Resources & Recommendations #4

to listen

The Professor: Hunting for the Mafia’s Missing Masterpiece

“Thomas Crown meets the Godfather”. More subterfuge and double-dealings this month as Simon Willis plunges into the Sicilian underworld in a four-part podcast series tracing the fate of William Veres, numismatist on trial for antiquities trafficking, and his attempt to find Caravaggio’s stolen Nativity, long believed to be in the hands of Cosa Nostra, in an attempt to clear his name.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Youtube.

to watch

The Royal Artists: Waldemar's Deep Dive On Holbein, Rubens & Dobson | Perspective

Waldemar Januszczak delves deep into the lives of Holbein, Rubens & Dobson in three hour-long documentaries, kindly provided free of charge by Perspective on Youtube. If Januszczak’s presentation style is to your liking then there is good news and something to look out for at the end of the month: a new series on Mannerism, scheduled for 30th January 2024 on Sky Arts.

to read

RKD Studies: Frans Hals and his Workshop

For those unable to make it to London to see the Frans Hals show at the National Gallery, fear not. The RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History) has just published an extensive study on the artist and his workshop. Hals’ relationship with artists like Judith Leyster and Willem Buytewech is explored and the extent of his workshop collaboration in large-scale militia paintings is also examined. Drawings feature sparingly, as Hals left none and was known to paint directly on canvas, “alla prima”, in certain instances. There is some hope for the optimistic, however. Drawings were certainly provided as models for workshop use and indeed preparatory studies for portraits were likely used too, as in the Leiden Collection’s Portrait of Samuel Ampzing. They must be out there somewhere!