Seventy-three years ago, in 1944, several outstanding works of art belonging to Jewish collector Simon Bauer were confiscated and sold by an art dealer designated by officials from France’s wartime Vichy regime. One of the works, a lovely scene by impressionist master Camille Pissarro, recently turned up.

A stolen painting titled “Pea Harvest” by impressionist master Camille Pissarro recently turned up in an exhibition in Paris, France. Now, relatives of Simon Bauer — the Jewish man who owned the painting, along with 92 other artworks — are seeking its return from the U.S. couple who had loaned it.

Bauer’s collection was seized in 1944 by French authorities and promptly sold by a designated art dealer. Bauer, who was interned but avoided the Nazi death camps and was released in September 1944, spent the last three years of his life trying to reclaim his looted works. When he died in 1947, he had recovered only a small portion of his collection.

Jean-Jacques Bauer — Simon’s grandson (now 87 himself) — recently learned that one of his grandfather’s paintings, “Pea Harvest,” was on display in Paris at the Marmottan as part of a Pissarro retrospective exhibition. He has since asked a top Parisian court to order that the painting not be allowed to move pending further action to determine its ownership. The court said a ruling is scheduled for May 30.

To learn more, visit ArtDaily.

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Gallery 19C is — as its name suggests — one of the preeminent destinations for the highest quality paintings and sculptures from the 19th century. Just last week, it announced the release of this…

Gallery 19C recently announced the arrival of its second catalogue on the famed 19th-century painter Jeon-Léon Gérôme. “We have assembled a group of five important paintings from different periods in Gérôme’s career,” the gallery says. “They highlight not only his focus on Orientalism but also his early interest in Néo-Grec subject matter.

“A common thread linking these paintings is their early American provenance, which can be traced back to important American collectors, such as Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, one of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s first benefactors.

“A primary goal of Gallery 19C is to present exceptional examples of the wide-ranging paintings that define the 19th century. Jean-Léon Gérôme will always feature prominently in any discussion of the period. The unparalleled technical virtuosity of his technique continues to attract us and beckons us to marvel at his art.”

Want to take a look? You can download a PDF version of the catalogue here.

To learn more, visit Gallery 19C.

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The largest exhibition of paintings by this canonical Renaissance painter ever shown in the United States recently landed at this East Coast institution. Who and where?

Any painting that survives today by the hand of Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) is one worth viewing — especially if you don’t necessarily have to travel to Europe. The Museum of Fine Arts Boston is overjoyed to currently be presenting the largest exhibition of the artist’s work ever on U.S. soil. The exhibition was first shown at the Muscarelle Museum of Art in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Now on view in Boston now through July 9, “Botticelli and the Search for the Divine” is being called “the most important Botticelli exhibition ever seen in the United States,” the museum reports. “Every phase of the artist’s tumultuous career is represented in this selection, as well as nine works by his master Filippo Lippi, the only pupil of Masaccio. Botticelli was guided to success by the Medici dynasty, the patrons for sacred altarpieces and sensuous paintings of classical mythology, including several in this unprecedented exhibition. After the fall of the Medici, many of his paintings were lost in the bonfires of the vanities.”

To learn more, visit the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

It’s perhaps the most competitive and prestigious portraiture contest in the world, hosted annually by the National Portrait Gallery in London. We’ve got a shortlist of honorees at 2017’s BP Portrait Awards.

More than 2,500 works of portraiture by artists from 87 countries around the world were submitted for consideration in 2017’s BP Portrait Awards in London. Although the exhibition of winners does not officially open until June 22 (running through September 24), organizers have revealed who’s under consideration for the grand prize.

Three works have been isolated as potential winners: “Double Portrait” by French illustrator Thomas Ehretsmann; “Breech!” by Benjamin Sullivan; and “Emma” by Antony Williams. The grand prize winner will receive £30,000, plus, at the judges’ discretion, a commission worth £5,000, to be agreed between the National Portrait Gallery and the artist.

Second prize is worth £10,000, third place £8,000, and the BP Young Artist Award is valued at £7,000. Finally, a BP Travel Award worth £6,000 will also be handed out.

This year’s BP Portrait Awards were judged from the original paintings by a panel that included Nicholas Cullinan, director, National Portrait Gallery (chair); Sarah Howgate, contemporary curator, National Portrait Gallery; Michael Landy, artist; Kirsty Wark, broadcaster and journalist; Camilla Hampshire, museums manager and cultural lead, Royal Albert Memorial Museum; and Exeter Des Violaris, director, UK Arts & Culture, BP.

To learn more, visit the BP Portrait Awards.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Even at 18 years old, famed Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti was well on his way to becoming one of the most celebrated artists in Europe. Arguably his first masterpiece — a wooden crucifix — was recently found, restored, and unveiled at a new home.

Those who visit Florence, Italy’s Santo Spirito Church will now be treated to something extra special: the newly restored wooden crucifix by Michelangelo — said to have been created when he was just 18 years old.

As has been well documented, Michelangelo lived for some time during his adolescence with benefactor Lorenzo de Medici. After Lorenzo’s death, Michelangelo lived for about a year with a community of Augustinian monks at Santo Spirito. It was here that Michelangelo received intimate training in human anatomy in the hospital the monks ran. Significantly, Michelangelo sculpted a stunning wooden crucifix as a thank you for their welcome.

For many decades in the late 19th century, it was believed the sculpture had been destroyed or lost forever, but it was eventually rediscovered in a convent — apparently barely recognizable due to the number of overpaint layers.

After massive restoration and a tour around Italy, the famed crucifix will now remain in the church it was originally intended for: suspended above Santo Spirito’s old sacristy.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

The sudden burst and influx of French Impressionism into the hearts and minds of American artists at the turn of the 20th century is a well documented phenomenon that resulted in several generations of fantastic painters, particularly in California.

Heather James Fine Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is currently paying homage to California Impressionism during a stunning exhibition on view through the end of May. Approximately 12 paintings compose the show by artists such as John Frost, Joseph Kleitsch, William Wendt, Jessie Arms Botke, Gehring Cressey, Paul Lauritz, John Marshall Gamble, Millard Sheets, and Jack Wilkinson Smith.

“Many American and European artists traveled to France to study with the French Impressionists, and were inspired by the en plein air style of painting,” the gallery writes. “An influx of French-trained Impressionists settled in California around the turn of the 20th century, finding that between the similarity in lighting and colors to the French countryside and the vast expanse of varying landscapes to explore, California provided an endless supply of painterly inspiration.

“California Impressionism flourished as a distinct subset of American Impressionism, notably brighter, sunnier, and more upbeat than their East Coast counterparts in keeping with the climate and feel of the California landscape. They depicted the state’s exceptional beauty with a focus on the coastlines of Laguna Beach, the canyons and deserts of inland oasis Palm Springs, and the craggy mountains and fertile valleys in between. Artist colonies, communities, schools, and exhibition spaces popped up around them as more and more artists flocked to the area. Their influence helped to define the culture and attitude of the state and the cities in which they lived and worked.”

To learn more, visit Heather James Fine Art.

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is offering patrons a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to view works by Michelangelo Caravaggio — specifically, the last two paintings the artist ever produced.

As has been noted here, and elsewhere, Michelangelo Caravaggio possesses one of the most fascinating and mysterious biographies in art history, which has aided the production of a mountain of scholarship on his life. Equally — if not more — exceptional was his art, which helped usher in a new age of naturalism and drama known today as the Baroque period.

Many scholars have attempted to link the artist’s chaotic life as a fugitive with the changing nature of his paintings between 1605 and 1610, with focus centering on the last paintings Caravaggio made. In what can only be described as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City, has brought together Caravaggio’s last two paintings for exhibition. The display of the works, “The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula” and “The Denial of Saint Peter,” is their first since a 2004 exhibition in London and Naples.

To be sure, there is a remarkable difference between Caravaggio’s late works and his commissions made in Rome during the height of his career, circa 1599-1605. Nearly every Caravaggio scholar agrees that the artist’s last paintings reveal something personal and close to the artist. Between 1606 and 1610, Caravaggio was on the run from papal authorities after murdering a man. Caravaggio’s last works seem to reveal much about his own psychological state as they convey biblical narratives.

