In Tangled Three-Way Tug-Of-War, A Dutch Master Canvas Is The Rope

The Dutch bank ABN Amro has filed a claim for A Bend in the Herengracht, a 17th-century painting by Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde which financier Louis Reijtenbagh had used as collateral for a now-delinquent loan. Problem no. 1: Reijtenbagh used the same painting as collateral for a 2006 loan (also delinquent) from JP Morgan Chase. Problem no. 2: He sold the work to the Rijksmuseum last September.

Royal Opera House And BBC Announce Partnership

“Covent Garden productions [of both opera and ballet] will be available across many different digital platforms including radio, television, CDs, DVDs, online and outdoor screens. For the first time, the Royal Opera programmes broadcast on the BBC will also be available on the BBC iPlayer. The two-season commitment with the BBC brings eight operas and/or ballets from the RHO to be broadcast on BBC TWO and BBC FOUR.”

Boyd’s RSC Has Turned Our Attention Back To Shakespeare

“It’s a measure of how greatly Michael Boyd has transformed the Royal Shakespeare Company’s fortunes since he took over as artistic director in April 2003 that it’s only at the end of an hour’s conversation, just as various assistants materialise to summon him back to rehearsals, that the question of the RSC’s troubled past arises, almost as an afterthought. There was a time … when ‘the problem’ of the RSC would have been the first, second and third item on the agenda.”

Literary Trail To Mark Real-World Locations From Novels

“Miranda Hill, the moving force behind Project Bookmark Canada, imagines the day when Canadians will be able to read their way from coast to coast, following a trail of plaques containing literary excerpts of some of this country’s most geographically specific works. The first step on that journey will be taken tomorrow with the inaugural Bookmark containing a passage from In the Skin of a Lion, Michael Ondaatje’s iconic novel….”

British Arts Escape Worst Harm From Govt. Spending Cuts

“Not a word about culture in the Budget speech, but information about the implications on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is dribbling through. And frankly, given the circumstances, it looks like good news. Of the £15bn in savings Darling is announcing over the following three years, a relatively small £168m is to come out of the DCMS budget over that period.”

A Bargain-Priced Michelangelo, Or A Huge Waste Of Cash?

“Is it or isn’t it a Michelangelo? That is the question being pondered by art experts after the Italian state spent 3.3 million euros, or $4.2 million, last year to buy a small wooden crucifix attributed to that Renaissance genius.” If it’s not a Michelangelo, “then the state may have squandered its dwindling resources” at a time “when more than one billion euros have been cut from the Culture Ministry’s projected budget for the next three years.”

Domingo At Its Side, Royal Opera Declines To Dumb Down

“With a reputation for expensive ticket prices and high production costs, the Royal Opera House is braced for a tough season in 2009/10. But despite planning the repertoire before the global financial crisis struck, it stuck to the original program. … Royal Opera House chief executive Tony Hall said the company’s reputation could suffer if audiences felt it was taking less risks and resorting to tried and tested hits.”

Bound For Bolshoi Ballet School, If Tuition Can Be Raised

“A Cheshire teenager has become only the third British boy to win a place at the elite Bolshoi Ballet School in the Russian academy’s 233-year history. Daniel Dolan, 16, from Widnes, started his dance career aged four when he swapped his rugby boots for ballet shoes, said his father Peter. … The dancer starts at the academy in August if he can find the £15,000 fees.”

Theatre Historian Stefan Brecht Dies At 84

“Stefan Brecht, whose father was the playwright Bertolt Brecht and who added to the family’s theatrical legacy by fastidiously chronicling the rise of avant-garde theater, died on April 13 in Manhattan. … For decades, Mr. Brecht worked on a series of books, collectively known as ‘The Original Theater of the City of New York: From the Mid-Sixties to the Mid-Seventies,’ that described, in great detail, the work of the city’s seminal experimental theater artists.”