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Thursday Morning Roundup


by Stephen Becker 13 Dec 2012 7:50 AM

Today in the roundup: The DMA bids on a Da Vinci, a DMA work you can lick and a shocking discovery in Austin.

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THE DMA’S DA VINCI: It’s been long-rumored that the Dallas Museum of Art has been in the market for a Da Vinci, and now it’s been confirmed. Max Anderson tells Front Row, “It was for sale and this was Dallas, and I thought, what a great way to learn about Dallas. Maybe we can buy this thing. Let’s find out.” The painting’s been valued at as much as $200 million. When I called the DMA for comment on Wednesday afternoon, a spokesperson said Anderson was traveling but also confirmed that the work – Salvator Mundi – is sitting at the museum as we speak. Should the DMA land the work, North Texas would be home to both a Da Vinci and a Michelangelo.

Razor, Gerald Murphy, 1924. Photo: Dallas Museum of Art

ART YOU CAN LICK: Speaking of the DMA, a work you might have seen there has found its way onto a postage stamp. Razor, by Gerald Murphy, is one of 12 works featured in the USPS’s “Modern Art in America” Forever stamp collection. The collection commemorates the 1913 Armory Show International Exhibition of Modern Art and features work created from 1913-31. The stamps will be available early next year. The DMA acquired Razor in 1963.

THE BIG REVEAL: Let’s finish up with an unexpected art discovery from Austin. Conservators at the Blanton Museum were cleaning up a 17th Century painting of a reclining woman attributed to French painter Simon Vouet. And as they began to scrape off excess paint, they found that they were uncovering two other figures in the painting that had been painted over. Before and after pictures are at artnewspaper.com.

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