It seems like only yesterday that I wrote here about a spectacular acquisition by the Getty Museum. But it was really in December: at the time, the Getty bought a illuminated manuscript,  Roman de Gillion de Trazegnies, by Lieven van Lathem (1430–1493), at Sotheby’s in London for nearly $6.2 million. It's a true masterpiece, and -- last I heard -- the British government was holding up the export, calling it a national treasure. The Brits have some time now to raise money to match the price. Today the Getty announced two additional … [Read more...]

It's spring-buying season: several museums in recent days have announced acquisitions (none as gigantic as the Met's gift from Leonard Lauder, but noteworthy just the same). Here are some of them. The Kimbell Art Museum has purchased two big Mayan Palenque-style ceramic censer stands -- definitely museum-quality, as they were once, from 1985 to 1999, on long-term loan to the Detroit Institute of Arts. The Kimbell got them from privately: the museum said that they were imported into the U.S. from Mexico with proper documentation on … [Read more...]

I've already told you that I visited the Bronze exhibition at the Royal Academy on my trip to London last fall, and loved it. I didn't mention at the time that one of my favorites, among many, was the Etruscan Chimera of Arezzo -- because I was hoping to write about it for the Masterpiece column in the Saturday Wall Street Journal. And now I have. In tomorrow's paper, you'll see it under the headline The Imaginary Turned Nearly Real. The Chimera is frightening on many levels, an impossible fusion of three animals that is more than 2,400 … [Read more...]