© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

We're catching Picasso here between his Rose Period and the advent of Cubism, painting one of his very first patrons and his first formal sitter since art school. Gertrude Stein had never before had her portrait done. It was a learning experience for both and, when the young artist was told--after some 90 sittings--that Stein did not look like her portrait, Picasso summoned his (1) innate self confidence and (2) propensity for awesome sound bites with the pithy reply, "She will."

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I invite you to look at the image above and compare it to this view of The Virgin of the Rocks. Notice anything different? Say, a touch of RBG color adjustment?

You can trust your eyes. The Virgin just finished undergoing an 18-month restoration in which a top layer of cracking, yellowing, dust-gathering varnish (applied in 1948) was almost completely removed. Behold! Far less yellow and much more blue. Naturally, this being a priceless Leonardo canvas, the whole idea of restoration met with controversy that necessitated conclaves of consulting experts before anyone so much as looked cross-ways at the actual painting. Still, we're all the richer for this particular effort which, thankfully, went ahead. Permit me to say, "Job well done, National Gallery, London conservators." (Oh, and, "Go Blue!")

Image Credit:

Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452-1519)
The Virgin of the Rocks, 1495-1508
Oil on panel
189.5 × 120 cm (74 5/8 × 47 1/4 in.)
National Gallery, London

As one of countless millions of other multi-tasking women, I've been thinking about Berthe Morisot a lot lately. She wanted to be an artist and worked hard at it. Unfortunately, she did so during an era when women artists weren't the norm. Besides the timing, her social and marital status were considered more important than anything she might have accomplished by sheer dint of talent and effort.

Now, I do envy her the ability to hire servants. That said, as I struggle to juggle my servant-less 24/7 existence as a writer, teacher, mother, spouse, daughter, sister, friend, cook, dishwasher, laundress, nurse, referee, farmer and hostess who longs for longer days with which to create art, I admire Berthe's determination to crank out a painting here and there. Beth Gersh-Nesic (writer, teacher, mother, spouse, daughter, sister, friend, cook, dishwasher, laundress, nurse and hostess [currently in Europe] herself) agrees. Please enjoy her profile of Berthe Morisot, to whom we both bow. (It's still not easy, Berthe.)

Image Credit:

Edouard Manet (French, 1832-1883)
Le Repos, ca. 1870-71
Oil on canvas
59 1/8 x 44 7/8 in. (150.2 x 114 cm)
Bequest of Edith Stuyvesant Vanderbilt Gerry
59.027
Image © Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI

Good news, everyone! Reuters (and a dozen other sources) is reporting that German and Ukrainian police have recovered The Taking of Christ which was, itself, taken from the Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odessa, Ukraine nearly two years ago. I'm sure art lovers in Odessa are overjoyed. Health and happiness to them, and many kudos to the joint law enforcement effort that has apparently uncovered an art theft ring.

Can you hear the "but" in my voice, though? The headlines are all trumpeting the return of this priceless Caravaggio canvas, even while the artist attribution remains under considerable doubt. The only "definitive" attribution came during the 1950s, from a Soviet art expert. Now, you tell me: you're an art expert, living in the USSR, during the height of the Cold War. Are you really going to tell your superiors that this might NOT be a Caravaggio, knowing that they expect you to say otherwise? Really?

Facts are, once the Iron Curtain came down and experts from other places could see the Odessa version of The Taking of Christ, it hasn't stood up well to close scrutiny. It's certainly old, and it's certainly a very good copy (there are at least 12 versions of this painting), but no one has said, "That's definitely of Caravaggio's hand." Except for that guy or gal back in the 1950s, of course...

So, let's celebrate the welcome return of a painting, but cool it a little on the Caravaggio connection. It's tenuous at best.

Image credit:

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (Italian, 1571-1610)
The Taking of Christ, 1602
Oil on canvas
135.5 x 169.5 cm
Society of Jesus of Ireland, on loan to
the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin