National Gallery, London
A 16th-century altarpiece; King David (1651), Guercino
Amid the reopening of the transformed Sainsbury Wing and the rehang of the permanent collection last month, a mysterious 16th-century altarpiece depicting the Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret went on display. The work, bought by the museum for £16.4m in a private sale, was first documented in 1602 and may have been shown in Ghent. But beyond that, much about the piece is uncertain. It is thought to be either Netherlandish or French, containing echoes of, for example, the works of Jan van Eyck, Jan Gossaert and Jean Hey in its immaculate details and inventive flourishes: the dove perched on Margaret’s shoulder and the crown of daisies in her hair; the bawdy putti that crown the pillars in the background; the fantastical, grotesque face of the dragon, from whose broken back Margaret rises. This unusual acquisition comes in the same month as that of Guercino’s King David (1651), a late masterpiece that depicts David in stately old age, holding a stone slab inscribed with one of the psalms attributed to him. The painting was bought at auction by the Rothschild family in 2010 for £5.2m and now, after the death of Jacob Rothschild last year, has been acquired by the National Gallery under the acceptance in lieu scheme. It will be reunited with two companion pieces already owned by the museum: The Cumaean Sibyl with a Putto and The Samian Sibyl (both 1651).
The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret (c. 1510), Netherlandish or French artist. National Gallery, London. Photo: © National Gallery, London
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth
The Cut Melon (1760), Jean-Siméon Chardin
One of the most talked-about museum acquisitions of 2024 was the Louvre’s purchase, for €24.3m, of Jean-Siméon Chardin’s luscious still life showing a heaped basket of strawberries, painted in 1761 and known only in reproduction until recently. This year’s star Chardin may well be The Cut Melon (1760), a rare oval still life that has been acquired by the Kimbell, showing a melon with a wedge cut out of it and a pile of peaches, pears and greengages, all rendered with Chardin’s characteristic lightness of touch and inviting colour palette. Painted as a pendant to The Jar of Apricots (1758; now in the Art Gallery of Ontario), this work has had a succession of illustrious owners, having been bought by the goldsmith Jacques Roettiers, then the artist Franćois Marcille, before passing from his son to the collection of Baroness Charlotte de Rothschild.
The Cut Melon (1760), Jean-Siméon Chardin. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
6,500 works from the photography collector Artur Walther
Since he began collecting in the 1990s, Artur Walther has since built up one of the most extensive private collections of photography and video art in the United States. The Met has announced a promised gift of some 6,500 photographs from Walther and his foundation. The collection includes works from all over the world, including photographs taken by Chinese artists in the late 20th century; conceptual German photography by Günther Förg, Hilla Becher, Jürgen Klauke and others; and 19th-century daguerreotypes. Works by African artists such as Seydou Keïta, David Goldblatt and Zanele Muholi are well-represented and many of these have been put on display in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at the Met, which reopened on 31 May. The Met will hold an exhibition of highlights from the collection later this year and a comprehensive survey in 2028.
Soweto: Young men with dompas, White City, Jabavu, November 1972 (1972), David Goldblatt. Courtesy Pace Gallery, New York/Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg; © The David Goldblatt Legacy Trust
Alte Pinakothek, Munich
The Virgin as Queen of Heaven (c. 1516–18), Hans Baldung, called Grien
Albrecht Dürer had many pupils and collaborators and Hans Baldung has long been considered one of the most accomplished. The artist worked with Dürer in Nuremberg in the 1500s before moving to Strasbourg in 1509, where he set up his own workshop and produced one of his most famous works, the altarpiece for Freiburg Cathedral, as well as smaller paintings such as The Virgin as Queen of Heaven, which has been acquired by the Alte Pinakothek. At some point during his time in Nuremberg Baldung acquired the nickname Grien, possibly on account of his preference for wearing green clothing, and colour is one of the defining features of his art too: this panel depiction of the Virgin and Child is striking for its bold turquoise background and the shocking red of Mary’s dress. The work can currently be seen in the exhibition ‘How Pictures Tell Stories: From Albrecht Altdorfer to Peter Paul Rubens’, which highlights the museum’s considerable collection of Northern Renaissance art.
The Virgin as Queen of Heaven (c. 1516–18), Hans Baldung, called Grien. Alte Pinakothek, Munich
National Portrait Gallery / Tate, London
Self-Portrait (c. 1635–40), William Dobson
William Dobson died in 1646 at the age of 35 but accomplished much in his short career, succeeding Anthony van Dyck as Charles I’s official court painter and being hailed by his contemporary John Aubrey as ‘the most excellent painter that England hath yet bred’. His self-portrait of c. 1635–40, the earliest known self-portrait by a British-born painter, was sold to a private collector at Bonhams in 2016 for £1.1m; it has now been jointly acquired for more than twice that price by the Tate and the National Portrait Gallery. The work will go on show at Tate Britain in November this year, where it will hang alongside the portrait Dobson painted of his wife around the same time; it will then embark on a tour of UK museums before taking up residence at the NPG among the museum’s collection of 17th-century self-portraits, by Van Dyck among others.
Self-Portrait (c. 1635–40), William Dobson. Courtesy Tate and the National Portrait Gallery, London
Museum Hof van Busleyden, Mechelen
Portrait of Mary of Austria (?) (early 16th century), Master of the Legend of the Magdalen
The Museum Hof van Busleyden has acquired a portrait of a young girl believed to be the Habsburg princess Mary of Austria – who would go on to become governor of the Habsburg Netherlands, of which Mechelen was the de facto capital – or possibly her older sister, Isabella. Attributed to the Master of the Legend of the Magdalen (so-called for a polyptych depicting the life of Mary Magdalene), the portrait was in a private collection until now, although it was loaned to the museum in 2021 for an exhibition titled ‘Children of the Renaissance’. The subject is shown with a white apron and cap, and a necklace hanging round her neck with a wolf’s tooth, a piece of red coral and a silver ring – objects used in the late medieval and early modern period to ward off illness and child mortality.
Portrait of Mary of Austria (?) (early 16th century), Master of the Legend of the Magdalen. Museum Hof van Busleyden, Mechelen
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
A Bearded Man Wearing a Turban (1758–60), Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo
Much of the career of Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, son of the more famous Giambattista, was characterised by repetition: among his most well-known works, produced later in his career, are a series of more than 100 depictions of the Commedia dell’Arte character Punchinello. He painted numerous similar portraits of bearded men, too, one of which, painted in the late 1750s, has now been purchased by the Getty Museum, having sold for just under $1m in 2024 at Christie’s New York. These works are thought to have been based on philosopher characters depicted in Tiepolo senior’s Scherzi di Fantasia series of etchings.
A Bearded Man Wearing a Turban (1758–60), Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles