Einav Zamir & Ruth Osborne About ten years ago, popular media outlets such as National Geographic News and the Boston Phoenix started reporting on what has come to be colloquially known as the “CSI Effect.” According to many American legal professionals, jurors in criminal trials increasingly favor forensic analysis over eye witnesses or circumstantial evidence, […]
One senses that the ante has been upped in the deal-making world of art loans. Quite a few “first-and-only-time” loans have been made this year. A conspicuous example has been the traveling exhibition of three panels and several smaller pieces of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, which are in the midst of a nearly year-long […]
It seems that art discoveries are in the news daily, spurred on by new technologies that are allowing us to look at artworks in a way that has never before been possible. The works of Leonardo da Vinci have been easy targets. The Mona Lisa has been in the news repeatedly during the last few years, […]
James Beck, Columbia University Professor and founder and President of ArtWatch International, passed away on Saturday, May 26th. He was a brilliant scholar, a wonderful friend, and an unwavering defender of the art that he loved. We thank you all for the outpouring of kind words, and send our condolences to his family.
Patrons of restoration and expansion projects at museums and churches are now taking full advantage of the benefits of sponsorship, turning important cultural and religious centers into commercial billboards for over-sized advertisements. And the benefits are large. Hewlett Packard’s campaign on temporary construction walls at the London National Gallery occurred in 2004, when attendance levels were at 5 […]
In 2004, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, following the lead of Director Philippe de Montebello, made their most expensive acquisition in the history of the institution when they purchased a small painted panel attributed to the late Gothic Sienese master Duccio di Buoninsegna. This past summer, a debate ensued when ArtWatch President and Columbia Professor […]
Although larger and more ambitious exhibitions have become a mainstay of the museum calendar and a primary draw for visitors, the threat posed to the art objects selected for shipment are minimized by the museum officials responsible for the decision. On the night of 7-8 November, a painting by the Spanish master Francisco de Goya […]
In October, the stunning announcement was made that three panels from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s bronze doors for the East side of the Baptistery in Florence, Italy, will make an unprecedented journey to the United States in 2007. The planned three-city tour will begin at the High Museum in Atlanta, where an exhibition is scheduled from 28 […]
James Beck Timed to coincide with the 500th anniversary of the death of Andrea Mantegna (born c. 1431) in 1506, three Italian cities in which the artist executed some of his major works are hosting exhibitions in the artist’s honor: Mantua, Padua and Verona, each set to run from 16 September 2006 until 14 January […]
Piero Pierotti The European University in Florence, which occupies several buildings in Fiesole, including the Badia Fiesolana, has decided to construct additional housing in the surrounding area, land which has traditionally been protected. From what has so far appeared in the press, the Comune of Florence appears willing to grant permission. Firenze, 20 giugno 2006 […]