Ancient and Renaissance Art News
Saturday March 24, 2007
Cleric, Courtier, King and More
By Stan Parchin
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced in January 2007 that an Ahmanson Foundation grant facilitated its acquisition of St. John Capistran (ca. 1550) by Italian Renaissance sculptor Santi Buglioni (1494-1576). A rare glazed terracotta sculpture of the Franciscan preacher (1420-1456), the freestanding and nearly life-sized statue portrays the friar whose fiery sermons encouraged the Christian armies in their successful crusade against the Turks in Belgrade in 1456.
The Portrait of Robert Cheseman (1485-1547) (1533) by left-handed Northern Renaissance artist Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/98-1543) has been on view at The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California since January 23, 2007. On loan from the Netherlands' Mauritshuis to the prestigious West Coast institution through April 22, the oil on panel work, executed meticulously, is on display with other compositions by Holbein's contemporaries from both north and south of the Alps.
Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt and Director of Excavations at the
Giza Pyramids, Saqqara, and Bahariya Oasis (recently recovered from eye surgery in the United States), revealed to Agence France-Presse on February 14, 2007 the discovery of an Amarna Period tomb in the necropolis of Saqqara, outside of Cairo, by a team of Dutch archaeologists. The paintings of daily and religious life on limestone walls inside the crypt are rendered in the somewhat realistic style prevalent during the reign of the New Kingdom "heretic pharaoh" Akhenaten (r. 1353-1336 B.C.).
Michelangelo slept where? Well, that's the question on the minds of some scholars at the Vatican, according to the Associated Press on February 20, 2007. Maria Cristina Carlo-Stella of the Vatican's Fabbrica di San Pietro knows that the Italian High Renaissance artist, who worked on St. Peter's Basilica from 1546 to 1564, had a room on the premises. A recently discovered record of a payment between 1556 and 1558 to a locksmith indicates it was intended for a key for a chest "in the room in St. Peter's where Master Michelangelo retires."
Al-Ahram Weekly reported on March 1, 2007 that the monumental funerary boat of ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom Pharaoh Khufu (ca. 2551-2528 B.C.), buried in bedrock beside his Great Pyramid at Giza and discovered dismantled in 1224 separate pieces in 1954, has been recommended for immediate restoration. The Fourth Dynasty ruler's massive barque, made mostly of Lebanese cedar wood, reassembled and on display in an Egyptian museum since March 6, 1982, suffers from the effects of environmental factors detrimental to its continued existence. Conservation techniques are presently being explored by experts. Boats such as Khufu's figure largely in the iconography of ancient Egyptian art. They represent the vehicle in which the pharaoh's ka (soul) migrated nightly across the sky during his afterlife.
The J. Paul Getty Museum announced on March 8, 2007 that it will convene a closed workshop of internationally prominent art historians, archaeologists and scientists on May 9 to explore the origins of the Cult Statue of a Goddess (435-400 B.C.), one of 46 works that Italy's Ministry of Culture claims was looted and is seeking its return. The study's peer-reviewed results will be published on the museum's website.
What's in a name? Plenty, if you were notorious Italian Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi (1571-1610), known to posterity as Caravaggio. London's Telegraph reported on March 11, 2007 that Vittorio Pirami, an Italian retiree with a penchant for Art History, seemed to have discovered accidentally that the artist was born on September 29, 1571 in Milan and not in the northern Italian town of Caravaggio, sparking an unofficial debate between the two municipalities. Pirami's claim rests upon a Latin baptismal document from the diocesan archives of Santa Stefano in Milan's Brola district. Experts are now determining the veracity of the record in question. One known documentary source does identify Caravaggio as an applicant for membership in the Knights of Malta.
A Royal Flush: Dr. Zahi Hawass confirmed on March 13, 2007 that Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, which includes some 130 ancient Egyptian works of art insured for £335 million, will indeed occupy part of England's Millennium Dome, currently known as O2, starting in November 2007. The realization of the exhibition's British leg was threatened by the proposed establishment of a casino in the same venue. Dr. Hawass rightfully objected to such an enterprise within the vicinity of the show's premises and he prevailed. It would have disgraced the ancient Egyptian pharaoh and his memory. The last time that any of Tutankhamun's treasures visited London was in 1972 at the British Museum. This time, precious objects from the Egyptian boy-king and his relatives will have royal company in London as The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army will have already opened at the BM.
Image credits:
Hans Holbein the Younger (German, 1497/98-1543)
Portrait of Robert Cheseman (1485-1547), 1533
Oil on panel
23 1/8 x 23 3/4 in.
© Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague
"Dr. Zahi Hawass continues to advocate
for archaeological exploration and conservation
of Egypt's ancient monuments."
Photograph provided by Dr. Zahi Hawass
Canopic Stopper of Tutankhamun
Egyptian, Dynasty 18, reign of Tutankhamun
(ca. 1336-1327 B.C.)
