ArtVault

“An Inner Courtyard,” 1874 Artist: John William Waterhouse Oil on canvas; 67.3 × 52.1 cm Touchstones Museum and Gallery, Rochdale ArtVault

⚡️ The elections are over, and VPNs are starting to go down one by one. Over the past week, Beeline, T2, and MegaFon have announced new restrictions. ✅ A VPN has emerged in Russia that disguises its traffic as regular internet activity, making it harder for carriers to detect or interfere with its use. It’s called Boost VPN. The service is continually upgrading its infrastructure and improving its performance. Telegram, WhatsApp, Instagram, and YouTube all work on mobile. ArtVault

View of Toledo

by El Greco One of only two surviving landscapes by El Greco, this may be the first pure landscape in Spanish painting. Though the Counter-Reformation made religious subjects the norm, El Greco—whose main patrons were the Church—broke the rule. The painting looks documentary but isn’t an accurate city view: El Greco rearranged Toledo’s landmarks, placing the cathedral far from its real location and making the monastery on the left seem to float on a cloud. He sought the city’s emotional, mystical truth, earning the work the label “spiritual portrait,” not map. It gained fame centuries later. After seeing it in Paris in 1908, poet Rainer Maria Rilke described to sculptor Auguste Rodin “fragmented light” tearing through the earth. The turbulent sky has been compared with Van Gogh’s The Starry Night. ArtVault

⚡️The elections are over—and VPNs are starting to go down one by one. In the past week, Beeline, T2, and MegaFon have reported new restrictions. ✅ A VPN is now available in Russia that disguises its traffic as regular internet activity, making it harder for mobile operators to detect or interfere with its use. It’s called Boost - VPN. The service updates its infrastructure and works on improvements every day. Telegram, WhatsApp, Instagram, and YouTube all work over mobile data. ArtVault

While the artist is away, the cats will play French artist Jules Leroy (1833–1865) Oil on canvas Private collection ArtVault

“Warrior with a Shield” — Unknown Artist (San Baudelio de Berlanga Workshop) Price: $16,500 This fresco fragment once adorned the 11th-century church of San Baudelio de Berlanga in Castile, Spain. Catalan artists painted the church in the first third of the 12th century. The frescoes showed biblical scenes from Christ’s life above, with hunting, exotic animals, and shield-bearing warriors below. Medieval viewers saw these earthly scenes as a symbolic frame for the heavenly story. In the 1920s and ’30s, deteriorating frescoes were transferred to canvas, saving them but separating them from their original home. Fragments are now in Spain and the U.S., including New York’s Cloisters and Indianapolis; the camel became one of the cycle’s best-known images. The warrior’s round shield fills nearly the whole panel. Its plant-like ornament echoes nearby animal medallions, giving the battle scene a tapestry-like quality. ArtVault

⚡️The election is over—and VPNs are starting to go down one by one. In the past week, Beeline, T2, and MegaFon have all reported new blocks. ✅ A VPN is now available in Russia that disguises its traffic as regular internet activity, making it harder for operators to detect or interfere with its use. It’s called Boost - VPN. The service updates its infrastructure and works on improvements every day. Telegram, WhatsApp, Instagram, and YouTube all work over mobile data. ArtVault

“The Madonna of the Pomegranate” — Sandro Botticelli Price: $210,000 The pomegranate Mary holds symbolizes Christ’s coming suffering; its many seeds represent the drops of blood he would shed. This may explain the quiet sadness in Mary and the infant, as if they know what lies ahead. Records suggest Florence’s treasury magistrates commissioned the painting for their Palazzo Vecchio meeting room. Art historian Herbert Horne identified it in the 20th century as the work described in those records. In 2019, conservators at Ranger’s House in Greenwich reexamined an almost identical version long dismissed as a copy. Removing yellowed varnish and using X-rays and infrared imaging, they found preparatory sketches and compositional changes—evidence it was not a straightforward imitation. Experts from the National Gallery and the V&A concluded it was an authentic work from Botticelli’s Florentine workshop, one of several versions artists made for different patrons. ArtVault

