Art News. Vasari Codex

article news schedule Apr 21, 2025 visibility 2 link 5 artists, 2 galleries

pope francis has died champion of artists 1234739195

Pope Francis died on Easter Monday at his home in Casa Santa Marta at age 88, the Vatican announced. During his 12-year papacy, the first Jesuit and Latin American pontiff showed strong support for artists, becoming the first pope to visit the Venice Biennale last year, where he spoke at the Vatican's pavilion held in a women's prison. He emphasized the importance of contemporary art and women creators, citing Frida Kahlo and Louise Bourgeois, and urged artists to keep questioning and taking risks.

newspaper ARTnews open_in_new Read original

trending_up market schedule Feb 6, 2026 visibility 13 link 3 artists

drawing of foot michelangelo record christies 1234772662

A previously unknown red-chalk drawing by Michelangelo, a study for the foot of the Libyan Sibyl from the Sistine Chapel ceiling, sold for $27.2 million at Christie’s New York on Thursday, far exceeding its $1.5–$2 million estimate. The work was submitted to Christie’s online estimate portal last March by an anonymous owner who inherited it from their grandmother; it had hung on a wall for years, assumed to be a copy. After months of authentication using infrared reflectography and cross-referencing with drawings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Uffizi Gallery, Christie’s specialists confirmed it as an authentic Michelangelo. The sale set a new auction record for the artist, surpassing the previous $24.3 million record set at Christie’s Paris in 2022.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 25, 2025 visibility 7 link 2 artists

michelangelo drawing sistine chapel christies new york 1234763395

A five-inch-tall red chalk drawing of a foot, attributed to Michelangelo (1475–1564), is set to be auctioned at Christie’s New York in February with an estimate of $1.5–2 million. The work was discovered when Giada Damen, a specialist in Old Master drawings at Christie’s, flagged it from a public online submission; after extensive provenance research, technical analysis, and comparison with known sketches, Christie’s has declared it a preparatory study for the Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508–1512). If authenticated, it would be one of only two such Michelangelo drawings remaining in private hands.

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trending_up market schedule Feb 5, 2026 visibility 5 link 1 artist

michelangelo sistine chapel study christies 2718805

A previously unknown Michelangelo drawing, a red chalk study for the foot of the Libyan Sibyl on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, was discovered after an owner submitted a photograph to Christie's online estimate service. The work, created around 1511–12, sold at Christie's New York for $27.2 million, far exceeding its $1.5–2 million estimate and setting a new auction record for a Michelangelo drawing. The anonymous seller inherited the piece from his grandmother, and it had been in his family since the late 1700s.

newspaper Artnet News open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Dec 16, 2025 visibility 12 link 5 artists

time for a right size art market national museum of libya reopens somersets cultural awakening morning links for december 16 2025 1234766946

The article covers several art-world stories from December 16, 2025. Tim Schneider in The Art Newspaper argues that the global art industry's recent downturn—marked by gallery closures and weak auction results—is not a collapse but a necessary 'right-sizing' after years of speculative overextension. Meanwhile, the National Museum of Libya in Tripoli reopened after nearly 14 years, showcasing its vast collection of classical antiquities and Libyan history, though Muammar Gaddafi's turquoise Volkswagen Beetle remains missing. Other items include a legal battle over the Sherlock Holmes Museum, a planned $41 million revamp of a 16th-century Roman villa, and a list of the year's top auction sales.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 9, 2026 visibility 4 link 1 gallery

‘Your homes will be destroyed, your family killed’: the US has dropped millions of war propaganda leaflets – but do they work?

