Fine Art

"Oh goodness me, look at that..." said auctioneer Adrian Biddell as his colleagues presented him with the traditional handwear.

A drawing giving a first glimpse of the now instantly recognisable trophy from the oldest national football competition in the world, the FA Cup, sold above estimate at Budds on February 11.

A 17th century panel stolen from a church in Hertfordshire has been discovered and returned after being missing for 30 years.

A pair of puttis, believed to have been crafted as one of a pair of chimney pieces for Bedford House in London, have been blocked from export.

Following the last-minute withdrawal of arguably Sotheby’s headline lot of the latest round of Old Master sales in New York, it has been announced that the rare double-sided panel by Antonello da Messina (c.1430-79) has been acquired by the Italian Ministry of Culture.

Berkshire-born artist Eliot Hodgkin (1905-87) is known for his highly detailed still-lifes of natural objects, depicting subjects ranging from fruit and vegetables to eggs and pastries.

A previously unknown study of a foot for a figure in Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling drew remarkable bidding at Christie’s, making one of the highest ever prices for an Old Master drawing.

To mark the 20th anniversary of Artist’s Resale Right, collecting agencies the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) and the Artists’ Collecting Society (ACS) have issued updates on the amount collected and how it is distributed.

A Rembrandt (1606-69) sketch of a lion set the highest price for a drawing at auction by the artist when it sold for $15m (£10.9m) at Sotheby’s in New York today.

When it comes to the market for two of the biggest names in British portraiture, Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) and Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), the range of prices fetched by works attributed to these two greats is really quite remarkable.

A UK institution has the chance to raise £635,000 to buy an 18th century animal sculpture after it was blocked from export.