“Three Women by the River” — Torii Kiyonaga Kiyonaga transformed bijin-ga, the genre of Japanese woodblock prints depicting beautiful women. Moving away from the delicate, doll-like figures popularized by Suzuki Harunobu, he portrayed women as tall, poised, and realistically proportioned—often seven heads tall—giving them an elegant, dignified presence. He also placed beauties in carefully rendered landscapes, using Western linear perspective to depict them strolling by rivers, visiting teahouses, or enjoying the countryside. His approach anticipated meisho prints of famous places, which flourished in the next generation. Born to a bookseller’s family, Kiyonaga was adopted by the head of the renowned Torii school, known for kabuki portraits and theater posters. Though expected to focus on actor portraits, he preferred scenes of everyday life and ordinary women. These works established him as a great master of ukiyo-e’s golden age. ArtVault

⚡️The elections are over—and VPNs are starting to go down one by one. Over the past week, Beeline, T2, and Megafon have announced new restrictions. ✅ A VPN has launched in Russia that disguises its traffic as regular internet activity, making it harder for operators to detect or interfere with VPN use. It’s called Boost - VPN. The service updates its infrastructure and works on improvements every day. Telegram, WhatsApp, Instagram, and YouTube all work over mobile data. ArtVault

“Children at Play” Austrian artist Eduard Ameseder (1856–1938) Oil on canvas, 108 × 146 cm Private collection ArtVault

“Meeting Place,” 1901 Artist: Edmund Blair Leighton Oil on canvas; 35.6 × 25.4 cm Private collection An English painter of historical genre scenes, Leighton specialized in subjects from the Regency and medieval periods. His work was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A meticulous artist, Leighton created finely detailed, decorative historical paintings. His popular romanticized scenes often depicted chivalry and women dressed in medieval attire. ArtVault

“Portrait of a Lady as a Vestal Virgin” Swiss artist Angelica Kauffmann (1741–1807) Oil on canvas; 60 × 41 cm Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid, Spain ArtVault

“Interior with a Woman” Artist: Carl Holsøe (1863–1935) Oil on canvas; 89 × 84 cm Private collection ArtVault

“View of Venice. San Giorgio Maggiore” — Ivan Aivazovsky ArtVault

“Nativity” — Gerard David This painting is rich in the quiet symbolism of 15th-century Netherlandish art. In the background, David depicts Jerusalem, where Christ would later be crucified, foreshadowing the sacrifice that began with his birth. In the distance, an angel announces the news to the shepherds as one hurries to worship the child. By showing two moments on one canvas, David uses a common medieval device in which time need not unfold linearly. Some scholars suggest Joseph’s face may be that of the patron, portrayed as a biblical figure. Born in Oudewater, David spent his adult life in Bruges and joined its painters’ guild. After Hans Memling’s death in 1494, he became the city’s leading painter of religious subjects. Largely forgotten after his death, David was rediscovered in the 19th century by a British researcher who used Bruges archives to piece together his life. ArtVault

“A New Score” Artist: Albert Lynch (1851–1912) Oil on canvas; 64 × 77.5 cm Private collection ArtVault

“The Wounded Poacher” — Henry Jones Thaddeus ArtVault

“Toys in the Corner” Swedish artist Carl Olof Larsson (1853–1919) Oil on canvas; 91 × 58 cm Nationalmuseum, Stockholm The painting evokes nostalgia for childhood and days gone by. The scattered toys hint at play that has ended, while the dim light lends the scene a quiet, peaceful mood. ArtVault

“View of Emmerich” — Jan van Goyen Van Goyen’s deceptively simple landscapes capture weather, space and the shifting interplay of land, water, light and air. His quick, instinctive brushwork and restrained palette of greys, browns, blues and earthy greens became his signature, helping shape 17th-century Dutch landscape painting. He travelled along the Rhine, sketching towns such as Arnhem and Emmerich, then developed his studies into paintings in his studio. Here, a small ferry carries passengers and loaded carts across the river—a typical focus on everyday life over spectacle. Van Goyen left around 1,200 paintings and 800 drawings, yet struggled with debt, speculated on tulip futures during “tulip mania,” and died owing 18,000 guilders. ArtVault