I haven’t seen the Royal Academy of Arts presented in such a magnificent fashion in a long time, and Spain and the Hispanic World: Treasures from the Hispanic Society Museum & Library is a triumph in those large rooms. Highlighting thousands of years’ worth of human history in the Hispanic Society of America’s collection, almostContinue reading “REVIEW | Spain and the Hispanic World: Treasures from the Hispanic Society Museum & Library – Royal Academy of Arts, London”
Tag Archives: painting
THE BIG REVIEW | Van Eyck. An Optical Revolution – Museum voor Schone Kunsten (MSK Gent), Ghent
I think one’s ability to clearly differentiate the individual hairs on Adam’s legs is testament enough to the unprecedented opportunity to view the exterior panels of the Ghent Altarpiece as Hubert and Jan van Eyck once did.Shown in pairs, the 8 restored panels have been scattered across 4 rooms in the 13-room Van Eyck: AnContinue reading “THE BIG REVIEW | Van Eyck. An Optical Revolution – Museum voor Schone Kunsten (MSK Gent), Ghent”
REVIEW | Leighton House Museum and Sambourne House, London
Sambourne House was the first historic house I ever volunteered at. Practically no one had ever heard of it, but it remains to my knowledge one of the best preserved Victorian interiors in London. Revisiting the place some six years later following a major re-brand, barely a thing has changed and the house remains justContinue reading “REVIEW | Leighton House Museum and Sambourne House, London”
REVIEW | The Legend of King Arthur: A Pre-Raphaelite Love Story – William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow
Nothing is more emblematic of the Pre-Raphaelites than the legend of King Arthur. Obsessed with medieval chivalry, damsels in distress, and dreams of the romantic past, Sir Thomas Malory’s literary compilation Le Morte d’Arthur, published in 1485, was the perfect catalyst for their radical revolution against the Royal Academy’s ideals. The William Morris Gallery’s currentContinue reading “REVIEW | The Legend of King Arthur: A Pre-Raphaelite Love Story – William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow”
REVIEW | Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits – Garden Museum, London
Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits at the Garden Museum, London, is a wonderfully illuminating exhibition that says much about how the artist saw his surroundings. If you want to know how Lucian Freud paints people, you should look at how he depicts plants. A selection of rarely-seen childhood drawings of plants preface this one-room show which,Continue reading “REVIEW | Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits – Garden Museum, London”
THE BIG REVIEW | Dürer’s Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist – National Gallery, London
Dürer’s Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist at the National Gallery, London, although wonderful, is also a slightly messy exhibition. In fact, some of the thematic rooms are so good that you forget this is a chronology of his observations in the Alps, Italy, and the Low Countries. The backbone is Dürer’s sketchbook drawings, whichContinue reading “THE BIG REVIEW | Dürer’s Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist – National Gallery, London”
THE BIG REVIEW | Raphael – National Gallery, London
For a concise review of The Credit Suisse Exhibition: RAPHAEL, please click here. The Early Umbrian Years Opening the National Gallery show is an elusive, faintly drawn portrait of a young boy whose features are generally believed to be that of a 15/16-year-old Raphael (British Museum, London). His eyes show an ambition and determination thatContinue reading “THE BIG REVIEW | Raphael – National Gallery, London”
THE BIG REVIEW | Titian: Love, Desire, Death – National Gallery, London
The reunion of Titian’s poesie paintings made for Prince Philip of Habsburg (future King Philip II of Spain) is a momentous occasion in the history of art. Created between 1551 and 1562, the series shows the elderly Titian’s artistic freedom at its height. Free to choose his subject matter and interpret them as he pleased,Continue reading “THE BIG REVIEW | Titian: Love, Desire, Death – National Gallery, London”
THE BIG REVIEW | Artemisia – National Gallery, London
Despite enduring two national lockdowns, Artemisia at the National Gallery, London, remains an exemplary introduction to the life and career of everyone’s favourite badass woman artist. Practically all of her best-known works are exhibited, from the early Pommersfelden Susannah and the Elders to the Naples and Florence versions of Judith beheading Holofernes, as well asContinue reading “THE BIG REVIEW | Artemisia – National Gallery, London”
REVIEW | Lucian Freud: New Perspectives – National Gallery, London
The current Lucian Freud exhibition at the National Gallery, London, bears the bombastic subtitle New Perspectives, but for whom? Celebrating the centenary of his birth, the exhibition walks like any other Freud exhibition. Puritan and broadly chronological, we see how the artist’s caricaturish, muddy-looking early style quickly matured into the impasto-laden portraitist we know andContinue reading “REVIEW | Lucian Freud: New Perspectives – National Gallery, London”
Nigel Ip | Visual Arts Writer & Art Historian 