Francesco Salviati, Bindo Altoviti (around 1545)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has acquired a Renaissance portrait of exceptional quality depicting the pontifical banker Bindo Altoviti (oil on marble, circa 1545), by the Italian master Francesco Salviati. “The artistic significance and historical significance of this painting cannot be overstated,” said Met Director Max Hollein. Altoviti, a famous patron of the arts, painted young by Raphael (circa 1515), is depicted at the height of his powers as an international financial fixer. The painting was donated by the trust of the late philanthropist Assadour O. Tavitian, who recently donated another top-notch work— Portrait of a woman (circa 1575), by Giovanni Battista Moroni – at the Frick Collection. TS
Monica Rizolli, Fragments of an infinite field #923 (2021)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) announced a pledged donation of 22 blockchain-minted artworks, including that of Monica Rizzolli Fragments of an Infinite Field #923, a jpeg file issued as a non-fungible token (NFT)—a collection which she says is the “first and largest” of its kind to enter an American art museum. The acquisition is courtesy of the collector who goes by the name of Cozomo de’ Medici and is believed to be rapper Snoop Dogg, a longtime supporter of crypto and Web3. Works by 13 artists from around the world make up the acquisition and together tell a “representative story of the cryptoart movement,” according to the museum’s announcement. They include the art of artificial intelligence (AI) by Claire Silver; NFT photography by Justin Aversano; and the first decentralized ledger minted on the Ethereum blockchain, Neil Strauss Survive all apocalypses (2021). resume
Courtesy of Currier Art Museum
David Teniers the Younger Black men and women in a tavern (around 1650)
Currier Art Museum, Manchester, New Hampshire
The Currier Museum of Art has acquired an early depiction of free blacks in Europe, painted in Antwerp by David Teniers the Younger around 1650. The painting is notable for showing blacks in everyday dress, smoking and drinking, in a typical of “folk genre scenes of the time, of which Teniers was the admired master – at a time when black people were generally depicted as slaves or biblical characters, in exotic dress. The work is a gift from the merchant of art by Salomon Lilian. TS
