Lost artworks

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lost artworks may be lost to history either through the deliberate or accidental destruction of the original, or through ignorance and lack of connoisseurship.

For lost literary works, see Lost work.

Works are listed chronologically by when they were created, not by when they were destroyed or lost.

Contents 1 Classical era 2 6th century 3 15th century 4 15th century 5 16th century 6 17th century 7 18th century 8 19th Century 9 20th century 9.1 Works destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks 9.2 Works destroyed in the Momart fire 10 See also 11 References/external links

[edit] Classical era

• The "Colossus of Rhodes", one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
• The "Statue of Zeus at Olympia", one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
• The "Athena Parthenos", originally housed in the Parthenon

[edit] 6th century

• The Buddhas of Bamyan, destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.

[edit] 15th century

• The great Navicella mosaic of Giotto di Bondone on the porch of Old Saint Peter's Basilica.

[edit] 15th century

• Several original paintings on "pagan" subjects by Sandro Botticelli, who burned them in the Bonfire of the Vanities.
• Lower left panel titled The Just Judges of the Ghent Altarpiece, stolen in 1934, now lost.

[edit] 16th century

• Leda and the Swan (1508) by Leonardo da Vinci
• Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo da Vinci (Palazzo Vecchio)
• Cartoon by Michelangelo of the battle of Cascina, Palazzo Vecchio, putatively destroyed by Bandinelli
• Leda and the Swan (circa 1530) by Michelangelo
• Portrait of Isabella d’Este in Red by Titian.
• A bronze statue of David resting his foot on the severed head of Goliath, by Michelangelo.
• A portrait of Alof de Wignacourt by Caravaggio.
• Altarpiece of the Madonna and Child with St. Mary Magdalen and St. Lucy by Antonio da Correggio.
• Portrait of a Young Man by Raphael. Confiscated by the Nazis, now lost [1].
• Hans Holbein the Younger's Whitehall Mural of Henry VIII and family in the Palace of Whitehall, destroyed by fire in 1698.
• Various works of Titian, Gentile da Fabriano, Pisanello, Gentile and Giovanni Bellini were lost in a fire at the Doge's Palace in Venice in 1577.
• Martyrdom of St Peter (Titian, San Giovanni e Paolo) (fire).
• Last Judgement Cartoons, (Pontormo, San Lorenzo) covered over.

[edit] 17th century

• Time Saving Truth from Envy and Discord by Nicolas Poussin.
• Penance, one of the seven Sacraments (1637-40) by Nicolas Poussin, destroyed by fire at Belvoir Castle in 1816.
• The Circumcision (1646) by Rembrandt.
• The Inspiration of Matthew first version by Caravaggio (~1601) (Destroyed by fire following the Russian capture of Berlin in WWII)

[edit] 18th century

• The Amber Room of the Catherine Palace in Russia was lost during World War II.
• The Drawing Lesson and A Girl Reciting her Gospel by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin.
• The original paintings of A Harlot's Progress (1731) by William Hogarth were destroyed in a fire at Fonthill Abbey in 1755, but the engravings (1732) survive.
• The Eidophusikon (1781) by Philip James de Loutherbourg.
• Le Pelletier on his Death Bed (1793) by Jacques-Louis David.

[edit] 19th Century

• Hen with Sapphire Pendant (1886), a Fabergé egg.
• Cherub with Chariot (1888), a Fabergé egg.
• Necessaire (1889), a Fabergé egg.
• Alexander III Portraits (1896), a Fabergé egg.
• Mauve (1898), a Fabergé egg.

