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A number of portraits of women from different periods of history were among the most contested pictures at sales around the country in the early part of this year.

Paintings by Old Masters bear fruit as new artist auction highs are set in Parisian sales

Claire Hunt is celebrating 25 years working for the fair organiser IACF.

A couple of elegant portraits from the collection of Professor Bernard Nevill (1930-2019) drew keen interest at Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium).

Knowledgeable bidders spot a design by Owen Jones on offer in North Yorkshire

Ask anyone about a special item they bought and they will usually start by telling you how they came to own it. Here the ATG team recounts the story of 15 purchases, each one for under £1000

Bricks and mortar premises are making a comeback as visitors return to town centres

This view of the Mer de Glace and the Grands Charmoz at Chamonix was one of two large-scale dramatic paintings of Alpine mountainscapes by Gabriel Loppé (1825-1913) offered in Artcurial’s (26/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) March 23 Old Masters sale. Both had remained with the artist’s family.

One of the highest prices for a work on paper by Gerald Leslie Brockhurst was set at Roseberys (25% buyer’s premium) when a portrait of the model Kathleen Woodward, later the artist’s second wife, drew significant interest.

The largest showground fairs are so extensive that it would be impossible to browse items on all the stands in one day. IACF’s Newark Antiques Fair, for example, is held on an 84-acre site with up to 2500 stands.

Auction house Dix Noonan Webb (DNW) will be shortening its name to Noonans from the end of April.

The British Art Fair has been bought by Ramsay Fairs.

Self-portrait sold to National Portrait Gallery by dealer who also plans an exhibition

An Isnik fritware tile familiar to ATG readers made its second visit to the saleroom last week.

A work described as a ‘missing painting’ by the great Venetian master Titian (c.1485-1576), which was once owned by a succession of European royalty, has emerged for sale at Austrian auction house Dorotheum.

Swedish firm Auctionet, the online sales platform, has bought Lawrences in Somerset but the team at the Crewkerne auction house will remain in place.

An oil on panel of a Spanish water carrier with his donkey in Granada by the Australian Impressionist Tom Roberts (1856-1931) accompanied by the artist’s pen and ink sketch for the work is to be offered in the sale at Smith & Singer in Sydney on April 12.

Estimated at £100-150, a group of six items of Second World War army kit ended up selling for £4000 at Tennants (22% buyer’s premium).

I’d like to lend my support to Ivor Braka in his brave and principled decision to fight the parasitic bureaucracies of the ARR (front page, ATG No 2536).