Henry Moore's Stolen Sundial Recovered

Henry Moore's Sundial worth £500,000 which was stolen last week from The Henry Moore Foundation in Hertfordshire (see post below) has been recovered.

The bronze sculpture was found after an appeal on Crimewatch last Thursday.  Three men from Essex have since been arrested on suspicion of theft.  The Foundation are hopeful that the recovery of this piece might result in a similar recovery of Moore's Reclining Figure which was stolen in 2005. Police, however, believe the two-tonne sculpture was melted down and sold as scrap.

More information here.

The Art Loss Register and Henry Moore's Stolen Sundial

Since my last post I have graduated from the Courtauld Institute (dissertation on the Bamboccianti now complete) and am a month into my internship at the Art Loss Register.

The ALR is a private company which registers, researches and attempts to recover stolen works of art http://www.artloss.com/en. Interning so far has been a fantastic experience and I have learnt a great deal about the rewards (and challenges) of working with law enforcement agencies, legal departments and the art trade to try and prevent the catastrophic loss of art worldwide.

A recent and sad example of the types of thefts we are currently experiencing in the UK, is the Henry Moore sculpture stolen from the Henry Moore Foundation in Hertfordshire between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning this week, Telegraph entry here.

Henry Moore, Sundial, c. 1965, h 22''
worth approx. £500,000, stolen from the artist's former house

This is by no means the first Moore sculpture to be stolen in recent years. In 2005 the two-tonne Reclining Figure sculpture, also in the Moore foundation, was lifted out of the grounds by a crane. Worth £3million, it is believed to have been melted down for scrap for as little as £1,500.

The increased value of raw materials such as bronze and cropper has seen a stark rise in stolen sculptures, memorial plaques and building parts (not to mention copper from railways causing huge disruptions to train services). An interesting article that goes into more detail about the rising problem of stolen sculptures can be viewed here written by a predecessor of mine at the ALR and the lawyer Chris Marinello.

Fingers crossed the thieves of Moore's Sundial are more knowledgeable about its current value in the art market than the 2005 crane-rogues and will keep it in one piece instead of melting it down...

The Bentvueghels - rivalling drunk university students

My last essay for the Courtauld involved researching an Italian follower of Pieter van Laer, Michelangelo Cerquozzi (1602-1660).  During the research of Van Laer and his followers, many of whom were foreigners in Rome, I discovered the existence of a society called the Bentvueghels (Birds of a Feather).  This ‘flock’ of foreign artists in Rome had fantastically raucous parties, mocked antiquity and the Roman gods, and generally irritated the Academy of San Luca they were opposed to.

Anonymous, Bacchus with Bent members, drawing,
Museum Boymans, Rotterdam

The Bentvueghels seem to have been formed in 1623 as a way of socially gathering Dutch and Flemish artists in Rome for mutual support in an alien city.  Primarily, however, their aim was to get hammered.  Males, aged 20-25, a similar age to university students, showed an equally similar propensity to drink and cause havoc.  A contemporary biographer states that their binges would sometimes last '3 days and 3 nights’ with feasting, drinking and prostitutes.  The parties would end in a drunken stumble to the church of Sta Constanza where they ‘paid homage’ to what they believed to be the grave of Bacchus, the God of Wine.  On either side of the sarcophagus, members scratched their names, which can still be viewed today.  Their homage of Bacchus can be seen in this drawing of a Bent feast by an unknown artist; the naked figure with leaves on his head in the centre is Bacchus, offering wine to a member.  The names scrawled beneath the drawing are the Bent nicknames of the artists involved.

Understandably, this behaviour somewhat irritated the more academic theoreticians and artists at the time and there was a huge backlash against the Bentvueghels for dishonouring the profession of artists.  Artists such as Salvator Rosa were also disgusted at members of the Bent for producing paintings called ‘bambocciades’ of crude every-day life occurrences which often sold for high sums of money, undermining the artistic dominance of religious and history paintings.  The Bentvueghels never seemed too bothered by this criticism though.   Evidence shows that they continued their merrymaking until 1720 when the society was dissolved by Papal decree.

Roeland van Laer, An Induction Celebration of the Bent, 1626, oil on canvas, 88.5x147.5cm, Museo di Roma, Rome.

