Malmaison

@RohanGreyFA Beautiful, and in contrast to the thin gruel in the earlier rooms which provide a weary one dimensional story of British art. Where is pre-reformation religious art? The recently sold Sherborne Almshouse triptych would have transformed the collection. Why didn't they go for it?

A very worthwhile fundraiser by Dorset Museum to purchase an extraordinary artwork: Fund to purchase Sherborne Almshouse Triptych - a Creative & Arts crowdfunding project in Dorchester by Dorset Museum & Art Gallery crowdfunder.co.uk/p/the-master-o…

@arthistorynews Is Velasquez' Pope on your agenda..?

Pantheon!

Ce cœur (et sa chaîne) découvert par un "dectetoriste" en 2019 a un rapport direct avec Catherine d'Aragon. Le @britishmuseum cherche à récolter 3,5 M £ par souscription pour l'acquérir . 500 000£ ont été versés par le Julia Rausing Trust, qui finance l'extension du musée

So much to see in Rome, but the quality of Caravaggio paintings in churches and museums difficult to beat. This pair, in the church they were commissioned for, are so powerful, even to our tired and cynical eyes. How would they have been seen back then by a local worshipper?

…and here’s one of the many paintings…in the Vatican museum.

Fortunate to have seen this in the flesh for the first time in Rome. Such a powerful gaze - easy to see why Francis Bacon become slightly obsessed with it

@neiljeffares @JANUSZCZAK I think this is the key point - gaps in the historic collection will now go off the radar which will be great news for overseas collectors. The NG passes on far too many export-stopped works already and that will only get worse.

@JANUSZCZAK What will it do to the other national museums? Expect NG to buy nothing but modern art until it has filled the new space (can they be trusted to avoid tempting ephemera?) Old masters will take a back seat - no chance of filling older gaps New curators to be hired?

Blimey. Now this is big news. Thé key issue here is how will the expansion into the 20th century change the character of the collection? One thing it proves is the growing power and importance of art. The way it can turn nowhere into somewhere. theartnewspaper.com/2025/09/09/lon…

We’ve done it – £3.8 million has been raised to save Barbara Hepworth’s Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red for the UK! 🙌

@neiljeffares @DCMS @britishmuseum Neil, is your concern that the French and the British museum teams will not have done the necessary risk assessments or that they may be ignoring them?

Apologies: this was intended to be a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request. I repeat it to @dcms and to @britishmuseum : please provide copies of all documents relation to the condition and suitability for travel of the Bayeux Tapestry. You have my name and email address.

@adamgrimsley @arthistorynews I think that was the response most logically prompted by Bendor’s original question. There are plenty of pieces one can describe similarly as the needle but that is not a reason to repatriate. It will be a boring mono cultural world if everything returned to its place of origin.

@arthistorynews @tuscsup Awareness is good, seeing a physical connection is better which this obviously provides. I don't see the removal of this very famous piece improves that? Perhaps we should remove all non UK artefacts and send them back to country of origin?

I think we should return ‘Cleopatra’s Needle’. It’s just rotting in the London fumes, and largely unnoticed. We can fret about the morality and legality of restitution, but sometimes you just have to ask - where would the best place for an object be? In this case, plainly Egypt.

@holland_tom Tom - a polite request that you and @dcsandbrook consider tackling the extraordinary history of The Order of St John. Knights Hospitaller, expulsions from Jerusalem and Rhodes, the Great Siege, Grand Masters, eight-pointed stars and of course the Maltese Falcon. It's a belter.

Paging Edinburgh!

One of the top 10 Old Masters? Quite possibly. Caravaggio’s masterpiece, the Beheading of St John the Baptist, still in the room it was made for, in Malta cathedral

What a difference 100 years makes. Before the @artfund broadened its remit far beyond simply securing art for museums look what they bought the NG to celebrate its 100th anniversary. I wonder if they thought of doing something similar for its 200th anniversary?

An interesting loan at the ⁦@NationalGallery⁩ - the Longleat Titian, sold by Christies last year

@TomaszLisPiano @NationalGallery @psframes The Mona Lisa room is a disgrace really - the best picture in the room is opposite and no one cares! Also, it’s almost impossible to enjoy the Titians due to the crowds.

@TomaszLisPiano @NationalGallery @psframes Was at the Louvre yesterday having been at the NG on Monday. You’re right - the Louvre is exhausting and muddled. The new hang at the @NationalGallery is tight and moving (@psframes work has ben pivotal) and the ratio of masterpieces is extraordinarily high.

The refurbishment&rehanging ⁦@NationalGallery⁩ is a triumph of subtlety, intelligence&art, for art is at the centre of it all with all else however beautiful&successful at its service. The wall colours enhance, the hangings enlighten&it all feels like a breath of fresh air.

@FondationLV this morning for the Hockney exhibition. The productivity of the men’s is extraordinary but one can’t help but feel that the recent work is ephemeral. The greatest hits are all here and look amazing.

In 1999, @NatGalleriesSco ambitions saved Botticelli's The Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Child from being lost to the USA. 26 years on, is there a brave UK curator willing to go for the artist's Virgin and Child, now also at risk of going abroad? @artfund