When we think of art sculpture we probably think of marble and bronze. The uniform colour of solid materials always offers a fresh lighting and can even magnify certain characteristics and mannerisms. We’ve probably all laughed at some of the modern sculptures, especially of football players, that seem to miss the mark. A cartoonish sense of impressionism has taken over the agenda with a lot of modern homages. Perhaps in years to come the seemingly skewwhiff expressions will become a source of endearment and something to remember these historical characters for. The ancient statues from antiquity are usually much more lifelike, with attention to detail reflecting the reality of the human form. We don’t know if they really looked like that, or the model at least, but we can still admire the beautiful forms offered today. 
 
When you think of painted statues, you might think of Games Workshop. The adult's and children’s war gaming phenomenon involves buying your characters and painting them before using them in the game. The setting isn’t the same as other sculptures, after-all the mass produced and plastic figurines can hardly compete with an artist’s handiwork. Yes, they are fun and it can be something for everyone to enjoy, we don’t play chess to admire the king. Painted sculpture in the art world is often termed polychrome sculpture, which means multicoloured. The art of painting and the art of sculpting can unite in the form of vivid and three-dimensional objects. 
 
In Prado, Spain, the art of polychrome sculpture is taking the forefront in a new exhibition. The Roman Catholic culture in Spain is renowned for its iconography. Images of religious figures are used to help people connect with their ideas of God and faith. Some churches see these as so-called graven images, which are forbidden, however other churches see them as essential tools for bringing people closer to the creator of everything. As the artist creates the shapes then uncovers their reality with life-like colour, the people from stories and history are almost brought back to life. 
 
Hand In Hand- Sculpture And Colour In The Spanish Golden Age is a new exhibition in the Spanish area of Prado. Including the work of Luisa Roldan, the first female polychrome sculptor in the Spanish royal court, the exhibition demonstrates the exquisite and iconic imagery multicoloured sculpture has to offer. The scenes depicted are varied, with many religious figures from various cultures making up the majority. This showing of art wants to highlight the discrimination the medium has received in recent years. Not only the gender of the artists but the art form itself has often been dismissed as not proper or an imitation of the real masters. Hand In Hand wants to put this concept to bed and show the true mastery behind the empathic and narrative depictions.  ​

If you were in possession of a once looted piece of antique culture from Nepal, would you give it back? What if there was nothing stopping you from keeping it? Put yourself in the shoes of a collector, who values their possessions on a scale that actually measures up to the “right thing to do” and often wins. It’s a tough one, we know that in the harsh reality of this world, most people would not give their antique back. After-all, Nepal is not in a position to enforce or pay for the return. So, what’s next for the rightful custodians of local heritage? A deal. A battle between the part of us descended from apes, reptiles, amphibians, and fish and the part of us descended from heaven.  
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Nonsense, I can imagine some of you thinking. Let’s look at it another way. Freud spoke of the subconscious and the id. The subconscious is the bit of us descended from nature, it wants and needs, it desires. The id is the part of us we have built ourselves from the most powerful wisdom we can find. Our morality and our notion of what is right comes from this, it’s in the brain because as we learn through life, our brain creates the proper connections. Pitting these brains against each other is exactly what Nepal are doing with their new exhibit.  


“Give Us Back Our Gods” is an exhibition that recreates a batch of artefacts that was looted between the 1960s and 80s. Each piece has been meticulously recreated and includes a description, just like the real thing would in a museum. The collection is about to go on display in Nepal, with the one purpose. To offer each highly crafted exquisite replica as an exchange for the original, no questions asked. Now, you might think that surely the real thing is much better but remember what Machiavelli said, “A man of good character is difficult to conspire against”. Imagine the replica and the story of how upon discovering the history, the family decided to exchange the piece. The story is worth a lot more than the artefact.  


Well, we can only hope. At least the rest of us can visit Nepal any time we like in the next few months to catch a glimpse of what could have been. A mirror image of reality, but it’s the spirit that is backwards. Or is it? If the originals were intended to appeal to Gods and these new pieces are intended to appeal to the God within us, is there much difference after all? The Museum of Stolen Art is set to open in 2026. 
 
