columbia museum new collection galleries renovation

The Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, South Carolina, is unveiling newly reconfigured collection galleries to cap its 75th anniversary and culminate a yearlong renovation. The museum will reopen its collection galleries following a gala on January 16, presenting a newly conceived display across 20 galleries. The reinstalled galleries draw from the museum’s American, Asian, European, and modern and contemporary holdings, including Italian Renaissance works from the Kress Collection, an Asian gallery anchored by Chinese art from the Tang dynasty, and thematic galleries focused on landscape, still life, and art and architecture. The renovation, which began in January 2025, included new lighting and ceilings, reinforced walls, and conservation work on pieces by Sam Gilliam, Teiji Takai, and Benjamin Wilson.

America’s Finest Renaissance Tapestry Set for Major Restoration

The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) has awarded its €25,000 Museum Restoration Fund to the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) for the conservation of *The Meeting of Dante and Virgil*, a mid-16th century Italian Renaissance tapestry. This is the first time TEFAF has funded a tapestry restoration since the initiative began in 2012. The wool and silk tapestry, made between 1547 and 1549 by the Florentine workshop of Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici and designed by Francesco Salviati, depicts the opening scene of Dante’s *The Divine Comedy*. It is the only early Medici tapestry held by a public collection outside Italy, standing 17 feet tall and eight feet wide. Due to structural weaknesses and light sensitivity, it has been largely in storage for 70 years. Conservation work by the Midwest Art Conservation Center will include wet cleaning, stabilization, and partial reweaving, along with a new display system. The tapestry is scheduled to return to public view at MIA on July 11.

Tefaf restoration award goes to 500-year-old Medici tapestry

Tefaf has awarded its Museum Restoration Fund prize to the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) for the restoration of a 500-year-old Medici tapestry, "The Meeting of Dante and Virgil" (circa 1547-49). The €25,000 grant will support cleaning, consolidation, and lining of the 5.3-meter-high work, which has not been displayed in over 60 years due to severe damage including silk weft loss and open slits. The conservation will be carried out by the Midwest Art Conservation Center, and the tapestry is expected to go on public view at MIA this summer.

The Big Review: Rothko in Florence ★★★★★

The Palazzo Strozzi in Florence has launched a major exhibition exploring the profound influence of the Italian Renaissance on Mark Rothko. Co-curated by the artist's son, Christopher Rothko, the show spans three historic locations: the Palazzo Strozzi, the Museo di San Marco, and the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana. By placing Rothko’s abstract canvases in direct dialogue with Fra Angelico’s frescoes and Michelangelo’s architecture, the exhibition highlights how the artist’s visits to Italy in the 1950s and 60s shaped his spatial thinking and spiritual intensity.

This French Castle Is Crowdfunding Its Own Restoration

The Château de Chambord, a UNESCO World Heritage site and the second-most visited castle in France, has launched a €30 million ($35 million) crowdfunding campaign to fund urgent structural restorations. Decades of flooding and drought in the Loire Valley have severely compromised the foundations of the François I Wing, leading to warped walls and a 2023 incident where 20 visitors fell through a collapsing floor. Director General Pierre Dubreuil has initiated a three-phase plan to shore up the masonry, modernize accessibility, and create new educational facilities.

Raphael Died Before 40. His Met Retrospective Begs the Question: What If He Had Lived?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is preparing a major spring retrospective dedicated to Raphael, the Italian Renaissance master who died in 1520 before his 40th birthday. This will be his first such exhibition in the United States, aiming to reassess an artist traditionally viewed as a facile, efficient prodigy rather than a deep intellectual.

guy cogeval obituary former director musee dorsay paris

Guy Cogeval, the former director of Paris's Musée d'Orsay, died on November 13 at age 70 after a long illness. A specialist in 19th-century art and the Nabis, Cogeval led the Musée d'Orsay from 2008 to 2017, overseeing a major renovation of 80 percent of its galleries and merging it with the Musée de l'Orangerie. He previously directed the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the National Museum of French Monuments, and curated acclaimed exhibitions including "Hitchcock and Art" and "Édouard Vuillard, Master of Post-Impressionism."

