As a result of our collaborative Unwrapping an Icon project, we are now satisfied that all the evidence of stylistic and technical examination points to Alonso Sánchez Coello (c. 1531-88), principal portrait painter to Philip II of Spain, as the artist of the Lady in a Fur Wrap. The reattribution of this famous masterpiece has … Continue reading Reattribution to Alonso Sánchez Coello
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A Big Thank-You to our Helpers!
Our main post by Rosie this time concerns our Project Symposium in February. It was an intensive affair, with many international contributors covering a wide range of disciplines. This, of course, also meant it required a lot of organisation, which we simply couldn’t have done without our wonderful team of curatorial interns and postgraduate students. … Continue reading A Big Thank-You to our Helpers!
Examining an ‘Arranged Pair’: the Portraits of Philip II and Anne of Austria
This month has seen further technical examination of two of the Stirling Maxwell Collection portraits in the ‘Unwrapping an Icon’ project. This is to help us to deepen our understanding of the techniques and materials being used in the studio of Alonso Sánchez Coello in sixteenth-century Spain and to compare our findings with those for … Continue reading Examining an ‘Arranged Pair’: the Portraits of Philip II and Anne of Austria
Photographing the Project
In this post, we continue to unwrap the ways in which we’re documenting our project by looking at how it’s being photographed. Nowadays, and especially in our digital age when we all have cameras we take photography for granted. But photography of art, and in this case paintings, is a highly specialised skill – as … Continue reading Photographing the Project
Filming the Project
Documentation is an important part of any research project. On our Unwrapping an Icon project, we’re privileged – and very grateful – to have filmmaker Joe Briffa to help us to capture some of the highlight events and record the methods we’re using to collect information. Not many projects of our relatively small scale and … Continue reading Filming the Project
Highlights from the Dress & Jewellery Workshop
As promised, our blog post this time features video footage from the Dress & Jewellery Workshop we held at the V&A in February this year. It shows a number of the participants who generously contributed their specialist knowledge on the day, as summarised in our last post, and gives a flavour of the lively exchange … Continue reading Highlights from the Dress & Jewellery Workshop
WORKSHOP ON DRESS AND JEWELLERY, VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM
The dress and jewellery represented in the Lady in a Fur Wrap portrait may provide invaluable clues as to the status and identity of the sitter and the dating of the portrait, yet the combination of elements remains puzzling. Over the years, scholars have commented on a number of aspects of the dress and jewellery … Continue reading WORKSHOP ON DRESS AND JEWELLERY, VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM
Visit to Banco Santander Collection
Our recent visit to the Banco Santander Collection, Madrid also provided much food for thought – with specific reference to the portrait of Doña Juana de Mendoza and a Dwarf there. As a result of our visit and our meeting with the Curator, María Beguiristain and Board members Paloma Botín and Belén Fernández, our further … Continue reading Visit to Banco Santander Collection
Visit to the Prado Museum
Our project Unwrapping an Icon has now entered its second year, during which we will be seeking to deepen our knowledge of the Lady in a Fur Wrap and related sixteenth-century portraits in the Stirling Maxwell Collection and widen our understanding of their context. We continue to draw on our invaluable learning experiences during our … Continue reading Visit to the Prado Museum
Unwrapping an Icon at the First Colloquium for Researchers in Textiles and Fashion, Terrassa
Our project was also being talked about last month in Terrassa, a former textile town outside Barcelona. Lesley Miller (Professor of Dress History, University of Glasgow, and Senior Curator, Victoria & Albert Museum), one of our team members, gave the opening paper at the First Colloquium for Researchers in Textiles and Fashion organised by … Continue reading Unwrapping an Icon at the First Colloquium for Researchers in Textiles and Fashion, Terrassa