Calling all jigsaw fans and/or grandparents who are running out of things to do online with beloved grandchildren (who may be more willing to try something different than usual)! Google Arts & Culture have put together a set of images which can be ‘broken’ into online jigsaws to be done solo or ‘multi-player’.  

Those of you who enjoy evil 500,000-piece jigsaws won’t, perhaps, get the full jigsaw frustration/satisfaction experience, but there are options for grandchild-friendly-Easy, Medium, and Hard, and it should provide at least a little distraction for most levels. Vide: https://artsandculture.google.com/experiment/puzzle-party/EwGBPZlIzv0KRw  

Full disclosure: I’ve not checked all of the images (OK. I’ve checked just two. No time for fun at Wrightington Towers - I’ve got a website to maintain and he’s got courses to research…!), but it seems that there are links for more information on the images in question which could happily while away a little time. Following up one of these images, for example, led me to stumble on a rather nice tour for Age of Baroque alumni and all Baroque fans here: https://skoklostersslott.se/sv/besok-skoklosters-slott-digitalt . Some further interesting stuff from Skokloster’s other digital links too.

 A hearty recommendation from Kathryn (for which many thanks!) to David Hockney at the Royal Academy of Arts, which was reshown this week on Sky Arts, which has some insights on his influences which will be of interest to The Impressionists and Post-Impressionism alumni. Alas we do not have a Sky Arts subscription, but for those of you who do, voila: https://www.sky.com/watch/title/programme/a738e1ff-3499-4ade-a9fb-538fe33490c3 . A bit of googling revealed that it’s available to buy for streaming (which we’re looking forward to doing soon) here: https://www.seventh-art.com/shop/david-hockney-at-the-royal-academy-of-arts/

Another recommendation (for which thanks to Valerie and Tina), to a piece by Waldemar Januszczak on Mannerism, which will be of interest to Beyond the Frontiers students. Alas I couldn’t sneak past The Times’ paywall, but for those of you who don’t need to be sneaky, I gather that it’s well worth a read - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/learn-to-mind-your-mannerism-v7g3sr3hv

Galleries and museums are doing all they can to keep us entertained and remembering that they’re there for happier times. One of our favourites is the British Museum’s virtual gallery tour (https://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/british-museum/AwEp68JO4NECkQ?sv_lng=-0.1266024509257022&sv_lat=51.51905368906714&sv_h=286&sv_p=0&sv_pid=JeKwUFYAMWXNWPh3IOg3jw&sv_z=1 ) .

The Impressionists alumni and current Post-Impressionists students will, I’m sure, enjoy the RA’s virtual tour of its Gauguin and the Impressionists: Masterpieces of the Ordrupgaard Collection exhibition here: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/gauguin-virtual-tour

As an Aylesbury duck who grew up in Oxfordshire and Milton Keynes and was forcibly led round Waddesdon Manor until I was old enough to strop and refuse (I know. I was young and foolish. Please don’t judge. I got older at least…), I’m ashamed to say that I’ve only recently come across online access to the Rothschild Foundation’s collection. There’s something which fans of pretty much any art you might care to mention will find here: https://waddesdon.org.uk/explore-waddesdon-online/art-online/ . (As a by-the-by, one of us finds it impossible to separate the words ‘Rothschild’ and ‘art’ from ‘Mark Thomas’. I wonder whether you can guess which of us that is…)

And voila advance notice of an imminent online preview of what we’ll be able to see in the V&A’s newly-refurbished Raphael Court (one day…), showcasing the Royal Collection’s gorgeous Raphael cartoons, when we’re allowed back into galleries: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/what-to-see/raphaels-cartoons-never-looked-beautiful/  At the time of posting, it’s not clear what exactly the ‘new interactive online content’ will be, but we’re looking forward to finding out.

Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum has recently opened its virtual doors in a most generous way. We’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of its delights, and our preliminary conclusion is that there’s pretty much something for everyone. Vide: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio

Also in Virtual Amsterdam, The Van Gogh Museum has got all sorts of super online entertainment, including some child-friendly activities: https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/visit/enjoy-the-museum-from-home . For my money, however, the current crown for Best Art-related Thing For Children has to go to this Rijksmuseum’s Miffy and Rembrandt collaboration. Perhaps it’s my age.

Speaking of Rembrandt…The Ashmolean’s very well-received Young Rembrandt exhibition of last year has also been opened up to online visitors, and contains lots of lovely things (that is the correct academic term, right?): https://www.ashmolean.org/youngrembrandtonline. My personal favourite is this - Self-portrait: The Carry-On Years (that may or may not be its actual title). This exhibition, by the way, illustrates one of my favourite artist tendencies, namely slipping a self-portrait into a scene. I like to think of it as an early version of Where’s Wally? It is, perhaps, my proclivity for such high-falutin’ learned and academic interpretations which explains why Robert does the courses and I don’t.