A painting by Roeland van Laer (Pieter’s brother) shows an example of one of their ‘initiation’ or ‘baptism’ ceremonies.  These ceremonies involved a feast in honour of the new member who received his bent name, normally a demeaning, mocking name; Pieter van Laer was il bamboccio or ‘big ugly puppet’ because of his physical deformity.  The fellow standing stiffly in black on the right is probably the one being initiated (possibly looking so unimpressed because, as the new member, he would have been lumped with the bill at the end of the celebrations).  Around the inn, members are shown drinking, dangling off a ladder and engaging in amorous activity with the opposite sex (scandalous).  The table displays a group of revellers performing a visual theatre act in the style of the Dutch tableaux vivant.  A prostitute tops it off, balancing a wine flask on her head. 

Although there is hardly any literature on the Bentvueghels, their activities (illustrated in their art) are extremely interesting as an insight into the social context of foreign artists in Rome in the seventeenth century.  With their displays of drunken revelry, their propensity to be involved in brawls (the legal offences of the Bent are numerous) and their dress-up, it is hard not to compare them to the drunken activities of university students.  In particular the Bent initiation ceremonies are reminiscent of sports initiations (currently being banned across many UK universities), with the mocking of new recruits, name-calling and hours of drinking.

The ‘shockingly’ new phase of binge-drinking today thus appears to have a very old precedent.  I would advise the next students who get in trouble with their Guilds over initiations, to claim they were merely following the century-old example of foreign artists in Rome…

I'm a Barbie Girl

The above is the slightly disturbing creation of French artist Jocelyne Grivaud who has re-produced famous artworks of women using a Barbie doll as the model.  The barbie Vermeer (my personal favourite) results in a rather more seductive and domineering Girl with a Pearl Earring than the wide-eyed beauty in the Hague.

Under the pretence of 'charting how the ideal female form has changed' Grivaud has had the doll amputated (as Venus de Milo), de-robed (as Manet's Olympia) and in a fantastic rendition of Otto Dix's Sylvia von Harden shown her smoking with a monocle.

See below for all 9 recreations:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2012/jan/29/fine-art-posed-by-barbies?CMP=twt_gu#/?picture=385148475&index=6

Spidercape

Made in Madagasca, this golden gossamer cape has been spun by 1.2 million spiders taking 4 years and costing £300,000.  Designer Simon Peers states:

'If we hadn't made the cape this silk would be webs in the wind.  That's part of the magic.  It's something so ephemeral and yet somehow we've managed to capture it'

Harry Potter fans will be thrilled at its invisibility-cloak like status; reportedly you cannot feel spider silk.  Going on show at the V&A from 25 January -5 June. Full story here.

(No spiders were hurt in the making).

Exhibition Review 'Vermeer's Women: Secrets and Silence'

Last week I went on a day trip to Cambridge to view the Vermeer exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum ‘Vermeer’s Women: Secrets and Silence’.  For as long as I can remember Vermeer has been one of my favourite artists.  The calm, intriguing beauty of Vermeer’s works have always captivated me, whilst my fascination has been encouraged, unashamedly, by Tracy Chevalier’s book Girl with a Pearl Earring (well worth a read) and the visually stunning film made after it.  Research into the Vermeer forger Han van Meergeren, who exploited the Nazi craze for Vermeer paintings, only cemented my interest in the artist.  The infamous art forger tricked thousands, including Reichmarschal Hermann Goering, into believing his paintings were real Vermeers (amusing when you look at them now, Supper at Emmaus for example is so unlike Vermeer’s style that it is astonishing curators and art critics were fooled).*

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

It is fair to say therefore, that I entered the Fitzwilliam’s stunning façade eager to see 4 of the known 36 paintings by Johannes Vermeer, and indeed to learn of the ‘secrets’ Vermeer’s women concealed. 

The exhibition was squeezed into one long room with dividers to separate it into different sections.  It was heaving.  I am not sure what the crowds at the Leonardo exhibition are like (I have yet to brave a trip there) but my guess is even the two Virgin of the Rocks do not have as many visitors crammed round them as The Lacemaker had. 

The Lacemaker, c. 1669-1670, Musée du Louvre, Paris.
The Lacemaker is unsurprisingly the most popular painting in the
exhibition as it is the first time it has been exhibited in the UK.

Negotiating my way around prams, tourists and Vermeer worshippers to get up close to the works, I was rewarded with the calm beauty of his paintings (for all of five seconds before the bloke behind me shoved his walking stick in my back to move me on).  The delicacy and infinite precision of Vermeer’s works, enhanced most probably by his use of the camera obscura, create wonderfully evocative images of women in interiors.  Seated round virginals, weaving lace, these women, focused on their domestic tasks, are captured in an exquisite combination of light and colour.  Other works by Vermeer’s contemporaries (28 in total) were also a delight, the atmospheric chiaroscuro of Cornelis Bisschop being a particular highlight for me (excuse the pun).

