Works of Art in Russia: Two 1921 Editorials in the Burlington Magazine

by Anne Benson In July and September of 1921, editorials in the Burlington Magazine expressed concern over the fate of Russia’s art treasures “ever since the outbreak of the revolution and especially since the appearance of a Bolshevik government”. The July article was speculative, while in September, the editors included a welcome eyewitness account providing …

Pontormo, Brexit and the National Gallery

by Noti Klagka and Barbara Pezzini The sale of Jacopo Pontormo’s Portrait of a Young Man in Black (illustrated here) has been recently made popular by the British press, which described it as a potentially lost national treasure and a victim of the consequences of Brexit. Its vicissitudes have also been narrated in a Burlington …

The Russian Revolution and The Burlington Magazine: A letter from Alexander Polovtsov

by Anne Benson In 1919 The Burlington Magazine published a letter titled ‘Salvage of Works of Art in Russia’ by Alexander Polovtsov (see full text of the letter below and HERE).[1] This is a remarkable document—a rare firsthand account of what was happening to Russia’s art treasures during the 1917 Revolution. News from Russia was confusing, …

From Nicola di Maestro Antonio to Carlo Crivelli and back again

by Amanda Hilliam The only article dedicated to the Venetian painter Carlo Crivelli (c.1430/5 – c.1494) ever to appear in The Burlington Magazine was published in March 1913.[1] The attribution to Crivelli of a newly-discovered Madonna and Child (fig.1)., which had recently passed from Duveen Brothers to the Philip Lehman collection in New York, was …

A Christmas Card from Roger Fry

(London, British Museum) Cut by Eric Gill as a Christmas card for Roger Fry in December 1910. This encouraged Fry to make his own cards in 1912 and 1913. Best wishes of a Happy Festive Season to our readers from the Burlington Index Blog.

‘Caravaggiomania’ in The Burlington Magazine – Part I: the late 20th century

by Noti Klagka This post explores the scholarship on Michelangelo da Caravaggio in the pages of The Burlington Magazine and reveals the crucial role played by the Magazine in the critical reception of this artist. Caravaggio has definitely been the most popular 17th century Italian artist published in the Burlington: 59 main articles and 210 …

Potted Histories: the Omega Workshops adverts campaign in The Burlington Magazine, 1913-1919

Alexis Clark, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History and Visual Culture at Denison University (Ohio), is currently researching on Fry and the Omega Workshops. This fascinating and thoroughly researched piece is an excerpt from her forthcoming work, and it has been written exclusively for the Burlington Index Blog.  Clark’s discussion of the Omega Workshops’ advertisements in The …

‘The Labours of the Months’ (1923): Herbert Read’s first article for The Burlington Magazine

Surrealist poet, war hero, militant anarchist, art critic and Editor of The Burlington Magazine from 1933 to 1938. Herbert Read, the son of a Yorkshire farmer who became one of the country’s most influential writers, is an intellectual figure who looms large in British history and about whom much has been written. Recently, art historian …

Margaret Jourdain and The Burlington Magazine

In June 1903, when the Burlington Magazine was only 3 months old, it published a detailed article on the lace collection of Mabel Chermside, ‘Mrs. Alfred Morrison’. This was a detailed and richly illustrated account, which distinguished different kinds of laces, stiches and points. The article was a perfect example of the new art historical …

‘Art Celebrities’, an exhibition by Cicely Hey advertised in The Burlington Magazine

Starting from an apparently innocuous 1933 advertisement in The Burlington Magazine, Index Assistant Alison Bennett has uncovered much new material about Cicely Hey, a little-known British artist of the early 20th century. Here is where her research has been taking Alison so far. In March 1933 The Burlington Magazine published an advertisement for an exhibition …