‘Do you like Caravaggio?’ asks wealthy Dickie Greenleaf to his enigmatic new friend Tom Ripley, at the beginning of the current Netflix drama based on Patricia Highsmith’s famous thriller: The talented Mr. Ripley. The query is a kind of test and is about more than just class. It is intended as a measure of character, … Read more
Caravaggio’s ‘The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula’ is at the National Gallery from April 18 to July 21 – Julian Simmonds for The Telegraph ‘See Naples and die.’ In other words, this amazing city is so beautiful that the experience of visiting it cannot be beat. It’s an old saying, probably coined by the medieval Neapolitan … Read more
The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, 1610 (National Gallery) Deformed, weak, afraid for his life and desperate to return to Rome – Caravaggio was in bad shape in May 1610. He lifted a brush in his studio in Naples after months of recovery from a violent attack, to continue work on his painting The Martyrdom of … Read more
Stony Reception: The Parthenon Marbles in the British Museum – Dylan Martinez Looking back on the year in art, wouldn’t it be nice to start with some paintings? To shed light on one or two of our museums’ important recent acquisitions, such as Joshua Reynolds’ Portrait of Mai (c. 1776), which the National Portrait Gallery, … Read more
Charles Cundall’s A Cup match at Crystal Palace, which depicts the 1926 FA Cup tie between Corinthians and Manchester City, is expected to fetch £100,000-£150,000 A lot of money is made from sports memorabilia. Think of Michael Jordan’s Nikes, which sold for $1.4 million, or Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ shirt ($9 million). It also … Read more
See here: detail of Pesellino’s altarpiece The Trinity with Saints – The National Gallery, London When is a masterpiece ‘by’ an old master, and when is it not? For example, could a Renaissance altarpiece remain unfinished over the centuries at the death of its maker, be completed by someone else, sawn into pieces and put … Read more