Beyoncé ‘Renaissance’ Album Cover Draws Comparisons to Famed Painting of Lady Godiva

On Thursday afternoon, Beyoncé unveiled the cover for Renaissance, her newest album, and many fans immediately took to social media that it looks a lot like a famed painting from the 19th century.

The cover, which was shot by Carlijn Jacobs, features a scantily clad Beyoncé atop a silvery horse. It bears more than a few similarities to John Collier’s 1880/98 painting Lady Godiva, which depicts a nude woman who figures prominently in Anglo-Saxon lore.

As legend has it, Lady Godiva rode a horse in the buff sometime during the 11th century as a protest against plans from her husband Leofric to impose a harsh tax on the citizens of Coventry, England. Leofric said he would call it off if she appeared in town naked and on horseback, and she took him up on the dare. (She is believed to have told all the citizens to stay home so she could retain her dignity, and all but one, a man now known as Peeping Tom, did, although this part is thought to be apocryphal.)

The painting by Collier, an artist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement, is currently held by the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry, England, which owns a collection of works that depict Lady Godiva.

John Collier, Lady Godiva, 1880/98.

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Dutch Police Arrest, Then Release, Two Belgian Men Following TEFAF Robbery

The Politie, the national police force of the Netherlands, said it had arrested two men who had allegedly been involved in a robbery at TEFAF Maastricht on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, both men were released from custody, and the two were cleared of involvement in the robbery, according to the Associated Press.

The two men, both of whom are Belgian, are in their 20s. They were arrested while driving what the police identified as a gray car with a Belgian registration number that had been seen near the William-Alexandertunnel in Maastricht.

TEFAF is known for its world-class—and often expensive—antiquities and Old Master paintings. (The fair, whose Maastricht edition closes today, also mounts two New York events annually.) But rather than going for these objects, the thieves had attempted to steal jewelry by smashing open a display case at one booth.

The dealer who brought that jewelry to the fair, and what the thieves managed to steal, has not been identified by either the Politie or TEFAF itself.

In video posted to social media, one of the armed thieves nearly hurls a vase filled with flowers as another rams a stanchion into a booth. Following the robbery, the fair was briefly evacuated. TEFAF previously said it “has robust procedures in the event of a security breach. These were precisely followed, and all visitors, exhibitors and staff were safely evacuated.”

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We’re thrilled to announce that Contemporary Art Library has been awarded a grant from the Ruth Foundation for the Arts! We humbly thank the foundation for supporting our work organizing, preserving and making accessible the history of contemporary art.

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