Exhibition | Rachel Ruysch: Nature into Art
Opening in November at the Alte Pinakothek:
Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750), Nature into Art
Alte Pinakothek, Munich, 26 November 2024 — 16 March 2025
Toledo Museum of Art, 12 April — 27 July 2025
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 23 August — 7 December 2025
Rachel Ruysch, Blumenstrauß / Bouquet of Flowers, 1715 (Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek München, 878).
Rachel Ruysch’s deceptively realistic floral still lifes—paintings of exotic plants and fruit, butterflies and insects—were already sought-after and expensive collector’s items during the artist’s lifetime. Demand was so great that the Amsterdam painter could afford to produce merely a few works a year.
As the daughter of the renowned professor of anatomy and botany Frederik Ruysch, the first female member of The Hague’s Confrerie Pictura, a court painter in Düsseldorf, a lottery game winner, and the mother of eleven children, Rachel was an exceptional figure. In November, the Alte Pinakothek will open the world’s first major monographic exhibition of her work. Discover the wondrous world of Rachel Ruysch, who between art and science perfected fine painting and artistic freedom amidst illustrious patrons in Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, and Florence.
London Art Week 2024
From the press release for London Art Week, with selected highlights including the following:
British Women Artists, 1750–1950
Karen Taylor Fine Art, London Art Week, 28 June — 5 July 2024
Penelope Cawardine (1729–1804), Portrait of a Lady Looking in a Mirror, black and red chalk on laid paper, oval 15.3 × 11.5 cm. More information is available here»
Karen Taylor Fine Art’s exhibition British Women Artists, 1750–1950 coincides with the exhibition of the Tate Britain’s Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain, 1520–1920. It will include a number of scientific works by Sarah Stone and others; portraiture, which provided the livelihood for many female artists from the 18th century to Laura Knight; and landscapes from a wide range of female artists.
Karen Taylor is a private dealer in British and topographical art, principally works on paper, with a particular interest in works of historic and geographical importance and British women artists. She works by appointment in London and is proud to include major institutions in the USA, UK, and Europe amongst her regular customers. Karen worked in the British drawings department at Sotheby’s and after 10 years moved to Spink, where she ran the picture department. In 1999, she established Karen Taylor Fine Art, and regularly exhibits at fairs in London and holds exhibitions during London Art Week.
The related catalogue includes an introduction by Paris Spies-Gans.
Exhibition | Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain, 1520–1920
From the press release for the exhibition:
Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain, 1520–1920
Tate Britain, London, 16 May — 13 October 2024
Tate Britain presents Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520–1920. This ambitious group show charts women’s road to being recognised as professional artists, a 400-year journey that paved the way for future generations and established what it meant to be a woman in the British art world. The exhibition covers the period in which women were visibly working as professional artists, but went against societal expectations to do so.
Featuring over 100 artists, the exhibition celebrates well-known names such as Artemisia Gentileschi, Angelica Kauffman, Julia Margaret Cameron, and Gwen John, alongside many others who are only now being rediscovered. Their careers were as varied as the works they produced. Some prevailed over genres deemed suitable for women like watercolour landscapes and domestic scenes. Others dared to take on subjects dominated by men like battle scenes and the nude, or campaigned for equal access to training and membership of professional institutions. Tate Britain will showcase over 200 works, including oil painting, watercolour, pastel, sculpture, photography, and ‘needlepainting’ to tell the story of these trailblazing artists.
Now You See Us begins at the Tudor court with Levina Teerlinc, many of whose miniatures are brought together for the first time in four decades, and Esther Inglis, whose manuscripts contain Britain’s earliest known self-portraits by a woman artist. The exhibition then looks to the 17th century. Focus is given to one of art history’s most celebrated women artists: Artemisia Gentileschi, who created major works in London at the court of Charles I, including the recently rediscovered Susanna and the Elders 1638–40, on loan from the Royal Collection for the very first time. The exhibition also looks to women such as Mary Beale, Joan Carlile, and Maria Verelst who broke new ground as professional portrait painters in oil.
