The countess stands above you, caressed by rose-tinted lace, putting her foot forward under her pink skirts as if dancing, but her face administers a sharp sting of authority. This painting, which hangs in a stately home on the edge of Hampstead Heath in London, proves that 18th-century British portraits can be truly stunning works of art. The trouble is that Mary, Countess Howe is distracting me from my work, for this is a painting by Thomas Gainsborough and I am supposed to be looking at a display celebrating his contemporary, Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Work? Damn right it is. It is hard to look long enough at a painting by Reynolds to form an opinion of it. You stand there trying to seem engaged while your brain is wandering off to think about the light socket on the wall or the best bus route home. It is particularly difficult to pay attention to him in this house where the Iveagh Bequest includes real masterpieces by Rembrandt and Vermeer. And most surgically annihilating to Reynolds, Gainsborough’s Countess.
A number of Reynolds’s portraits of women hang with her in the Music Room, but they melt under her contemptuous gaze. Mrs Tollemache As Miranda is a picture of someone who clearly can’t act, attempting a Shakespearean role. She just stands there waving her arms about awkwardly. It isn’t her fault, it’s his.
Reynolds has no imagination as a painter. His idea of creating a great work of art is to dress someone in a splendid costume, place some props behind them and flatly record the scene. There is no sense that it’s anything but a professional exercise. The best painting by him at Kenwood House is a self-portrait from which he gazes back at you through spectacles. He looks a saddened, anxious person – there’s no fire in those myopic eyes.
Why, then, is this forgettable painter getting a special English Heritage show for his 300th birthday? By all artistic justice, Reynolds ought to have slipped from our memories long ago. His contemporary William Blake raged: “This man was hired to depress art.” Reynolds is still at it, still depressing art. This is for very British reasons. He invented the British art establishment and it is still loyal to him.
Reynolds was the first president of the institution that protects artistic status in Britain, the Royal Academy, founded in 1768. It still pays him homage. His statue greets you in its courtyard. He is a fitting hero for the RA, which, generation after generation, has been stuffed with Reynoldses – artists whose works take up space in the Summer Exhibition regardless of quality. But now Reynolds has another institutional boost, the National Portrait Gallery’s purchase, with the Getty Museum, of Reynolds’s Portrait of Omai for £50m.
That puts Reynolds in the superstar category, way beyond his contemporaries, and competing with the likes of Damien Hirst and Lucian Freud. It is a vastly inflated value for his work as this display makes obvious. He churned out stuff of the same bland quality as Omai by the wagonload, much like a studio photographer and just as shallow.
The trappings of seriousness are everywhere. Lady Diana Beauclerk sits in front of a colossal urn, a symbol of the classical tradition. She puts on a sad face with a hint of early Romanticism. Yet these effects are all on the surface. Reynolds doesn’t have enough empathy with his sitters to expose their souls. He doesn’t look beyond the pose.
His addiction to classical decor reflects the neoclassical age when 18th-century Europe was fascinated by the freshly discovered ruins of Pompeii and Robert Adam could do you a Greek style room like the beautiful library at Kenwood. Reynolds championed a grave, ambitious neoclassical conception of art in his Discourses Delivered at the Royal Academy, one of the first British books of art theory. But his portraits are cynical hackwork as he turns his lofty principles into stylish trappings. Sophia Musters, a lover of the Prince Regent, poses as the Greek goddess Hebe, feeding ambrosia to Zeus’s eagle. Who cares?
As the show is scattered through the house, you can freely compare his paintings with others in this fine collection. Every other British 18th-century artist has something Reynolds lacks. George Romney’s portrait of Emma Hart As “the Spinstress” is one of this artist’s obsessive paintings of the woman who became Lady Hamilton, and Nelson’s lover: Romney obviously wishes she was his lover and she smoulders at him from under her hood. A painting by Joseph Wright of Derby depicts two girls playing, perhaps cruelly, with a cat they hold up in the sharp light of a candle, surrounded by darkness: it is a typically gripping work by this artist who, unlike the establishment London success Reynolds, was looked down on for living and working in the Midlands.
Wright, Gainsborough, even Romney, have originality and personality. Their art has survived on its merits. Reynolds has endured for other reasons. Like the aristocracy, he just won’t go away. As Blake recognised, something in the bones of British culture is committed to the respectability of this minor talent.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.
Alleged Fraud Scheme
Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.
Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.
Massive Seizure of Artworks
In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.
Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.
Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed
In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.
Court Proceedings Ongoing
The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.
Impact on the Local Art Community
The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.
For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.
As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.
While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.
Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.
As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.
