More Shocking Art News

If you've ever taken an art survey course you've seen this famous Egyptian bust of Queen Nefertiti. It is such a pivotal piece of the history of art history that in the very first edition of Gardner's Art Through the Ages (1926) it was one of only four color plates included (all other images were either line drawings or in black and white). I haven't personally checked, but my feeling is that it has probably been in almost every subsequent art history survey book since then.

Now for the blow. Turns out the bust of Queen Nefertiti is most likely a fake. According to art historian Henri Stierlin, the bust was actually made in 1912 as a color test done by artist Gerardt Marks under the direction of archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt using ancient pigments found at an archaeological dig. Later when a German prince admired it no one had the guts to tell him it was a fake. Oh, the tangled web we weave...

Stierlin, who has been studying this case for 25 years, cites the unfinished eye (previously thought by scholars to indicate that the piece was a workshop model for students to learn from), and the 19th century, Art Nouveau style carving of the shoulders as proofs that the bust is a fake. He also shows that the piece was not recorded or described in the original dig's records, highly suspicious for such a monumental, well-preserved piece. In fact, there is no record of it at all until 11 years after its "discovery".

So there you have it. The true story of the Queen Nefertit bust. The Neues Museum in Berlin is going to show the piece to its own hall when they reopen in October. I have a feeling that the story of its fakery is going to attract just as many spectators, if not more, as the piece did when we all thought it was an original ancient example of Egyptology. I know I still want to see it! Again, thanks to Julianne for keeping me informed!

Gauguin Did It

Hold on to your hats ladies and gentlemen. I'm about to knock your socks off with a new book that just came out.

It turns out that Vincent Van Gogh, famous Post-Impressionist, may not have cut his own ear off in 1888. Don't misunderstand-- his ear was cut off, but researchers Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans have just released a book, Van Gogh's Ear: Paul Gauguin and the Pact of Silence, which claims that Van Gogh's ear was actually taken off by fellow artist and sometime friend, Paul Gauguin. The story of self-harm was then fabricated by the two to keep Gauguin safe from the police. Van Gogh did apparently wrap the ear in a cloth and hand it to a prostitute named Rachel, as per tradition.

The researchers, who have worked on this for 10 years, cite inconsistencies in police and witness reports and the letters of Van Gogh and Gauguin. They say that Van Gogh and Gauguin were fighting and whether intentionally or not, Gauguin took off the ear with his sword. Despite these claims, the curators at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam hold with the self-harm theory. So we may never know the full truth of this legendary story.

As usual, I must thank Julianne for sending me this fabulous story! And a big Congratulations to her for recently passing her thesis defense on Whistler's Symphony in White, No. 1!!! Way to go Julianne!! :D

The Things You Only Hoped For

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”

—Epicurus (341BC-270BC)

Run Away