NewsMuseums & Heritage
Off with her head! Infrared technology shows how a 15th-century French king used a paintbrush to replace one wife with another
Francis I of Brittany had his first wife painted over in a medieval prayer book before giving it to his new spouse, research at Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum shows
NewsManuscripts
The write stuff: new analysis on Dead Sea Scrolls sheds light on the scribes behind them
Researchers have used artificial intelligence and other advanced methods to examine the ancient writing
NewsMusée du Louvre
Louvre probes its collection for Nazi and colonial loot in massive provenance research project
Museum launches an online catalogue of 485,000 objects while curators comb through wartime acquisitions and works from former colonies
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
New research reveals how a grasshopper got stuck—leaving its mark in Van Gogh's painting on a summer’s day in Provence
The new Nelson-Atkins Museum catalogue tells the full story of the Olive Trees
NewsNational Trust
National Trust's report on colonial and slavery history did not breach charity law, regulator says
Research commissioned by the trust provoked complaints from Conservative politicians amid UK culture war around controversial monuments
NewsRestitution
Forging ahead with historic restitution plans, Dutch museums will launch €4.5m project to develop a practical guide on colonial collections
Researchers will consider “various modes of return” for museum objects and how the process can help to reconcile with colonial past
NewsTechnology
Pushing the envelope: new technology reads 300-year-old letter without opening it
X-rays and computer algorithms preserve the complicated technique of letterlocking, which turn writing paper into envelope
NewsAmedeo Modigliani
Revealed: the secrets behind Antonia, Modigliani’s ‘most complex work’
Researchers at C2RMF give an exclusive preview of their forensic study of all the artist's works in French museum collections
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Did alcohol withdrawal really cause Van Gogh’s mental crises?
Vincent was allowed 42 units of wine at the asylum—three times more than today’s recommended limit
NewsDiscoveries
The story behind a student who discovered Edward Hopper's earliest paintings were copies
New research finds teenage artist's landscapes were based on a magazine for amateurs learning how to paint
NewsExhibitions
Original or fake? Museum Ludwig puts its Russian avant-garde art to the test
New exhibition reveals 22 falsely attributed works discovered in German museum's collection
NewsPublic art
'Victimised and rejected': new work explores the history of artists working in New York and the need for public art
Julia Weist's project embedded in the New York public records reveals the uneven relationship between the city and its creatives
NewsSalvator Mundi
Was Leonardo's Salvator Mundi for sale when it went on show at the National Gallery?
Public collections usually avoid showing works that are on the market, but expert claims the $450m picture was made available to museums and collectors before the 2011 exhibition
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
NewsResearch
Gauguin’s Tahitian lover may be more fantasy than reality
As the National Gallery's exhibition opens in London, an expert speculates that the teenager in his Polynesian works could be a composite of women the painter encountered
News
French exhibition aims to reveal naked truth about 'nude Mona Lisa'
New research suggests work could be a prototype of an idealised “Venus” portrait designed by Leonardo himself
NewsClimate Change
From the Arctic to Wyoming, Smithsonian artefacts offer insights into climate change
Institute’s collections are helping to provide an understanding of how global warming affects specific locations
NewsLeonardo da Vinci
London's National Gallery defends inclusion of Salvator Mundi in Leonardo show after criticism in new book
The curator’s attribution to the Renaissance master helped Christie’s achieve a world record price for the painting
NewsMuseums & Heritage
X-ray of Uffizi's Artemisia Gentileschi reveals a tantalising underpainting
The portrait has striking similarities to a recent acquisition by the National Gallery in London
NewsTate Modern
Tate partners with Hyundai to promote non-Western art
New research centre project means South Korean motor company is now probably the largest corporate sponsor of visual arts for UK museums
Podcast
Gainsborough murder mystery. Plus, RoseLee Goldberg on performance art
We travel back to the 18th century and delve into the grisly family murders that helped Gainsborough gain fame. Plus, RoseLee Goldberg tell us all about her new book Performance Now: Live Art for the 21st century. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.
