Podcast
Coronavirus: dispatches from Italy and China
We speak to our journalists Anna Somers Cocks and Lisa Movius about their experiences of lockdown. Plus, we begin a new feature—Lonely Works—where we look at individual works of art that are now hanging unseen in galleries. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793
NewsObituaries
Vittorio Gregotti, the last modern architect of Venice, dies of coronavirus aged 92
He designed many prestigious buildings in Italy and internationally and led the visual arts section of the Venice Biennale twice in the 1970s
NewsRaphael
For this week only: unrepeatable chance to see Raphael’s tapestries with Michelangelo’s ceiling
The Vatican Museums celebrate Raphael’s 500th anniversary by hanging his tapestries in the Sistine Chapel for which they were created
NewsExhibitions
British dealer James Butterwick cleared of defamation for describing Russian Avant-garde works in Mantua exhibition as fake
Italian judge said his opinion of the 2013 show was based on his “proven and recognised competence and experience”
PreviewExhibitions
Old Masters, new tricks: Chatsworth House drawings are off to Sheffield
Almost 60 works by artists including Rembrandt, Annibale Carracci and Sebastiano del Piombo will go on show at the Millennium Gallery
NewsEast German art
Arseholes or artists? How East German art is becoming a new collecting frontier
As a cache of communist pieces stored near Beeskow castle for 25 years is being rehabilitated, the market for such work is growing
NewsCatalogues raisonnés
Secret papers on famous artists including Gauguin, Renoir and Monet to be revealed
New York-based Wildenstein-Plattner Institute will digitise fabled Wildenstein archive of sale catalogues, letters and experts’ notes
FeatureObituaries
The Getty Museum curator who hired the Rolling Stones for 15 shillings a head
Self-taught Gillian Wilson put together the 20th century’s best collection of French decorative arts
NewsVenice
Governing body of St Mark’s basilica wants to build a Perspex anti-flood wall
Officials warn cathedral cannot take any more damage after the record-breaking floods that hit Venice in November
NewsOpenings
British architect David Adjaye to build a church, mosque and synagogue on a united site near the Louvre Abu Dhabi
The future House of Abrahamic religions in Abu Dhabi shows how the UAE differs from Saudi Arabia
CommentGreen Vault
Why the Dresden jewel heist wasn’t worth a billion, but why the Germans are still really upset
Thieves stole Baroque jewels from the Green Vault earlier this week after breaking in through a window
CommentVenice
Italy should call in the Dutch to help finish the Venice flood barriers
Following years of corruption and issues with Italian administration, an independent expert is the best bet to rescue the city from peril
NewsArt collection
The last of the great private Roman collections re-emerges
A 40-year struggle between Italy and the Torlonia family ends with major show in 2020
NewsPolitics
What is art for? Why, to help sell arms, silly!
October saw full deployment of culture in Russian and French political and commercial diplomacy with Saudi Arabia
NewsVenice
Works of art in Venice museums and the Biennale undamaged by floods, but major attrition to buildings with great loss of private property
Most cultural institutions open to the public again today
NewsVenice
Where are the flood barriers, cry the citizens of Venice after its second worst flood since records began
More evidence has emerged that the flood barriers have serious technical problems
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Goulandris collection of Modern masterworks finally revealed in new Athens museum
Dream museum of collectors Basil and Elise Goulandris brought to life almost three decades after original proposal
InterviewUK politics
'A democratic vote swayed by lies is not democracy'—Mary Beard on what antiquity can teach us about political spin
The recipient of the 2019 J. Paul Getty Medal discusses how understanding Cicero can help decipher the rise of populism
NewsSculpture
Jacob Rothschild fulfills a 50-year-old dream with two sculptures by a Greek Modernist
How two monumental figures by Niko Ghika looking out from Corfu were made
CommentVenice
Don’t believe what you read in the papers: Venice won't lose its cruise ships any time soon
A lack of a long-term plan combined with the economic benefits brought by the luxury liners means a cruise ship ban will take long to implement
InterviewFrom the archive
In search of art out of Africa: an interview with Jean Pigozzi
“I feel that at the time of the Medici they had my kind of rapport with their artists”
AnalysisClimate Change
Venice has no official plan for how to deal with climate change
A new report by Icomos details how the science/culture divide is stopping world heritage coming to the aid of climate change and urges speedy action
NewsVenice
Dramatic speech in Baku challenges Unesco’s support for damaging Venice cruise ship decision
The non-governmental organisation Europa Nostra recommends that the World Heritage Committee put the lagoon city on the endangered list
CommentVenice
The Turkish shareholders in the port of Venice want to keep cruise ships coming—and the mayor supports them
The World Heritage Committee is meeting in Baku and intends to dodge declaring Venice endangered for the third time
NewsVenice
Solid evidence that Venice's Mose mobile flood barriers have serious conservation faults
Repair work is estimated to take ten years, calling the operational date of 2021 into question
NewsArt & Technology
Get the app and the church door will open to you
How often on our walks do we get to an enticing old church, only to find that it’s locked? Mobile phones provide the 'open sesame'
AnalysisVenice
Where does the cruise ship crash leave Venice?
