The Art Exhibitions Blog

There are some stunning paintings to behold in Masterpieces from Buckingham Palace at the Queen's Gallery in London, particularly from the Dutch Golden Age. They've taken 65 works off the walls of the Picture Gallery next door in Buck House, which in normal times is only accessible to the public during the summer opening of the palace and is in any case currently being " reserviced ".  Instead of being hung in two rows, some above settees and fireplaces, the paintings are all at eye level for you to examine and admire close up. The curators invite you to linger and to consider what actually makes a masterpiece.  There's Rembrandt, Vermeer, Rubens, Van Dyck and Canaletto. Some great art from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries from one of the world's greatest art collections, so we'll talk about the paintings first. Later on, we'll tell you why, in spite of the masterpieces on show, we found it a somewhat underwhelming exhibition, given the high standard...

Lorenzo Lotto: With a name like that he should have been one of life's winners. But no -- " Art did not earn me what I spent," he wrote in his will. There was no justice, then, in Renaissance Italy, because Lorenzo Lotto Portraits at London's National Gallery shows him to have been an insightful, inventive and hugely skilled painter. This is a smallish but excellent exhibition, and what's more, there's no admission charge. Lotto's not a big name, so let's start off with a little potted biography. Born in Venice in about 1480, he travelled widely and worked in various parts of Italy, notably in Treviso and Bergamo, in the first quarter of the 16th century before returning to his home city. He concentrated on portraits and religious works and finally retired in 1552 to become a lay brother in Loreto in the Marche, dying a few years later. His work was neglected for several hundred years before starting to be reappreciated at the end of the 19th centur...

This year marks the centenary of the deaths of both Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele , and Vienna has been celebrating both with exhibitions. Now, it's London's turn to get in on the act, and drawings from one of the Austrian capital's great museums, the Albertina, are heading to the Royal Academy. Klimt/Schiele  starts November 4 and runs through to February 3. At the National Gallery, there's a show devoted to one of the great portraitists of the Italian Renaissance, Lorenzo Lotto , known for his rich symbolism and psychological depth. This free exhibition is on from November 5 to February 10. Another free display at the National, starting November 29, centres on Edwin Landseer's Monarch of the Glen , that most romantic emblem of the Scottish Highlands (or a dreadful piece of Victorian kitsch?), which was bought for the nation from drinks giant Diageo last year. Other Landseer works and Peter Blake's version of the Monarch are also on show until February ...

The Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition  this year is a little bit special: It's the 250th, and Grayson Perry heads the committee that's picked the 1,200 or so art works on show from June 12 to August 19. Concurrently, the RA is putting on The Great Spectacle: 250 Years of the Summer Exhibition telling the story from Joshua Reynolds to the present day. There are two linked shows at the National Gallery as well, running from June 11 to October 7. Thomas Cole: Eden to Empire  is the first exhibition in the UK devoted to the British-born American landscape artist inspired by Turner and Constable (tickets can be had for less than £10 on weekdays, so the National is clearly not expecting Monet-size crowds.) At the same time, there's a free display with Ed Ruscha 's modern take on Thomas Cole's work in Room 1. Tate Britain marks the centenary of the end of World War I by examining the immediate impact on British, French and German art.  Aftermath , running from ...