The Allentown Art Museum in Allentown, Pennsylvania has recently celebrated the addition of a painting by Rembrandt van Rijn to its collection. The catch? The museum has already owned this painting for sixty years! What follows is the completely crazy, totally true story of how the Allentown Art Museum gained, lost, and then gained a Rembrandt again.
Tag: portraits
The Pastel Portrait Delights of Rosalba Carriera
I feel like I'm seeing Rosalba Carriera everywhere these days, and now I'm fully on the bandwagon. Learn about the "Queen of Pastel", her innovation in portraiture, and her distinctly feminine take on 18th-century pin-ups.
Frick Madison Shines New Light on Old Friends
On the afternoon of March 4th, I was one of the very first people to experience Frick Madison, the Frick Collection's new installation in the Whitney Museum's former home at 945 Madison Avenue. The surprisingly-wonderful combination of historical art and Brutalist structure literally shines a new light on the Frick's beloved artworks.
The Sleeve Should Be Illegal – A Unique New Book from the Frick
Next month, The Frick Collection and DelMonico Books/D.A.P. will publish The Sleeve Should Be Illegal & Other Reflections on Art at the Frick, a book of short essays responding to works in the Frick's collection. I was lucky enough to receive an early pdf copy, and I really liked it!
The Joys of the Dutch Golden Age
In Praise of Painting: Dutch Masterpieces at the Met is an ongoing exhibition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's paintings from the Dutch Golden Age. It provided the chance to view the works up close at my leisure, which gave me a new appreciation for this type of artwork.
Meet the Gainsborough Family
This time last year, I wrote an article for DailyArt Magazine about Thomas Gainsborough's portraits of his daughters. I was really excited when I found out that most of those paintings are currently on display in Gainsborough's Family Album at the Princeton University Art Museum. I rushed over to see them, and I'm so glad that I did!
Art That Inspires Me: Lady Agnew of Locknaw by John Singer Sargent
I love the American artist John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), and I have wanted to write an Art That Inspires Me post about him for a while. However, there are just so many things that inspire me about Sargent, and I struggled to pick a few to focus on. This is my all-time favorite Sargent painting. It depicts Lady (Gertrude) Agnew of Locknaw, the wife of a Scottish nobleman.
American Artists and the American Revolution
Here in the United States, paintings play a big role in how we experience the story of our country's origins. Portraits of our Founding Fathers and other paintings of the Revolutionary War appear on our money, in our textbooks, and decorating our government buildings. These paintings have become a huge part of our national consciousness. Paul Staiti's Of Arms and Artists: The American Revolution Through Painters' Eyes is about the five American painters most responsible for depicting the Revolution era.
The Mystery of the Disappearing Velasquez (maybe)
I just finished reading a book that told a wild, but true story about a work of art. Laura Cumming's The Vanishing Velasquez: A 19th-Century Bookseller's Obsession with a Lost Masterpiece tells the story of an English bookseller who believed that he owned a lost masterpiece by Spanish artist Diego Velasquez. It ends with a huge, still-unsolved mystery.
Art That Inspires Me: Faiyum Mummy Portraits
During Egypt's Roman period (c. 30 BCE - 330 CE), many beautiful portraits were made in and around the area of Faiyum (or Fayum). They were mummy portraits, which means that they were attached to mummy wrappings to cover the mummy's head. Discover what makes them so vivid and special.