January 4 in Art History
6 real events recorded on January 4, the earliest from 1845. 2 artists were born , 1 died on this date.
The day's biggest moments
Born on this day 2
- 1861 Born
Born this day: Charles Schreyvogel
Charles Schreyvogel, born on January 4, 1861, was an American painter known for his Western subject matter, particularly military life, during the era of the disappearing frontier. His works, such as 'In Hot Pursuit' and 'My Bunkie', capture this pivotal moment in American history.
Charles Schreyvogel's paintings remain a significant representation of the American West's final days.
- 1877 Born
Born this day: Marsden Hartley
Marsden Hartley, born on January 4, 1877, was a prominent American Modernist painter, poet, and essayist. He developed his style by observing Cubist artists in Paris and Berlin, creating notable works such as Portrait of a German Officer. His unique perspective and contributions to American Modernism continue to influence the art world.
Marsden Hartley's work remains a significant part of American Modernist art history.
Died on this day 1
- 1845 Died
Died this day: Louis-Léopold Boilly
Louis-Léopold Boilly, a French painter and draftsman, created popular portrait paintings and documented French middle-class social life through his genre paintings, working across multiple eras of French history. His work introduced the term trompe-l'œil, a technique using realistic imagery to create optical illusions.
He remains notable for his contributions to the development of realistic painting techniques in French art.
Openings & foundings 1
- 1920 Founding
New Rochelle Art Association Formally Organized
On January 4, 1920, New Rochelle's Evening Standard advertised the annual meeting of New Rochelle Art Association members at illustrator Orson Lowell's home; the meeting formally organized the association and set out its aims. The group had grown from an earlier artists' colony in New Rochelle, a city associated with illustrators, painters, sculptors, architects, and designers who worked near New York's publishing world. Its program linked exhibitions with civic education, promising regular displays of high quality art and public cultivation of the fine arts. The organization divided members into sections for painters and sculptors, architects and interior decorators, illustrators and cartoonists, and arts and crafts, giving local professional artists a durable civic structure.
The association helped institutionalize New Rochelle's early twentieth-century reputation as an artists' colony.
Auctions, prizes & heists 2
- 1914 Heist Landmark
Mona Lisa Returns to the Louvre
On January 4, 1914, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa resumed its place in the Louvre's Salon Carre after its 1911 theft by former Louvre worker Vincenzo Peruggia. The painting had been hidden for more than two years and was recovered only after Peruggia tried to sell it in Florence to dealer Alfredo Geri and Uffizi director Giovanni Poggi. Before going back to Paris it was exhibited in Italy, turning the recovery into an international public spectacle. The return mattered not only as the resolution of a famous art crime but as a turning point in the painting's modern celebrity: press coverage, police drama, and crowds transformed an already admired Renaissance portrait into a global icon of museum culture.
The theft and return helped make the Mona Lisa the world's best-known painting.
- 1967 Heist
Dulwich Old Masters Recovered
By January 4, 1967, all eight Old Master paintings stolen from Dulwich College Picture Gallery had been recovered after one of Britain's most dramatic postwar museum thefts. The works, taken in the early hours around December 31, 1966, included three paintings by Rembrandt, three by Peter Paul Rubens, one by Gerrit Dou, and one by Adam Elsheimer. Contemporary accounts valued the group in the millions, making the theft especially alarming for a historic public gallery whose collection was central to Britain's museum history. The rapid recovery followed an investigation led by Detective Superintendent Charles Hewett; Michael Hall, an unemployed ambulance driver, was the only thief caught and received a five-year sentence.
The case became a benchmark in discussions of museum security and art-theft recovery.
Adam Elsheimer , Gerrit Dou , Peter Paul Rubens Dulwich Picture Gallery, Dulwich