ArtReview Podcast | Episode 3: Noémie Goudal
The ArtReview Podcast released its third episode featuring an interview with artist Noémie Goudal. Hosted by ArtReview editor J.J. Charlesworth, the conversation explores Goudal's practice through three selected artworks, touching on VR technology, the representation of time in photography, and the concept of 'immersiveness' in contemporary art.
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Old Masters Week in New York saw a resurgence in the sector, highlighted by the Italian Ministry of Culture's $14.9 million private acquisition of a rare two-sided panel by Antonello da Messina from Sotheby’s. The week featured high-profile sales at both Sotheby’s and Christie’s, resulting in new auction records for major figures including Artemisia Gentileschi and Michelangelo, as well as a record price for a Rembrandt drawing. The success was attributed to a high level of museum participation and more realistic pricing strategies compared to previous seasons.
The article debunks the long-held myth that Flemish painter Jan van Eyck invented oil painting, tracing the origin of the technique back to 7th-century Afghanistan. It recounts how Giorgio Vasari's 1550 biography "Lives of the Artists" falsely credited van Eyck with the invention after a story about the artist seeking a sun-proof medium. In reality, oil-based paints were used by Buddhist artists in the Bamiyan valley caves centuries earlier, and ancient Egyptians also combined oils with pigments for cosmetics.
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The Italian Ministry of Culture has acquired a rare Caravaggio portrait of Maffeo Barberini, the future Pope Urban VIII, for €30 million ($35 million). The late 16th-century masterpiece, which had been hidden in a private collection for decades, will now reside permanently at Rome’s Palazzo Barberini. The acquisition follows a successful short-term loan and extensive technical analysis that confirmed the work's authenticity.
The Italian Ministry of Culture has acquired a rare double-sided Renaissance painting by Antonello da Messina, 'Ecce Homo; Saint Jerome in Penitence,' for $14.9 million in a private sale with Sotheby's New York. The work was withdrawn from a planned public auction, and its final institutional home is now the subject of a heated debate among major Italian museums and the artist's hometown.
Italy purchases rare Caravaggio painting for $34.7 million.
The Italian government has purchased Caravaggio's *Ecce Homo* for $34.7 million, preventing the 17th-century masterpiece from leaving the country. The painting, which depicts a bound Christ presented to the crowd, was sold by its private owners after its rediscovery and authentication in 2021. The state exercised its right of first refusal to match a sale agreed with an unnamed foreign buyer, securing the work for public ownership.
Recent Old Master auctions in New York have defied narratives of market decline, totaling over $185 million across Sotheby’s and Christie’s. High-profile sales included a newly discovered Michelangelo drawing for $27.2 million, a Canaletto masterpiece for $30.5 million, and a record-breaking Rembrandt drawing sold for $17.8 million. These results, alongside the Italian state's $14.9 million acquisition of an Antonello da Messina, suggest that historical masterpieces remain premier "civilisational assets" and stable financial havens during periods of economic volatility.
The author recounts traveling from Scotland to London to see Tate Britain's exhibition "Turner and Constable: Rivals and Originals," despite costly and slow train travel. The article also covers the Old Master sales at Sotheby's, Christie's, and Bonhams, noting mixed results: a Flemish triptych sold for £5.7m, a Hans Eworth portrait set a record at £3.2m, and a Gerrit Dou fetched £3.8m, while a Panini capriccio lost value since 2005.
Scoperto un nuovo Antonello da Messina. Andrà in asta a giugno: stavolta potrebbe farsi avanti la Sicilia per l’acquisto?
A newly discovered small wooden panel painting, depicting the face of a young beardless saint, has been attributed to the Renaissance master Antonello da Messina. The work, a fragment of a lost composition, will be auctioned on June 16 by Parisian auction house Ader alongside a signed early work by Peter Paul Rubens. Both come from an anonymous collector who purchased them in France decades ago.
A double-sided panel painting by Renaissance master Antonello da Messina, titled 'Ecce Homo and Saint Jerome in the Desert,' was withdrawn from Sotheby's Old Masters auction just days before its scheduled sale. The Italian Ministry of Culture purchased the work directly for $14.9 million, preventing it from going to public auction where it was estimated to fetch $10–15 million.
La pittura ironica e intellettuale di Renato Varese. La mostra a Conegliano
Palazzo Sarcinelli in Conegliano is hosting a retrospective exhibition dedicated to Renato Varese (1926–2024), a versatile Italian painter, graphic artist, engraver, sculptor, and ceramist. Curated by Lorena Gava, the show marks the centenary of Varese's birth and features around fifty works spanning painting and graphic art, highlighting his ironic, intellectual, and visionary style often described as "Gothic." Concurrently, the artist's heirs have donated thirteen works to the city's civic collections, including the large canvas "Beati gli ultimi" (1997), now housed in a dedicated room named Sala L.R. Varese.