Herbert Makes Headlines in Australia!
21 April 2015 – Not only is the National Gallery of Victoria finally unrolling its monumental copy of Moses Descending with the Tables of the Law (1858-1877), it’s restoring the work before the public on a specially-made platform in the nineteenth-century gallery. Anyone can watch, free of charge, as the beautiful colours pop out from under layers of dirt for the next few weeks, after which the back will be reinforced with canvas and the finished painting will be stretched. After this, the frame will be restored and finally the whole work will be hung until at least December, 2015.
I will be giving a formal lecture on the 14th of June, as well as a floor talk in late May and a Q&A sometime soon. If you’re in Melbourne, come and see me!
But the best part: it’s BIG news. Herbert was on the front page of The Age last Saturday, and media are following the restoration with interest.
The last time any newspaper was interested in J.R. Herbert? 1890.
So perhaps he’s due a renaissance!
Herbert ReconFigure(d) at Nottingham
Artist Andrew Bracey has a go at covering the figures in Herbert’s well-loved ‘Lear Disinheriting Cordelia (1876) at the Nottingham Castle Museum. Here’s Herbert’s original next to the reproduction in progress:
What do you think?
Launch and Re-Launch!
The Herbert latest is: he’s updated! This site, which encompasses both my J.R. Herbert research and new blog takes the place of the rather, a-hem, basic site I created over four years ago.
I’ve been fortunate that so many have reached me through that site, enriching my scholarship with their works of art and family histories. I encourage people to continue to contact me about anything and everything Herbert-related.
Over these years, I have learned so much more about Herbert; therefore I have changed the way I tell his story. I’ve updated his biography with new information, but also say why he’s important- both to the history of Victorian art and our understanding of how artists understood the purpose of their work in the 19th century.
Plus, he’s just an ernest, eccentric dude. I love researching him, and hope you find him interesting too!