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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS

@bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social
11K followers 539 following 1.8K posts

Art historian. New book The Invention of British Art, out now.

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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
And that was it. I had a long list of other discoveries for Series 6 but they closed BBC4 for new series. Endless thanks to everyone at Tern TV who worked on the programmes, brilliant co-presenters Jacky Klein and Emma Dabiri, and above all the Maestro, series producer and director, Spike Geilinger.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow; Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of a Lady. We weren't able to clean this one, due to Reynolds' eccentric use of pigments, but at least that helped prove he painted it.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Tatton Park; Francesco Salviati, 'Portrait of a Physician, perhaps Realdo Colombo' (previously Italian School’.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Brighton Museum; Francisco Trevisani, 'Penitent Magdalene' (previously, Italian School). Any suggestion I looked for Italian pictures because we liked filming in Italy are false.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Brighton Museum; Joos van Cleve, 'Balthasar' (previously, circle of Bernard van Orley).
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff; Sandro Botticelli and Studio, 'Madonna and Child' (previously follower of Botticelli). Pleased with this one - the head is astonishingly high quality. The background is a later addition.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Birmingham Museum; Thomas Barker of Bath, 'A peasant family in a wood' (previously Circle of Thomas Gainsborough). When I first saw this picture I thought it might be by Gainsborough himself, but that was wrong; Barker was his closest imitator.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Birmingham Museum; Jan Brueghel the Younger and Joos de Momper, 'Autumn Landscape' (previously, Flemish School). When I first saw this picture it was in two pieces in a drawer.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Bodleian Library; Pompeo Batoni, 'Portrait of George Oakley Aldrich' (previously, Unknown Artist). Loved this one, especially uncovering the sitter's facial scarring, painted out by a later hand).
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Petworth House; Attributed to Titian, 'Portrait of a Young Cardinal' (previously 'manner of Titian').
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Manchester Art Gallery; Johan Zoffany, 'Portrait of a Gentleman' (previously attrib. Nathaniel Dance).
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Knightshayes Court; Studio of Rembrandt, 'Self-Portrait' (prev 'Follower of R'). We proved through dendrochronology and paint analysis that the pic certainly came from R's workshop, but the great Rembrandt scholar Ernst van der Wetering was unpersuadable!
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Carmarthenshire Museum; Mary Beale, 'Frances, Countess of Carbery' (previously, attrib. Peter Lely).
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Carmarthenshire Museum; Peter Lely, 'Richard Vaughan, 2nd Earl of Carbery' (previously, Unknown Artist).
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Hospitalfield, Arbroath; Anthonis Mor, 'Portrait of a Man' (previously, Unknown Artist). One of the best portraits I've worked on; you wouldn't mess with this fellow, whoever he was.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Derby Museum; Joseph Wright of Derby, 'Ponte Nomentano' (previously thought to be by a follower of Wright, due to some of the worst overpaint I've ever seen).
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Glasgow, Pollok House; Rubens, 'Portrait of the Duke of Buckingham' (prev thought to be a copy of a lost original). Most of these pics I first found via the great ArtUK website, but this one my wife (and exec producer) Ishbel Grosvenor and I were visiting the house, looking for the cafe.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Ulster Museum; Peter Brueghel the Younger, 'Winter' (previously thought to be a copy).
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Ulster Museum; Peter Brueghel the Younger, 'Spring' (previously thought to be a copy). Spot the magically reappearing sheep and chickens.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Haddo House; Attrib. Raphael (previously attrib Innocenzo da Imola). This one was hindered by the fact we couldn't send the picture to London. It has since been doubted, thou I still think it could be from R's studio. The pic has never been properly analysed - hopefully one day!
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Haddo House, Aberdeenshire. Claude Lorrain, 'Pastoral River Landscape with Fishermen' (previously doubted attribution).
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Montrose Museum; Allan Ramsay, 'Portrait of Richard Mead' (previously thought to be a copy).
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Swansea Museum; Jacob Jordaens, 'Meleager and Atalanta' (previously as by an unknown artist). The first of many superb cleans by Simon Gillespie and his team.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Ten years ago today, the first episode of Britain's Lost Masterpieces* was on BBC4. Here's a thread of all the pictures we featured, with the new attributions and before & after photos. (*internationally, Amazon Prime etc, as 'The Art Detectives')
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
😅
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Hurricane! 🤓
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Looks great, look forward to reading! 👍
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Ban them.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
The zenith of British cultural achievement (seriously!)
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Still unbeaten.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Ha, thanks!
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
👍
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
For The Art Newspaper, I wrote about writing about art.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Yes, though you still have to pay attention at accounts time, etc. No way to actually be wholly inactive I think.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Stubbs is so interesting, and Judy's catalogue is superb. That said, I don't think anyone has properly put him in his wider context yet - especially in a european one. Still a victim of the new art history stuff back in the 80s, in many ways. A subject for you!
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
I’m interested in how a career politician who owns a controlling stake in, and is a director of, a political party of which he is also President, can describe himself as ‘not actively involved in politics’. Can anyone help?
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Today on the Royal Academy connoisseurship course, we took students to the British Museum’s wonderful Prints and Drawings room. One task was to show why one of these drawings is by Raphael, and the other a copy. Try yourself!
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
🤣
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Live from Downing St!
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
To London with a car full of pictures for my annual connoisseurship course at the Royal Academy. Ninth year I’ve taught it.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
This is like arguing with a sponge Phill. Goodbye.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
All organisations like this are interested in building user details and info. You can opt in or out, it's perfectly legal.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
No. I said it can’t practically work if you also want to achieve what free entry was designed to do.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
They want to take your details and then ideally your money, but in practice the vast majority of people walk up, and since Covid I have never seen general entry tickets checked.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
I’m not denying it can be done. I’m saying it shouldn’t be done.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Nobody is turned away if you haven't booked via an e ticket That was during Covid. I have never, ever known a national museum to turn people away because they're 'full'. Are you sure you know what you're talking about Phill?
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
There is no checking of e tickets for general entry to the national museums. Tate, NPG, V&A, etc, you just walk in. That's the point.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Not for general entry. Perhaps you should visit them for yourself.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Then I suggest you write to the Treasury, DCMS, and the 15 national museums who between them get tens of millions of visitors a year, and tell them you've got it all sorted for a few hundred quid.
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Dr Bendor Grosvenor FRHistS @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Fantasy, I’m afraid.
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