The Timeless Gallery

The painting "Unequal Marriage" by Vasili Pukirev (1862) was surrounded by legend. It was said that after looking at it, older men who were planning to marry young women gave up their intent.

The painter's work is an open and courageous denunciation of the Russian society of the time. In particular, the custom was condemned (universally in vogue in the not too distant past and still present today in some countries) whereby young girls were often forced into arranged marriages with men much older than them.

The painting was highly successful and generated heated debate in the press, with its supporters praising it for representing a serious theme of modern life, unlike the usual genre scenes, which tended to be nostalgic or sentimental.

The canvas is based on an episode that actually happened and is full of details. The same painter - who was rumored to be romantically linked to the bride - depicted himself on the far right with his arms crossed, as a sign of opposition to what he is witnessing. Two old women appear half hidden in the crowd: one can be seen between the groom and the priest, the other can be seen behind the religious man: it is probable that they are the groom's deceased wives. The priest himself is hunched over and partially in shadow, perhaps to symbolize some sort of divine condemnation of this union.

However, the figure of the young, beautiful and sad bride is illuminated. Under the oblique and inquisitorial gaze of her almost-husband, she mechanically performs the ritual and keeps her gaze turned to the ground, her eyes red from crying. We can only imagine her state of mind but perhaps these verses come to our aid:

As if, once the sentence was pronounced, frozen they were escorting you from the luxurious prison of doubt to the gallows, and to the dead, -

when the veil your eyes had sewn - a creature gasped - "Pity" - What anguish was then the most atrocious - To die, or to be alive?

(Emily Dickinson)

His career brought him millions upon millions of dollars and lasted almost 40 years. He finally admitted to painting fraudulent art after the white paint he used came under scrutiny. 

“ Bob Simon: What do you think this Max Ernst would be worth? Wolfgang Beltracchi: This one? Simon: Yeah. Beltracchi: $5 million, I think. Simon: $5 million.  And you can do it in three days? Beltracchi: Yeah, oh yes, yes, sure, or quicker” -From a 60 minutes interview with Bob Simon

In The interview with Beltracchi, he said that none of his forgeries are copies, they’re all original works that the famous artists could have painted.

“Beltracchi estimates he has done 25 Max Ernsts. He is not copying an existing work. He’s painting something he thinks Ernst might have done if he’d had the time or felt like it.”  -  The Con Artist: A multi-million dollar art scam

His wife was also in on the scam, she would dress up in old clothing and take pictures holding the paintings with old cameras to fake proof of the paintings’ ages.

Keating painted more than 2,000 forgeries by over 100 different artists in his sixty-six years. Many had fraudulently sold at auctions with the total profits estimated at over 10 million dollars. “I flooded the market with the work of Palmer and many others,” the artist said. “Not for gain (I hope I am no materialist) but simply as a protest against the merchants who make capital out of those I am proud to call my brother artists, both living and dead. It seemed disgraceful to me how many of them had died in poverty,” he defended in The Fake’s Progress, his autobiography. “All their lives they had been exploited by unscrupulous dealers and then, as if to dishonor their memory, these same dealers continued to exploit them in death.” […] Keating had a great respect and understanding of all the artists he imitated but was always reckless in his handling of the materials. He often used house paint and poster paint to mix in with his acrylics as a cheaper way to achieve the impasto works. At times he wouldn’t bother preparing his antique canvases he found at the junk shops out of laziness, so that in just a few years the paint would peel right off to reveal what was originally underneath. Keating often planted what he called “time bombs” like this in his paintings. Because of his understanding of the chemicals used in art restoration, Keating would purposely paint with layers of glycerin, which would destroy the painting once it was cleaned by a restorer, proving it was a fake. He often wrote obscenities under his paintings, like “Bollocks!”, in lead white so that it could be seen by the experts who x-rayed the painting to check its authenticity.

Apr 16 1916 War Photographer Ernest Brooks took these pictures of The King’s Liverpool Regiment, 55th Division, moving along trenches leading to the front line near to Blairville Wood, Wailly.

IWM Q 524, IWM Q 527, IWM Q 525

April 16 1916

لوحة بعنوان "حلم يعقوب"

Title

Martyrdom of Saint Ursula (1610)

Artist

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Medium

Oil on Canvas

The Last Caravaggio Until 21 July 2024 Room 46

May 1610. Caravaggio is in Naples working on the last picture he'd ever paint.

Two months later, he died in mysterious circumstances. But it was during his final tumultuous years that Caravaggio made some of his most striking works.

His characteristic style includes tightly cropped scenes and dramatic lighting. He used real models with dirty feet and grimy fingernails.

Few paintings are better placed to tell the story of Caravaggio’s final years than his last-known work, 'The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula' (1610, Gallerie d’Italia, Naples). The painting is coming to London for the first time in 20 years.

We witness violence at uncomfortably close quarters. Caravaggio shows us an intricate interplay of guilty and innocent hands. And his own self portrait looks on, helpless.

We'll display this painting with the letter that describes its creation (Archivio di Stato, Naples), and our own late Caravaggio, 'Salome with the Head of John the Baptist' (about 1609–10).

May 9 1918 Near Rollencourt, war photographer Ernest Brooks takes these photos of an Army Service Corps private talking to a French farm girl.

IWM Q 3258, IWM Q 3259

Judith Slaying Holofernes (c. 1612)