AnalysisArt market
Fair’s fair? The murky world of stand costs
Research by The Art Newspaper uncovers wide disparity in both fee structures and transparency
NewsThomas Gainsborough
Murders most foul: Gainsborough family revenge killings trigger reassessment of artist’s early years
New research reveals that two members of Thomas Gainsborough's family were killed over a financial dispute when the artist was a child
BlogAdventures with Van Gogh
Mystery identity of Van Gogh’s 'gardener' solved
New research reveals name of man in the artist’s finest asylum portrait
FeatureLost art
Lost art: the world’s invisible collections
Noah Charney on the Sadnikar family's extremely personal collection in Slovenia
BlogDiary of an art historian
Do not allow art to cleanse crimes
The art world has yet to tackle issues around works like Picasso’s $115m child-prostitute portrait
NewsArt Basel 2018
Giacometti’s chaotic Paris studio brought back to life
Reconstruction at heart of new research centre preserves spirit of artist’s cluttered creative space
NewsResearch
Palestinian stories reconstructed through films, photographs and artefacts confiscated by Israel
An Israeli art historian has spent 20 years trawling the country’s archives for Palestinian cultural property
NewsResearch
New hope for lost Frida Kahlo painting
Expert says new evidence could reveal location of Mexican artist’s biggest work, which “disappeared into thin air”
NewsRestitution
German researchers trace Jewish newspaper mogul’s vast Nazi-looted art collection
The Mosse Art Research Project, a cooperation with the German government, identifies eight works and launches online database
NewsConservation & Preservation
Where petroleum exploration meets art
Researchers use terahertz scanning to understand artist’s methods
NewsConservation & Preservation
Tate awarded $1.5m research grant to conserve contemporary works 'that challenge the structure of the museum'
The project, funded by the Mellon Foundation, will concentrate on time-based media, digital and performance art
NewsResearch
Salvador Dalí foundation completes digital catalogue raisonné after 17 years of research
Online inventory of more than 1,000 paintings will help scholars and the art market
NewsArtists
The grave of Schiele’s muse, Wally Neuzil, found in Croatia
The site is to be restored as a monument to the artist’s young model, whose portrait has been called the Mona Lisa of Austria
NewsResearch
Egon Schiele catalogue raisonné to go digital with updates on newly discovered works and provenance
The online platform will have an emphasis on connoisseurship says the catalogue’s author and art dealer Jane Kallir
NewsCaravaggio
Galleria Borghese launches Caravaggio research centre—with a little help from Fendi
Roman museum aims to become the primary reference for scholarship on the artist
News
Archival gifts are 'holy grail' of Edward Hopper
Five thousand items, shared between Whitney and artist's boyhood home, could inspire new exhibitions
NewsResearch
Scholarship drives the next edition of Pacific Standard Time
Ambitious projects on Latino, Chicano and Latin American art could rewrite art history textbooks
NewsResearch
Safra Foundation gives $1m to Washington’s National Gallery of Art to support art scholars
The money secures a permanent professorship at the museum’s Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts
NewsResearch
Heirs of Jewish publisher team up with German museums to track down Nazi-looted art
The Mosse Art Research Initiative aims to recover thousands of missing works
NewsArtists
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation names head of catalogue raisonné project
Douglas Dreishpoon joins the foundation from the Albright-Knox Gallery
NewsDesign
Harvard museums bring back the spirit of the Bauhaus
An extensive public database chronicles the university’s rich holdings related to the Weimar art school
NewsResearch
Barnes Foundation plans Matisse colloquium in Philadelphia
The conference follows a publication detailing the museum's collection of his work and Albert Barnes early support of the artist
NewsResearch
Former Judd curator launches fellowship for ‘radical thinking’ at Edinburgh University
Independent research post is informed by the philosophies of the American Minimalist sculptor Donald Judd and the Scottish Enlightenment thinker David Hume
NewsIn the frame
Insta-classic: Paris museums launch digital archive with social media project
NewsPhotography
Save the data: New York Public Library launches online biographical archive for photographers
Started by one man based on a now defunct database, the Photographers’ Identities Catalogue could one day become a community-driven wiki
NewsArtists
Art360 initiative lets artists take the long view
Three-year archive programme will focus on Modern British and contemporary artists, starting with three women
News
Have mummies, will travel
CT scans reveal secrets of Field Museum’s Peruvian and Egyptian treasures before they are sent on the road
News
Surprise use for Egyptian blue pigment
NewsExhibitions
Research puts Goya’s witches in right order
"Feat in forensics” finally establishes correct sequence of artist's private album
NewsResearch
Leading art libraries pull together to make research available on the web
Joint project to place 31.5 million images on a single website would “revolutionise” art history, says Frick Collection’s Inge Reist
ArchiveJoshua Reynolds
Reynolds' experiments a real headache for conservators
Research project and show explain conservators’ difficulties with his techniques
ArchiveConservation & Preservation
How to put Monet back together again: restoration after vandalism
Tiny paint flakes from damaged work give clues to artist’s technique
ArchiveDigital Age
The race to digitise the world’s heritage
Non-profit organisation has big plans to gather data from 500 sites over the next five years
ArchiveLeonardo da Vinci
Elusive smile, elusive artist: is this really by Leonardo?
