Art Links

I'll be on blog-hiatus for the next 2 weeks or so, as I'll be on a fabulous Australian vacation. Here are some links to tide you over:

-Some sad news today: in addition to the loss of human life in the recent earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy, it also caused "significant" damage to historic buildings and works of art. Among the damages include portions of medieval towns, Santa Maria di Collemaggio (Romanesque, but heavily restored in the 20th century), and parts of the National Museum of Abruzzo.

-Pack the Bronze Duckling, previously stolen from his installation behind Mrs. Mallard at a Boston public garden, has been recovered.

-Art Dubai is getting better, but selling less.

-The Newark Museum celebrates its 100th anniversary with a new exhibition featuring work by living artists acquired in the last 15 years called Unbounded: New Art for a New Century.

-John D. Rockefeller's bedroom furniture from his west 54th St. townhouse are being relocated to some even fancier digs.

-The Michelle Obama/Carla Bruni Sarkozy/omg-what-are-they-wearing-today analysis is getting serious. Ladies and gentlement, the end of "wife wear."

-In especially cool medieval news, experts are close to archiving and translating all 10,000 of the inscriptions on the walls of Al Hambra palace in Spain.

Art Links (and a Castle!)

- Questionable art history at the Prado surrounding the recent attribution of The Colossus, previously attributed to Goya, to an assistant of his named Asencio Julia. A report explaining the reasons for the demotion of the Colossus has recently been released by the curator of 18th century paintings at the Prado, Manuela Mena.
Principal among these reasons are an x-ray scan of the painting reveals the initials "A.J." in the corner and evidence of pentimenti in the underpainting. These reasons being not all that convincing, we are left with the question of "stylistic evidence," that oh-so-slippery, and ultimately 100% subjective, method of attribution. Any Goya specialists out there willing to hazard an opinion on this?

-Not news, exactly, but a great little article about Pieter Bruegel the Elder's masterpiece, "The Triumph of Death." The painting, "not for the squeamish," is one of my favorite pieces of art in the whole world and a masterful rendering of the idea that death is inevitable, following a long medieval tradition of such themes.
I do disagree with the author of the article here, Mr. Woodward, when he says that his secular reading of the painting as a "nightmarish icon" that seems to anticipate the horrors of wars that came after it isn't "responsible art history." There is something to be said about a painting that speaks to audiences through time and isn't only applicable to its specific historical moment.

-For your reading pleasure, a short piece about a medieval Crusader castle, the Crac des Chevaliers, in Syria. A rather grand piece of architecture that brilliantly encapsulates the give and take between Western Crusaders and their Eastern foes (which, interestingly enough, this article doesn't mention that Muslim armies eventually captured the Crac and drove the Hospitallers out in a spectacular defeat, simply that the Mamelukes "took" the fortress). The Crac really highlights a lot of the issues surrounding the idea of a specifically "Crusader" art while also being just an incredible piece of architecture.
Some parting words from one of the Crac's lintel inscriptions: "Grace, wisdom and beauty you may enjoy, but beware pride, which alone can tarnish all the rest."