art

Enlarge / Infrared reflectography revealed an underpainting beneath René Magritte's La Cinquième Saison (1943). Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels Researchers at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, using infrared reflectography, have discovered an earlier painted portrait of a woman underneath René Magritte's 1943 painting, La Cinquième Saison, from 1943—possibly a…

Insider has learned the identities of two Hunter Biden "friends" who were also buyers of his art: Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali and Kevin Morris. Internal gallery documents reveal that sales of Hunter Biden's art brought in $1.3 million. One buyer, identity unknown, spent $875,000 on 11 Hunter Biden artworks. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing…

Enlarge / Portrait of Ramesses II in Nakhtamun tomb, Chief of the Altar in the Ramesseum (possibly 20th Dynasty, circa 1100 BCE). Researchers have discovered evidence of earlier versions of two ancient Egyptian paintings located in tomb chapels in the Theban Necropolis, according to a new paper published in the journal PLoS ONE. In one,…

Enlarge / Two Russian Ships of the Line Saluting by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1827), a leading artist of the Danish Golden Age.Public domain Learning more about the materials used on historical paintings—paints, pigments, varnishes, and primers used to prepare canvases—is critical to ongoing conservation efforts. Apparently, many artists of the so-called Danish Golden Age used beer…

Enlarge / Still life of a boy blowing a bubble (circa 1734) by 18th century French painter Jean Siméon Chardin.Public domain French painters Jean Siméon Chardin and Édouard Manet both created well-known paintings that depicted children blowing bubbles through straw-like tubes, albeit more than a century apart. Those realistic depictions of bubble dynamics have now…

A balloon dog sculpture from artist Jeff Koons was accidentally broken at an art festival in Miami. A woman attending the event allegedly tapped the sculpture, and it fell off its stand. The incident will be forgiven as the work was insured, an art advisor told the Miami Herald. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for…

Cochineals are parasites that live on cactuses, and the acid in their guts has been used as red dye for millennia. Today, cochineals are used to dye cosmetics and foods like M&Ms and Yoplait strawberry yogurt. But up against synthetic dyes, Mexican cochineal farms are dying off, taking the ancient tradition with them. Loading Something…

Enlarge / Scientists and conservators are working together to preserve The Night Watch, by Rembrandt van Rijn (1642), for future generations.Rijskmuseum Amsterdam One of the most famous paintings from the Dutch Golden Age is Rembrandt van Rijn's 1642 masterpiece The Night Watch.  An interdisciplinary team of researchers has conducted a fresh, in-depth analysis and found rare…

An oil painting found in an upstate New York shed covered in bird droppings was discovered to be a rare piece of art. The work was identified as a live study by famed painter Anthony van Dyck dating back to the 17th century. The painting is expected to sell for between $2 million to $3…

Two separate lawsuits have been launched against AI text-to-image generators. Three artists launched action against companies behind Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and DreamUp. Getty Images also began separate litigation against Stability AI, which is behind Stable Diffusion. Loading Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on…