Images from the National Gallery, London in ARTstor

Diego Velázquez, The Toilet of Venus ("The Rokeby Venus"), 1647-1651, National Gallery, London

Diego Velázquez, The Toilet of Venus (“The Rokeby Venus”), 1647-1651, National Gallery, London

In one of its most significant additions in recent years, ARTstor has just released images of every painting in the collection of the National Gallery, London. With works ranging from the 13th to the early 20th century, the National Gallery has one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of European painting. Among the more than 2300 images from the National Gallery now available in ARTstor are such masterpieces as Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait, Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne, Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus (left), Gainsborough’s Mr. and Mrs. Andrews, and Seurat’s Bathers at Asnières.

You can read more about the National Gallery’s collection in ARTstor here.

Art in the News

Nicolas Poussin, Adoration of the Golden Calf (detail)

Nicolas Poussin, detail from the Adoration of the Golden Calf, 1633-34 (Photo © The National Gallery, London)

Two more art-related headlines out of Britain:

  • An obituary for figurative painter Lucian Freud, 1922-2011.
  • An article on the recent vandalism of two works by 17th-century French painter Nicolas Poussin in the National Gallery, London.

A New Leonardo da Vinci?

Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi (after restoration)

The Salvator Mundi, newly attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, as it appears after restoration (photo from Mail Online)

Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi (after restoration)

The appearance of the Salvator Mundi before restoration (photo from Mail Online)

Is this a newly discovered painting by Leonardo da Vinci? Some experts say it is.

It has long been known that the famous Renaissance artist painted a picture of Christ as the Savior of the World (Salvator Mundi), but while many copies and emulations by Leonardo’s followers have survived, the master’s own original was presumed lost.

After a recent cleaning (left), several Leonardo scholars now think that one of these supposed “copies” is in fact the original. Its authenticity, they believe, was obscured by centuries of retouching and overpainting (right).

The newly unveiled “Leonardo” will be exhibited at the National Gallery in London later this year. You can read more about the painting in Mail Online and Art News.

What do you think? Is this really a long-lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci?

BBC’s Your Paintings

John Constable, The Cornfield, 1826

John Constable, The Cornfield, 1826 (Photo © The National Gallery, London)

The BBC has teamed up with the Public Catalogue Foundation to launch Your Paintings, a digital library of paintings owned by national museums in Britain. Over the next two years, they expect to build a collection of 200,000 paintings (63,000 are available so far) from 3000 British collections. This includes major London museums like the National Gallery, Tate, and V&A, but the majority are smaller regional and municipal institutions.

At 944 pixels on the long dimension, the digital images on this site are more or less the right size for use in a Powerpoint presentation (vertical images are fine, but horizontal images are a little smaller than one would like).

You can read a BBC article about the Your Paintings project here.

For easy access anytime, I have placed a link to the BBC’s Your Paintings website on the VRC’s Online Resources page.