Thebes, Valley of the Kings,
Tomb of Tutankhamun (KV 62)
Painted calcite
H. 24 cm, W. 18.5 cm
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
© Andreas F. Voegelin, Antikenmuseum,
Basel and Sammlung Ludwig
By Stan Parchin
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced in January 2007 that an Ahmanson Foundation grant facilitated its acquisition of St. John Capistran (ca. 1550) by Italian Renaissance sculptor Santi Buglioni (1494-1576). A rare glazed terracotta sculpture of the Franciscan preacher (1420-1456), the freestanding and nearly life-sized statue portrays the friar whose fiery sermons encouraged the Christian armies in their successful crusade against the Turks in Belgrade in 1456.
The Portrait of Robert Cheseman (1485-1547) (1533) by left-handed Northern Renaissance artist Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/98-1543) has been on view at The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California since January 23, 2007. On loan from the Netherlands' Mauritshuis to the prestigious West Coast institution through April 22, the oil on panel work, executed meticulously, is on display with other compositions by Holbein's contemporaries from both north and south of the Alps.
Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt and Director of Excavations at the
Giza Pyramids, Saqqara, and Bahariya Oasis (recently recovered from eye surgery in the United States), revealed to Agence France-Presse on February 14, 2007 the discovery of an Amarna Period tomb in the necropolis of Saqqara, outside of Cairo, by a team of Dutch archaeologists. The paintings of daily and religious life on limestone walls inside the crypt are rendered in the somewhat realistic style prevalent during the reign of the New Kingdom "heretic pharaoh" Akhenaten (r. 1353-1336 B.C.).
Michelangelo slept where? Well, that's the question on the minds of some scholars at the Vatican, according to the Associated Press on February 20, 2007. Maria Cristina Carlo-Stella of the Vatican's Fabbrica di San Pietro knows that the Italian High Renaissance artist, who worked on St. Peter's Basilica from 1546 to 1564, had a room on the premises. A recently discovered record of a payment between 1556 and 1558 to a locksmith indicates it was intended for a key for a chest "in the room in St. Peter's where Master Michelangelo retires."
Al-Ahram Weekly reported on March 1, 2007 that the monumental funerary boat of ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom Pharaoh Khufu (ca. 2551-2528 B.C.), buried in bedrock beside his Great Pyramid at Giza and discovered dismantled in 1224 separate pieces in 1954, has been recommended for immediate restoration. The Fourth Dynasty ruler's massive barque, made mostly of Lebanese cedar wood, reassembled and on display in an Egyptian museum since March 6, 1982, suffers from the effects of environmental factors detrimental to its continued existence. Conservation techniques are presently being explored by experts. Boats such as Khufu's figure largely in the iconography of ancient Egyptian art. They represent the vehicle in which the pharaoh's ka (soul) migrated nightly across the sky during his afterlife.
The J. Paul Getty Museum announced on March 8, 2007 that it will convene a closed workshop of internationally prominent art historians, archaeologists and scientists on May 9 to explore the origins of the Cult Statue of a Goddess (435-400 B.C.), one of 46 works that Italy's Ministry of Culture claims was looted and is seeking its return. The study's peer-reviewed results will be published on the museum's website.
What's in a name? Plenty, if you were notorious Italian Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi (1571-1610), known to posterity as Caravaggio. London's Telegraph reported on March 11, 2007 that Vittorio Pirami, an Italian retiree with a penchant for Art History, seemed to have discovered accidentally that the artist was born on September 29, 1571 in Milan and not in the northern Italian town of Caravaggio, sparking an unofficial debate between the two municipalities. Pirami's claim rests upon a Latin baptismal document from the diocesan archives of Santa Stefano in Milan's Brola district. Experts are now determining the veracity of the record in question. One known documentary source does identify Caravaggio as an applicant for membership in the Knights of Malta.
A Royal Flush: Dr. Zahi Hawass confirmed on March 13, 2007 that Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, which includes some 130 ancient Egyptian works of art insured for £335 million, will indeed occupy part of England's Millennium Dome, currently known as O2, starting in November 2007. The realization of the exhibition's British leg was threatened by the proposed establishment of a casino in the same venue. Dr. Hawass rightfully objected to such an enterprise within the vicinity of the show's premises and he prevailed. It would have disgraced the ancient Egyptian pharaoh and his memory. The last time that any of Tutankhamun's treasures visited London was in 1972 at the British Museum. This time, precious objects from the Egyptian boy-king and his relatives will have royal company in London as The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army will have already opened at the BM.
Image credits:
Hans Holbein the Younger (German, 1497/98-1543)
Portrait of Robert Cheseman (1485-1547), 1533
Oil on panel
23 1/8 x 23 3/4 in.
© Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague
"Dr. Zahi Hawass continues to advocate
for archaeological exploration and conservation
of Egypt's ancient monuments."
Photograph provided by Dr. Zahi Hawass
Canopic Stopper of Tutankhamun
Egyptian, Dynasty 18, reign of Tutankhamun
(ca. 1336-1327 B.C.)
Thebes, Valley of the Kings,
Tomb of Tutankhamun (KV 62)
Painted calcite
H. 24 cm, W. 18.5 cm
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
© Andreas F. Voegelin, Antikenmuseum,
Basel and Sammlung Ludwig