National cultural, civic and community leaders are uniting to broaden the public's understanding of the civic, historic, and artistic importance of Thomas Eakins' 1875 masterpiece, The Gross Clinic, and to ensure that the painting stays in Philadelphia. The leaders have joined "The Committee to Keep Eakins' Masterpiece in Philadelphia," a group recently established by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and led by WHYY President & CEO William J. Marrazzo.

The arts of India are richly populated with animals. From ants to owls, cranes to crocodiles, these creatures are more than figures within the landscape. They can be emblems of power, legendary heroes, poetic metaphors, and much more. Their significance in the arts of the subcontinent reflects their ubiquity in everyday life as well as their roles in Hindu, Jain, and Islamic religious beliefs.

Californians' perceptions of their natural environment will be examined in the exhibition California Impressions Featuring Landscapes from the Wendy Willrich Collection at the de Young Museum. The exhibition shows 33, turn-of-the century paintings and watercolors from the collection of Bay Area art patron Wendy Willrich and selections from the permanent collection of the Fine Arts Museums.

Since the de Young Museum's reopening in October 2005, over 1.6 million visitors have enjoyed the 15 ethereal wire sculptures that grace the concourse level of the Nancy B. and Jake L. Hamon Education Tower.

On Nov. 4, 2006, the Peabody Essex Museum opens Epic India: Paintings by M.F. Husain-an exhibition that focuses on the artist's 40-year fascination with India's greatest epic, the Mahabharata. The show runs through June 3, 2007, and is one of the few solo exhibitions held in this country for the painter many consider to be India's "greatest living artist."

"Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination" is the first major retrospective of the artist's work in more than 26 years. Featuring 180 works, the PEM venue is the largest of this touring exhibition which includes the artist's finest box constructions, collages, dossiers, films and graphic designs from public and private collections--more than 30 on public view for the first time.

The Dana Centre"š the Science Museum's stylish adults-only bar and café dedicated to discussing contemporary science"š medicine"š technology and the environment"š has today announced details of its programme of events from December 2006 until February 2007.

In the storerooms of a Venice, Italy, museum, a University of California, Berkeley, scholar and Italian experts are at work on a rare collection, but the objects aren't Renaissance paintings or the art of ancient glassblowers. Instead, the team is collecting samples from the largest and best preserved collection of fungi in Italy to create an unprecedented DNA database.

Tate Britain has commissioned Sarah Lucas to create its Christmas tree for 2006, which is on display from 8 December 2006. Lucas has decorated a 20ft Nordman fir tree with sculptures that take the form of baby angels and fairies made from wire and stretched tights.

Tate will bring together for the first time ever three of Turner's very greatest watercolour paintings, The Blue Rigi, The Dark Rigi and The Red Rigi, as part of a campaign to raise £4.95 million to save The Blue Rigi from going abroad. A temporary export bar has been placed on The Blue Rigi until 20 March 2007 by the Culture Minister, David Lammy. The exhibition at Tate Britain will be open from 22 January to 25 March 2007.

A one-hour film of the concert "Angel Orensanz. Dance of Fear" will be shown daily at the Foundation, starting December 6, 2006. This opening marks a significant development in the career of Angel Orensanz. "Angel Orensanz. Dance of Fear" was recently a huge concert success at the National Conservatory of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. In the film, we see Yan Leus conducting the Georgian National Orchestra in his own compositions to a rapturous audience.

Officials at a U.S. art museum say a painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya has been stolen while being transported to an exhibition in New York.