Some recent good news, which will please Monastic Yorkshire alumni as well as many others: the National Trust, with the help of some lottery funding, is working towards protecting Fountains Abbey and its environs from flooding. Hurrah! See: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/13/national-trust-yorkshire-fountains-abbey-climate-flooding-skell-valley and, for more details, https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/fountains-abbey-and-studley-royal-water-garden/projects/the-skell-valley-project. Those of you who venture into the mirky world that is twitter can see what Storm Christoph has wrought at Fountains this week here:  https://twitter.com/fountainsabbey/status/1352231577753964547

In Recently Discovered News, which will be of interest to Pompeii and Herculaneum and Thieves, Scholars, and Dilettanti alumni, the current project at Pompeii continues to yield ever more riches: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/21/pompeii-dig-reveals-almost-perfect-remains-of-a-master-and-his-slave?

Having visited Pompeii and Herculaneum decades ago, I still vividly remember the uneasy sense of voyeurism when viewing the casts of victims, so I’ll illustrate this with a different kind of voyeurism (ahem. But hey – it could easily have been a lot more graphic. See here for a sample, if you’re so inclined, but proceed at your own risk. You have been warned… https://wiki2.org/en/Erotic_art_in_Pompeii_and_Herculaneum).

In other news, you may have seen media coverage of a recent academic paper suggesting that van Gogh’s (understatement ahoy…) already-fragile mental health was further damaged by the effects of alcohol withdrawal during his spells of hospitalization after his Ear Incident (the full paper is available on Open Access here):  https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1186/s40345-020-00196-z?sharing_token=3qwFkISispM7P6JE0nPBw2_BpE1tBhCbnbw3BuzI2RNhCd9jHKW1BkncVuGiu58YZfJ3IupCaO6FSfIUknYayjl4dmQMs_Q0G1FLslRrUULG1I1Jlc9NJ0mZ2pyT2EeBegtAt9inmAeUuJgMbTFyjHTZxLiZhrF7E6Jq0R2AmNY%3D)

Not surprisingly, the delirium and psychosis/alcohol withdrawal connection was the main focus of most media coverage, although the paper itself also discusses other possible ailments and factors. For a different view on his alcohol consumption during these spells, though, see here: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/blog/did-alcohol-withdrawal-really-cause-van-gogh-s-mental-crises

This is but the latest example of numerous studies proposing post-humous diagnosis of historical figures (from my quondam research field, for example, Alfred the Great, Edward the Confessor, Hildegard of Bingen, and Marjory Kempe spring instantly to mind). They raise interesting questions about their subjects (regardless of how convincing the central arguments may or may not be), but for my money, a far more interesting question arising is: what does this suggest about how we want (need?) to relate to people in the past? Hmmm…

Staying with van Gogh for a little longer, he’s just been tentatively identified in the background of this Toulouse-Lautrec sketch, where he’s been languishing, unidentified, since 1886. Once you’ve played your own game of Where’s Wally?, see whether you were right – and whether you agree it’s him from the detail – here: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/blog/is-van-gogh-hiding-at-the-back-of-a-toulouse-lautrec-drawing. Did you also spot Toulouse-Lautrec?

Finally, for those of you who have a few million burning a hole in your pocket, do you fancy a bit of shopping? (…after you’ve set aside a small budget for the coming term’s courses, of course! Ahem…)  

Alas, you’ve missed out on this beauty, but The Middle Kingdom, China and the West, and History of China alumni may like to see it anyway: https://www.sothebys.com/en/press/ren-renfas-five-drunken-princes-returning-on-horseback-soars-to-hk-307-million-us-40-million.

You might also enjoy this wonderful video (if you can overlook the Game of Thrones-esque soundtrack):

For those of you who are currently enjoying Renaissance Art and Architecture, however, if you move quickly you’ll still be in time for this, which might fill that bare bit of hall wall that’s been bugging you for ages: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/a35244517/sothebys-boticelli-portrait-young-man-roundel-sale/

Alternatively, for Impressionists and Post-Impressionism denizens past and current, this is likely to go for a mere snip by comparison: https://www.drouot.com/news/actuDetaillee/77104 (in case your French is rusty, see also: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/jan/21/previously-unseen-dog-painting-by-manet-to-be-sold-at-paris-auction )

So. That’s all for this time. Should there be another time? If this sort of thing is of interest to you, I’ll very happily continue to do similar round-ups from time to time. Do please let me know by commenting below!