VISUAL

Conservators Figure Out One Of Michelangelo’s Best Secret Techniques

Restorers working on the recently-completed cleaning of The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel have deduced that Michelangelo crafted his own special paintbrushes with multiple heads so that he could paint parallel lines quickly — and that he used them for crosshatched strokes that give the fresco a singular dynamism. - Artnet

Survey: Broad Worry About How Museums Will Use AI

Just 9 percent of respondents accepted the use of AI in museum shows. Nineteen percent were unbothered by the notion that AI could used for brainstorming but not exhibition texts, meanwhile, and 29 percent said they felt no reservations about the usage of AI to write emails sent by museum officials. - ARTnews

Long-Unseen Old Master Landscape Revealed, Could Fetch $4 Million To $7 Million At Auction

“A Thickly Wooded Landscape With a Rainbow Behind the Trees and a Distant Outcrop to the Right Beneath a Cloud-Laden Sky,” completed around 1520 by Albrecht Altdorfer, is one of the oldest surviving landscapes in European art. It’s expected to sell for £3 million to £5 million next month at Sotheby’s. - The Guardian

Virginia, DC, Sue To Stop Construction Of Trump’s Arch

The 45-page lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia called the project "flagrantly unlawful," attorneys general Jay Jones of Virginia and Brian Schwalb of the District of Columbia wrote. - NPR

Stolen Old Master Painting Is Recovered Thanks To “Wanted” Poster Campaign

A 17th-century painting titled Un Buveur (“A Drinker”) by Willem Cornelisz Duyster, stolen in 1940 from the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans in France, was located last month at a Swiss auction house. - ARTnews

Former COO At Atlanta’s High Museum Of Art Sentenced To Prison For Embezzlement

“Brady Lum, the former chief operating officer of Atlanta‘s High Museum of Art, has been sentenced to one year in federal prison for stealing more than $600,000 from the institution. He previously pleaded guilty to the charges in July.” - Artforum

French Galleries Accuse Art Basel Of Disrespect

In the letter addressed to the new director of Art Basel Paris, Karim Crippa, the association demanded “concrete proposals for compensating exhibitors,” stated that the galleries were never consulted about the event’s early closure, and accused organizers of “disrespect, even contempt,” according to Monopol.  - Hyperallergic

The Enduring Appeal Of Glass Art — New Again

The history, combined with the opportunity for hands-on experience, is fueling new exhibitions at museums across the United States that are exploring today’s complex scientific and social issues through the artistry’s lens. - The New York Times

Can Australia’s Biggest, Most Expensive Cultural Project In Decades Live Up To Expectations (And Its Price Tag)?

Paramatta Powerhouse, a new art and science museum in Sydney’s booming western suburbs, has cost roughly AU$915 million (US$639 million) and has been touted as western Sydney’s equivalent of the Opera House. Is that too much to expect, especially after the bumpy road to the museum’s completion? - The Guardian

US Embassy Warns Of Planned Terrorist Attack At Moscow Museum; Teenaged Suspect Arrested

On Saturday the US embassy in Moscow issued a security alert about a “credible threat of a mass casualty event” at the Tsaritsyno Museum Reserve, a popular palace and park complex. Russia’s FSB has arrested one suspect, a teenager who is a Russian citizen. - Al Jazeera

Italian Police Locate $200M Of Stolen Art Using AI

The Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Italy’s art crime squad, has been using an AI algorithm to identify stolen artworks and artifacts since 2023. The platform they use is called SWOADS—or Stolen Works of Art Detection System—and was developed by Salvatore Rapicavoli, an IT engineer who joined the art crime team in 2023. - ARTnews

How A Quick-Thinking Photographer Turned A Traffic Jam Into An Instantly Iconic Image

"As we’re all waiting for traffic to clear, I could feel the motion of the bridge, slightly pulsating up and down. Curiosity got to many people, who got out of their cars to see if they could see anything." - San Francisco Chronicle

For A Few Hundred Euros, You Can Get A Rembrandt Inked On Your Body

"It’s a highbrow-meets-lowbrow thing," said the Dutch tattoo artist completing the requests. He's done it before, but "this time, had a greater ambition: to reproduce one of Rembrandt’s most famous etchings, The Descent From the Cross, from 1633, across a man’s back." - The New York Times

This Oregon Museum Had To Sell Its Museum

And Tuesday's election will determine what happens with its collection - and if its local advocates have done enough to organize support. - Oregon ArtsWatch

The Rise And Fall Of The Triumphal Arch

"In 1941, Albert Speer presented plans to his Führer for a monumental arch that would tower nearly 400 feet over Berlin. Taller than the towers of the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge in New York, it would have been twice the height of the Arc de Triomphe." - The New York Times

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss