2015 Artstor Summary

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Derek Churchill

Freake-Gibbs Painter, Elizabeth Clarke Freake (Mrs. John Freake) and Baby Mary (detail), ca. 1671, Worcester Art Museum

As we enter the new year, the Artstor Digital Library now has more than two million images. To see all the collections that were added or expanded in 2015, and for a preview of what’s coming up in 2016, check out Artstor’s year-end summary.

Two new collections of note were added over the holidays:

The Mauritshuis in The Hague, which houses the Dutch royal picture gallery, including many of the masterpieces of 17th-century Dutch painting (for example, Rembrandt’s Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp, Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, and Carel Fabritius’s Goldfinch)
The Worcester Art Museum, home to one of the best collections in New England

And just today, several more Artstor collections have been enlarged:

Andean ceramics in the Fowler Museum at UCLA
Photography from Panos Pictures
Mexican art photographed by Bob Schalkwijk

New Collections and New Images Available in Artstor

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Derek Churchill

Shaykh Zada, Divan of Hafiz (folio 77r), ca. 1530, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA

Just this week, the Artstor Digital Library has released over 20,000 new images. New collections include the following:

Works of art in the collections of the Harvard Art Museums (Fogg Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum)
Photographs by Donald Woodman
Contemporary art installations at the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh

The following collections in the Artstor Digital Library have also been expanded with additional images:

Works in the permanent collections of the Seattle Art Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Smith College Museum of Art, and the Museum of the City of New York
20th- and 21st-century architecture in Rotterdam from ART on FILE
New media art from the Rhizome ArtBase

25th Anniversary of the Gardner Theft

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Derek Churchill

Johannes Vermeer, The Concert (detail), ca. 1665, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (stolen 1990)

Twenty-five years ago today, two thieves stole thirteen works of art–together valued at around half a billion dollars–from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It was the largest property crime ever in this country, and one of the most famous art thefts of all time. The stolen items have never been returned. The Gardner is still offering a $5,000,000 reward for their recovery.

Among the works lost were five drawings by Degas, a painting by Manet, three Rembrandts, and one of only about three dozen Vermeers in existence.

The Gardner is commemorating this milestone with a slideshow on its website, where you can learn more about these works and the events of March 18, 1990.

Art Museums in the News

Posted on November 30, 2014 by Derek Churchill

Tullio Lombardo, Adam, ca. 1490-1495, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Here is a roundup of some recent stories from the museum world:

A “grand bargain” appears to have saved the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts, which was in danger of being sold off to help pay the massive debts of the bankrupt city of Detroit.
A Renaissance statue of Adam by the Venetian sculptor Tullio Lombardo has been put back on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art after more than a decade of conservation. The marble statue had shattered in 2002 when its pedestal buckled beneath its weight.
The Harvard Art Museums have reopened after a six-year expansion. The new complex, designed by architect Renzo Piano, unites the three museums (Fogg Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, and Arthur M. Sackler Museum) under a single roof.
Billionaire Jerry Perenchio is donating his collection of 19th- and 20th-century art to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
After the controversial deaccessioning of several works from its collection, the Delaware Art Museum has retired its debt and announced that it has received a number of new gifts.

VRC@UD

The news blog of the Visual Resources Center at the University of Delaware

Tag Archives: Massachusetts

2015 Artstor Summary

New Collections and New Images Available in Artstor

25th Anniversary of the Gardner Theft

Art Museums in the News