Renaissance

A 16th century chair that may have been made for Anne Boleyn when she was lady-in-waiting to Queen Claude of France is going on public display for the first time at Hever Castle where Anne lived as a child. The chair was made in the Loire Valley, a center of Late Gothic French Renaissance furniture … Read the full post →“Chair linked to Ann Boleyn on display at Hever Castle”

A 16th century marble sculpture of a head of woman known as the Head of Medusa that was stolen from a nymphaeum outside Florence more than a century ago and recently recovered by authorities will be restored by Florence’s prestigious conservation institution, the Opificio delle Pietre Dure. The head was originally part of Fonte della … Read the full post →“Head of Medusa stolen a century ago to be restored”

The rare silverpoint portrait of Susanna Pfeffinger by the German Renaissance artist Hans Baldung Grien was blocked from sale just 48 hours before it was set to go under the hammer. France’s Ministry of Culture declared it a national treasure on March 21st, blocking it from leaving France for 30 months and therefore from being … Read the full post →“French culture ministry blocks sale of Baldung portrait”

Manchester City star footballer Erling Haaland and his father, retired footballer Alf-Inge Haaland, have donated the most expensive Norwegian book ever sold to their hometown of Time, southwestern Norway. It is the only known surviving copy of the 1594 edition of the Viking royal sagas by Icelander Snorri Sturluson, translated and printed for the first … Read the full post →“Footballer donates Norway’s most expensive book to home town”