The sale hasn't closed, so why all of the PR? To get Britain to pay up. "It’s Britain, after all, not the Getty that hasn’t been able to muster the necessary funds. U.K. fundraising stalled at under $30 million — less than half the asking price." - Los Angeles Times
Ravensburger was brought to court by the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, where the real Vitruvian Man lives. The museum claimed that it was owed financial compensation from the puzzle manufacturer, even though the 500-year-old artwork in question belongs to the public domain. - Artnet
"Curator Erin Schoneveld breaks down five seminal posters from the exhibition (at New York's Poster House Museum) that reveal how art reflects history — and how history influences art." - Fast Company
New York investigators say that the seven-foot-tall, headless nude statue, believed by scholars to be of Roman emperor Septimius Severus, was looted from the archaeological site at Bubon, Turkey, in the 1960s. The museum is also surrendering two other antiquities to the Ankara government. - The New York Times
Allowed to delve into the structure’s innards as never before during the ensuing reconstruction (which is set to finish in 2024), a team of French scientists has gleaned new insights into the cathedral’s original construction. - Big Think
"Last week, the Rembrandt House Museum reopened in Amsterdam after a four-month closure, offering 30 percent more Rembrandt in the building where the artist lived and worked — plus a forthcoming artist residency program that harkens back to the history of students studying there under the Dutch Golden Age master." - Artnet
In 1985, a couple walked into an art gallery on the campus of the University of Arizona and left 15 minutes later with a rolled-up Willem de Kooning shoved up the man’s jacket. In 2017, the painting was finally recovered – not by the FBI, but by a trio of house clearance guys in New Mexico. - The Guardian
"A rare reunion has taken place at the Nivaagaard Collection in Denmark, as the museum has located the image of a woman, who, for nearly 200 years, has been missing from a 17th-century family portrait — Double Portrait of a Father and Son (1626), painted by Flemish artist Cornelis de Vos. - Artnet
"Trace quantities of protein residue have long been detected in classic oil paintings, though they were often ascribed to contamination. A new study … found the inclusion was likely intentional." The protein came from egg yolks (yes, as in tempera paint), which mitigate some shortcomings of pure oil paint. - CNN
"A spokesman said that in 'the present financial and planning environment' it was necessary to 'review the current model of delivery'. … Scottish involvement in this year's architecture showcase will go ahead," but planning for any Scottish pavilion at the 2024 art biennial is on hold. - BBC
That 141 million is double the number we recorded last year, and nearly three times that of 2020. But there is still some way to go before we regain the high watermark of 230 million visits in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic. - The Art Newspaper
The Met was not alone among New York’s major institutions in experiencing a drop in attendance compared to 2019, with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (down 42%), the Whitney Museum of American Art (down 19%) and the Brooklyn Museum (down 17%). - The Art Newspaper
M+ reported 2,034,331 visitors for the whole of 2022, placing it 18th on our table of the world’s most visited art museums. If visitors come at the same rate, then M+ could exceed 3 million visits in 2023. - The Art Newspaper
The family, who wishes to remain unknown, had asked Malo de Lussac of auctioneers Daguerre Val de Loire to estimate the value of their house but instead discovered a masterpiece. - CNN
The director of the museum housing the work said that the board, parents and students of Tallahassee Classical School to come see the white marble statue's "purity," while the Italian city's mayor tweeted a personal invitation to the ousted school principal to visit Florence as his guest. - AP
