Two important Scottish and French acquisitions for the Scottish National Gallery's collection

[Waller Hugh Paton, Entrance to the Cuiraing, Skye, 1873. Oil on canvas: 111.80 x 162.60 cm. Scottish National Gallery]
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=51518

Century-old mystery of stained glass windows that inspired Vincent van Gogh solved as they are located in Hampshire church

The location of two stained glass windows that inspired Vincent van Gogh has baffled historians for almost 150 years.



Experts have been intrigued ever since the post-impressionist painter wrote about seeing their designs in London in 1876.



For more than a century, no-one had a clue which windows he was referring to but now an art historian has finally traced them to a remote village in Hampshire.



After a bit of detective work, Max Donnelly found the two, foot-feet high windows to St Andrew's church in Owslebury near Winchester.



The windows were commissioned by the Earl of Northesk to show his wife and daughter who both pre-deceased him.





Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2029973/Century-old-mystery-stained-glass-windows-inspired-van-Gogh-solved-located-Hampshire-church.html#ixzz1W8PJcORc

People in Glasgow boys paintings revealed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10318311

BBC and Victoria & Albert Museum announce major new year-long partnership

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=50032

Did Constable fake a pastoral scene in one of his best-loved paintings, The Cornfield?

With its vivid depiction of the English countryside, it has been a popular painting since Victorian times.



But anyone who goes in search of the idyllic landscape shown in The Cornfield by John Constable could be in for a disappointment.



The artist may have faked his most famous pastoral scene, startling evidence suggests.





Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2027601/Did-Constable-fake-pastoral-scene-best-loved-paintings-The-Cornfield.html#ixzz1VSYDB4Nf

Did Constable fake a pastoral scene in one of his best-loved paintings, The Cornfield?

With its vivid depiction of the English countryside, it has been a popular painting since Victorian times.



But anyone who goes in search of the idyllic landscape shown in The Cornfield by John Constable could be in for a disappointment.



The artist may have faked his most famous pastoral scene, startling evidence suggests.





Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2027601/Did-Constable-fake-pastoral-scene-best-loved-paintings-The-Cornfield.html#ixzz1VSYDB4Nf

Why I've rediscovered Victorian art - Jonathon Jones

The news of a lost – and now found – Ford Madox Brown painting and an exhibition on the Pre-Raphaelite painter fail to excite me. But the cultural legacy of the Victorians does



http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2011/aug/12/victorian-art-ford-madox-brown

Why I've rediscovered Victorian art - Jonathon Jones

The news of a lost – and now found – Ford Madox Brown painting and an exhibition on the Pre-Raphaelite painter fail to excite me. But the cultural legacy of the Victorians does



http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2011/aug/12/victorian-art-ford-madox-brown

Is this Jack the Ripper?

A new book sensationally claims to unmask Jack the Ripper - as the Scotland Yard detective who led the hunt for the serial killer.

A Spanish investigator names Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline as the man who brutally murdered at least five women in Victorian London.

Jose Luis Abad, 84, makes the claim in his book 'Jack the Ripper: The most intelligent murderer in history', published in Spain this week.

Mr Abad is a handwriting expert and bases his claims on a comparison of Chief Inspector Abberline's writing with that of Jack the Ripper's diary - a 63 page document that surfaced in Liverpool in 1992.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2022896/Is-Jack-Ripper-Scotland-Yards-Chief-Inspector-Frederick-Abberline-named-as.html#ixzz1UAqrudaL

Is this Jack the Ripper?

A new book sensationally claims to unmask Jack the Ripper - as the Scotland Yard detective who led the hunt for the serial killer.

A Spanish investigator names Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline as the man who brutally murdered at least five women in Victorian London.

Jose Luis Abad, 84, makes the claim in his book 'Jack the Ripper: The most intelligent murderer in history', published in Spain this week.

Mr Abad is a handwriting expert and bases his claims on a comparison of Chief Inspector Abberline's writing with that of Jack the Ripper's diary - a 63 page document that surfaced in Liverpool in 1992.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2022896/Is-Jack-Ripper-Scotland-Yards-Chief-Inspector-Frederick-Abberline-named-as.html#ixzz1UAqrudaL

Amazing pictures of Titanic captain Edward Smith's bathtub intact on the bottom of the ocean

This amazing picture of Titanic Captain Edward Smith's private bathtub is among a series of spectacular images that have been shown for the first time during a court case into the salvage rights.

The porcelain tub, which has intricate plumbing for both freshwater and seawater, has sat in the captain's cabin at the bottom of the ocean for almost 100 years.