The mayor demands that liners use other channels to enter the lagoon but this solution also poses problems
ReviewTbilisi Art Fair
Why the Tbilisi art fair should not be afraid of communist-period art
A successful second edition of the fair, with visits to houses and studios, and lots of collateral shows
NewsMona Lisa
Carlos Santana dreams of seeing the Mona Lisa naked: now he can
As the so-called “Nude Mona Lisa” goes on display at Chantilly, here’s the Mexican guitarist’s love song
CommentTbilisi Art Fair
Why I agreed to join the advisory board of the art fair in Georgia (no, not the southern US state)
It has art schools, tradition, a culturally rich catchment area, and a true-grit backer
CommentObituaries
What Jayne Wrightsman did when you criticised her style
Anna Somers Cocks recalls a telling episode in her relations with the Met’s benefactor, who died on 20 April
NewsCathedral of Notre Dame
Britain’s historic house owners pledge ancient trees for Notre Dame rebuilding
The cathedral’s roof, wholly destroyed in the fire, was built of some 1300 great trees
NewsPrizes
Caravaggio in the flesh at The Art Newspaper Russia’s annual prize ceremony
Actors, musicians, dancers and a famous Moscow film director, combined with lighting wizardry, celebrate the Russian art world
NewsGrimani
Grimani antiquities collection comes home to Venice palazzo after four centuries
Cardinal Grimani’s classical Greek and Roman sculptures—given to the Venetian Republic in 1587—will be reassembled in theatrical palace gallery
NewsUnesco
Goodbye Venice, goodbye Ravenna, goodbye Ferrara, goodbye Carthage?
Many World Heritage Sites around the Mediterranean are at grave risk from sea-level rise by 2100, report says
NewsLondon
How the UK has revived its Monuments Men
The CPPU consists of a solitary lieutenant-colonel, but he is recruiting
CommentArt market
Will the UK be able to take part in antiquities busts after Brexit?
Nineteen of the accused in Operation Demetra face trial in December, while the alleged UK mastermind awaits extradition
CommentJamal Khashoggi
Do not penalise Saudi Arabian artists for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi
"There is great fear now within Saudi Arabia, with even stricter self-censorship than before"
CommentMiddle East
Why being a royal artist in the Gulf is a mixed blessing
Rashid Al Khalifa of Bahrain is showing his art in London’s Saatchi Gallery
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Top museum directors on the challenges of climate change and mass tourism
Vatican conference on preventive conservation warns of environmental impact of short-term politics
CommentIvory
The UK’s imminent law against the trade in ivory is a serious threat to liberties, says former Lord Chief Justice
Civilians will be allowed to enter your house, break open containers and use “reasonable force”
NewsArt market
How two missing legs helped the restitution of an Italian secrétaire worth €2m
The Italian state has a permanent right to confiscate illegally exported work
PreviewVenice Glass Week
Venice rallies to save its ancient glass-blowing industry from Chinese competition
Venice Glass Week is a city-wide collaboration between museums, commercial galleries and artisans of Murano
NewsCollectors
Found guilty in 1995 of embezzling investors’ money, Roberto Polo resurfaces in role of art benefactor in Spain
Toledo government hopes for “El Greco” effect from this 15-year loan of late 19th- and 20th-century works
NewsLaw
The UK’s ban on ivory sales will not protect the elephants
A spokesman for Traffic, the leading researchers of trade in endangered species, says it is the Asian market that drives the poaching, not the Western market
NewsAntiquities & Archaeology
Man decapitated while fleeing volcano’s destruction of Pompeii
Excavation tells a poignant story of an unfortunate Roman
AnalysisArt fairs
Why the new Tbilisi Art Fair restores pleasure to buying art
It’s affordable, good quality, unspeculative—and the wine is great
CommentExhibitions
Is nothing sacred? The Metropolitan Museum should apologise to the Vatican for Heavenly Bodies show
Curator Andrew Bolton’s Costume Institute blockbuster is pointlessly offensive to believers
NewsComment
Why the French can sell arms and culture to Saudi Arabia, but the US and UK only arms
France's latest deal with the Kingdom reveals the close connection between culture and foreign affairs
NewsVenice Architecture Biennale 2018
Vatican to take part in the Venice Architecture Biennale with ten chapels
