MUST RUN 2-16

PHILIP MOULD WILL SHOW ‘LOST FACES’ MARCH 6–18 w/1 cut

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LONDON — A major exhibition of newly discovered royal Tudor portraits, “Lost Faces,” will be hosted by Philip Mould, a leading portrait expert, at his gallery at 29 Dover Street, Mayfair, March 6–18.

The exhibition’s guest curator, Dr David Starkey, will examine the identity of major royal figures such as Elizabeth I, Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, Richard III and Catherine Howard.

The exhibition will bring together a number of important recent portrait discoveries for the first time, such as that of Prince Arthur, the eldest son of Henry VII, whose early death paved the way for Henry VIII to succeed to the throne, and a previously unknown portrait of Elizabeth I as a princess. Starkey will also present new evidence that will allow previously lost Tudor faces to be seen once again.

The two-week exhibition will be the first time that a commercial gallery has mounted such a scholarly exhibition on Tudor portraiture, and will include works from both institutions and private collections. A catalog will be published.

The exhibition will also throw light on how later generations altered portraits to fit in with changed perceptions of English monarchs. A painting of Richard III, whose defeat and death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 led to the first Tudor monarch Henry VII taking the throne, had a hump added to it some time in the Seventeenth Century. The Sixteenth Century English School picture, which has been loaned by the Society of Antiquaries in London, was doctored to fit an image of Richard that had been damaged first by vilification by the Tudors and then by William Shakespeare’s depiction of him in Richard III.

The exhibition will also include two portraits of Henry VIII painted over by later artists to make the king look older and more imposing. One, lent by the National Trust, had a beard and hat added long after it was first painted in about 1505 when Henry was just 14, while another, lent by Hever Castle, was adapted from a sensitive portrayal of Henry circa 1530 into the more popular image of Henry VIII as a powerful, barrel-chested monarch created by Hans Holbein that endures to this day.

Similarly, the only known portrait of Prince Arthur had panels added to it later to make the boy prince look more regal. This meant that the painting was larger than the size listed in art records and so for many years it was thought that it could not depict Arthur.

For information, 020 7499 6818 or www.philipmould.com.

‘DEFENDING THE DOWNTRODDEN’ AT PORTLAND MUSEUM (kathe kollwitz) FEB. 24, 2 CUTS

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PORTLAND, MAINE — One of Germany’s leading graphic artists of the early Twentieth Century, Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945) was a staunch defender of the poor, a critic of both world wars and deeply dedicated to her family.

The Portland Museum of Art has assembled a growing collection of her etchings, lithographs and woodcuts that cover the course of Kollwitz’s illustrious career. Featuring 22 prints, “Käthe Kollwitz Prints: Defending the Downtrodden” will be on view February 24–May 27.

Most of the works in the exhibition are gifts from the David and Eva Bradford collection of German Expressionist graphics. They range in date from the late 1890s to the turbulent 1920s, during the years of the Weimar Republic in Germany, when unemployment and poverty were rampant.

Kollwitz began her art studies in the late 1880s at academies in Berlin and Munich and soon decided to devote herself to the graphic arts. In Germany, there had been a long tradition of socially and politically charged printmaking that went back to Albrecht Dürer in the late Fifteenth and early Sixteenth Centuries.

Kollwitz’s earliest masterpiece, a series of prints known as “The Weavers’ Revolt,” derives much of its power from that historic association. From a family with liberal leanings, Kollwitz married a physician, and throughout their life together they lived in a working-class district of Berlin where he treated indigent patients and she practiced her art.

During a trip to Paris in 1904, Kollwitz met the French sculptor Auguste Rodin and began to take an interest in sculpture; at the same time her printmaking techniques became more experimental. Her series of emotional images about the Peasant War of 1522–1525 utilizes different forms of etching and aquatint to achieve the somber backgrounds and moody atmosphere that befit its subject.

After the death of her son in World War I, she became intensely pacificist and her prints were increasingly devoted to illuminating the struggle against poverty and hunger. As Hitler rose to power, Kollwitz’s support of opposing socialist and communist organizations eventually drew the ire of the Nazi regime, which forced her to resign her teaching post and banned her prints from public view. Her grandson was killed in World War II, and she died shortly before the war’s end in 1945.

The museum is at 7 Congress Square downtown. For information, 207-775-6148 or www.portlandmuseum.org.