Europe

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.

One highlight of a February 20 sale held in Italy was the handsome, armorially bound 1694 first edition of the Swiss born architect Carlo Fontana’s Templum Vaticanum.

Paris was an important destination for artists in the 19th and 20th centuries and the city gathered in creatives from all across Europe.

Gerald Weinpolter is based in Vienna and specialises in Austrian painting.

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.

Auction Technology Group's chief sets out how online consolidation, such as the company's purchase in March of e-commerce portal lot-tissimo, will bring benefits to both buyers and auctioneers...

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.

It is time to celebrate the art of works on paper in Paris. Centred around the 27-year-old specialist fair, the Salon du Dessin, held from March 21-26, will be a whole roster of auctions, fairs, dealers’ selling shows and events in the city’s museums and institutions.

The roster of exhibitor names at the Salon du Dessin underscores the international standing of this specialist event. Although it is organised by a committee of Paris dealers, more than half the participants come from overseas.

J’y Reste (I am there) is a clay sculpture evoking a symbolic birth created by Brigitte Moity in her studio at Savigny-sur-Orge, a suburb of Paris.

Tour & Taxis in Brussels is a vast swathe of Victorian industrial warehouses on the city’s canal. The complex includes the former train station and its spacious central hall, a long-disused international postal and customs office with links to the German Thurn and Taxis family.

To inject new blood into the senior ranks of TEFAF exhibitors, the fair’s organisers allow younger dealers, some from non-traditional disciplines, to do a live audition each year in the Showcase section. Kate Quill finds out what this tough test involves...

Lifting the lid on what it takes to be an exhibitor at a TEFAF fair, ATG asked three dealers – one American, one British and one German – to chart their preparations, concerns and hopes as they head to Maastricht for the 2018 event. Compiled by Lisa Johnson.