Latest News Articles by Jonathan Franks
Poster showing life on the ocean waves sails into saleroom
29 June 2020A memento of the last great age of transatlantic ocean travel can be found at the sale of Peter Karbstein in Düsseldorf on July 11.
German auction house Nagel begins insolvency process but remains operating as coronavirus hits trade
23 June 2020Nagel in Stuttgart, which has been trading since 1922, has been so severely affected by the coronavirus lockdown that it has begun an insolvency process.
Pocket previews
15 June 2020Dual time zones watches first came into fashion in France, where they were used to show both ‘time’ in the traditional manner and also Revolutionary time, a short-lived idea based on the decimal system.
Pick of the week: The bones of a fine Old Master drawing
08 June 2020A black chalk drawing of a skeleton drew an extraordinary competition at a German auction house Lempertz at the end of last month. Estimated at €3000-3500, it attracted at least 15 bidders and was eventually knocked down at €420,000 (£381,820) to a French dealer.
Presentation box pays tribute to earlier kaiser
08 June 2020A recent sale at Lempertz (25/20% buyer’s premium) was held in Berlin dedicated to works of art from Prussia. The outstanding favourite was a gold and enamel presentation box, a gift from the German Emperor Wilhelm II.
Bronze figures representing rivers by Bernini’s pupils bring strong bidding in Lower Saxony
08 June 2020One of the central attractions in Rome is the Piazza Navona and the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers). It was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1650 at the behest of Pope Innocent X.
Freeform table flies past estimate to take €75,000
08 June 2020A freeform table from the 1950s was the surprise winner at the design sale of Schops Turowski (23% buyer’s premium) in Krefeld on May 9.
Portrayal of the price of poverty
08 June 2020Under the changed regulations in Germany it would have been possible for Dr Andreas Sturies (20% buyer’s premium) in Düsseldorf to hold the spring auction in front of an audience.
German collector wins battle for portrait of Johannes Draconites in Bavaria
08 June 2020A portrait of a 16th century Protestant theologian and reformer surfaced at a sale at Ginhart (23% buyer’s premium) in Tegernsee, some 35 miles south of the Bavarian capital Munich.
Nagel to offer Johann Heinrich von Dannecker terracotta model for clock case
08 June 2020In his day, Johann Heinrich von Dannecker was one of the most prominent German Neoclassical sculptors. He was born as the son of a stable-hand to the Duke of Württemberg, but went on to become the duke’s court sculptor.
Gods adorn Moscow tankard offered in Vienna
08 June 2020A veritable pantheon of Greek gods adorns this partly gilt silver tankard which is coming up for sale in an auction at Im Kinsky in Vienna on June 23-25.
Toyoharu’s powers of perspective evident from album offered in Zurich
08 June 2020While the Japanese woodblock print artist Okumura Masanobu (1686-1764) is credited with the first use of one-point perspective in the depiction of interior spaces, a technique previously known only in Western art, his colleague Utagawa Toyoharu (1735-1814) achieved even greater fame when he mastered the creation of perspective prints of outdoor scenes, known as Uki-e.
Descendants win fight for justice for Carl Spitzweg painting
08 June 2020Painting went through lengthy ownership saga before being returned to family and then sold.
Chinese table clock combining Western and Oriental features offered at Hanover sale
11 May 2020For centuries, China was a rewarding market for European clock and watchmakers who created extravagant timepieces for their Oriental clientele.
Canaletto influence lifts William James' Venetian scene
11 May 2020Work thought to be by studio assistant is regarded as accessible alternative to famous master
Small piece of furniture attracts high level of interest at German auction
11 May 2020Several surprising prices emerged at Geble (19% buyer’s premium) in Radolfzell on Lake Constance on April 25.
Artist of reverse still life painting revealed in Munich sale
11 May 2020Among the interesting lots sold at Scheublein (26% buyer’s premium), in Munich on April 24 (a sale originally scheduled for March 20), was a 'Still Life with Basket of Fruit and Flowers'.
Danish collectors' eclectic items come to auction in Cologne
11 May 2020Over nearly four decades, a collector in Copenhagen acquired works of art to furnish and decorate a patrician residence in the Danish capital. Part of his eclectic collection is on sale at Lempertz in Cologne on May 29-30.
Musical box suitable for a big noise comes to auction
11 May 2020As a rule, musical boxes, which were the favoured mode of reproducing music by mechanical means in the salons of Europe and the US during the 19th century, were more or less portable mechanisms.
Teacher carved out career as a sculptor
11 May 2020Anyone walking past the Palais de Chaillot in Paris may have noticed a large sculpture of an architect on the edifice of the north wing. It is the work of the French artist Jean-René Debarre who was born in 1907.