Vasari Art Codex

article news schedule Oct 8, 2025 source 2 sources visibility 8 link 11 artists, 7 galleries

morning links october 8 2025 1234756018

Tate has announced an ambitious plan to build a £150 million ($201 million) endowment by 2030, launching the Tate Future Fund in June with over £43 million ($58 million) pledged. The initiative, unveiled at a high-profile gala that raised £1 million ($1.34 million), has sparked debate across the UK museum sector about the viability of endowment models for long-term sustainability. Meanwhile, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead launched a £10 million ($13 million) endowment, bolstered by a gift from musician Sting, and other UK museums like the British Museum and V&A have quietly built similar reserves. In a separate story, Matthiesen Gallery has filed a lawsuit in US District Court against convicted fraudster Thomas Austin Doyle, artist Shalva Sarukhanishvili, Jill Newhouse Gallery, and art collector Jon Landau over the alleged mishandling of Gustave Courbet's painting *Mother and Child on a Hammock* (ca. 1844), claiming fraud and breach of contract after the painting was sold far below its market value.

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article news schedule Dec 1, 2025 visibility 4 link 3 artists, 2 galleries

con artist charged for fraudulent sale of courbet painting 1234764258

American con artist Thomas Doyle, 68, has been charged with wire fraud for allegedly defrauding London gallery owner Patrick Matthiesen over a Gustave Courbet painting. Doyle claimed to manage a family trust with billions in assets and offered to broker the sale of Courbet's 1844 oil painting *Mother and Child on a Hammock* without commission. Instead, he delivered the work to his partner Shalva Sarukhanishvili, who sold it to Jill Newhouse Gallery for $115,000; the gallery then resold it to collector Jon Landau for $125,000. Matthiesen received no proceeds and filed a lawsuit against Doyle, Sarukhanishvili, Jill Newhouse Gallery, and Landau. Doyle has a prior fraud conviction involving a Corot painting and was described by a judge as a "career criminal."

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gavel restitution schedule Oct 8, 2025 visibility 11 link 3 artists, 3 galleries

matthiesen gallery lawsuit jill newhouse jon landau courbet 1234755812

The Matthiesen Gallery in London has filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York alleging fraud, breach of contract, and other counts over a Gustave Courbet painting, *Mother and Child on a Hammock*. The gallery claims that Thomas Austin Doyle, a convicted con man, orchestrated a scheme to defraud director Patrick Matthiesen, selling the painting—valued at $650,000—through artist and dealer Shalva Sarukhanishvili to Jill Newhouse Gallery for $115,000, which then sold it to top collector Jon Landau for $125,000. The lawsuit also names Landau, who allegedly viewed the work multiple times at TEFAF fairs knowing its retail price, yet refuses to return it. Doyle has a long criminal history, including prior convictions for art fraud and theft.

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article news schedule Nov 27, 2025 visibility 6 link 8 artists, 2 galleries

Repeat art fraudster arrested for stealing Courbet painting

London gallery owner Patrick Matthiesen consigned a Gustave Courbet painting, *Mother and Child on a Hammock* (1844), to the Nicholas Hall Gallery in New York for Tefaf Maastricht 2023, listed at $650,000. After it failed to sell, Matthiesen was contacted by a man calling himself Thomas Doyle (also A.J. Doyle), who claimed to be a former US Air Force pilot, government contractor, and art dealer with family ties to Doyle Auctions. Despite Doyle having 11 prior fraud convictions—including stealing a bronze Degas statue in 2007—Matthiesen was convinced by artworks Doyle sent for inspection, including works attributed to El Greco, Rubens, and a Michelangelo drawing. In 2024, Doyle borrowed the Courbet to show a potential buyer and never returned it. Doyle has now been arrested for the theft.

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museum exhibitions schedule May 6, 2026 visibility 1 link 4 artists

Sung Tieu on Representing Germany at the 61st Venice Biennale

Sung Tieu, who is co-representing Germany at the 61st Venice Biennale alongside Henrike Naumann, responds to a questionnaire from ArtReview about her plans for the German Pavilion. She describes her inspiration as her mother and childhood home, a site built for foreign contract workers in the GDR that later became a refuge for the diaspora. Tieu states that her work relates to the Biennale theme "In Minor Keys" through the lens of Gehrenseestrasse, a concrete record of collective memory. She also expresses skepticism about the Biennale's importance, noting that the German Pavilion's fascist architecture compels artists to work against it, and that national pavilions reveal how much work remains in undoing nationalism.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jun 30, 2025 visibility 3 link 3 artists, 1 gallery

‘Seeds of Life’: The art of caregiving pulses through every brushstroke in Jen Hintz Eggers’ new exhibition

Artist Jen Hintz Eggers presents 'Seeds of Life,' a new exhibition at the Mezzanine Gallery in Wilmington, Delaware, that explores the emotional complexities of early motherhood. Through paintings featuring sacred geometry motifs like the seed of life and flower of life, Eggers translates her personal experiences with breastfeeding, caregiving, and her son's growing independence into layered oil works. Notable pieces include 'As Above So Below,' which depicts two mirrored yet distinct seed-of-life patterns symbolizing the bond between mother and child, and 'Memento Vivere,' a five-canvas series inspired by the Latin phrase 'remember to live' that incorporates memories of nature and family moments.

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