Reliquary with queen’s heart stolen from Nantes museum

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Reliquary with queen’s heart stolen from Nantes museum | A 16th-century gold case containing the heart of Anne of Brittany has been stolen from the Thomas-Dobrée Museum in Nantes, the Telegraph reports.  Upon her death in 1514, Anne – the only queen of France to have been crowned twice – was buried at the Basilica of St Denis, outside Paris; however, in accordance with her wishes, her heart was interred in her parents’ tomb in Nantes. Philippe Grosvalet, the president of the Loire-Atlantique department, described the inscribed oval case as being ‘of inestimable value’, having narrowly avoided being melted down during the French Revolution. According to reports, thieves broke into the museum over the weekend and, despite setting off the alarm, made off with the artefact along with a golden Hindu statue and a collection of gold coins.

Joseph Beuys estate obtained by Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac | Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac has announced that it is to represent the estate of Joseph Beuys, ahead of a major new exhibition opening at its London premises on 17 April. Ropac, whose gallery has spaces in Salzburg, Paris, Pantin and London, will be the first dealer to represent Beuys’s family, who have controlled the artist’s estate since his death in 1986.

London museums in Grenfell Tower tribute discussions | Curators from the V&A, Science Museum and Museum of London have offered their expertise to help preserve the makeshift tributes left in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire, the Times reports. Memorials left by relatives of the deceased, including written messages and soft toys, have begun to deteriorate, prompting discussions regarding their conservation and potential removal to a museum.

High Museum unveils plans for reinstallation of collection | The High Museum of Art in Atlanta has announced plans to carry out a comprehensive reinstallation of its collection galleries, to be designed by Selldorf Architects. Notable features of the unveiled redesign, expected to be debuted in October 2018, include a new photography gallery and a ‘black box’ space for new media works.

Recommended reading | In the Guardian, British Museum director Hartwig Fischer talks to Charlotte Higgins about major renovation plans in the offing, and why he believes we should still consider the institution a ‘museum of the world for the world’. Meanwhile, in the London Review of Books, Jeremy Harding reviews the exhibition at the Centre Pompidou of photographs by David Goldblatt, who documented the racially divided, industrialising society of South Africa between 1946 and 1972.