Abu Dhabi authorities announce that they own ‘Salvator Mundi’

Our daily round-up of news from the art worldL

Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism says it has acquired  Salvator Mundi | The Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism has announced that it has acquired Leonardo Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi. Earlier this week, it was announced that the painting, which sold at Christie’s last month for $450m, will be travelling to the Emirate’s newly opened Louvre Abu Dhabi. Yesterday, Prince Bader, the Saudi royal who was previously believed to have purchased the work, issued a statement expressing surprise at reports of his involvement.

Coventry is named UK City of Culture 2021 | Coventry has been named as the UK City of Culture for 2021, reports the BBC. The Midlands city was chosen from a shortlist of five, seeing off rival bids from Paisley, Swansea, Sunderland and Stoke-on-Trent. The title, which is awarded to a different UK city once every four years, is currently held by Hull. Coventry will receive a £3m Heritage Lottery Fund grant in order to realise its winning bid.

Palais Bellevue in Kassel is to become a museum | The city of Kassel has announced plans to turn the Palais Bellevue – the former home of the Brothers Grimm Museum – into a new exhibition space dedicated to art and music. According to Monopol (German language article, via Artforum), plans are afoot to renovate part of the structure into an event space for concerts, readings and exhibitions. The Spohr Museum, currently located elsewhere in the city, will also move into the 18th-century palace.

Sarah Cosulich is appointed artistic director of Rome Quadriennale Foundation | The Rome Quadriennale, a foundation dedicated to promoting Italian contemporary art, has appointed Sarah Cosulich as its artistic director. Cosulich, who previously worked as director of Turin’s Artissima fair and development advisor for Manifesta 12, will be responsible for coordinating the Quadriennale’s programming over the next three years.

Recommended reading | In the Paris Review, Cynthia Payne is underwhelmed by ‘Gilded Age Drawings at the Met’, a show featuring late 19th-century works on paper by artists such as John Singer-Sargent, Winslow Homer and Mary Cassatt. In the Art Newspaper Kenneth Baker gauges Richard Wentworth’s thoughts about the Jasper Johns’ exhibition at the Royal Academy. Finally, two articles on the state of the modern art world: in the FT, Jan Dalley looks at the wider picture surrounding the sale of Salvator Mundi; while in the LRB, Nicholas Penny reviews books by Simon De Pury and Philip Hook, as well as the collected writings of Donald Judd.