At 15 feet tall, the statue of President Trump, mounted on its 7,000-pound pedestal, is about the height of a two-story building — a giant effigy cast in bronze and finished with a thick layer of gold leaf. - The New York Times
New security buildings in the grounds of the British Museum would look "too flashy" and resemble "a shop and wine bar", opponents to the plans have said. - BBC
The two men couldn’t have been more different. Titian was a painter while Michelangelo, though renowned both as a painter and a sculptor, saw himself exclusively as the latter. They lived hundreds of miles apart—the former in Venice, the latter in Florence and Rome—and inhabited vastly different aesthetic universes. - The Wall Street Journal
The decision, it said, reflects “the recommendations of an interdisciplinary task force of museum trustees and staff, which examined the process and rollout of the rebrand, and commissioned surveys of museum staff, trustees, members, and the Philadelphia-area public.” - ARTnews
It orders “no further removal and/or destruction” of the site “until further order of the court.” That would appear to cover other parts of the memorial that include mentions of slavery and civil rights, including a stone wall with the names of nine enslaved people who served Washington’s household. - The New York Times
Somehow, modernist aping of Indigenous models got told as a story of increasing originality, while Indigenous adaptation of Western models was seen in terms of decreasing authenticity. The logic was clear enough: The proper job of Western art was forever to point to the future; that of Indigenous art was forever to repeat the past. - The Atlantic
Eyebrows were raised at reports that a restored fresco in Rome’s Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina had an angel with the face of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The restorer denies any likeness, but orders came from the office of the local bishop — Pope Leo XIV — that the face be repainted. - The Daily Beast
After a wave of criticism, the culture minister of the Belgian region of Flanders has reversed her plan to move the Antwerp museum’s entire collection to Ghent and turn the museum building into a “cultural center.” - ARTnews
The first major restoration since 1994 of The Last Judgment (as the fresco is titled) a film of microparticle buildup — a “widespread whitish haze, produced by the deposition of microparticles of foreign substances carried by air movements” — caused by the over 6 million people who visit the chapel each year. - AP
A judge has ruled that the messy conflict between the Philadelphia Art Museum and its former director and CEO, Sasha Suda, who was dismissed in November, will go to arbitration, not to a jury trial, as Suda had requested in a civil suit. - ARTnews
“The venue and office space, on Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street, fell into the hands of liquidators on Friday, with the building immediately shut down and all staff laid off. It had temporarily closed its doors in September as it worked to secure its long-term future - however, had planned to reopen in March.” - The Scotsman
Restituting artefacts will be crucial to improve France’s relations with its former African colonies, many of which have broken off military co-operation with Paris. “This is a really important issue for young Africans and for my generation.” - The Times
A South African artist is suing the arts minister after he blocked her from representing the country at the Venice Biennale, having called her work addressing Israel’s killing of Palestinians in Gaza “highly divisive”. - The Guardian
Trump has grown attached to the idea of a 250-foot-tall structure overlooking the Potomac River, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe his comments, a scale that has alarmed some architectural experts who initially supported the idea of an arch but expected a far smaller one. - Washington Post
It was the unlikely, but ultimately successful, host of the 2022 soccer World Cup. Its Grand Prix has become a Formula One fixture. And this week it will premiere a new event from Art Basel, the world’s biggest, most prestigious art fair franchise. - The New York Times
