The Burlington Magazine

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In the painting ‘Cycladic blues’ by Marlene Dumas (b.1953), the head of a Cycladic figurine appears as a translucent imp...
23/10/2025

In the painting ‘Cycladic blues’ by Marlene Dumas (b.1953), the head of a Cycladic figurine appears as a translucent impression, far larger than life. The work exemplifies a characteristic tension in Dumas’s art: her images are at once ethereal and insistent. One senses the artist coaxing them into being even as she acknowledges their fugitive quality. To the yellow blank of the prehistoric face she has added pinprick eyes and a cursory downturned mouth. The painting lends its title to Dumas’s exhibition at the Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, which numbers some forty paintings and drawings spanning three decades, from the early 1990s to today. Like the figurines that appear in most of the galleries, selected by the artist from the museum’s permanent collection, the displays are succinct yet emotive: a chamber orchestra version of a retrospective.

Read James Cahill’s review of the show, exhibiting until the 2nd of November 2025, in our October issue: https://www.burlington.org.uk/archive/back-issues/202510?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Oct+25+issue+promo

Image: ‘Cycladic blues’, by Marlene Dumas. 2020. Oil on canvas, 125 by 105 cm. (© Marlene Dumas; courtesy the artist and Frith Street Gallery, London; exh. Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens).

Millions of people recognise Mexico’s Virgin of Guadalupe, a Madonna in prayer surrounded by a mandorla and supported by...
22/10/2025

Millions of people recognise Mexico’s Virgin of Guadalupe, a Madonna in prayer surrounded by a mandorla and supported by an angel. Its iconography has been endlessly reproduced in both Catholic and popular culture. The exhibition ‘So far, so close: Guadalupe of Mexico in Spain’ at the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid (closed 14th September), curated by Jaime Cuadriello and Paula Mues Orts, and its splendidly illustrated catalogue, published in Spanish, explored precisely this aspect of the image. ⁠
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Read Cloe Cavero De Carondelet’s review of the publication in our October issue: https://www.burlington.org.uk/archive/back-issues/202510?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Oct+25+issue+promo
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Image: ‘Image and apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe, by José Juárez. 1656. Oil on canvas, 210 by 295 cm. (Monastery of Sor María de Jesús de Ágreda, Soria).

The Albertina Museum, Vienna, houses a superb collection of over one million drawings and prints. It recently hosted the...
21/10/2025

The Albertina Museum, Vienna, houses a superb collection of over one million drawings and prints. It recently hosted the exhibition ‘Leonardo – Dürer: Renaissance Master Drawings on Colored Ground’ (closed 9th June), accompanied by the catalogue under review. The project, organised by the in-house curators Achim Gnann and Christof Metzger, focused on the origins and development of drawing on coloured paper. The volume opens with a foreword by Ralph Gleis, the Albertina’s new director general, followed by four scholarly essays.

Read Lucia Tantardini’s review of this publication in our October issue: https://www.burlington.org.uk/archive/back-issues/202510?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Oct+25+issue+promo

Image: ‘Head of an angel‘, by Albrecht Dürer. 1506. Brush and black and grey ink and white bodycolour on paper, 27 by 20.8 cm. (Albertina, Vienna).

The beginnings of the pioneering and wide-ranging collecting of Pablo Picasso’s works by the German admirers of his art ...
19/10/2025

The beginnings of the pioneering and wide-ranging collecting of Pablo Picasso’s works by the German admirers of his art G.F. (Gottlieb Friedrich) and Erna Reber is fully assessed here for the first time, through a review of related archives, correspondence and photographs. The Rebers were among the artist’s chief patrons in the inter-war period and the evidence collected strengthens this status by adding to the known number of Picassos in their collection. ⁠
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Read Anna Jozefacka and Luise Mahler’s article ‘Waiting for “Three musicians”: G.F. and Erna Reber’s first Picassos’ in our October issue: https://www.burlington.org.uk/archive/back-issues/202510?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Oct+25+issue+promo

Image: Picasso’s ‘Three musicians and Glass and fruit dish’ installed in G.F. Reber’s bedroom in Lugano. c.1925. Photograph probably by Irmgart H. Fritsch. (Christoph Pudelko Archiv, Bonn; ZADIK, Cologne).

‘Millet: Life on the Land’ at the National Gallery, London, marks the 150th anniversary of the death of the Realist pain...
17/10/2025

‘Millet: Life on the Land’ at the National Gallery, London, marks the 150th anniversary of the death of the Realist painter Jean-François Millet (1814–75). Curated by Sarah Herring, it presents the artist as the leading painter of rural life in nineteenth-century France. On display are fifteen works that range in media and states of finish, from crayon sketches to more refined oils, and date from 1847 to 1875. The focus is on the decade following 1849, the year that Millet moved to Barbizon, on the edge of the forest of Fontainebleau. The key work is undoubtedly ‘The Angelus’, exceptionally on loan from the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and the only work not from a lender in England, Scotland or Wales. Despite the quality and number of Millet’s works in British collections, this is the first exhibition on the artist in the United Kingdom since a show at the Hayward Gallery, London, in 1976.