The United States military has been dropping propaganda leaflets in psychological operations (psyops) for over a century, from World War I through the Gulf War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A new interactive exhibit at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, organized by the digital archive group Khajistan, displays hundreds of these leaflets, including those dropped on Japan during World War II and in more recent conflicts. However, declassified internal documents, such as a 1971 US Air Force report, reveal that leaflets were often used as toilet paper, cigarette rolling paper, or souvenirs by enemy soldiers, undermining the official narrative of their effectiveness.

newspaper The Guardian open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Nov 11, 2025 visibility 7

national museum of damascus heist missing artifacts search 1234761025

The National Museum of Damascus temporarily closed this week after a theft of artifacts from its classical department. Six gold ingots and six Hellenistic marble statues were reportedly stolen, with a broken door discovered Monday morning. Several employees and guards were detained and interrogated before being released. Damascus police chief Brig. Gen. Osama Atkeh confirmed the theft and stated an investigation is underway. The museum had only reopened in January after being closed since December 7, 2024, when anti-Assad forces approached the capital.

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gavel restitution schedule May 21, 2025 visibility 6

metropolitan museum returns antiquities iraq robin symes 1234743148

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced it will return three ancient sculptures to Iraq, collectively valued at $500,000. The objects include a Sumerian gypsum alabaster vessel (ca. 2600–2500 BCE) and two Babylonian terracotta sculptures (ca. 2000–1600 BCE) depicting a male and female head. The repatriation follows new information from an investigation into Robin Symes, a dealer accused of trafficking looted artifacts. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office reported that the Symes investigation has led to the seizure of 135 antiquities worth over $58 million, with two of the items seized by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit earlier this year.

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article news schedule Dec 17, 2025 visibility 4 link 1 artist

libya national museum red castle reopens after 14 years 1234767344

Libya’s National Museum, also known as the Red Castle Museum (As-Saraya Al-Hamra), has reopened in Tripoli for the first time since the 2011 revolution that ended Muammar el-Qaddafi’s rule. The museum, the largest in North Africa, closed at the onset of Libya’s military instability during the Arab Spring. Its 10,000-square-meter gallery houses artifacts spanning prehistory through Greek, Roman, and Islamic periods, including millennia-old mummies. Renovations began in 2023, with a full public reopening scheduled for early 2026; currently admission is limited to students.

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article policy schedule May 6, 2026 visibility 8

Today’s war, tomorrow’s loot: attempts at stemming the illicit trade in art

The article examines the ongoing challenge of preventing the illicit trade in cultural property looted from conflict zones. It discusses the Hague Convention of 1954 and its protocol, which require signatory countries to prevent theft and pillage during armed conflict and to seize and repatriate unlawful exports. However, the protocol only applies to situations of 'occupation,' leaving a gap for looting that occurs in the chaos of war beyond formal occupation. The article also notes UN Security Council Resolutions that restrict unlawfully removed cultural property from Iraq and Syria, but no similar consensus exists for countries like Afghanistan, Libya, Ukraine, Lebanon, Yemen, Sudan, and Iran. EU Regulation 2019/880 is highlighted as a measure that prohibits introducing goods removed unlawfully from their place of origin into the EU, though its scope has expanded beyond its original anti-terrorist financing purpose.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original

article culture schedule Oct 18, 2025 visibility 9 link 1 artist

Saif Azzuz Explores Water, Fire and Family in the Bayou and the Bay

Saif Azzuz, an artist of Libyan and Yurok heritage, presents a new body of work that intertwines themes of water, fire, and family, drawing from his experiences in both the Louisiana Bayou and the San Francisco Bay. The article, published by The New York Times, explores how Azzuz's mixed Indigenous and North African background informs his artistic practice, blending personal history with environmental and cultural narratives.

newspaper The New York Times open_in_new Read original

article news schedule Dec 17, 2025 visibility 5 link 1 artist

Reopening of Libya's national museum celebrated as ‘new beginning’

The National Museum of Libya in Tripoli reopened on 12 December after being closed since 2011, following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi and years of civil war. Housed in the historic Red Castle (Al-Saraya Al-Hamra), the museum was originally established by Italian colonizers in 1919 and later expanded by the British. Gaddafi opened a modernized version in 1988. A comprehensive restoration project with UNESCO assistance began in 2023 to bring the institution up to international standards.

newspaper The Art Newspaper open_in_new Read original