Maria Cosway, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire as Cynthia from Spenser’s ‘Faerie Queene’, 1781–82, oil on canvas (The Devonshire Collection).
In the 18th century, women took part in Britain’s first public art exhibitions; these artists included overlooked figures such as Katherine Read and Mary Black; the sculptor Anne Seymour Damer; and Margaret Sarah Carpenter, a leading figure in her day but little heard of now. The show looks at Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser, the only women included among the Founder Members of the Royal Academy of Arts; it took 160 years for membership to be granted to another woman. Women artists of this era are often dismissed as amateurs pursuing ‘feminine’ occupations like watercolour and flower painting, but many worked in these genres professionally: needlewoman Mary Linwood, whose gallery was a major tourist attraction; miniaturist Sarah Biffin, who painted with her mouth, having been born without arms and legs; and Augusta Withers, a botanical illustrator employed by the Horticultural Society.
The Victorian period saw a vast expansion in public exhibition venues. Now You See Us showcases major works by critically appraised artists of this period, including Elizabeth Butler (née Thompson)’s monumental The Roll Call 1874 (Butler’s work prompted critic John Ruskin to retract his statement that “no women could paint”), and nudes by Henrietta Rae and Annie Swynnerton, which sparked both debate and celebration. The exhibition will also look at women’s connection to activism, including Florence Claxton’s satirical ‘Woman’s Work’: A Medley 1861, which will be on public display for the first time since it was painted; and an exploration of the life of Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, an early member of the Society of Female Artists who is credited with the campaign for women to be admitted to the Royal Academy Schools. On show will be the student work of women finally admitted to art schools, as well as their petitions for equal access to life drawing classes.
The exhibition ends in the early 20th century with women’s suffrage and the First World War. Women artists like Gwen John, Vanessa Bell and Helen Saunders played an important role in the emergence of modernism, abstraction and vorticism, but others, such as Anna Airy, who also worked as a war artist, continued to excel in conventional traditions. The final artists in the show, Laura Knight and Ethel Walker, offer powerful examples of ambitious, independent, confident professionals who achieved critical acclaim and—finally—membership of the Royal Academy.
The exhibition guide is available here»
Tabitha Barber, Tim Batchelor, Carol Jacobi, eds., Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520–1920 (London: Tate Publishing, 2024), 224 pages, ISBN: 978-1849769259, £40.
Exhibition | Fanciful Figures
Soane office hand, RA Lecture Drawing of the Portico of Holkham Hall, Norfolk, 1806–19
(London: Sir John Soane’s Museum 17/1/20)Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian Museum)
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Now on view at Sir John Soane’s Museum:
Fanciful Figures
Sir John Soane’s Museum, London, 22 March — 9 June 2024
Fanciful Figures turns visitors’ attention to ‘staffage’, the small human and animal figures in architectural drawings, which became increasingly popular during the eighteenth century. Drawing on the drafting practices of past and present, the exhibition illustrates staffage’s ability to animate architects’ visions, both for built projects and unrealised designs.
The Georgians placed these figures—whether beautifully dressed, sociable, or industrious—into their drawings to animate, add intrigue, and enhance the aspirational appeal of their designs. They also played, and continue to play, an important role in indicating the scale and function of architectural elements and drawing attention to the special features of designs. Just as architects today use staffage to help prospective buyers imagine a life in and around new developments, these historic scenes were created to market new possibilities to audiences. They have, therefore, taken on a new significance as a means of signalling shifts in style, demographics, work, and culture. Between the city traders and happy families, street-side boxing matches and children riding in dog-carts, the figures celebrated in this exhibition help piece together a vibrant picture.
The exhibition draws largely from the Museum’s own collection, including a very early instance of staffage by figure artist Leonard Knyff from 1695. This is shown alongside works by Soane’s favourite draughtsman Joseph Gandy and a series of never-before-seen prints by Benedict Van Assen, both pioneers in this practice.
A specially commissioned film, on display in the Museum’s Foyle Space, explores the representation of figures and communities in contemporary architectural drawing, illustrating the roles that these figures play in reflecting the values, priorities, and aspirations of architects and their projects. The film discusses this subject with four prominent architectural practices: Nimtim, Muf, Office S&M, and OMMX. At the cutting edge of their field, these architects question who is represented in architectural designs and what the impact of this representation of our shared spaces has on how we live.
