Fine Art

An ancient Roman marble bust of the Emperor Hadrian that had been in the same private collection for over half a century was the runaway highlight in a recent sale held by Tessier Sarrou & Associés at Drouot in Paris.

There was no slowing down in the Contemporary art market as the latest sales in New York posted a record for any auction series.

Leonard Joel of Melbourne will be marking the 50th anniversary of the Beatles arriving to tour Australia by offering a collection of photographs taken of the group in Adelaide.

Thomas del Mar’s second sale of items from the John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection on May 7 included a number of related items, such as this 3ft 7in (1.1m) high panted limestone carving of St Eligius or Eloi, patron saint of horses and farriers.

Christie’s posted a record total for any auction ever with a $745m (£462.7m) premium-inclusive total at their evening sale of post-war and Contemporary art in New York last night (Tuesday, May 13). It now begs the question: how much further can this boom keep going?

A reported increase in Asian buying was the most notable feature of a somewhat underwhelming series of Impressionist & Modern art auctions in New York last week.

Mystery surrounds the origin of a maple cabinet designed by Edward William Godwin and painted by James Abbott McNeill Whistler which has been bought by National Museums Scotland (NMS).

Alasdair Nichol, picture specialist and vice chairman at Freeman’s of Philadelphia, called the Horst collection “an auctioneer’s perfect storm” – the sale of a previously unknown cache of untouched European and American art exposed to market for the first time in close to a century.

Appearing at the latest of the twice-yearly marine sales at Bonhams Knightsbridge was a painting by Charles Napier Hemy (1841-1917) which had local connections helping bring demand.

Bonhams will be looking for fair winds in July when the John Windeler Robertson collection goes under the hammer in New Bond Street.

The Polar Museum in Cambridge has confirmed that it has secured the photographic archive linked to Scott’s last expedition after a public appeal for funds by explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

A rare painting of two big cats by George Stubbs will be offered for sale at Sotheby’s Old Master sale in London on July 9.

An appeal to buy Van Dyck’s final self-portrait for the nation, painted in England in 1640-41, has been given a boost by the news that a lower price is expected.

The stand-alone evening sale of 15 paintings by L.S. Lowry at Sotheby’s on March 26 raised £13m, with all bar two works getting away.

Images and footage of the First World War seem to be featuring prominently on TV at the moment, no doubt part of the extra attention engendered by the marking of the centenary of the outbreak of the conflict in 1914.

EXHIBITION – Edwin G. Lucas is not a name familiar to most, nor is the phrase ‘Scottish Surrealist’.

An appeal court ruling on the tax status of Sir Joshua Reynolds’ masterpiece ‘Omai’ means that a number of very rich people are likely to get a bit richer.

A previously lost Fabergé egg has been found by Mayfair jeweller Wartski in the American Midwest.

A sketch by LS Lowry will be offered at Peter Wilson of Nantwich in Cheshire on May 1.

A rare early work by the Dutch Old Master painter Dirck Van Delen (c.1605-1671) will be offered at Halls of Shrewsbury on April 16.