Painting Sold for $40K Could Now Fetch $8M

Sotheby's to sell original work by old master Peter Paul Rubens, featuring St. Sebastian

(Newser) - A painting that sold at auction for $40,000 in 2008 is expected to fetch at least $5 million when it goes under the hammer next month—and you can't entirely blame inflation. Last time around, St. Sebastian Tended by Two Angels was attributed to the French Baroque painter...

In Old Danish Paintings, Researchers Make a Beery Find

Danish masters used brewery byproducts as a primer

(Newser) - Painters' studios in the 19th-century Danish Golden Age probably smelled a lot like breweries. In a study published in Science Advances , researchers say they discovered that Danish masters including Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, considered the father of Danish painting, used an "unconventional binder" to prepare their canvases—the byproducts of...

Historian Claims to Have Solved a Mona Lisa Mystery

Bridge above subject's shoulder still stands in Tuscany, says Silvano Vinceti

(Newser) - Few eyes gazing upon Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa likely notice the tiny bridge painted just above the subject's left shoulder, on the right side of the painting. But that piece of architecture stood out to Italian historian Silvano Vinceti, who believes he's identified it as a...

If AI Is Right, a New Raphael Painting Has Been Found

Quest to prove painting's origin continues 3 decades after it was spotted in antiques shop

(Newser) - A cabinetmaker from Chicago was on vacation in England in 1995 when he spotted a painting tucked behind an armoire in an antiques shop. Anthony Ayers, an amateur artist, couldn't afford the $30,000 painting, which the shop owner suggested was from the Renaissance, but he also couldn't...

17th-Century Paintings Sent for Cleaning Now 'Untraceable'

Swiss museum suspects 2 'Old Master' artworks were stolen

(Newser) - Switzerland's biggest art museum says two "Old Master" paintings from the 17th century are missing and theft is a definite possibility. The Kunsthaus Zurich says the two paintings— Robert van den Hoecke’s "Soldiers in the Camp" and Dirck de Bray's "Daffodils and Other Flowers...

A New Reason Why Munch's Famous Painting Is Screaming

Climate activists tried to glue themselves to 'The Scream' at National Museum in Oslo, Norway

(Newser) - Norwegian police said two climate activists tried in vain Friday to glue themselves to Edvard Munch's 1893 masterpiece The Scream at an Oslo museum, and that no harm was reported to the famous painting. Police said they were alerted to the incident by Norway's National Museum and had...

Van Gogh Painting Gets a Soup Bath by Climate Activists

'Sunflowers' wasn't harmed after 'Just Stop Oil' protesters vandalized it in London's National Gallery

(Newser) - Let's start off with the good news: The 1888 version of Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers is just fine, even after it just got tomato soup dumped all over it. The bad news, at least for the pair of climate activists that carried out the vandalism, is that they'...

Cops: Woman Scammed Own Mom in $140M Psychic Ruse

Sabine Boghici, 48, and accomplices are accused of conning her 82-year-old mother for years

(Newser) - A Brazilian woman was arrested this week and accused of recruiting a group of fake psychics to scam her own 82-year-old mother out of about $140 million in cash, artwork, and jewelry, reports the Washington Post . The alleged scheme began in January 2020, when Genevieve Boghici, the wealthy widow of...

Johnny Depp's Debut Art Collection Sells Out in Hours

It's Castle Fine Art's 'fastest-selling collection to date,' with $3.6M in sales

(Newser) - Within hours, Johnny Depp went from being a somewhat secret painter to one with sales in the multi-millions. The actor unleashed his debut art collection on the world in a Thursday Instagram post , revealing prints for sale through Castle Fine Art's galleries, per the BBC . Its website was soon...

X-Rays Reveal Hidden Sketches in Famous Painting

'Nude With a Hat' is one of Modigliani's best-known works

(Newser) - Curators at an Israeli museum have discovered three previously unknown sketches by celebrated 20th-century artist Amedeo Modigliani hiding beneath the surface of one of his paintings. The unfinished works by Modigliani, an Italian-born artist who worked in Paris before his death in 1920, came to light after the canvas of...

Climate Protesters Target Famous Paintings

In London, they glued themselves to an 1821 masterpiece

(Newser) - Climate change protesters in Britain have a new tactic: gluing themselves to famous paintings. On Monday, two protesters from the "Just Stop Oil" group were arrested at the National Gallery in London after they glued themselves to the frame of John Constable's "The Hay Wain," one...

Turns Out, Rembrandt Himself Painted This One

Experts say painting long attributed to a pupil is by the Dutch master himself

(Newser) - A 1638 painting dubbed Landscape with Arched Bridge suddenly just became a lot more valuable. For the past three decades, the painting has been attributed to Govert Flinck, a student of 17th-century Dutch master painter Rembrandt van Rijn. But as the Guardian reports, it has just been confirmed to be...

80 Years Later, Kandinsky Painting Returned to Rightful Owners

Amsterdam turns painting over to heirs of couple that lost it during WWII

(Newser) - A Wassily Kandinsky painting sold by a Jewish couple as they fled the Netherlands during the World War II Nazi invasion has now been returned to the couple's heirs. The Russian artist's "Painting With Houses," a 1909 work, had been held in Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum...

Hidden Work by 'the Painter of Maine' Surfaces in Bank Vault

Marsden Hartley's 'Friend Against the Wind' last seen in public 40 years ago

(Newser) - A painting by the American modernist Marsden Hartley that had been out of public sight for 40 years was located in a bank vault, a significant step toward uncovering the works of an increasingly appreciated artist who considered himself "the painter of Maine," reports the AP . The painting,...

Afghans Hide Books, Paintings as Crackdown on Culture Looms

Taliban says Islamic law will determine what kinds of art are allowed

(Newser) - The bad old days are back in Afghanistan, where artists have hidden or destroyed paintings, musicians have stopped working, and residents are hiding books ahead of an expected Taliban crackdown on art and culture deemed un-Islamic. The group—which banned movies, television, and music during its rule from 1996 to...

This Person Really Wanted to See the Mona Lisa

Bidder paid $98K to get closer glimpse of da Vinci's famous piece during annual inspection

(Newser) - How much would it be worth to get to see that Mona Lisa smile up close and personal, without any fellow gawkers blocking your view? According to one person, $98,000 . That's how much a bidder paid for the chance to watch as da Vinci's famous painting is...

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