Old Masters

A long-running dispute over the export of an important Old Master painting from Portugal has finally been settled after authorities ended an attempt to have the work repatriated.

The run of recent six-figure auction sums in the English regions now includes Cheffins posting a house record in Cambridge.

Two stand-out collections containing Old Master and traditional British works on paper were offered within 24 hours of each other in Oxfordshire.

Artcurial has a large number of works on paper as part of its March 21 auction of Old Master and 19th century paintings and drawings at its Paris rooms, accounting for around 40% of the 195 lots.

Christie’s has two dedicated drawings sales, one devoted to Old Master and 19th century works on March 21, the other to modern works on paper on March 22.

Sotheby’s has something special to offer for the Paris drawings fest – a single-owner collection formed by a dedicated couple that, say the auctioneers, is the fruit of a life dedicated to a passion for painting and drawings.

There is, of course, no shortage of works on paper to be found on sale at the Drouot auction centre either in the form of dedicated auctions or as sections within mixed-discipline sales.

An auction house in a small Bavarian town sold a Dutch Golden Age painting for more than 50 times its estimate back in November 2017 – setting a record for an artwork auctioned online in Germany.

An Old Master painting hung in the spare bedroom of a family home in Oxfordshire sold for a surprise £440,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium) at Holloway’s of Banbury.

Here we ask the dealers who participated in ATG's Round Table discussion the reasons why they choose to stand at the fair and ask them to pick out a star item they are taking this year.

Chiswick Auctions (25/12% buyer’s premium) has held its first dedicated Old Masters sale, capitalising on the void left by Christie’s South Kensington’s closure last year.

An oil on canvas by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (Seville, 1617-82) which has recently been examined and published by Dr Benito Navarrate Prieto, and incorporated into the body of Murillo’s work, is a highlight of the next paintings auction at Ansorena, Madrid, on March 6-8.

Old Master specialist Derek Johns became a director of Sotheby’s in 1968 and head of its Old Master paintings department in 1974. He became an independent art dealer in 1981. He now deals from Bury Street after many years on Duke Street.

A previously unrecorded painting attributed to Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, the Italian Old Master known as il Guercino (1591-1666), has been consigned to Cambridge auction house Cheffins.