frick collection chief curator aimee ng

The Frick Collection in New York has promoted Aimee Ng to chief curator, effective November. She succeeds Xavier F. Salomon, who is leaving to become director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. Ng, a curator at the Frick since 2015, has organized exhibitions on Italian Renaissance artists and co-curated the landmark 2023 show "Barkley L. Hendricks: Portraits at the Frick." Her appointment is the second senior leadership choice under director Axel Rüger, who joined in March ahead of the museum's long-awaited reopening.

the right influential art historian victoria coates project esther

The article profiles Victoria Coates, an art historian and former Trump administration official, who is leading 'Project Esther,' a conservative initiative aimed at taking over US higher education and targeting progressive organizations. Named after the biblical queen, the project accuses critics of Israel of anti-Semitism and seeks to dismantle what it describes as a 'terrorist support network.' Coates, who previously served as Deputy National Security Advisor and worked on Rumsfeld's memoirs, has a long history of attacking academia from within, including as an anonymous blogger behind 'Elephants in Academia.'

berruguete restoration altarpiece

The Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao has completed a restoration of Pedro Berruguete's *The Annunciation* (1485–1490), a painting that once formed part of an altarpiece likely for a church in Palencia, Spain. The work, on a five-year loan from the Arburu collection, had suffered from cracks, dirt, and oxidized varnish over centuries. Two specialists—Elisa Mora Sánchez for the paint layer and Mayte Camino Martín for the gilding—cleaned, repaired, and re-gilded the panel, revealing Berruguete's blend of Italian Renaissance, Flemish, and Castilian Gothic influences.

The Colors of Mark Rothko Conquer Florence: A Major Exhibition Across Three Venues

I colori di Mark Rothko conquistano Firenze: una grande mostra in tre sedi

The city of Florence is hosting a major three-venue retrospective dedicated to Mark Rothko, centered at Palazzo Strozzi with extensions into the Museo di San Marco and the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana. Curated by Christopher Rothko and Elena Geuna, the exhibition features 70 works spanning the artist's career, from his early Surrealist-influenced paintings of the 1930s and 40s to his iconic 'Multiform' and classic color-field abstractions. A unique highlight of the show is the installation of Rothko’s smaller works within the historic cells of the Museo di San Marco, directly alongside frescoes by Beato Angelico.

Still Thinking About the Fall 2026 Runways? Here Are 8 Can’t-Miss NYC Exhibits to Dress Up and See This April

New York City’s April art calendar features a diverse array of major institutional shows and gallery exhibitions, ranging from Italian Renaissance masters to contemporary experimental collectives. Highlights include a massive Raphael retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the first major U.S. museum exhibition for Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck, and the 82nd edition of the Whitney Biennial featuring 56 multidisciplinary artists.

A Venezia una mostra ripercorre l’opera di Jenny Saville con un inedito omaggio a Tiziano. La recensione

A major solo exhibition of British painter Jenny Saville has opened at Ca' Pesaro in Venice, tracing her career from early works like "Propped" (1992) and "Hybrid" (1997) to new paintings explicitly inspired by Titian. The show, curated by Elisabetta Barisoni, highlights Saville's monumental female nudes, her engagement with Renaissance masters, and her place within the Young British Artists generation that also included Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.

raphael exhibition 2026 metropolitan museum new york

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will open a landmark exhibition dedicated to Renaissance master Raphael in 2026. Titled "Raphael: Sublime Poetry," the show runs from March 29 to June 28 and will be the first major Raphael retrospective ever mounted in the United States. Curated by Carmen Bambach, the exhibition brings together 200 works including paintings, drawings, tapestries, and decorative arts, with loans from major museums worldwide such as the Louvre, the Uffizi, the Prado, and the Vatican Museums. Key loans include the Louvre's "Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione" and the Galleria Borghese's "Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn."

cleveland museum of art acquires giambologna

The Cleveland Museum of Art has acquired Giambologna's marble sculpture *Fata Morgana* (ca. 1572), believed to be the last marble work by the Flanders-born Italian Mannerist in private hands. The piece, which depicts a nude woman emerging from a grotto, was originally commissioned by banker Bernardo Vecchietti and remained with his family for 200 years before being sold in 1775. It was misattributed for centuries until London dealer Patricia Wengraf correctly identified it at a 1989 Christie's auction, purchasing it for £715,000. The museum acquired the sculpture for an undisclosed price, making it only the second Giambologna marble in the U.S. and one of just three outside Italy.