Despite a lavish, 300-page book and a high-profile presentation, strong doubts remain
ArchiveArt & Technology
Who’s in the picture? Anti-terror software might tell us
Face recognition software used to spot terrorists may be the answer to identifying unknown sitters in portraits.
ArchiveNational Gallery
Books: The National Gallery’s latest Technical Bulletin makes some great discoveries
The volume is a compendium of papers presented at the Gallery in September 2009
ArchiveNational Gallery
Looking beyond Leonardo's blockbuster National Gallery exhibition
Where next after Leo-mania?
ArchiveArt fairs
Art Basel Miami Beach to be studied for Swiss sociology project
Collectors and dealers alike must prepare for questioning as art-money relationship comes under the microscope
ArchiveJoseph Beuys
Harvard Art Museums to research Beuys' multiples
The Harvard museum owns an almost complete set
ArchiveArt & Technology
An advance in iron preservation aids conservators
Work on Civil War submarine leads to pioneering technique
ArchiveForgeries
Early copy of the Gospel of Mark is a forgery
US scholars, conservators and scientists collaborate to prove that a “14th-century manuscript” is a skilled fake
ArchiveLeonardo da Vinci
Cleaning shows that London’s Virgin of the Rocks is nearly all by the artist’s hand
After five years of research and conservation, Leonardo's masterpiece is once again looking its best
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Mystery over who made the “Francis Bacon” rugs
New research poses more questions than answers over possible attributions for items that were withdrawn from March sale
ArchiveArt & Technology
Hollywood technology used to examine new Herculaneum find
Researchers see future applications for this cross-over science
ArchiveNews
Grant for Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh to catalogue Warhol’s “Time capsules”
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has awarded the museum $600,000
ArchiveVienna
Albertina to reopen its collection to scholars—finally
The institution has installed an impressive high-tech robotic system to store and retrieve its holdings of prints and drawings
ArchiveBooks
Books: Two books attempt to correct views of pre-Raphaelite art—held by no one
Traditional understandings of the brotherhood are addressed, again
ArchiveLeonardo da Vinci
Leonardo underdrawings revealed, putting the authenticity of the Virgin of the rocks beyond dispute
Infra-red examination shows abandoned original design
ArchiveLeonardo da Vinci
Books: What is all the fuss about Leonardo? Martin Kemp and Charles Nicholl try to decipher the master
Two books try to shed new light on why Leonardo continues to exert a fascination for scholars, art historians and the public
ArchiveBooks
The production of works for garth and home
This study tries to prove that there was an aesthetic specific to cloistered women
ArchiveLeonardo da Vinci
Books: Leonardo as larger-than-life, but also human
Two studies of the Renaissance artist’s works reveal divergent assumptions about interpretation
ArchiveLeonardo da Vinci
Arts in broadcasting and television: Leonardo on BBC 3
Four million viewers tuned in to Alan Yentob’s three-part series on the wonders of Da Vinci
ArchiveLeonardo da Vinci
The Art Newspaper's exclusive insight into the new Universal Leonardo Project
Oxford professor launches detailed technical study of all works attributed to Leonardo to be completed by major exhibitions in 2006
ArchivePaul Cézanne
Books: Adam classicism to Tinseltown Rococo
Something for everyone: “animalcules”, Baltic art, the Cecils, CD-Roms, Cézanne, Chinese furniture, Clement Greenberg decadence, Holbein, Japanese design, Kahn, Leonardo, Millais, Modernism, Palladio, Tiffany silver, terracotta sculpture
ArchiveLeonardo da Vinci
Books: Recent works on Leonardo take different but complementary approaches
Who was the real Leonardo da Vinci?