Captain Smith went down with his ship on April 14,1912. He was one of an estimated 1500 people who lost their lives in the tragedy.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2010256/Titanic-captain-Edward-Smiths-bathtub-Pictures-surface-1st-time.html#ixzz1Qw7hEI3S

Amazing pictures of Titanic captain Edward Smith's bathtub intact on the bottom of the ocean

This amazing picture of Titanic Captain Edward Smith's private bathtub is among a series of spectacular images that have been shown for the first time during a court case into the salvage rights.

The porcelain tub, which has intricate plumbing for both freshwater and seawater, has sat in the captain's cabin at the bottom of the ocean for almost 100 years.

Captain Smith went down with his ship on April 14,1912. He was one of an estimated 1500 people who lost their lives in the tragedy.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2010256/Titanic-captain-Edward-Smiths-bathtub-Pictures-surface-1st-time.html#ixzz1Qw7hEI3S

The Courtauld Gallery Presents Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril: Beyond the Moulin Rouge

[Unknown photographer, Jane Avril at the Moulin Rouge, c.1892. Musée Montmartre, Paris]


http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=48362

The Courtauld Gallery Presents Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril: Beyond the Moulin Rouge

[Unknown photographer, Jane Avril at the Moulin Rouge, c.1892. Musée Montmartre, Paris]


http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=48362

Shan princess ‘returns’ to Myanmar

http://www.mmtimes.com/2011/timeout/579/timeout57901.html

Shan princess ‘returns’ to Myanmar

http://www.mmtimes.com/2011/timeout/579/timeout57901.html

Was Darwin killed by the very travels that helped him conjure theory of evolution?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384514/Was-Darwin-killed-travels-helped-conjure-theory-evolution.html

Library of Birmingham Boosted by Important 19th Century Photography Collection

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=46744

Yours for £700,000, the Victorian cliff railway that's a little piece of British history

This is your chance to get your hands on a unique piece of Victorian history.
A Birmingham property firm is looking for buyers who are just the ticket to take over one of the UK's oldest working railway systems.

The current owners of Bridgnorth Cliff Railway have reached the end of the line and city estate agent Knight Frank is asking for offers over £700,000 for the working business, which is the last remaining inland funicular railway in England.

The unique Shropshire line was first operated in 1892 and currently employs about a dozen staff.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365626/Last-inland-funicular-railway-England-sale.html#ixzz1GSeOoPp4

Forbes family to sell house and artwork

This only seems to be in the Financial Times - which is a subscription service.


The Forbes family, the wealthy US dynasty that owns the eponymous media group, will sell its west London home alongside a collection of its Victorian art as part of estate planning for future generations.

Old Battersea House, which has played host to meetings between influential figures in politics and business as well as kings and princes, will be brought to the market next week with a price of £12m.

Unusually, the family plans to sell much of the artwork that hangs on the walls of the Grade-II listed home, ranging from Thomas Gainsborough to `as well as a collection of Royal memorabilia including a pair of Queen Victoria’s knickers currently hung behind the doors of the state bedroom.

The house, which has been at the centre of the Forbes family activities in the UK, has seen parties attended by Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Warren Buffett, Elizabeth Taylor and various members of the royal family.

Christopher Forbes, vice-chairman of Forbes, said the family was selling the property as part of a wider plan to safeguard the family fortune. Forbes is a wealthy extended family originating in Boston, though it can be traced back to Sir John de Forbes in Scotland in the 12th century.

Mr Forbes told the Financial Times: “My siblings and I are not getting any younger and we need to do some estate planning. We are still going through who exactly wants what. . . Battersea was not the most desirable neighbourhood when my father bought it.”

Savills is marketing the house for the Forbes. Robin Chatwin, the agent at Savills who is overseeing the process, said the house was one of London’s finest.

“With or without the magnificent collection, the house itself is a work of art,” he said.

Situated over the river from Chelsea, the manor house was designated by English Heritage as being “of more than specific interest” when it was listed in 1954, and includes 10 bedrooms, a baroque hallway and panelled drawing rooms.

The house contains British paintings, watercolours and sculptures from the 19th and early 20th century valued at several million pounds, including works by Sir Thomas Lawrence and Sir Henry Raeburn as well as a significant number of Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian paintings by Sir John Everett Millais, Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, William Holman Hunt and Albert Moore.

Old Battersea House is also the home to the largest collection of Royal portraits and memorabilia outside the Royal Collection, ranging from Sir George Hayter’s portrait of Queen Victoria to her knickers.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011.