Latest News Articles by Alex Capon
Rembrandt self-portrait bid to £12.6m at Sotheby’s
29 July 2020A self-portrait by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69) was knocked down for £12.6m at Sotheby’s latest live-streamed cross-category evening sale in London.
Gold price hits all-time record as silver rises sharply to seven-year high
28 July 2020The price of gold jumped to a record high in the UK this week as precious metal markets across the world rose due to the current economic and political uncertainty.
A portrait by James Jebusa Shannon and an Old Master found in skip near Portobello Road are among five lots to watch at auction this week
27 July 2020With estimates from £300-12,000 here are five previews of upcoming items this week.
Huge bidding battle as rediscovered Old Master military drawings take £125,000 at Sworders
27 July 2020A sensational competition emerged at Essex saleroom Sworders this week as a pair of Old Master drawings attracted 12 phone bidders as well as internet interest.
'The King’s Speech' cigarette case sells for over 10-times estimate at Woolley & Wallis
24 July 2020A royal presentation silver cigarette case given by George VI to his speech therapist Lionel Logue, the subject of the 2010 film 'The King’s Speech', sold for £61,000 at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury this week.
Sotheby’s to offer restituted view of Dresden acquired by Hitler's art dealer
21 July 2020An Old Master painting restored to the family of its original Jewish owner will be offered at Sotheby’s next week with an estimate of £3m-4m.
Second slice from Country Life gardens editor's collection includes many works on a plants theme
20 July 2020A second tranche of works from the estate of Tony Venison, the long-serving gardens editor of Country Life, lifted the latest Modern British and 20th century art auction at Sworders (25% buyer’s premium).
Early Cedric Morris works draw interest at Sworders
20 July 2020Cedric Morris (1889-1982) is now a major name in the Mod Brit market whose most bountiful flower paintings can sell for over £100,000. While Sworders has a strong track-record with the artist-plantsman, works depicting two rather different subjects were offered at the latest sale in this category.
Three buyers for four Bawden drawings at Essex auction
20 July 2020Edward Bawden (1903-89) is an artist whose work appears frequently at Sworders.
Four salerooms, One $420m sale for Christie’s
20 July 2020Christie’s first ‘relay-style’ auction, an event with four auctioneers in different countries each conducting a section of the sale, raised a total of $420.9m (£334.9m) including premium.
Top stories this week – including news of a £12 box of bric-a-brac yielding a rare sculpture now offered at Christie’s
19 July 2020The most popular stories on this website over the last week included news of a Mannerist bronze by Antonio Susini (1580-1624) discovered in a box of bric-a-brac and now being offered at Christie’s in London.
Three continents, four auctioneers, 80 lots and 80,000 online watchers: Christie’s ‘One’ sale brings $421m
16 July 2020A late work by Roy Lichtenstein topped the bill at Christie’s first ‘relay-style’ auction. The sale involved four auctioneers in different countries each conducting a section of the sale with the venues linked-up together via live streaming.
Contemporary art from British Airways collection heads to Sotheby’s
16 July 2020Seventeen works from the collection of British Airways will be offered across two Sotheby’s auctions in London this month as the embattled airline seeks to raise cash after its business was badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Princeteau paintings chased down at Roseberys
13 July 2020A group of seven works from a private collection by René Charles Pierre Princeteau (1843-1919) appeared at the Roseberys sale on June 4, all of them selling for a combined £72,100. Interest was reported from France, Belgium and the US.
How Old Master estimates work when it comes to loosely ascribed paintings
13 July 2020Pitching a work at the right level is crucial to demand and price when it comes to selling unattributed or loosely ascribed Old Masters at auction.
Modest estimates at Hawleys fuel strong bidder demand
13 July 2020Two pictures from local deceased estates drew solid competition at a recent sale at East Yorkshire auction house Hawleys (20% buyers premium) thanks to being offered with ‘there-to-be-sold’ estimates.
EM Forster portrait sets auction record for Fry
06 July 2020Providing a major boost to Bonhams’ first sale in London with room bidding since the lockdown, a portrait of the writer EM Forster by Roger Fry (1866-1934) set an auction record both for the artist and any Bloomsbury Group picture.
Francis Bacon stars at Sotheby's in the first summer ‘super sale’
06 July 2020Sotheby’s held the first of this summer’s ‘super sales’ last week as it combined a series of three Modern and Contemporary art auctions into a marathon four-and-a-half hour live-streamed event.
German artist's view of Oxford from afar brings bidding at Sherborne sale
06 July 2020The German-born watercolourist and musician John Baptist Malchair (c.1730-1812) was a key figure in 18th century Oxford.
Local scenes lift Cornish art offered in Penzance
06 July 2020As might be expected, local scenes were an important feature of David Lay’s Cornish art sale on June 11. Among them was a view of Penzance’s Market Jew Street by Norman Garstin (1847-1926) that depicted a location only a 10-minute walk from the saleroom.