Nicolas Poussin: National Gallery painting thought to have been fake for decades was just dirty
Art historians had previously asserted that The Triumph of Silenus was one of several copies after a lost Nicolas Poussin original
29 April 2021 • 6:00pm
Experts found that the figures in the picture appeared dull because they lay beneath a layer of discoloured varnish
Credit: The National Gallery, London
A National Gallery painting dismissed for decades as being a copy of one by Nicolas Poussin has been confirmed to be the real thing.
Former Surveyor of the Queen s Pictures Sir Anthony Blunt was among the art historians to assert that
Courtesy the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
Essays - April 22, 2021
She looks ahead with a steadfast, determined gaze. Perched on a chair beside a small table, she rests one hand on her lap, her bangle grazing a package. She cradles an open daguerreotype case in the other, her fingers wrapped around one portrait in what seems to be a small gesture of longing for absent loved ones.
We do not know who she is. We do not know her name. It is not often that an Asian woman an immigrant, a worker, perhaps a mother is pictured, or even rendered visible, especially in nineteenth-century America. What makes this image extraordinary is that it’s most likely from 1850s California: it tells the story of Chinese immigrants who came to America during the California Gold Rush (1848–65).
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This exhibition is a consideration of the relationship between metal and colour in contemporary silversmithing and jewellery, with a mapping of relationships and practice in key centres internationally. It examines approaches ranging from colour achieved using the inherent properties of metal to react with other chemicals or heat (or a combination); the reveal of colour as a property of the metal itself; infusing the surface of aluminium with pure colour or image; the use of enamel glazes with varying degrees of transparency and opacity - but always with a fundamentally strong relationship with the surface qualities of the metal.
Through seminal works by key international practitioners, it places artist practice in a broader context, tracing international information exchanges. It considers routes to support learning patination at all levels: from schools to professional studios; from undergraduates to specialists in conservation. what colour is metal? makes vivid the connections