The three most-read press releases on ARTFIXdaily, published in the ArtWire section between September 1 and December 31, 2009, highlighted museum exhibitions:

1. Art and Illusions, Masterpieces of Trompe-l'loeil from Antiquity to the Present. On view through January 24, 2010, this major exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, Italy, explores the art of optical illusion with 140 artworks. From Roman antiquity to Old Masters to present-day painters, artists whose work masterfully "fools the eye" seems to perenially delight viewers.

2. Paintings by Jay Connaway on view at Portland Museum of Art. A New England landscape painter, who deftly rendered the region's starlit snowscapes and rocky shores, starred in this show which closed December 6. Many of the 38 works in the exhibition had been pulled from private collections, adding "rarely-seen" to the appeal.

3. "Bold, Cautious, True: Walt Whitman and American Art of the Civil War Era" On-View at Katonah Museum of Art.This exhibition, open through January 24, 2010, pairs Walt Whitman's writings with important 19th-century American works of art in an exploration of American society during its bloodiest war. Paintings by Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, Sanford Robinson Gifford, Frederic Church, and John Frederick Kensett evoke the era's emotional and political themes.

Other popular press releases on ARTFIXdaily this fall: New eMuseum feeds history hunger and antiques appetites; Metropolitan Museum Exhibitions Create $593 Million Economic Impact for New York; and Historic New England's Centennial to be celebrated at 2010 Winter Antiques Show.

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