Unseen portrait by Velázquez is unveiled

Posted by zichi Lorentz

 
 

Last updated at 4:11 PM on 27th October 2011

Diego Velázquez's Portrait of a Gentleman is thought to have been painted between 1632 - 1635 after his first trip to Italy

Diego Velázquez's Portrait of a Gentleman is thought to have been painted between 1632 - 1635 after his first trip to Italy 

It bears all the marks of one of the greatest painters the world has ever known.

Yet for more than three centuries, this £3million Diego Velázquez portrait remained undiscovered – locked up with bric-a-brac in a family’s cupboard.

The old master was unveiled for the first time ever today before it goes to auction in December.

Known as Portrait of a Gentleman, it is thought the Spanish artist painted it between 1632-1635, after his first trip to Italy.

This is the first time in 15 years a Velázquez has been discovered – and it is thought to be the very first time one has been uncovered in Britain.

The painting was bought in the 1820s by little-known artist Matthew Shepperson, who lived on a modest income and collected portraits as a hobby.

Experts believe he may have paid as little as seven shillings for it – and most likely never knew the value of what he had as it was not signed.

After his death, his family kept it in a cupboard with all of his other paintings, which were passed down the generations as heirlooms.

The hidden treasure only came to light 18 months ago, when one of Shepperson’s relatives in Oxfordshire decided to sell the paintings, hoping to get £300 for each one at best.

Experts at Bonhams auctioneers were convinced it was an old master as soon as they saw it, but spent months studying it before they could confirm it was a Velázquez.

The painting’s origin has now been verified with scientific paint tests, an X ray scan and consultation with six independent experts.

via dailymail.co.uk

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Gustav Klimt painting, once stolen by the Nazis, expected to sell for $25 million at Sotheby's

Posted by zichi Lorentz

 
 

Art handlers shows "Litzlberg on the Attersee" a painting by artist Gustav Klimt at Sotheby's Auction house in New York. A landscape painting by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt that had been stolen by the Nazis is expected to fetch more than $25 million when it is sold at auction next month, Sotheby's said. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid.

via artdaily.org

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Painter Lucian Freud dies aged 88

Posted by zichi Lorentz

 
 

Realist painter Lucian Freud, one of Britain's most distinguished and highly regarded artists, has died aged 88.

New York dealer William Acquavella said Freud had died at his London home on Wednesday after an unspecified illness.

Freud, a grandson of the psycho-analyst Sigmund Freud, was born in Berlin in 1922 and fled to Britain with his Jewish family in 1933, when he was 10.

Freud - particularly known for his paintings of nudes - became a British citizen in 1939.

His works have been increasingly sought after at recent auctions and his portrayal of an overweight nude woman sleeping on a couch sold in 2008 for $33.6m (£20.6m) - a world record for a work by a living artist.

'Lived to paint'

Mr Acquavella described Freud "as one of the great painters of the 20th Century".

"In company he was exciting, humble, warm and witty. He lived to paint and painted until the day he died, far removed from the noise of the art world."

Lucian Freud's Boy on a Sofa Boy on a Sofa fetched £1.49m last year, a record price for a work on paper by Freud

Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate gallery, said: "The vitality of [Freud's] nudes, the intensity of the still life paintings and the presence of his portraits of family and friends guarantee Lucian Freud a unique place in the pantheon of late 20th Century art.

"His early paintings redefined British art and his later works stand comparison with the great figurative painters of any period."

Former Observer art critic William Feaver, who knew Freud for more than 40 years, said Freud was someone who had "restored portraiture to its proper place", by focusing on all types of people, not just successful businessmen and their wives.

"He said everything he did was autobiographical and a self portrait. He was a witty, impulsive artist but generous with it."

Mr Feaver said Freud had left several unfinished paintings.

He said: "He always liked to keep a couple of paintings on the go in case he dropped off the twig and I know he's done that."

Freud, the son of an architect and older brother of the late broadcaster Clement Freud, went to the Central School of Art, in London and then to the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing and London's Goldsmiths College.

At first he confined himself to drawing, but when he was 17 had a self-portrait accepted for reproduction in the magazine, Horizon.

Freud was recognised early on and after a spell in the Merchant Navy in 1942, had his first one-man show in 1944, when he was 21.

via bbc.co.uk

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Bill Viola and Anish Kapoor Win Japan's Praemium Imperiale Awards

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British artists dominated the selection for the Japan Art Association's 2011 Praemium Imperiale arts awards announced today in London, with video artist Bill Viola taking home the award for painting, Anish Kapoor for sculpture, and actress Judi Dench for the theater and film category.

Moving outside of England, Mexico-based architect Ricardo Legorreta received the award for architecture while Japanese conductor and former Boston Symphony Orchestra music director Seiji Ozawa won for music.

The Preamium Imperial awards were founded in 1988 in celebration of the Japan Art Association's 100th anniversary in order to recognize lifetime achievement in the arts in categories not covered by the Nobel Prizes. The 2011 Laureates were chosen by a panel of advisors including star collector François Pinault, former Japanese prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, and onetime Metropolitan Museum of Art president William H. Luers.

The awards will be held in Tokyo on October 19, hosted by His Imperial Highness Prince Hitachi, honorary patron of the Japan Art Association. Winners will each take home awards of ¥2.5 million ($182,000). Past laureates have included architect Frank Gehry, painter Willem de Kooning, and artist Rebecca Horn.

via artinfo.com

 

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