Amsterdam
The Rembrandthuis Museum celebrated its 100^th anniversary June 10, 2011. At the same time Rembrandt's rediscovered Portrait of Eleazar Swalmius (1637) was placed on loan for seven years from the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp.

Antwerp
The Centrum voor de Vlaamse Kunst van de 16e en de 17e Eeuw has changed its name to Centrum Rubenianum, though the longer title will continue to be used as an adjunct on official documents. The Centrum's new name makes its association with other Rubens-orientated organisations and activities in Antwerp more apparent. The Centrum Rubenianum resides in the Rubenianum, the art history library and documentation centre of the City of Antwerp, with which it collaborates on the production of the Rubenianum Quarterly and the organisation of the Rubenianum Lectures (www.rubenianum.be). The Centrum Rubenianum, which is probably best known for its publication of the Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard series, works closely with the recently established Rubenianum Fund, which has been very successful in raising money to promote the speedy publication of the outstanding volumes of the Corpus Rubenianum.

The Rubenianum acquired the rich documentation of Pierre de Séjournet, mainly photographs and books on sixteenth- to eighteenth century Flemish and Dutch painting. It is especially rich in the documentation of lesser-known artists. Pierre de Séjournet de Rameignies (1933-2010) was a lawyer with a passionate interest in the art of the Low Countries. The Rubenianum is preparing an online inventory of the collection.

Bruges
The Memling in Sint-Jan Hospitaalmuseum acquired a drawing of the Coronation of the Virgin by Cornelis Schut (1597-1655). It is a preparatory study for the painting in the Potteriemuseum, convent. Drawing and painting were shown together for the first time until August 7, 2011.

Flemendorf, Vorpommern
The Epitaph for Apolonia Heinlein (d. 1513) with the Holy Kinship which had been lost since the secularization of religious works at the beginning of the 19^th century, has been found in the town of Flemendorf in Vorpommern, installed in the high altar from ca. 1730 of the local church. The epitaph, most likely by a Dürer follower, was painted for the Dominican church in Nuremberg. (B. Kunkel and G. Weilandt, in: Kunstchronik, August 2011.)

Frankfurt
Despite intensive efforts, the Städel Museum was not able to purchase Holbein's famous Madonna of Burgermeister Jacob Meyer which had been on loan to the Städel since 2003. The owner of the work, the Erbengemeinschaft nach Prince Ludwig von Hessen und bei Rhein, sold it to the German industrialist Reinhold Würth. It is hoped that it will be exhibited in the Johanniterhalle of the collection Würth in Schwäbisch Hall.

Ghent
In 2010, Van Eyck's renowned Ghent Altarpiece was subjected to an urgent conservation treatment within the Villa Chapel in St. Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent. To enable this work, the altarpiece was temporarily dismantled, which in turn made it possible to undertake a technical documentation campaign, funded by the Getty Foundation. This project generated a wealth of high-definition digital images that will be integrally placed on the internet, which will allow anyone to study these paintings in microscopic magnification, and to peek under the paint surfaces by means of Infrared reflectograms (IRRs) and X-radiographs.

The first part of this project is now on line. Twenty IRR assemblies are available in full resolution for anyone to study and download through a special preview website: http://vaneyck.kikirpa.be. Through innovative use of web technology, the user is enabled for the first time ever to study the underdrawings of any two panels of the Ghent Altarpiece side by side.

The future, comprehensive web site is a collaborative project of the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK/IRPA), Lukasweb, and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and is funded through additional support from the Getty Foundation and with support from the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO). This site will also be hosted by KIK/IRPA and is scheduled to be on line by January 1, 2012.

Karlsruhe
The Staatliche Kunsthalle acquired Jan de Bray’s David and the Return of the Ark of the Covenant, 1670, from the Earl of Wemyss. The painting had been on loan to the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull which failed to raise the necessary funds for its acquisition. The De Bray is the latest in a series of sales by the Earl. Among Netherlandish works, Cornelis van Haarlem’s Saint Sebastian was sold to the Prince of Liechtenstein last year.

Los Angeles
A half-length portrait of a man from the estate of the late actress Elizabeth Taylor which for decades was thought to be by an imitator of Frans Hals is now considered to be by the master himself. The case was made by Ben Hall, head of Christie's Old Masters, New York.

Paris
The first international art fair dedicated to Old Master paintings opened to the public November 4-8, 2011, at the renowned Palais de la Bourse. The event was devised by ten leading Parisian dealers who invited ten colleagues from London, Amsterdam, Zurich, Rome, Madrid and New York.

The Hague
The Mauritshuis will be closed for major renovation starting April 2012. A travelling exhibition with over forty works will go to Japan (including Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring), followed by three locations in the United States (see under Exhibitions). Over 100 works from the collection will go on display at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, starting April 24, 2012, for a 2-year period. The paintings include Vermeer's View of Delft, Potter's Bull, and Rembrandt's Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. The renovated museum will re-open in 2014.

The Mauritshuis has acquired Still Life of a Banquet in the Making by Dirck de Bray (c. 1635-1694) from a private collection.

Two works from the Dutch National Art Collection were returned to the heirs of their former owners. The first case concerns a fifteenth-century limewood Pietà which belonged to the Dutch Jewish banker and collector Fritz Gutmann, the second case concerns a bronze sculpture of Hercules of ca. 1610. The Restitutions Committee recommended its return to the heirs of Rosa and Jakob Oppenheimer. (From The Art Newspaper, September 2011.)

The legal tug-of-war over Jan Steen's The Marriage of Tobias and Sarah (1668), which had been divided in half, has been resolved. The left part, which had been bought by Jacques Goudstikker, was acquired by Hermann Göring in 1940. After the war, the picture went to the Dutch government. The right part belongs to the Bredius Museum. In 1996 both halves were physically united. An agreement was reached in August with Goudstikker's daughter-in-law, Marei van Saher, receiving euro 1 million for relinquishing her rights to the left half. (From The Art Newspaper, September 2011.)

Toledo (Ohio)
The Toledo Museum of Art has acquired the larger part of Frans Hals's Family Portrait in a Landscape (early 1620s). The painting had been in the Shropshire family of Viscount Boyne, on loan to the National Museums and Galleries of Wales. The other and smaller part, Three Children with a Goat Cart, is in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels. It is hoped that the two canvases can be reunited for a focus exhibition to be shown in Toledo and Brussels.

Zwolle
Art history publishers Waanders merged last year with d'jonge Hond. From now on they will continue together under the new name Wbooks ( www.wbooks.com).