Fine Art

Saleroom history was made in New York last night as Francis Bacon’s 'Three Studies Of Lucian Freud' set a new high for any lot ever sold at auction.

The ownership dispute over a Henry Moore sculpture dubbed Old Flo looks set to rumble on despite one side claiming victory and making plans to sell it.

A thin head by Alberto Giacometti (1901-66) was one of a handful of market-fresh works that helped lift the latest Impressionist & Modern art sales in New York.

This Fabergé carved hardstone figure of an Imperial bodyguard, recently rediscovered in the attic of an estate in upstate New York, has sold for $5.2m (£3.38m) at Stair Galleries in Hudson, New York. It has an extraordinary history.

French-run PAD London returned to its sleek marquee in Berkeley Square with solid sales reported around the chic mix of design, art and, increased this year, antiquities and tribal art and an even stronger Gallic vibe.

Another Henry Moore sculpture has been taken in the latest in a spate of thefts targeting works by the artist.

This week is Frieze Week in London, a flurry of fairs, exhibitions and sales including the opening of the Contemporary art giant Frieze London.

This small sculpture conveying the raw horror of the First World War attracted serious competition at Duke’s of Dorchester.

The ‘Watercolours’ fair returns for its fifth year at the Science Museum, from February 6-8.

A small painting bought as part of a £30 “job lot” at auction has turned out to be an original by the 19th century British artist John Constable and valued at £250,000.

A number of oil paintings by Sir Kyffin Williams (1918-2006) gave a major fillip to Rogers Jones’ first sale in their new Cardiff saleroom. The results included the highest price ever seen for one of his works sold at auction.

Demonstrating the benefits that provincial auctioneers continue to derive from the growth in demand for Modern British art, a number of this summer’s sale highlights in the regions were supplied by 20th century pictures.

The Bodleian Library have moved a step closer to buying the personal archive of photography pioneer William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-77) after the Art Fund pledged £200,000 towards the total needed.

Two 15th century painted panels from an oak screen which is one of the finest examples of its kind have been ripped out by thieves at a Devon church.

Estimated at £10,000-15,000, this silver-gilt and ivory guilloché enamel desk clock by Carl Fabergé sold for £65,000 at George Kidner in Lymington, Hampshire.

Several of the main French auction firms and French branches of international houses have produced their half-year sales figures.

Herefordshire was judged a little too remote for most Midlands industrialists seeking a rural retreat in the Arts and Crafts idiom.

The most stunning price of London’s summer auction season came at Christie’s last week when the competition that emerged on ‘Love among the Ruins’ by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-98) was one of the strongest ever seen for a Victorian picture.

Drawn from life at Nelson’s home, Merton, just weeks before the Battle of Trafalgar, this pastel portrait by the marine artist John Whichelo sold for £52,000 at Sotheby’s.

UK dealers and auction houses have been alerted to the theft of six oil paintings by Evie Hone from a church in Ireland.