Italian court blocks Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man from travelling to Louvre

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Italian court blocks Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man from travelling to Louvre | Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic rendering of a man with Vitruvian proportions has for now been prohibited from travelling to the Louvre in Paris ahead of the museum’s major retrospective of the Renaissance artist’s work, due to open later this month. An Italian court has temporarily blocked the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice from loaning the drawing (c. 1490), after an appeal filed by Italia Nostra, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the protection of national artefacts and architecture, which has argued that the work is too fragile to travel, and risked being damaged by lighting in the Louvre display. Italy’s recently reappointed culture minister, Dario Franceschini, is due to argue against the appeal in another hearing on 16 October.

Ikon wins £125,000 award and announces first UK exhibition of Renaissance master Carlo Crivelli | The Ikon Gallery in Birmingham has been announced as the recipient of the inaugural Ampersand Foundation Award, winning a £125,000 grant that will enable the gallery to curate the UK’s first exhibition of works by the 15th-century master Carlo Crivelli. Open to all Plus Tate members, the award helps the winning museum stage an ambitious ‘dream project’, which can take the form of an exhibition, new commission or gallery intervention. Expected to include four masterpieces from the National Gallery’s collection, Ikon’s winning proposal, Carlo Crivelli: Radical Illusionism in the 15th Century, will open in the summer of 2021. It will mark a departure for the Birmingham gallery, which is otherwise dedicated to contemporary art.

Stirling architecture prize awarded to Norwich council houses | A row of environmentally friendly council houses in Norwich has won the 2019 Stirling prize, awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to the best new building in the UK. The 105 light-brick homes that form an estate on Goldsmith Street were designed by London firm Mikhail Riches with Cathy Hawley, who strictly adhered to Passivhaus environmental standards, resulting in energy costs 70% cheaper than the national average. In competition with projects including London Bridge station and Nevill Holt Opera near Market Harborough, Goldsmith Street was praised by RIBA judges as ‘a modest masterpiece… high-quality architecture in its purest most environmentally and socially conscious form’.

Philadelphia’s Institute of Contemporary Art receives gift of $1.15 million | The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), part of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, has received a gift of $1.15m from an anonymous donor. The donation will form an endowment fund for the position of director of public engagement, while supporting a travel fund for undergraduates studying art history at the university.