Jan Steen, A Woman at her Toilet, c. 1661-65
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The art works themselves, therefore, made the journey to Cambridge more than worthwhile.  What disappointed me about the exhibition (apart from the crowds) was the display of information, or rather, lack-there-of.  Very small plaques contained rather obvious information about the chosen works.  I found myself gazing at a captivating and mysterious image such as Jan Steen’s A Woman at her Toilet and then reading a few lines on how it shows a woman in an interior with a dangling stocking.  I know this, I can see this.  What I don’t know is why is the woman pulling off her stocking?  What does it represent?  What do we know about the artist’s relationship with women? Who was the model?  I left the exhibition feeling that the curators had kept Vermeer and his contemporaries’ secrets to themselves.  

This is a problem that is by no means exclusive to the latest Fitzwilliam exhibition.  More and more curators are designing exhibitions with minimum text to accompany the works of art.  Not wanting to ‘distract’ the viewers from the images with (god forbid) interesting information, the curators want the pictures to ‘speak for themselves’.  What they often forget is that the majority of exhibition goers attend exhibitions for two reasons, to look and to learn. 

Whilst I (as an art history student) probably have a thirst for more detailed information than the average visitor, the absence of any real narrative is somewhat frustrating when you consider the huge amount of research that goes into exhibition preparation; a quick flick through the exhibition catalogue in the gallery shop is evidence of this.  Whilst the exhibition catalogue for the Vermeer exhibition is only £15, I feel that purchasing it should be an added enhancement rather than a necessity for understanding and enjoying the exhibition.  If the curators know answers to such questions as ‘How did Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch and other contemporaries interact in an artistic context?  How popular were images of women in interiors for the general Dutch public?  Did the Eighty Years War have an impact on the demand for domestic interiors?’ or even such basic questions as ‘Who bought these paintings? Why? Why did the artists paint women?’ then it seems ludicrous for all of these answers to be withheld from the public. Indeed, you can always decide to look away from any extra writing you feel distracts from the paintings, but it is rather harder to conjure up information yourself.

Despite this, ‘Vermeer’s Women: Secrets and Silence’ is a stunning visual display of Dutch art, with a wonderful selection of paintings displaying women in domestic interiors.  Furthermore, to see The Lacemaker in the UK for free is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity.  I recommend anyone who hasn’t been to go in its final week (ends January 15^th), just take a couple of Vermeer books with you…

Vermeer's Women: Secrets and Silence Mellon Gallery, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/ 5 Oct-15 Jan 2012

* The Courtauld Institute has its own van Meergeren. The Procuress, thought to be a seventeenth-century copy of Dirck van Baburen, was confirmed by the TV series Fake or Fortune to be by the forger (full details see http://www.arthistorynews.com/articles/418_Connoisseurship_in_Crisis?).

Recent London Lectures and Art Events

My first month at the Courtauld Institute has been a hectic one.  Unassessed assignments, extensive reading lists and formal essays indicated the intensive nature of the course from week one.  I have, however, found time to attend a range of lectures and events, some which have been particularly illuminating and are worthy of discussion here. 

Outline of lectures and talks:

1/ AAH: Dr Hannah Williams, The Violent Suicide of François Lemoyne: An 18^th-Century Art History Mystery

2/ Courtauld Research Forum: Professor Richard Gameson, Royal Manuscripts at the British Library

3/ Courtauld Research Forum: Dr Fabrizio Nevola, Shops, Streets and Palaces in Renaissance Italy

4/ Goodenough College: Dr Clarence Epstein, The First Decade of the Max Stern Restitution Project (will be discussed in detail in another post)

5/ The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham: Jamie Edwards, Apollo and Daphne: Ovid, Cassone Painting and Marriage in the 15th–century

As can be seen above the events and lectures covered a broad span of art historical research, from Medieval Manuscripts to Nazi looted art.  Before commenting on the content of the lectures, it is worth discussing briefly the different associations and departments that hosted the talks.  

Association and Institutions:

The AAH (http://www.aah.org.uk/), short for the Association of Art Historians is a UK based group designed to promote the study of art history.  You can become a student member for just £20 a year which gets you reduced AAH conference fees and Bulletin newsletters.  Dr Williams talk was part of a new events programme called ‘Art History in the Pub’, which consists of informal talks in The Monarch pub in Camden which are free to all with no need to book.