Interested in the scene? Check out this book: The Nepal Festivals:: Articles on Nepalese Art, Culture and Deities
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​I don’t remember how The Wind In The Willows starts, middles, and ends, but I do remember Toad of Toad Hall in his Motorcar. Poop Poop! The rest of the animals standing aside as the green gentleman rumbles by, leaping over bumps in the road. A thing of the past, within a generation the petrol or gasoline powered vehicle itself will be a day out at the vintage show. Imagine in thirty years going to see a Ford Focus and taking a photo…They don’t have the same level of intrigue as they did when the technology was new, that’s for sure.
 
Automotive enthusiasts and history hysterions can gawp and drool at this latest snap that’s available to someone lucky enough to get the highest bid. The first car to break the 100mph speed in the entire United States, the 1904 Napier Samson is an icon and a benchmark for everything fast and new. The engineering marvel that put that much power into a hunk of moving metal is a leap forward in human invention, proving that chemical fuel could indeed be made to propel machines over land and sea. Better than a horse, or so they say, the mess from an automobile goes up rather than down.  
 
The birthplace of the speed record, Florida is seeing the proud return of the very machine that broke it all those years ago. The 1904 Napier Samson L48 has returned to the state to be put on display and eventually sold. Let’s hope it goes to a good home. The car was presented to waiting crowds at Daytona Beach yesterday, with another couple of weeks to go before the big and expensive (for one lucky bidder) day. The car is valued at around a million dollars, which is not much for some but way out of reach for me. How about you?
 
Made in Britain, when the United Kingdom was an industrial power, the Napier Samson L48 took to the racetrack in Florida at the height of the early racing era. Drivers from the world over would take their best builds to the course and pit them against the other machines in one derby of constant thrills. In 1905, British mechanic Arthur MacDonald took his Napier Samson to 104.651 mph, the fastest anyone had ever driven before. No-doubt, many cars didn’t make it, some being smashed, some breaking down. The fact we still have the Napier means a lot to the people who are descended from its makers. You could even make it to the Bonhams Cars Auction in Amelia Island, Florida on the 29th of February and place a bid. 

​For people like me, perhaps we'd better take a look at the original version of Wind In The Willows with Illustrations by Arthur Rackham
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“Can this Cock-Pit hold within this Woodden O, the very Caskes that did affright the Ayre at Agincourt?” Henry V Prologue.
 
That wooden O, the venue for the audience when the play was first performed, was in fact The Curtain Playhouse in Shoreditch. This popular place for Tudor people to visit and experience stories and art was part of the local community for many years. Who would have thought that the particular play-write on show that day would one day become the icon for all British play-writes to follow. Theatres were purposefully built in London for the first time around the time of Shakespeare, perhaps as the jousts of Henry VIII came to an end the public wanted something more relevant and attainable.
 
The theatre was lost to time during the 17th Century. When it closed at the beginning of that time, the four-hundred years that passed saw countless rebuilds and changes of purpose on what was the original site. In fact, there were two theatres next to one another. The neighbouring venue, simply called The Theatre, also saw works of Shakespeare within its walls. This too was eventually lost. The good news is that both of these historical meeting places have been discovered thanks to work carried out by the Museum Of London Archaeology.
 
The fascinating find that surprised most people was that what was described as an O was actually a rectangle. Drawing on images of Roman coliseums with their oval shape perhaps was an effort to conjure images of brutality and pitting men against men. To enter the theatre, in Tudor times, spectators would have to pass through a tavern. No-doubt business was good when popular plays were on show and the audience would have been suitably warmed by ale before the performance. With different layers of spectator area, the theatre would have housed better-off people in the seating area and the sixpence a head crowd in the yard section on their feet.
 
When the theatre was uncovered, archaeologists discovered all kinds of old things that people left behind when the venue closed down. Dropped belongings such as coins, buttons, pins, and pipes were littered all around and even the clay pots for ticket receipts that would need to be smashed at the end of the night were found laying around. The site has been rescued and restored for the modern day with a new museum in honour of William Shakespeare. An entire experience can now be had in the place where his plays were first witnessed. Visitors can explore the old Curtain Playhouse and see where the magic happened plus learn all kinds of things about the writer, his ideas, and the things people have said about him.
 
Via The Art Newspaper
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