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| From Brian Sewell, with love: tender gallery gift shows critic's softer side From Brian Sewell, with love: tender gallery gift shows critic's softer side | |
| (14 days later) | |
| The late Brian Sewell, renowned as an acid-penned art critic, has left a tender painting to the National Gallery in London, a place he loved so much he once said he wanted to have his ashes mixed with bird food and scattered on its front steps. | The late Brian Sewell, renowned as an acid-penned art critic, has left a tender painting to the National Gallery in London, a place he loved so much he once said he wanted to have his ashes mixed with bird food and scattered on its front steps. |
| Maternal Affection, a glowing painting on copper by the French artist Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, has been hung beside works by other French 18th-century artists including Jean-Honoré Fragonard, François Boucher and Jean-Antoine Watteau. Although there are works by Lagrenée in the collections of the Bowes Museum and Stourhead, this is the first on public display in a national collection. | Maternal Affection, a glowing painting on copper by the French artist Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, has been hung beside works by other French 18th-century artists including Jean-Honoré Fragonard, François Boucher and Jean-Antoine Watteau. Although there are works by Lagrenée in the collections of the Bowes Museum and Stourhead, this is the first on public display in a national collection. |
| The director of the gallery, Gabriele Finaldi, said: “Brian Sewell had a profound love for the National Gallery as well as a connoisseur’s passion for lesser-known masters. It is especially pleasing that Lagrenée’s beautiful and refined Maternal Affection, which he owned, has come to the gallery as a gift from his estate.” | The director of the gallery, Gabriele Finaldi, said: “Brian Sewell had a profound love for the National Gallery as well as a connoisseur’s passion for lesser-known masters. It is especially pleasing that Lagrenée’s beautiful and refined Maternal Affection, which he owned, has come to the gallery as a gift from his estate.” |
| Sewell, who was born in London in 1931, and died in September 2015, said in an interview: “As a child there was not a major museum or art gallery in London I didn’t know, and the National Gallery was my favourite,” and he continued to pay weekly visits to Trafalgar Square for most of his life. | Sewell, who was born in London in 1931, and died in September 2015, said in an interview: “As a child there was not a major museum or art gallery in London I didn’t know, and the National Gallery was my favourite,” and he continued to pay weekly visits to Trafalgar Square for most of his life. |
| His columns for the Evening Standard were noted for occasional high praise and more frequently columns of beautifully crafted invective: he once wrote of Damien Hirst that “to own a Hirst is to tell the world that your bathroom taps are gilded and your Rolls-Royce is pink”. | His columns for the Evening Standard were noted for occasional high praise and more frequently columns of beautifully crafted invective: he once wrote of Damien Hirst that “to own a Hirst is to tell the world that your bathroom taps are gilded and your Rolls-Royce is pink”. |
| The auction two months ago of his collection of more than 200 works vindicated his critical eye, selling at Christie’s for £3.7m, twice the pre-sale estimate, with one exquisite drawing by Daniele da Volterra, a 16th-century pupil of Michelangelo, selling to a museum for £797,000, five times the estimate and a world record for the artist. | The auction two months ago of his collection of more than 200 works vindicated his critical eye, selling at Christie’s for £3.7m, twice the pre-sale estimate, with one exquisite drawing by Daniele da Volterra, a 16th-century pupil of Michelangelo, selling to a museum for £797,000, five times the estimate and a world record for the artist. |
| Christopher Riopelle, acting curator of 18th-century French painting at the National Gallery, said the Lagrenée was a beautifully preserved work of exquisite refinement, and the gift allowed the gallery show the work of a hugely admired artist for the first time. | Christopher Riopelle, acting curator of 18th-century French painting at the National Gallery, said the Lagrenée was a beautifully preserved work of exquisite refinement, and the gift allowed the gallery show the work of a hugely admired artist for the first time. |