Exhibition | Emulating Books
Now on view at The Met:
Emulating Books: Book Objects from the Lynn and Bruce Heckman Gift
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 18 April — 16 July 2024
Box with Tulip and Hearts Motif in Book Form, 1714, carved wood (possibly European walnut), 9 × 7 × 3 cm (NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Lynn and Bruce Heckman, N7433.3 .B69 1714).
Creating objects in book form has been an artistic practice for a millennium. These personal, inventive objects are ubiquitous in many cultures. They have been made for various purposes by people from all walks of life and skill levels. Whether precious or plain, useful or symbolic, they all benefit from their connection to the book. For example, the book-style relic of the ship Eurydice, which sank in 1878, killing over 300 sailors, was carved from a piece of the ship, and serves as an emblem documenting the history of the event, as well as a memorial book honoring the dead.
An object made in the form of a book translates the meaning of the type of book it emulates, therefore imbuing the object with the emotional, material, or spiritual values of the original or imagined book. These objects can express feelings of love, enlightenment, humor and faith, and sometimes the mere experience of holding a book object, as with a treasured tome, can comfort its owner, as in the case of the solid wood Holy Bible which will never open, but comforts just the same. As a result of the book’s power, traditions of making specific types of book objects, such as book safes and game boards, have evolved and flourished. Examples of these traditions, made during the eighteenth to twentieth centuries can be seen in this exhibition.
The Heckman collection is a gift to the Thomas J. Watson Library from Lynn Geringer Heckman, who began collecting objects in book form with her late husband Bruce Heckman in 1989, eventually amassing over 1,000 works. The Watson gift is a select group chosen from the larger collection. The objects on display will be available for consultation in our Reading Room at the conclusion of the exhibition.
Exhibition | Black Newporters, 17th–19th Centuries
Opening this month at the Newport Historical Society:
A Name, A Voice, A Life: The Black Newporters of the 17th–19th Centuries
Newport Historical Society, 29 May — 29 November 2024
Curated by Zoe Hume
Discover the rich narratives of five individuals of African descent who resided in Newport from its inception in 1639 to the abolition of slavery in Rhode Island’s constitution in 1842. Delve into their connections, commercial endeavors, religious affiliations, and more through an immersive exhibit at the Newport Historical Society Richard I. Burnham Resource Center. The exhibition also features interpretations by three Rhode Island artists, offering visual insights into the lives and experiences of these historical figures.
Exhibition | Maria Cosway (1760–1838)
Opening this month at the Pasquale Paoli Museum in Merusaglia:
Maria Cosway (1760–1838): A strada eccezziunale di un’artista
Museu Pasquale Paoli, Merusaglia (Corsica), 18 May — 30 October 2024
Curated by Amandine Rabier
Maria Cosway (1760–1838): A Strada eccezziunale di un’artista (L’itinéraire singulier d’une artiste), présentée au Musée Maison natale de Pasquale Paoli raconte le cheminement d’une femme brillante que tout prédestinait à une grande carrière d’artiste dans la High Society anglaise et qui, contre toute attente, trouvera sa véritable émancipation en renonçant à sa première vocation pour se consacrer à l’éducation des jeunes filles. Ami fidèle, Pasquale Paoli (1725–1807) fut présent à chaque étape de cette vie singulière. Ses lettres à l’attention de Maria Cosway, tel un fil rouge, ponctuent les différentes sections de cette exposition. Fruit de deux années de travail en collaboration avec des institutions britanniques et italiennes reconnues, l’exposition s’accompagne d’un catalogue édité en français et en anglais, richement illustré et documenté par des historiens d’art réputés, spécialistes du XVIIIe siècle, sous la direction d’Amandine Rabier, commissaire de l’exposition. Cette exposition est aussi pour le musée de Merusaglia, l’occasion de s’extraire de son enracinement local pour rayonner sur la scène internationale, conformément à son Projet Scientifique et Culturel.