Rediscovering the Eternal City of the 1500s in the drawings of Maarten van Heemskerck. The exhibition in Rome

Riscoprire la Città Eterna del ‘500 nei disegni di Maarten van Heemskerck. La mostra a Roma

A major exhibition at Palazzo Poli in Rome, hosted by the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, showcases a selection of drawings by Dutch artist Maarten van Heemskerck (1498–1574) from his so-called 'little sketchbook,' now held at the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin. The show, titled 'Maarten van Heemskerck e il fascino di Roma' and running until June 7, presents the artist's meticulous studies of Roman antiquities made during his four-year stay in the city from 1532, offering a rare visual record of Renaissance Rome's ancient collections before and after the 1527 Sack of Rome.

Jule Korneffel Finds Meaning at the End of Light

Artist Jule Korneffel's solo exhibition 'In Search of Lost Light' is on view at Spencer Brownstone Gallery through May 2. The show features seven paintings from 2023 to the present, including a site-specific wall work, that explore themes of fading light, memory, and melancholia through a nuanced palette of grays and blues.

Rediscovered portrait by the Renaissance’s leading woman artist goes on display at the Winter Show

A rediscovered portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola, a pioneering female artist of the Italian Renaissance, has gone on public display for the first time in over a century at the Winter Show in New York. The painting, *Portrait of a Canon Regular* (1552), is Anguissola's earliest signed and dated work and was long considered lost until it was found in a private collection in North Carolina after being referenced in a 2019 monograph. It is being presented by Robert Simon Fine Art.

Masterpieces of Italian Renaissance exhibited at National Art Museum of China in Beijing

An exhibition titled "Homage to the Virtuosos: From Leonardo da Vinci to Caravaggio -- Masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance" opened at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing on May 5, 2026. The show features 36 masterpieces by more than 20 renowned Italian artists from the 15th to the 17th centuries, spanning the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Spring 2026 Exhibition Program

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has unveiled its extensive exhibition schedule through June 2026, headlined by the first comprehensive U.S. retrospective of the Renaissance master Raphael. This landmark show will feature over 200 works, including rare loans and masterpieces. Other major highlights include the spring Costume Institute exhibition, "Costume Art," which will inaugurate a new 12,000-square-foot gallery suite, and "Musical Bodies," an interdisciplinary look at the relationship between instruments and the human form.

Italian Renaissance masterpieces debut in Beijing exhibition

An exhibition titled 'Homage to the Virtuosos: From Leonardo da Vinci to Caravaggio - Masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance' has opened at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, featuring 36 Renaissance masterpieces from Italy's Uffizi Galleries. The show includes works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Caravaggio, with many pieces traveling to China for the first time. The exhibition is jointly curated by the National Art Museum of China and the Uffizi Galleries, and is divided into three thematic sections tracing the evolution of Renaissance painting, from early Florentine masters through Mannerism to Venetian and Caravaggio's revolutionary works.

"Homage to the Virtuosos" exhibition opens in Beijing

An exhibition titled "Homage to the Virtuosos: From Leonardo da Vinci to Caravaggio -- Masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance" has opened at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing. The show features 36 masterpieces by more than 20 renowned Italian artists from the 15th to the 17th centuries, including Botticelli, da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael, with most works on display in China for the first time. Chinese painter Jin Shangyi was present to introduce Bronzino's "The Portrait of Lorenzo the Magnificent" to visitors.

Ruth Leon recommends… Raphael: Sublime Poetry – Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has opened its major spring exhibition, "Raphael: Sublime Poetry," the first comprehensive survey of the artist in the United States. Curator Carmen Bambach, exhibition design manager Daniel Kershaw, and research associate Caroline Elenowitz-Hess guide a virtual tour of the show, which brings together over 170 masterpieces and rarely seen works spanning Raphael's career from Urbino to Florence and Rome.

National Gallery | London, Highlights, History, Collection, & Facts

The National Gallery in London, established in 1824, continues to evolve as the primary repository for Great Britain’s national collection of European paintings. Originally founded with the purchase of 38 works from John Julius Angerstein, the museum now houses over 2,600 masterpieces, including significant Italian Renaissance, Dutch, and French Impressionist works. Recent developments include a 2025 announcement that the institution will expand its remit to collect 20th-century art, supported by a new wing planned for the 2030s.

Exhibition Tour—Raphael: Sublime Poetry

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is hosting "Raphael: Sublime Poetry," the first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the Italian Renaissance master in the United States. Featuring over 170 masterpieces and rarely seen treasures, the exhibition traces Raphael’s meteoric career from his origins in Urbino to his transformative years in Florence and his final decade serving the papal court in Rome. The show highlights his unique ability to blend intellectual rigor with emotional lyricism, positioning him as a peer to Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

Blanton Museum of Art To Showcase Transformative Gifts of Art in 2027 Exhibition

The Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin has announced a major upcoming exhibition titled “Shaping the Future: Transformative Gifts to the Blanton Collection,” opening in March 2027. The show will feature significant artworks donated by alumni, Austinites, and collectors from across the country, including pieces by Ellsworth Kelly and John Singer Sargent. The exhibition debuts at a fundraising gala on March 6, 2027, and opens to the public on March 14, 2027, honoring donors whose gifts have strengthened the museum’s collection and supported its growth.

Huge fashion photography archive heads this month’s acquisition round-up

The New York Historical has acquired the vast archive of legendary New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham, nearly a decade after his death in 2016. The collection includes tens of thousands of images, negatives, slides, contact sheets, and correspondence documenting Manhattan street style and high-society events over 50 years. Separately, the J. Paul Getty Museum received a gift of 38 Italian manuscript illuminations from T. Robert Burke and Katherine States Burke, doubling its holdings in that area. The Hamburger Kunsthalle purchased René Magritte's painting *Le Palais de Rideaux* (1928) for €2.4 million from a Belgian private collection.

LEONORA CARRINGTON THE VITRUVIAN WOMAN IN LUXEMBOURG

The Musée du Luxembourg in Paris has opened the first major exhibition in France dedicated solely to the work of surrealist artist Leonora Carrington. Titled 'The Vitruvian Woman,' the show presents 126 works and frames Carrington as a model of innovation and harmony, a deliberate counterpoint to Leonardo da Vinci's 'Vitruvian Man.' It explores her artistic journey from her Celtic origins and discovery of Italian Renaissance art to her pivotal involvement with Surrealism in France and her final years in Mexico.

Raphael: Sublime Poetry

This article announces the first comprehensive U.S. exhibition on Raphael, titled "Raphael: Sublime Poetry," which offers an immersive look at the artist's meteoric career through drawings, paintings, prints, and tapestries. It traces Raphael's journey from his birth in Urbino in 1483, through his training under his poet-painter father Giovanni Santi and later Pietro Perugino, to his rise as a peer to Leonardo and Michelangelo in Florence and his final decade as the favorite artist of the popes in Rome, where he was celebrated as the "prince of painters."

Raphael Exhibition at the Met Offers Rare Glimpse Into Renaissance Master's Genius

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has launched a major retrospective titled 'Raphael: Sublime Poetry,' featuring over 230 works sourced from more than 60 international institutions and private collections. The exhibition provides a chronological survey of the Renaissance master’s career, spanning his early years in Urbino to his definitive period at the papal court in Rome, and includes iconic paintings such as the 'Alba Madonna' alongside rare preparatory sketches and immersive projections of his Vatican frescoes.