Philip Mould
4,976 posts
Philip Mould
@philipmould
Art dealer, writer & broadcaster. President Plantlife & @kidsinmuseums. Whippet fancier. Co-presenter BBC1’s #Fakeorfortune.
- A last smear from the chin removed. I will post an image of the completed picture as soon as it is ready.
00:00 - In response to those wanting sight of the uncleaned image of the #womaninred. All we know is she is 36 and it was painted 1618 (inscription)
- Blimey - a British treasure in Czechoslovakia. In an overcast upstairs room I have just encountered what must be best view of 18th century LONDON ever painted. It’s as good as going back in time. Canaletto, 1747, in of all places PRAGUE. Part of the ancient Lobkowicz collection.
00:00 - Small area of her astonishingly elaborate dress revealed. We dont know identity yet but certain iconographic clues are staring to emerge....
- I’m going to stick my neck out here. This self-portrait by Albert Durer (1500) is possibly the best portrait ever painted. I stood before him for 15 minutes today in Munich.
- What the mysterious 400 year old Prince Henry looked like before (with cleaning tests) and after cleaning. Mastic varnish - which is made from tree resin - biodegrades and turns yellow brown over time, and can almost completely hide a painting if left long enough.
- The effect of mould..... Left: the lost Charles Dickens as we first encountered it from a sale of knick-knacks in South Africa. Right: subsequently restored at the V&A
- Hanging at our gallery for a month from Thursday - open to all. Check website for viewing times. Best formal life portrait of a sovereign for a very long while in my view.
- Wonderful that Lowry’s football masterpiece has been saved for Salford’s Lowry Centre by Andrew and Zoe Law. It sold ten mins ago for close to £7 million. It’s coming home….
- A Jacobean beau begins to buck his mask of grime. Discoloured resin not only optically reduces tones but modelling also; its professional removal will sometimes heighten the chance of identification and attribution.
- In many ways this 2007 official photo by Annie Leibovitz in Buckingham Palace Gardens is the most successful portrait of Queen Elizabeth in later life . Shades of Caravaggio, it combines solitary sovereignty with the brooding challenges of realm.
- An interesting effect of yellowing resin varnish is that optically it can “mix” blue into green. This 17th century child cleaned by our restorers two years ago turned out to be standing not within a cloud of green smog, but set before a startling summer sky.
- It gives us great pleasure to report #Fakeorfortune? series 9 is now in pre-production. Transmitting next year. @bbcarts @BBCOne