Introduction
• L’apprentissage en Italie
• Maria Hadfield devient Maria Cosway
Salle 1 | Maria Cosway dans la société anglaise
• La reine de Pall Mall
• À propos des femmes artistes
• Pasquale Paoli et Maria Cosway
Salle 2 | Maria Cosway peintre
• L’influence du cercle romain
• L’amitié avec David
• Exposer à la Royal Academy
Salle 3 | Rupture
Salle 4 | Émancipation: Maria Cosway pédagogue
Amandine Rabier, ed., Maria Cosway (Ghent: Snoeck Publishers, 2024), ISBN: 978-9461619051, €30.
Exhibition | Splendour in Venice: Canaletto and Guardi
Francesco Guardi, The Feast of the Ascension in the Piazza San Marco, detail, ca. 1775, oil on canvas
(Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian Museum)
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Opening this fall at Lisbon’s Calouste Gulbenkian Museum:
Splendor in Venice: Canaletto and Guardi in 18th-Century Painting
Veneza em Festa: Canaletto e Guardi na Pintura do Século XVIII
Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, 24 October 2024 — 13 January 2025
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 3 February — 12 May 2025
In 2024, the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum welcomes the masters of 18th-century Venetian painting in an exhibition organised in collaboration with the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. After working together on a 2009 exhibition devoted to the French painter Henri Fantin-Latour, the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza are joining forces once again to promote an encounter between the works of their respective collections, based on their characteristic affinities. This new project, which starts in Lisbon in autumn 2024 and continues in Madrid in early 2025, takes as its theme 18th-century Venetian painting, with each museum contributing works that echo and complement one another. Canaletto, Guardi, Bellotto, and Tiepolo—creators of some of the most brilliant compositions of their time—will be brought together with other artists for the exhibition. The display will focus on the feste (the celebrations held in La Serenissima), vedute (panoramic views of a specific location), and capricci (fantastical architectures dreamt up by local artists), all of which are naturally festive motifs.
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Note (added 16 August 2025) — The posting was updated to include the dates in Madrid. Also, note that the catalogue is distributed by ACC Art Books and Simon & Schuster.
Exhibition | Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King
Now on view at The Wallace Collection:
Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King
The Wallace Collection, London, 10 April — 20 October 2024
Explore the life of the great Sikh leader Ranjit Singh (1780–1839) in this major exhibition
With an unwavering sense of destiny, Ranjit Singh conquered the Punjab, an area that today encompasses Pakistan, following a period of anarchy caused by decades of Afghan invasions. By the early 19th century, he emerged as the undisputed Maharaja, establishing the influential Sikh Empire. Ranjit Singh’s leadership led to a golden age marked by thriving trade, flourishing arts, and a formidable army. Discover his story through nearly 100 stunning artworks, including jewellery and weaponry from the Sikh Empire drawn from major private and public collections. The exhibition also features historic objects from his court, courtiers, and family, including items owned by the Maharaja and the most famous of his 30 wives, Maharani Jind Kaur. Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King is a unique opportunity to see our remarkable collection of Sikh arms and armour alongside other Sikh artworks for the first time.
From Bloomsbury Press:
Davinder Toor, Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King (London: Philip Wilson Publishers, 2024), 144 pages, ISBN: 978-1781301265, £20 / $30.
This book, published to coincide with the exhibition at the Wallace Collection, features historic artworks, jewellery, and weaponry from Ranjit Singh’s court, courtiers, and family members. Also highlighted are objects intimately connected with his son, Maharaja Duleep Singh—the deposed boy-king turned country squire who was a favourite of Queen Victoria and father of the prominent suffragette Princess Sophia Duleep Singh. Richly illustrated, this catalogue also reveals the achievements of Ranjit Singh’s European and American officials. Acknowledging Ranjit Singh’s remarkable feat of holding back the threat of a British invasion for four decades, these ‘Firangis’ would nickname their esteemed Sikh sovereign ‘The Napoleon of the East’.
