Michaelina Wautier review – an astounding lost artist steps out of her male contemporaries’ shadows

A major exhibition at the Royal Academy is presenting the work of 17th-century Flemish painter Michaelina Wautier, an artist whose significant oeuvre was long misattributed to her male contemporaries, including her brother Charles. The show acts as a real-time art historical investigation, using scientific analysis, scholarship, and connoisseurship to reconstruct her career and assert her authorship of ambitious works like the monumental 'The Triumph of Bacchus'.

The New Exhibitions of the Pinacoteca Agnelli and the New Public Works on the Lingotto Park-Track: The Photos

Le nuove mostre della Pinacoteca Agnelli e le nuove opere pubbliche sulla pista-parco del Lingotto: le foto

The Pinacoteca Agnelli in Turin has launched a new exhibition program that includes the first major institutional retrospective in Italy dedicated to Swiss photographer Walter Pfeiffer, titled "In Good Company," running until September 13, 2026. Curated by Nicola Trezzi and Simon Castets, the show features over 100 photographs from the 1970s to today, blending iconic and unseen works that explore queer eroticism, everyday artifice, and collaborative image-making. Concurrently, the museum presents "Modigliani sottopelle. Quattro capolavori" as part of its "Beyond the Collection" series, placing four masterpieces by Amedeo Modigliani—including a loan from the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and works from the Centre Pompidou—in dialogue with the permanent collection. Curated by Pietro Rigolo and Beatrice Zanelli, the exhibition takes an interdisciplinary approach combining art history, diagnostics, and scientific research, using an algorithm to analyze canvas weaves and propose a new dating for the iconic "Nu couché" acquired by Giovanni and Marella Agnelli in 1960.

lough kinale book shrine medieval manuscripts national museum ireland

In 1986, divers recovered ancient fragments from a lake in Longford County, Ireland, which were later identified as the Lough Kinale Book Shrine, the largest and oldest book shrine in Ireland. After a 39-year conservation process at the National Museum of Ireland (NMI), the 9th-century oak and bronze container is now on public display. The shrine, featuring intricate metalwork, snake-head hinges, and a permanently sealed interior, was reconstructed using photogrammetry and 3D modeling. It is part of the NMI exhibition "Words on the Wave," which showcases over 100 early medieval artifacts, including manuscripts on loan from the Abbey Library of St. Gall in Switzerland.

Seeing double: Vermeer painting and its mysterious ‘twin’ go on show in London

Kenwood House in London has opened a new display, "Double Vision: Vermeer" (1 September 2025 – 11 January 2026), pairing Vermeer's "The Guitar Player" (1672) from its own collection with its mysterious "twin," "Lady with a Guitar," on loan from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The exhibition reignites a century-old debate over which painting is the original, as the Philadelphia version has long been questioned since the Kenwood version emerged in 1927. Recent scientific analysis reveals differences in ground layers and pigment use—the Kenwood painting features ultramarine while the Philadelphia version uses cheaper indigo—and experts like former Rijksmuseum specialist Gregor Weber suggest the Philadelphia work may be an early copy.

Rembrandt works called into question by experts in the Netherlands

Conservators at the Mauritshuis gallery in The Hague have called into question the attribution of three paintings long believed to be by Rembrandt van Rijn. Technical analysis revealed an underdrawing beneath *Portrait of Rembrandt with a Gorget* (c. 1629), proving it is a copy and that the original is in Nuremberg. *Tronie of an Old Man* (c. 1630) may be by a student or employee, and *Study of an Old Man* (c. 1655), though signed by Rembrandt, shows less accomplished brushwork and a date applied later in different paint, suggesting studio production. All three works remain on view in the exhibition *Rembrandt?* (17 April–13 July).

The US’s largest Raphael exhibition is opening at the Met next year

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will present the largest-ever Raphael exhibition in the Americas next spring, titled "Raphael: Sublime Poetry" (29 March–28 June 2026). Curated by Carmen Bambach, the show brings together over 200 works—including paintings, drawings, decorative objects, and tapestries—spanning Raphael’s career from Urbino and Florence to Rome. Major loans include the Alba Madonna from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione from the Louvre; and works from the British Museum, Uffizi, Prado, and Vatican Museums. The exhibition is structured chronologically, with special focus on recent scientific analysis and Raphael’s depictions of women.

In Turin, a Confrontation Between Masters: The Exhibition of Beato Angelico and Bartholomeus Spranger

A Torino c’è un confronto tra maestri: la mostra di Beato Angelico e Bartholomeus Spranger

The Musei Reali in Turin has unveiled a specialized study exhibition titled "Beato Angelico negli occhi di Bartholomeus Spranger," which brings together two versions of the Last Judgment. The show features the return of Beato Angelico’s "Madonna of Humility" to Turin, accompanied by his "Last Judgment" on loan from the Museo di San Marco in Florence. This masterpiece is displayed alongside a later interpretation of the same subject by the Flemish Mannerist Bartholomeus Spranger, painted over a century later.

The Brooklyn Bridge Up Close

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has opened "The Brooklyn Bridge Up Close," a special installation featuring seven original drawings of the Brooklyn Bridge from the New York City Municipal Archives, many unseen for forty years. The drawings, created by engineer John A. Roebling and his successors, were examined through The Met’s Scientific Research Partnerships program, a grant-funded initiative providing free scientific support to art institutions nationwide. The installation highlights the multiyear collaboration between The Met and the Municipal Archives.