[edit] 20th century

• Empire Nephrite (1902), a Fabergé egg.
• Royal Danish (1903), a Fabergé egg.
• Alexander III Commemorative (1909), a Fabergé egg.
• Diego Rivera's mural Man at the Crossroads (1933) was destroyed and removed in 1934 because its content (including a portrait of Lenin) offended Nelson Rockefeller, who had commissioned the work. Rivera later recreated the work as Man, Controller of the Universe in the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.
• Graham Sutherland's portrait of Winston Churchill (1954) was deliberately destroyed by Lady Churchill because she did not like it.
• Some 20 works were created on camera and then deliberately destroyed by Pablo Picasso for the documentary Le Mystère Picasso (The Mystery of Picasso, 1956) [2].
• On January 30, 1979, a Varig 707 freighter, registration PP-VLU, disappeared over the Pacific Ocean thirty minutes after departing Tokyo, Japan. The captain had previously been involved in another major accident, that of Varig Flight 820 in 1973. No wreckage or remains were ever located. The aircraft was carrying 153 paintings by the Japanese Brazilian artist Manabu Mabe, worth approximately $1.24 million US.
• "Study after Velazquez III" (1950), Francis Bacon[3]. Third in a series of portraits after Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1650. All three were thought destroyed by the artist until the first two surfaced 1999.
• "Untitled Wall Relief," by Craig Kauffman (1967), an acrylic lacquer on Plexiglas piece, fell off the wall and shattered on July 16, 2006 at the Pompidou Center of Paris [4]
• Untitled piece by Peter Alexander (1971), an 8 ft. x 5 in. molded polyester resin work, fell and shattered in April 2006 at the Pompidou Center of Paris [5]
• Anish Kapoor's wood and cement sculpture "Hole and Vessel" (1984) was discovered missing from its storage unit in 2004.
• Richard Serra's 38-ton metal sculpture "Equal-Parallel/Guernica-Bengasi" (1986), formerly displayed at the Reina Sofia museum, was unable to be located in 2006 [6]
• The "Goddess of Democracy" (1989) by students of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, was destroyed by The People's Liberation Army during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
• Rachel Whiteread's enormous sculpture "House" (1993) was destroyed by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets council on January 11, 1994.
• Pablo Picasso's painting The Painter was lost aboard Swissair Flight 111 when it crashed into the waters off Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on September 2, 1998.[7]
• Richard Serra's Tilted Arc (1981) was dismantled and removed in 1989.

[edit] Works destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks

Many works of art were destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks when the World Trade Center buildings collapsed.

• "Ideogram" (1967) stainless steel sculpture by James Rosati
• "Cloud Fortress" (1975) a large, black granite piece by Japanese artist Masayuki Nagare, destroyed in the 9/11 rescue and recovery efforts.
• "The World Trade Center Tapestry" a 20' x 35' tapestry by Joan Miró
• "Sky Gate, New York" (1977-78) by Louise Nevelson
• A memorial fountain for the victims of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing by Elyn Zimmerman
• "World Trade Center Stabile" (1971) a 25' red steel sculpture by Alexander Calder. Approximately 30% of the sculpture was recovered.
• Some 300 sculptures and drawings by Rodin, part of the Cantor Fitzgerald collection.
• Needle Tower (1968) by Kenneth Snelson.
• Recollection Pond, a tapestry by Romare Bearden.
• Path Mural, by Germaine Keller.
• Commuter Landscape, a large mural by Cynthia Mailman.
• Fan Dancing with the Birds, a mural by Hunt Slonem.
• The Entablature Series by Roy Lichtenstein
• Approximately 40,000 negatives of photographs by Jacques Lowe documenting the presidency of John F. Kennedy.
• The Sphere, an abstract sculpture by Fritz Koenig, survived the collapse but was seriously damaged, and now serves as a memorial.

[edit] Works destroyed in the Momart fire

Many works by Britartists in the Saatchi collection, as well as work by other artists in different collections, were destroyed in the Momart warehouse fire in Leyton, East London, on May 24, 2004.

• Vertical Light by Patrick Heron (1957), and some 50 other paintings
• Altair by Gillian Ayres (1989), and 17 other paintings
• Craigie Horsfield's black and white photograph of Barcelona, Carrer Muntaner (1996)
• Hell by Jake and Dinos Chapman, (1998 to 2000)
• The Last Thing I Said To You Is Don't Leave Me Here ("The Hut") by Tracey Emin (1999)
• Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995 ("The Tent") by Tracey Emin
• Mood Change One by Michael Craig-Martin
• The Event by William Redgrave, a bronze triptych; about a third was salvaged by his son, Chris Redgrave.
• Down Below, a sculpture by Sarah Lucas
• Hedone's, a painting by Patrick Caulfield
• Floater, by Gavin Turk
• Sixteen paintings by Damien Hirst
• Cyclops Cameo (1995), Opal (1996), and eight other works by Helen Chadwick
• Nine works by Barry Flanagan
• Clown, a gloss painting on wood and other works by Gary Hume
• Afrobluff, and other works by Chris Ofili
• Works by Paula Rego
• Forty works by Adrian Heath

[edit] See also

• Lost work
• Lost film
• Nazi plunder
• Rescuing Da Vinci

[edit] References/external links

• Missing Masterpieces - Lost Works of Art, 1450-1900 Dr. Gert-Rudolf Flick, Merrell (January 2003). ISBN 1-85894-197-0
• http://www.leonardoshorse.org/
• "The Art Lost by Citigroup on 9/11" by Suzanne F. W. Lemakis
• Public Art at the World Trade Center
• Lost Art in the Towers
• 9/11 Attacks Destroy Cultural and Historical Artifacts
• http://worldtradecenterart.blogspot.com/
• The Britart fire