(1) Market news: painting of Richmond Hill has to stay in the UK (The Telegraph)

(1a) Richmond Hill in the Summer of 1862 by Jasper Francis Cropsey (Flickr)

“This is one of Cropsey’s most critically acclaimed panoramic landscapes painted in England. The view of the Thames from Richmond Hill, outside of London, was a popular destination for artists and sightseers. The subject had even greater relevance for Cropsey and his viewers in 1862. Richmond, Virginia–the capital of the Confederacy during the American Civil War–derived its name from a view on the James River that reminded its founder of his English youth. In this context and at this time, many critics read Cropsey’s painting as a comment on the sectional conflict then raging as well as a personal plea for reconciliation and unity.”