Patrick van Maris to resign as head of TEFAF

Our daily round-up of news from the art world 

Patrick van Maris to resign as head of TEFAF | Patrick van Maris has announced that he is leaving The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF), having served as president and CEO of the fair for the past five years. During his time in the role, Van Maris has overseen the expansion of the fair, with the addition of two annual fairs in New York to the flagship event in Maastricht. Van Maris will continue in his post until the end of May, after the next editions of TEFAF Maastricht (7–15 March) and TEAF New York Spring (8–11 May); his successor has not yet been announced.

Painting from the Alana Collection seized by French officials | A work attributed to the Florentine Mannerist painter Bronzino from the US-based Alana Collection of Italian paintings has been seized by French officials, upon the conclusion of an exhibition at the Musée Jacquemart-André in Paris. The painting was seized on the orders of judge Aude Burési, who has been overseeing the investigation into an ongoing forgery scandal for the past five years.

Enniskillen Workhouse awarded £2m in lottery funding | The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded more than £2m to Fermanagh and Omagh District Council in Northern Ireland, to go toward a major heritage project at Enniskillen Workhouse. The building, which opened in 1844 to accommodate 1,000 impoverished citizens of the town, will be renovated to include an exhibition space retelling the history of the site, as well as a business hub.

Popularity of art history at UK universities falls by 28.5 per cent in past decade | A study released last week by the UK Higher Education Statistics Agency has revealed that the number of first-year university students taking art history as a subject has fallen by 28.5 per cent over the course of the past decade. The figure is part of a broader trend of decline for humanities subjects, with more students taking up subjects such as business studies and medicine.