January 27 in Art History
6 real events recorded on January 27, the earliest from 1585. 2 artists were born , 1 died on this date.
Born on this day 2
- 1585 Born
Born this day: Hendrick Avercamp
Hendrick Avercamp, a Dutch painter of the Golden Age, was born on January 27, 1585. He is known for his vibrant and lively winter landscapes, often depicting people ice skating and engaging in other sports and leisure activities. His works provide a unique glimpse into 17th-century Dutch life.
Avercamp's paintings remain significant for their colorful and detailed portrayal of winter scenes in the Netherlands during the Dutch Golden Age.
- 1679 Born
Born this day: Jean-François de Troy
Jean-François de Troy, a French Rococo painter, was born on January 27, 1679. He was a leading history painter of his time, also excelling in decorative paintings, genre scenes, and portraits. De Troy invented the 'tableaux de modes', capturing contemporary fashions and manners.
He remains a significant figure in the development of Rococo art, influencing the representation of everyday life and fashion in 18th-century painting.
Died on this day 1
- 1651 Died
Died this day: Abraham Bloemaert
Abraham Bloemaert was a Dutch painter and printmaker who transitioned from the Haarlem Mannerists to the Baroque style, creating history subjects and landscapes with etching and engraving techniques. His notable works include Moses Striking the Rock and The Rest on the Flight into Egypt.
He remains an influential figure in Dutch art history as a teacher of the Utrecht Caravaggisti.
Openings & foundings 1
- 1928 Opening
The Huntington Opens to the Public
The Huntington Library, Art Gallery and Botanical Gardens opened to the public in San Marino, California, on January 27, 1928. Created from Henry E. Huntington and Arabella Huntington's estate and collections, the institution combined a research library, art gallery, and botanical landscape on an unusually ambitious private foundation model. Contemporary coverage described the opening as a major cultural event for greater Los Angeles, and later summaries note that the art displays included eighteenth-century British portraits and French tapestries. The opening gave public form to one of the great American collections assembled from the transatlantic art market of the Gilded Age and early twentieth century.
The Huntington became a defining Southern California art and research institution.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
Auctions, prizes & heists 2
- 2019 Heist
Kuindzhi's Ai-Petri. Crimea Stolen from Tretyakov Gallery
On January 27, 2019, Arkhip Kuindzhi's Ai-Petri. Crimea was stolen from a temporary exhibition at Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery. The French Wikipedia article on the painting gives the exact date and describes the theft as taking place in the exhibition hall, in view of visitors, when the thief removed the work from its frame and calmly carried it away. The English Kuindzhi article corroborates the broader episode: the painting was stolen from the Tretyakov Gallery in January 2019 and recovered the next day. The case drew attention because the painting belonged to the State Russian Museum and was on loan for a major Kuindzhi retrospective.
The episode became a widely reported reminder of security risks around high-profile state-museum loans.
- 2022 Auction
Botticelli's Man of Sorrows Sells at Sotheby's
Sandro Botticelli's late devotional panel The Man of Sorrows closed at Sotheby's New York on January 27, 2022, in the Master Paintings and Sculpture Part I sale. Sotheby's lot page documents the auction close on that date, while the work's reference page records the sale at $45.4 million with fees. The painting had been reattributed to Botticelli in the twenty-first century after a long private history, including a 1963 Sotheby's sale as a workshop picture. Its appearance mattered because fully accepted Botticelli paintings, especially late religious works shaped by the artist's post-Savonarola spirituality, very rarely reach the market.
The sale reinforced the exceptional market status of rare Old Master works with revised attributions.