Read Hannah Hanniwell’s review of this show, exhibiting until the 19th of October 2025, in our October issue: https://www.burlington.org.uk/archive/back-issues/202510?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Oct+25+issue+promo

Image: ‘The Angelus’, by Jean-François Millet. 1859. Oil on canvas, 55.5 by 66 cm. (Musée d’Orsay, Paris; exh. National Gallery, London).

Of all the self-portraits painted by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, that of 1804 now in the Musée Condé, Chantilly, rema...
13/10/2025

Of all the self-portraits painted by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, that of 1804 now in the Musée Condé, Chantilly, remains the most discussed. The focus of criticism when it was exhibited in 1806, the painting was taken up again and transformed by the artist during his old age. Here a revised sequence for these modifications is proposed and corrections are made to its earlier history. ⁠
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Read Sylvain Bédard’s article ‘New proposals about Ingres’s “Self-portrait at the age of twenty-four”’ in our October issue: https://www.burlington.org.uk/archive/back-issues/202510?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Oct+25+issue+promo
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Image: ‘Self-portrait at the age of twenty-four’, by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. 1804, revised 1850–51. Oil on canvas, 77 by 61 cm. (© RMN-Grand Palais; Musée Condé, Chantilly; Harry Bréjat).

11/10/2025

For over 100 years, The Burlington Magazine has remained the world’s leading academic journal in Art History. As well as editorials on topical issues, you will find the latest research on art history and authoritative reviews of the most important books and major exhibitions around the world. ⁠
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Students get a 1-year digital subscription for only £30/€35/$40. ⁠
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Subscribe today for 87% off 12 digital issues and instant access to over 120 years of research in our vast archive. ⁠
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Claim your discount: https://shop.burlington.org.uk/student-offer.htm?promo=STUDENT&utm_source=TBM_Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=BTU2025_student

Don’t forget: we're giving away our most-read academic articles for free for a limited time. Follow us on Instagram to be the first to know when articles are released: https://www.instagram.com/theburlingtonmagazine/

An album emerged at auction in 2020 and was acquired by Colchester and Ipswich Museums. It included hitherto unknown and...
09/10/2025

An album emerged at auction in 2020 and was acquired by Colchester and Ipswich Museums. It included hitherto unknown and very early works by John Constable and was compiled by the Mason family, the artist’s relatives in Colchester. These juvenilia are assessed here and placed in the context of Constable’s artistic evolution and his wide social circle.⁠
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Read Emma Roodhouse’s article ‘Scraps of genius, taste and skill: works by John Constable in the Mason album’ in our October issue: https://www.burlington.org.uk/archive/back-issues/202510?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Oct+25+issue+promo
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Image: Two drawings and notes from Maria Louisa (‘Minna’) Constable to Inglis, probably Jane Anne Mason (née Inglis), and her mother Anne Mason, 19th April 1850. Graphite on paper, 10.2 by 7.6 and 11.4 by 9.2 cm. (Colchester and Ipswich Museums; Ipswich Borough Council).

Bridget Riley’s deep appreciation of the work of John Constable throughout her career and respect for his achievement is...
07/10/2025

Bridget Riley’s deep appreciation of the work of John Constable throughout her career and respect for his achievement is explored in our current issue in an insightful interview. Conducted by Amy Concannon, Manton Senior Curator, Historic British Art, at Tate, the discussion touches on the artists’ parallel approaches to light, colour and technique.⁠
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Read 'Discussing John Constable: an interview with Bridget Riley' in our October issue: https://www.burlington.org.uk/archive/back-issues/202510?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Oct+25+issue+promo
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Images:⁠
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Detail of Bridget Riley and Gabriele Finaldi looking at Messengers in 2019.⁠
(© Bridget Riley; National Gallery, London).⁠
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Detail of 'The white horse', by John Constable. 1818–19. Oil on canvas, 131.4 by 188.3 cm. ( Frick Collection, New York).

We are offering students 87% off a 1-year digital subscription. ⁠⁠Alongside 12 monthly digital issues, you'll also have ...
03/10/2025

We are offering students 87% off a 1-year digital subscription. ⁠
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Alongside 12 monthly digital issues, you'll also have access across all your devices and the ability to search, download and read any issue, article or review from our complete archive dating back to 1903. ⁠
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The Burlington Magazine is the definitive resource for those studying Art History. Subscribe here: https://shop.burlington.org.uk/student-offer.htm?promo=STUDENT&utm_source=TBM_Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=BTU2025_student
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Plus: as a taster, we're giving away our most-read academic articles for free for a limited time. Follow us on Instagram to be the first to know when articles are released: https://www.instagram.com/theburlingtonmagazine/

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