Portal:Visual arts/Did you know/Archive/10

9 June 2005

 * …that the remaining panels of Duccio’s masterpiece, the Maestà, are divided between five cities?
 * …that, because the lion is not native to China, many of the guardian lion sculptures outside Chinese imperial palaces are based on Pekingese dogs?
 * …that the French art thief Stephane Breitwieser was able to recall every one of the 239 artworks he stole, even interrupting the reading of his collection during his trial several times to correct details?
 * …that the media used by British artist Andy Goldsworthy include twigs, thorns, mud, snow, icicles and leaves?
 * …that James McNeill Whistler’s death was prematurely reported by a Dutch newspaper, causing Whistler to remark that reading his own obituary gave him “a tender glow of health”?