Displaying items by tag: discovery

A trove of 2,000 delicate gold spirals that date back to the Bronze Age was recently discovered in Denmark -- and archaeologists are trying to figure out what the ancient coils were used for.

The 3,000-year-old spirals are made of thin, flattened gold wire and were found during an excavation in the town of Boeslunde, on the Danish island of Zealand.

Each tightly wound coil is about one inch long. All together, the gold spirals weigh more than half a pound.

Jonathan Green, director of London's Richard Green Gallery, hit the proverbial dealer's jackpot when he unwittingly purchased three pastels by Claude Monet at a Parisian auction in 2014 for the price of two.

After returning home, Green noticed that there was something fastened to the back of one of the two rare studies of skies that he had bought for an undisclosed sum—it turned out to be another pastel which depicts a jetty and a lighthouse at Le Havre in Normandy, where the legendary artist grew up.

A painting by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres has been found in the French province of Jura completely by chance, Le Monde reports.

The piece is only the latest in a spate of "lost" masterpieces that have turned up in recent months sometimes to huge auction success.

The discovery was made during an inventory conducted by Emmanuel Buselin, curator and advisor of historical monuments of the region, in the attic of the chapel of the former hospital Hôtel-Dieu, located in the town of Lons-le-Saunier.

A San Francisco gallery was stunned to discover that it had unknowingly bought a previously-unseen Gustav Klimt drawing.

The Lost Art Salon, which specializes in the rediscovery of fine art, bought a hoard of unidentifiable works on paper at a Bay Area auction last spring. During the research process, gallery staff discovered a series of drawings signed by Johannes and Maria Fischer, who were close friends of Egon Schiele. This clue led the researchers to believe that other pieces could be associated with other Viennese Secessionists.

A French scientist has revealed a major new discovery about one of Leonardo da Vinci's most famous paintings, shedding new light on his techniques.

Engineer Pascal Cotte has spent three years using reflective light technology to analyze "The Lady with an Ermine."

Until now, it was thought the 500-year-old painting had always included the ceremonial animal.

Scholars have discovered a previously unknown portrait by James McNeill Whistler hidden beneath a painting of a bridge over the River Thames from 1862. The subject is thought to be Whistler’s young mistress and model Jo Hiffernan, who lived with the artist in London for five years. Prior to the discovery, experts believed Whistler created only around six portraits of Hiffernan, including the well-known Symphony in White, No. 1: the White Girl, 1862, at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

London’s Victoria and Albert Museum announced that they discovered a previously unknown oil sketch by English Romantic painter John Constable. The sketch of trees, which dates back to 1821 or 1822, was found tucked beneath another work by the artist, “Branch Hill Pond: Hampstead.” Conservators had removed the painting’s lining while preparing for the upcoming exhibition, “Constable: The Making of a Master.”

Constable’s daughter donated the contents of the artist’s studio -- including 92 oil sketches, 297 drawings and watercolors, and 3 sketchbooks -- to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1888. The recently discovered sketch is currently on view at the institution.    

A rare Roman eagle in astoundingly good condition was recently discovered in London by archaeologists. The work is being called one of the best pieces of Romano-British art ever found. The sculpture, which depicts an eagle with a writhing snake in its beak, is made of Cotswold limestone and dates back to the late 1^st century or 2^nd century AD. The figure was found six weeks ago, encased in mud at the bottom of a ditch during a 10-day excavation of a former Roman cemetery.

Scholars are anxious to research the work, which will be on display at the Museum of London for the next six months. The only comparable discovery in London is a severely damaged bird found at a Roman villa site in Somerset in the 1920s.

Experts believe that the recently discovered sculpture would have been commissioned for the tomb of a wealthy or commanding Roman.