ArchiveLeonardo da Vinci
The public may decide the fate of Leonardo’s “Adoration of the Magi”
Antonio Paolucci states he will halt the Uffizi’s planned restoration of the painting if he hears convincing arguments as to why it should not take place
ArchiveArt & Technology
"Digital craft" project at Frankfurt's Museum of Applied Arts aims to change the way we think about museums and technology
Director James M. Bradburne is a passionate believer in new technologies
ArchiveRome
An Italian archaeologist pleads for professionals to gather information from farmers and from those living near ancient sites
The integrity of most archaeological sites in Italy has been compromised by extensive illicit excavations, which have caused the loss of an enormous quantity of archaeological information
ArchiveWalter Sickert
A new book explores Walter Sickert's innovative work as a printmaker
Nine years of painstaking research have revealed this technically adventurous side of the artist’s work
ArchiveLeonardo da Vinci
Palazzo Vecchio Leonardo discovery doubted
The unfinished fresco may lie under Vasari's contribution to the Palazzo
ArchiveLeonardo da Vinci
Books: Robert Zwijnenberg on order and chaos in the writings of Leonardo da Vinci
A new book explores the notebooks of the Renaissance Master
ArchiveArt & Technology
Michelangelo's sculptures transported into the digital age with new scanning technology
Stanford University works to create computer models of all of the master's sculptural works
ArchiveExhibitions
Marion’s Medusas at the Warburg in London
Stancioff spent her life charting the use of the same visual symbols by vastly distant cultures
ArchiveGiorgione
Giorgione: the painter of “poetic brevity”
This study is based on a close look at conservation and restoration research, a scientific examination of the artist’s technique, and new documentary evidence
ArchiveLeonardo da Vinci
Books: Leonardo's beginnings
This study maintains that Verrocchio’s “Tobias and the angel” in London is the first example of the artist’s hand
ArchiveBooks
Books: Carlo James explores the history of art conservation
A critical look at old and new conservation and preservation techniques
ArchiveVincent Van Gogh
New research shows Yasuda Sunflowers picture to be authentic Van Gogh
“Sunflowers” back in bloom
ArchiveAntiquities & Archaeology
The search for ancient Alexandria goes underwater
The greatest city of the Hellenistic age has been neglected by archaeology for decades. Now underwater survey techniques have provided us with glimpses of the centre’s greatness. But many decry the techniques being used
ArchiveScience and Art
New laser technology for painting restoration
Revolutionary non-contact cleaning method to be unveiled this month at Liverpool’s laser conservation conference
ArchiveArt & Technology
Rembrandt under X-ray at the British Museum
Medical technology is being utilised to obtain clear images of watermarks
ArchiveHerculaneum
New research reveals Herculaneum’s wooden remains could be fake
Modern reconstructions with ancient materials have escaped detection until now
ArchiveInternet
How are Britain's leading museums exploiting new multimedia technology?
Pundits inform us that the new media age is now upon us. Will this transform the museum sector?
ArchiveArt & Technology
What's happening in the world of information technology in the museum community
A three-day conference and exhibition in London with new projects on show
ArchiveSalvador Dalí
Dalí commission to sort things out with new expert team in Figueras
The Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí fills the hole left by break with Robert Descharnes
ArchiveScience and Art
Archaeologists delighted as Schliemann's Trojan treasure becomes available for research
British scientists describe the new techniques which could be used to investigate the recently revealed gold and silver hoard
ArchiveLeonardo da Vinci
The Crowley Colosso Leonardo Prize
Entries open for the Accademia Italiana's annual award
ArchiveMuseums & Heritage
Who does research in museums?
"Where there is no research, there is no museum", says Wolf Dieter Dube, director of the Berlin museums, but this tenet has come under attack in recent years.
CommentLeonardo da Vinci
Doubly lost: why the Salvator Mundi's failure to show up at the Louvre is to be greatly regretted
Insurance measures allowed the Leonardo painting to be included in the Louvre’s blockbuster if the loan was confirmed by 1 January. Now that date has passed, Martin Kemp laments its disappearance
Martin Kemp