Norman Foster is among the roster of international architects
InterviewArtist interview
Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: The desire for paradise
Emilia Kabakov discusses the duo’s past in the USSR and their aim to stop it defining how they are perceived as artists
Comment300
'Issue one came out in less degraded times: more idealistic, less puffed up by PR machines'
Anna Somers Cocks, founding editor and chairman, looks back
ReviewBooks
The commercial rape of Venice is the result of a moral failing in the Italians
This is the view of a former Getty chief, who says the problems of the Serenissima are a paradigm for other historic cities
NewsArt Dubai 2018
Resistance in multiple forms at Sharjah’s March Meeting
Minds from the Middle Eastern art world and beyond discussed topics such as urban planning and art and ecology
NewsArt fairs
Brian and Anna Haughton, the dealers who put intellect into art fairs
Back in 1982, these ceramic specialists realised that top curators and hot research brought in the collectors. Today, they’re still keeping the flame of knowledge alive
ReviewBooks
Peter Wilson: The man who invented modern auctioneering
Buccaneering, brilliant, art-loving—he created the power of Sotheby’s (and Christie’s learned by imitation)
News
French art world shock at sacking of Bordeaux museum director
"We are stupefied"—50 art professionals sign open letter in defence of María Inés Rodríguez
CommentSaudi Arabia
Crown Prince Mohammed of Saudi Arabia has roped an ancient city into his London charm offensive
The splendid Nabatean site of Mada’in Saleh may be opened to tourists
NewsOpenings
Crown Prince Mohammed adds art, Silicon Valley and movies to his Saudi reforms as Wahabi influence wanes
MoMa hosts announcement of his Misk Art Institute, led by artist Ahmed Mater
NewsExhibitions
Royal Academy of Arts tried to borrow $450m Salvator Mundi for its Charles I exhibition
New London show has received glowing reviews but there is one conspicuous absentee
FeatureVictoria & Albert Museum
A new era for heritage reproduction
Digital technologies are at the heart of a declaration by major museums and heritage organisations to record and sometimes reproduce works of art
FeatureGoogle
How Google became a major producer of cultural content
The Google Cultural Institute’s We Wear Culture fashion stories are its latest museum collaboration, its director Amit Sood tells us.
Comment
How Egypt is destroying Cairo and civil society
The pharaonic new museum will not make up for misguided policies
NewsSaudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince launches institute to promote art in the Middle East
Recently identified buyer of Leonardo's Salvator Mundi is planning a pavilion at the Venice Biennale, art teaching in schools, international exhibitions, archaeology and virtual reality
NewsLeonardo da Vinci
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince revealed as buyer of $450m Leonardo and loan confirmed to Louvre Abu Dhabi
Gesture consolidates close political alliance between Saudi Arabia and the UAE
NewsVenice
This is no way to solve the cruise ship issue in Venice
The Italian government’s latest decision is in hock to the port’s own interests
CommentFunding
Culture is compromised by donations from the Sackler family: we must not accept any more of their money
Anna Somers Cocks on the revelations published in the New Yorker magazine
ReviewBooks
How offsets on arms sales into Abu Dhabi have helped finance its Louvre
A French study of the Gulf museums sees them as the Versailles of the sheikhs—a step towards autocracy
FeaturePodcast
Abu Dhabi Focus podcast, episode three: how the UAE art scene became a force to be reckoned with
Art dealer Thaddaeus Ropac and curator Maya Allison tell us how the nation’s creative ambitions have blossomed. Plus: Silver Lion-winning musician and artist Hassan Khan on his Abu Dhabi Art performance
NewsLouvre Abu Dhabi
Louvre Abu Dhabi: Nudes? non-Islamic religions? Questioning the nature of God?
Four unexpected works on show in the new museum
FeaturePodcast
Abu Dhabi Focus podcast, episode two: How Saudi artists are driving political change
As Abu Dhabi Art fair opens, we speak to the Saudi artists Manal Al Dowayan and Ahmed Mater. Plus: Iraq's Dia Azzawi on creating the Arab world's Guernica
Commentcoronavirus
Letter from Italy: the churches—open, but without services—are the only place to see art
The Art Newspaper's founder-editor Anna Somers Cocks on the impact of Covid-19 on Turin, where she is in lockdown
Anna Somers Cocks