‘The Mana of the Magna Carta: The New Zealand Experience of a Medieval Legacy’
Matariki Building, University of Canterbury
1-6 December, 2015

An exhibition on Magna Carta that will include the oldest copy in New Zealand. The exhibition is entitled ‘Mana’ which is a Te Reo term indicating spiritual authority. Chris Jones and Thandiwe Parker are curating this exhibition. There is no website but you’ll find an exhibition poster and pamphlet below:

The Story of Rama: Indian Miniatures from the National Museum, New Delhi
Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand

5 September, 2015 –  17 January, 2006
10:00am – 5:00pm Daily
Free

The Ramayana, or the journey of Rama, is one of the world’s great epics. Follow this tale of love, loyalty, betrayal and the victory of good over evil depicted in exquisite detail in 101 Indian miniature paintings.

See Rama, the story’s hero, who is admired for his honour, valour and compassion. Discover how he wins his bride, loses his wife and the title to his kingdom, and narrowly escapes with his life before regaining all that was taken from him.

Revealing the rich diversity of regional painting styles between the early 17th and mid-19th centuries in India, Ramayana is at once an alluring narrative and the story of an artistic mode of expression.

For full information, please visit: http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/whats-on/events/2015/september/the-story-of-rama

Treasure Ships: Art in the Age of Spices
The Art Gallery of Western Australia
10 October, 2015 – 31 January, 2016

Ticket Prices:

• Adult – $15
• Concession / Friends – $12
• Family – $35 (2 adults and up to 3 children aged 5–12)
• Student – $10 (13 years and over)
• Child – $5 (5–12 years)
• Child – Free (0–4 years)
• Adult Group – $12 (8 or more)
• Concession Group – $10 (8 or more)

A highlight for the Art Gallery of Western Australia is the much-anticipated Treasure Ships: Art in the Age of Spices. This is the first exhibition in Australia to present the complex artistic and cultural interactions between the East and the West from the 1500s to the 1800s – a period known as the ‘Age of Spices.’

Demand for spices spurred on the great voyages of exploration and the establishment of vast empires across Asia. Treasure Ships presents the stories of the spice markets, slave trade and shipwrecks, as well as illustrating the astonishing beauty of Chinese porcelain, known as ‘white gold’ and celebrating vibrant Indian textiles created for export around the world.

This exhibition includes 250 outstanding and rarely-seen examples of ceramics, decorative arts, furniture, maps, metalware, paintings, prints and textiles from public and private collections in Australia, India, Portugal, Singapore and the United States. A highlight of the exhibition is the shipwreck artefacts retrieved from the Batavia and the Gilt Dragon, which sank off the Western Australian coast in the seventeenth century.

For more information, please visit: http://treasureships.com.au/agwa

Medieval Power: Symbols & Splendour
Queensland Museum

Dates: 11 December 2015 – 10 April 2016
Cost: Adults: $22; Concession: $19; Children (3-15 years): $12; Family (2A + 2C): $59; Groups (10+): $18; Schools: $10

The might of Medieval Europe will storm the walls of Queensland Museum later this year, in an exclusive exhibition from the British Museum, Medieval Power: Symbols & Splendour.

In a coup for Queensland, the Queensland Museum will be the first museum in the world and only one in Australia and New Zealand to host this incredible new exhibition curated by the British Museum.

Spanning the period AD 400 to 1500, Medieval Power explores a time when many of the countries and cultures of modern Europe were formed.

Be amazed by the precious gold, jewellery, seals, sculptures, stained glass and many other symbols of courtly life alongside tools of war, objects of religious significance and humble items from everyday life dating back to AD 400.

For full details and to purchase tickets, please visit: http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/medieval#.VdKW9fS1doN

Masterpieces from the Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great
NGV International, Melbourne
31 July– 8 November 2015
Open 10:0am–5:0pm daily

Masterpieces from the Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great showcases one of the world’s greatest art collections. Featuring works by artists including Rembrandt, Rubens, Velázquez and Van Dyck, the exhibition offers over 500 outstanding works including the finest group of Dutch and Flemish art to come to Australia.

This exclusive Melbourne exhibition will also highlight the innovation and vision of Catherine the Great, whose inexhaustible passion for education, the arts and culture heralded a period of enlightenment in the region. The extraordinary works sourced and commissioned by Catherine during her 34-year reign, created the foundations for the Hermitage today – considered to be one of the world’s greatest treasure houses of art and decorative arts.

The exhibition will offer audiences an immersive experience, recreating the rich atmosphere of the Hermitage to showcase these exquisite works.

The Story of Rama
Indian Miniatures from the National Museum, New Delhi

22 May–23 August 2015
Orde Poynton Gallery, National Gallery of Australia

A tale of love, loyalty, betrayal and the victory of good over evil, the Ramayana is one of the world’s great epics. The story of Rama: Indian miniatures from the National Museum, New Delhi illustrates key moments from the narrative through one hundred and one paintings. Spanning the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, the works present a rich diversity of Indian painting.

For full information, please visit: http://nga.gov.au/Rama

Australians will get their first look at one of the world’s most expensive illuminated manuscripts in May.

The National Library of Australia announced recently that the early sixteenth-century Rothschild prayerbook, owned by Australian businessman Kerry Stokes, will go on display for the first time in the southern hemisphere.

The prayer book will be on display at the National Library of Australia in Canberra from 22 May until 9 August.

For more on this, please visit: http://www.nla.gov.au/node/7835.

The Greats: Masterpieces of Western art from the National Galleries of Scotland
Art Gallery of NSW
24 Oct 2015 – 8 Feb 2016

The Greats traces the development of Western painting over five centuries from the Renaissance to Impressionism. Drawn from the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland – one of the finest small galleries in the world – the exhibition comprises 40 paintings and 33 drawings by some of the outstanding names of European art: Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Veronese, El Greco, Velázquez, Poussin, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Watteau, Constable, Turner, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Ramsay, Raeburn, Sargent, Monet, Degas, Gauguin, Seurat and Cézanne. Many of these artists have never been exhibited in Sydney before.

Full details: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/the-greats.