Davinder Toor is a leading figure among a new generation of Sikh, Indian, and Islamic art collectors. He has acted as a consultant to major private collectors, auction houses and institutions such as the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Wallace Collection. He currently lectures on the ‘Arts of the Royal Sikh Courts’ and ‘Sikh Painting and Manuscripts’ for the V&A’s prestigious Arts of Asia course. Both he and objects from the Toor Collection of Sikh Art were featured on the BBC’s Lost Treasures of the Sikh Kingdom (2014) and The Stolen Maharajah: Britain’s Indian Royal (2018) documentaries. The Toor Collection, comprising more than 1,500 works, acts as a lasting legacy to the empire of the Sikhs.
c o n t e n t s
Maps
Foreword
Preface
Prelude to Power — Davinder Toor
Masters of War — Davinder Toor
The Lahore Durbar — Davinder Toor
Firangis — William Dalrymple
Legacies — Davinder Toor
Notes
Bibliography
Image credits
Online Course | Sâqib Bâburî on Ranjit Singh
An example of the programming offered in conjunction with exhibition Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King, now on view at The Wallace Collection:
Sâqib Bâburî | Life Stories: Ranjit Singh (1780–1839)
Online, Wednesdays 8, 15, and 22 May 2024, 18.00–20.00 BST (and recorded)
In the 18th century, the once powerful Timurid (Mughal) Empire retreated from the wealthy region of the Punjab, now divided between India and Pakistan. Unstable and continually plundered by invasions from Afghanistan, peace and prosperity was eventually restored to the region through local resistance and the enigmatic leadership of Ranjit Singh. Over three sessions, we’ll examine Ranjit Singh’s rise to power and the multifaceted reasons for the stability and duration of his almost four-decade reign—regarded as a highpoint in an otherwise violently unstable century. The course will be taught through Zoom Webinar. Each course session duration is 120 minutes, including a five-minute break and time for Q&A with the tutor. Tickets are for all dates (£60 / £57). Ticket holders will be emailed the Zoom link, Webinar ID, and Passcode 24 hours in advance of the first course session, which should be retained for accessing all three sessions of the course. The course will also be recorded. Within 48 hours of each course session, ticket holders will be emailed a link to view the recording, which will be available for two weeks only.
Sâqib Bâburî is a Content Specialist Archivist with the Qatar Foundation Partnership, based at the British Library, where he was formerly the Curator for Urdu Collections and Curator for Persian Manuscripts. His research interests include the history and art history of Persianate South Asia, palaeography and manuscript cultures, ornament and design, arms and armour, regalia, and culinary cultures. Dr Bâburî has worked among other institutions with the Royal Collection Trust, Victoria and Albert Museum, the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Oldenburg, Göttingen, Singapore, King’s College London, Warburg Institute, SOAS University of London, and the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Session One | Ranjit Singh, an Origin Story
We’ll begin our course by tracing the rise of Ranjit Singh’s ancestors through the Persian account, Tazkirat al-umarāʾ (Remembrance of the Nobles) written by his contemporary Colonel James Skinner (1778–1841). We’ll also examine the significance of militant resistance to the Timurid Empire and Afghan invaders in Ranjit Singh’s journey to rule over a cosmopolitan kingdom, termed the Khalsa State, centred on Lahore.
Session Two | Between War and Peace
In our second session we’ll explore the tensions between Ranjit Singh’s private life and public duties, focusing on his early years as a free-spirited prince taking pleasure in military exercises and avoiding bookish learning. Looking at his household, consorts, and offspring, we’ll also chart the significant developments that shaped the course of his career as an administrator, patron, and military leader. We’ll look closely at architecture, paintings, manuscripts, documents, and arms and armour to understand the aesthetic and thematic range of Ranjit Singh’s patronage.
Session Three | European Encounters
In our final session we’ll consider Ranjit Singh’s role in promoting transregional and international commercial and diplomatic relations. Once holding an antagonistic attitude towards the Timurid Empire, we’ll understand his efforts to renew connections across India, as well as West and Central Asia. Finally, we’ll look at how Ranjit Singh’s later relations with Britain, Russia, and France anticipated future disputes over the Afghanistan-Punjab corridor, leading to the collapse of the Khalsa State within a few years of his demise.
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