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Rembrandt & van Hoogstraten: The Art of Illusion

It takes a split second these days to create an image, and how many millions are recorded daily on mobile phones, possibly never to be looked at again? You can see it all happening in the palatial surroundings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, definitely one of those tick-off destinations on many travellers' bucket lists, where those in search of instant pictorial satisfaction throng the imposing statue-lined staircase for a selfie or pout for a photo in the café under the spectacular cupola. But we're not in Vienna for a quick fix, we're at the KHM to admire something more enduring in the shape of art produced almost 500 years ago by Rembrandt and his pupil Samuel van Hoogstraten that was intended to mislead your eyes into seeing the real in the unreal. Artistic deception is the story at the centre of  Rembrandt--Hoogstraten: Colour and Illusion , one of the most engrossing and best-staged exhibitions we've seen this year. And, somewhat surprisingly, a show wi...
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Opening and Closing in January

Pierre Bonnard: The Colour of Memory is the first big exhibition of the year at Tate Modern in London, running from January 23 to May 6. The Tate is aiming to show how Bonnard's intense colours and modern compositions transformed art in the first half of the 20th century, with 100 pictures from museums and private collections around the world.
Two Temple Place in central London is a fantastically atmospheric venue for an exhibition. Its new show is all about that most influential of 19th-century art critics, John Ruskin, and his legacy, and it marks the bicentenary of his birth. With more than 190 exhibits, John Ruskin: The Power of Seeing runs from January 26 to April 22. Admission is free.

Prized Possessions: Dutch Paintings from National Trust Houses is a small but excellent show that we enjoyed when we saw it at the Holburne Museum in Bath in the summer. It's since been to the Mauritshuis in The Hague and now you can see it at an actual National Trust country house: Petworth in West Sussex, with Rembrandt, Metsu and more from January 26 to March 24. You do need to book in advance for this one -- see the link.
At the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, Whistler and Nature brings together some 90 paintings, sketches and prints, aiming to show how Whistler developed a new style of landscape for the industrial age. This is another free show, and it's on from January 8 to March 17.

We loved Cyril Mann's 1950s Solid Shadow Paintings at Piano Nobile in London just a couple of weeks ago, and from January 12 the LIghtbox in Woking, Surrey is playing host to a retrospective of this unsung artist's work. Cyril Mann: Painter of Light and Shadow runs until March 31.

William Stott of Oldham's masterpiece Le Passeur (The Ferryman), a picture that marks a breakthrough towards greater naturalism in late 19th-century British art, is on a tour of the UK and we got to see it in Southampton recently. Now it's going home as the focus of a display called William Stott of Oldham: Great Painters Are Rare from January 26 to May 11 at Gallery Oldham, where admission is free.

The Dutch are marking the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt's death in 2019, and the Mauritshuis is putting on show all 18 paintings in its collection that are attributed to Rembrandt or have been in the past, illustrating the shifting perception of the artist down the centuries. Rembrandt and the Mauritshuis is on from January 31 to September 15 in The Hague. 

Last chance to see

The excellent Claude Monet retrospective at the Albertina museum in Vienna has only a few days to run, closing on January 6, while the once-in-a-lifetime Bruegel exhibition at the nearby Kunsthistorisches Museum is open for just a week longer.

Beneath the Surface, the Southampton City Art Gallery show centred on William Stott's Le Passeur, ends on January 12 before the painting goes to Oldham. Cyril Mann's Solid Shadow Paintings at Piano Nobile in Holland Park can be seen until January 26. Both these exhibitions are free of charge.

Private Eye editor Ian Hislop's exploration of dissent down the ages, I Object, closes at the British Museum on January 20. That's also the last day for the Courtauld Impressionists exhibition at the National Gallery, showcasing how the industrialist Samuel Courtauld brought modern French art to Britain. Another very good National Gallery show, on the Renaissance brothers-in-law Mantegna and Bellini, finishes on January 27. 

Images

Pierre Bonnard, The Window (Le Fenêtre), 1925, Tate, London
Gerard ter Borch, An Officer Making His Bow to a Lady, c. 1662, Polesden Lacey, Surrey. (c) National Trust Images/John Hammond
Rembrandt van Rijn, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, 1632, Mauritshuis, The Hague
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