News

26 March 2025

Sales Were Slow and Steady at TEFAF Maastricht But Hidden Gems Gave the Fair Real Energy

Since last week, in Maastricht, a Dutch university city about two hours outside Amsterdam, 266 galleries have been exhibiting at this year's edition of TEFAF, one of two fairs run by the European Fine Art Fair foundation, which focuses on selling and preserving works by Old Masters and antiquities. ... read more (external link)

26 March 2025

Selling in Broad Daylight

Glitzy evening auctions, marked by lengthy bidding wars over multimillion-dollar artworks, tend to earn the headlines. But art insiders know that the morning and afternoon sales that occur the day after, with generally more modestly priced items, are at least as important for ascertaining the health of the market. Humbler though they may be, these events provide a major chunk of auction houses' revenues and can provide valuable information about trends in the industry. ... read more (external link)

26 March 2025

Lavinia Fontana Masterpiece Rediscovered After 150 Years in Museum Storage

A small museum in northern France has announced the surprise discovery of a new masterpiece by Lavinia Fontana, one of the most celebrated woman painters of the Italian Renaissance. The lost work had been languishing in storage for over 150 years, long credited to a male Flemish painter, but an expert now claims it is the only group portrait by Fontana in France. ... read more (external link)

26 March 2025

Christie's Totals $167.8 M. Across Midseason Double Header Evening Sales, Says "Market is Going Up"

At times, it can feel like auction house specialists are part of a cult whose mantra is: "High-quality, well-priced, fresh-to-market artworks will always sell" ... read more (external link)

19 March 2025

Long-Lost Renaissance Masterpiece Rediscovered in Pompeii

The recent scientific analysis of a mysterious painting that hung in a church in Pompeii for centuries has revealed it to be by the Renaissance master Andrea Mantegna. A depiction of Christ's descent from the cross, the masterpiece will go on temporary display at the Vatican Museums in Rome from March 20. ... read more (external link)

19 March 2025

A 15th-Century Print Is Reunited With the Gutenberg Bible It Once Accompanied

A Gutenberg Bible owned by the Huntington Library, in San Marino, California, has enjoyed some exciting exploits in its 600-year history. It's been owned by Silesian nobles, traded by a Scottish monk-turned-spy, ferried across continents, and it has made headlines for its price at auction. ... read more (external link)

19 March 2025

Bloomberg Donates 14,000 Artifacts Unearthed in Renovation to London Museum

The London Museum has received a donation of more than 14,000 Roman artifacts from the site of a 3rd century CE temple. The trove was unearthed between 2012-14, during the construction of Bloomberg's European headquarters in London. ... read more (external link)

19 March 2025

In Maastricht, Danielle Mckinney's Figures Come Out of the Dark

At the opening of TEFAF Maastricht on Thursday morning, there were a few galleries that had traveled to the remote Dutch university town for the first time. While the fair is best known for Old Masters works and antiquities, first-timer exhibitor Marianne Boesky challenged the trend by bringing a group of small-scale figurative paintings by New York-based artist and photographer Danielle Mckinney. ... read more (external link)

12 March 2025

Alphonse Mucha Helped Define Art Nouveau. A New Show Explores His Lasting Influence

In 1894, the renowned actress Sarah Bernhardt (1845-1923) tapped the Parisian studio Lemercier to create a last-minute poster for her production of Gismonda. The assignment fell to Czech artist Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), and it not only jump-started his career and a six-year partnership between the two—it helped establish him as one of the leading lights of the Art Nouveau style movement, creating a signature style that continues to inspire artists, illustrators, and designers to the present day. ... read more (external link)

12 March 2025

A Famed Painting of Venice’s Grand Canal Is Reattributed to a Precocious 16-Year-Old

Stroll through the second-floor galleries of London’s Wallace Collection and you’ll arrive at the Canaletto Room, named for the dozen or so expansive paintings by the 18th-century Venetian artist. ... read more (external link)

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