Caravaggio died of illness in 1610 while travelling back to Rome, where he was reportedly to receive a papal pardon for his crime. Period reports suggest Caravaggio collapsed on a beach in Porto Ercole and died about three days later.

The two paintings went on display April 11 and will continue through July 9. To learn more, visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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A selection of some of the most iconic European paintings and sculptures from The Phillips Collection is currently being exhibited in Texas this summer. What are the highlights, and where can you find them?

Opened on May 14 and running through August 13, “A Modern Vision” is an exhibition currently on view at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. The show features a carefully curated selection of numerous European masterworks from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The works come from arguably one of the most important collections in the United States: The Phillips Collection — from America’s first museum of modern art, which opened in Washington, D.C., in 1921.

“‘A Modern Vision’ presents a selection of the most iconic European paintings and sculptures from The Phillips Collection,” the Kimbell writes. “Ranging from the early 19th century through the mid-20th century, the incomparable collection of modern art and its sources includes distinctive Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Expressionist masterworks. Viewers will encounter a stunning array — paintings from the first half of the 19th century by Courbet, Corot, Daumier, Delacroix and Ingres in dialogue with Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces by Cézanne, Degas, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Manet, Monet, Redon and Sisley.

“Central to the exhibition are important works by Bonnard, de Staël, Kandinsky, Matisse, Morandi and Picasso, artists who shaped the look of the 20th century. Many of these works have not traveled together in more than 20 years. ‘A Modern Vision,’ in the words of Duncan Phillips, gathers ‘congenial spirits among the artists from different parts of the world and from different periods of time,’ demonstrating ‘that art is a universal language.’”

To learn more, visit the Kimbell Art Museum.

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An upcoming American Art Sale is boasting many fresh-to-the-market paintings that are causing collectors to turn their heads. Which house, and what lovely works highlight the auction? Find out here.

On May 24 in New York City, Bonham’s will host an American Art Sale that offers several fresh-to-the-market paintings by some of the United States’ most beloved artists. Among the highlights of the sale are works by Marsden Hartley, Henry F. Farny, and Robert Henri.

Leading the sale is “Landscape No. 39” by Marsden Hartley, with an estimate between $400,000 and $600,000. It has spent 42 years in a private collection, and Bonham’s expects spirited bidding on the beautiful painting. The painting is one of approximately 26 that Hartley produced during the summer and fall of 1930. According to Bonham’s, the painting “captures the long-anticipated changing of the seasons in the region surrounding Franconia, New Hampshire.” There can be little doubt that the painting is a fantastic representation of Hartley’s skill as a colorist. Set against the shores of a stream, large boulders streak across the lower portion of the canvas. Just above the low horizon is a mass of trees just hitting their peak colors for the fall season. Dominated by yellows and oranges, flashes of red and vibrant green help balance the hues and provide hints of layering and depth. The artist has even added just a sliver of the sky above, helping release the viewer from an otherwise dense scene of nature’s majesty.

Other highlights of the sale include Henry F. Farny’s “Cheyenne Scout,” which is appearing on the market for the first time. Estimates are also healthy for this painting, expected to realize between $150,000 and $250,000. “The painting depicts an indigenous American scout,” Bonham’s says, “standing alongside a glossy, chestnut horse, with two riders in the background. The landscape is precise and detailed, rendered in soft, cool, pastel hues.”

Works by Eastman Johnson and Thomas Moran also feature in the sale. To browse the other outstanding lots, visit Bonhams.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

In this ongoing series, Fine Art Today delves into the world of portraiture, highlighting historical and contemporary examples of superb quality and skill. This week you’re in for a treat as we highlight Fine Art Connoisseur magazine’s recent photo-essay.

by Max Gillies

Everyone has one, so everyone is interested, to a lesser or greater degree. I’m referring to the face. Artists have been depicting faces for millennia, sometimes flatteringly and sometimes frankly, but always with the understanding that every viewer has a direct connection with the subject — and also a way of assessing the rendition’s accuracy.

Just as important is the way we “read” facial expressions: there are happy and sad, for example, but also every possible emotion and mood between. Capturing each is no easy task, so we instinctively admire those artists who get it right.

Enjoy this diverse array of approaches, and please tell us about other artists who excel in this area.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.