Recent links of note:
“The Queen joked she had ‘no taste’—but the Royal Collection reveals the truth”
Alastair Sooke, The Telegraph
We knew little about the Queen’s artistic preferences, and the reason, Alastair Sooke writes, is that she “guarded her reputation for impartiality so fiercely” that she couldn’t risk publicly discussing her favorite movement or period. The Queen did, however, make “quiet innovations” during her stewardship of the Royal Collection, believed to be the largest private collection in the world. She personally approved art loans and had new galleries built to house temporary exhibitions, granting the public unprecedented access to the family’s collection, which includes masterworks from artists such as Da Vinci, Raphael, Van Dyck, and Vermeer.
“Hilary Mantel, Prizewinning ‘Wolf Hall’ Author, Dies at 70”
Sarah Ball, The Wall Street Journal
The award-winning author Hilary Mantel, who was best known for her Wolf Hall trilogy, a series that revitalized the historical fiction genre, died yesterday. The series famously recast the life of Thomas Cromwell, the statesman and reformer who helped secure the annulment of Henry VIII’s first marriage and was later beheaded by the monarch. The manipulation and trickery of Tudor politics exhibited in Wolf Hall, published in 2009, became very popular and it was adapted into several stage productions and a television show. Mantel’s “ability to mine history for psychological detail,” as Sarah Ball describes, is what defined her literary legacy.
“Berlin’s controversial Humboldt Forum is finally complete—but ‘the work inside begins now,’ German Culture Minister says”
Lara Bommers, The Art Newspaper
Berlin has opened its new art and culture museum, the controversial and long-awaited Humboldt Forum, reports Lara Bommers in The Art Newspaper. This museum is housed in the former palace of the Hohenzollern dynasty, recently rebuilt in a massive project after having been damaged by Allied bombing during World War II and subsequently demolished by the East German government. Considerable debate has surrounded the museum project from the beginning, with critics pointing to its high cost, questioning the historical continuity of its architecture, and calling for the restitution of looted artworks in its collections. The Humboldt Forum and its creator, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, are in the spotlight of the museum repatriation debate, receiving significant coverage in the media for returning over five hundred Benin bronzes to Nigeria in the past month.