The Courtauld’s Research Forum (http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/researchforum/index.shtml), one of the best parts of studying at the Institute, offers a magnificent programme of lectures, conferences, workshop and seminars on a wide range of art historical material.  Prices vary (some of the full day weekend symposium’s are over £10), but the majority of the 6pm talks, such as the Royal Manuscripts lecture given by Professor Gameson, are free and open to all.

Goodenough College (which I had not heard of before attending Dr Epstein’s talk) provides residential accommodation for postgraduate students in London (http://www.goodenough.ac.uk/).  Part of its vibrant student community means it offers a range of talks and seminars; Dr Epstein spoke at one of their regular Port Talks (which actually did provide port to attendees upon arrival).

Finally the Barber Institute (a building I am particularly fond of given my close relationship with it during my undergraduate degree) is home to the University of Birmingham’s art history department as well as being an art gallery in its own right (http://www.barber.org.uk/).  It also hosts a number of talks and research seminars, often given postgraduate students a platform to present their ideas.

Talks:

The Monarch pub, Camden

To start with, Dr Hannah Williams’ talk for the AAH, took place in the dimmed and informal setting of the Monarch pub in Camden, making for a welcome change from the normal lecture theatres.  Dr Williams, (a Junior Research Fellow in Art History at St John’s College, Oxford) gave a highly entertaining discussion on the death of Francois Lemoyne.  Using police reports, contemporaneous objects and autopsies, Williams suggested that Lemoyne did not commit suicide but was possibly murdered.  A gruesome description of the artist’s wounds and their improbable cause given the length of a contemporary sword (Lemoyne would have had to have stabbed himself repeatedly after hitting an artery) had half the pub attempting to act out their own suicides with an imaginary weapon to see if it was physically possible.  Although Williams departed from traditional art history, with very little to no visual imagery involved in her hour lecture, the interesting analysis into social history and crime in the late eighteenth century was both enjoyable and refreshing.

Professor Richard Gameson (University of Durham) gave the first of the Autumn 2011 Frank Davis Memorial Lecture Series which is on Royal Manuscripts at the British Library (in honour of the joint British Library/Courtauld exhibition Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination at the British Library from 11 November 2011 to 13 March 2012 http://www.bl.uk/royal).  Speaking on the Earliest English Royal Books, Professor Gameson’s excellent delivery style and enthusiastic approach made the subject of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts instantly accessible (even for someone like me, whose knowledge of medieval texts is slim to none).  Dr Fabrizio Nevola (University of Bath), who also spoke at a Courtauld Research event, this time for the Renaissance seminar, delivered his talk less successfully, with a lack of fluidity which made it hard to follow his key points.  Dr Nevola’s talk on Shops, Streets and Palaces in Italy, focused more on the topographical structure of Florence, i.e. why its buildings were constructed in the way they were, rather than exploring contemporary Renaissance life in Italian streets, which I was hoping to hear about (being more interested in art history that analyses culture and society).  Teaching in the Bath department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, however, explains Dr Nevola’s unique approach towards his topic.

Dr Clarence Epstein’s talk, of most interest and enjoyment to me, will be discussed in a future blog as there is not enough space in this post to do it justice here.  This leaves me with a talk which although strictly not applying to this post's title (being in Birmingham rather than London) I could not leave out.  A former colleague of mine at the University of Birmingham, Jamie Edwards, delivered an hour long lecture on the Barber’s two paintings Apollo and Daphne: 'Ovid, Cassone Painting and Marriage in fifteenth-century Florence’ to the public.  Studying in his first year as an MPhil, it must have seemed a rather daunting task; however the lecture was delivered with such confidence and expertise that all doubts were removed.  A highly illuminating talk on the importance of furniture work in order to commemorate marriages (unions described as ‘political manoeuvres’), Jamie fully engaged an audience that ranged from complete novices in the field to experts.  An extremely impressive first-time public lecture, I eagerly await the appearance of more of Jamie’s research and wish him all the best in his completion of the MPhil and application to PhD.

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham

I hope in the next couple of months to continue to utilise the fantastic research facilities available in London and am particularly looking forward to a talk by the Art Lawyer Anna O’Connell at the Courtauld; the Research Forum’s Third Early Modern Symposium (Art Against the Wall); and a seminar on Caravaggio and the Antique at the Warburg Institute (http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/events/public-lectures/).  Before then I will be posting on the fascinating details of the Max Stern Restitution Project, discussing the recent return of a Dutch painting by Juriaen Pool II, given back by a German casino last week.