Front Page and News

Exhibitors at London Art Week have reported a good flow of visitors to galleries as well as demand for the online series of talks.

The overall performance of the latest London sales of Old Master pictures and ‘important’ works of art was fairly mixed but the auction houses did at least welcome the return of some big-ticket items.

Two Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) drawings created national news last week as Christie’s posted a record for a sketch by the great master in London while a court in Paris is to determine whether another can be legally exported from France.

The sale of Michel Périnet’s collection of tribal art at Christie’s in Paris on June 23 real ised a remarkable €66m/£57m (including buyer’s premium) and every one of the 61 lots were sold.

The latest round of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s represented the highest overall total for a ‘London’ auction series since before the coronavirus pandemic.

Decorative arts specialist Eric Knowles has become a dealer and teamed up with others in the trade to launch a new emporium in Kent.

This week marks a numerical milestone as Antiques Trade Gazette publishes its 2500th edition.

Thomas Riley was one of the few professional tattooists of the Victorian and Edwardian era and – with patrons among international royalty and the aristocracy – a key figure in the changing perception of tattoos from ‘sailors’ marks’ to ‘body art’.

The Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair returned last month with 60 exhibitors and plenty of sales.

CEO of Auction Technology Group John-Paul Savant discusses the proposed acquisition of Live Auctioneers and says it will bring you more of what you want

“We want art and antiques galleries to know that this area is now affordable," says dealer S Franses after High Court victory

Stuttgart auction house Nagel called it ‘beyond doubt one of the most important gilt-bronzes to appear on the market for many years’ – and the monumental Ming dynasty Sino-Tibetan figure of the wrathful deity Vajrabhairava did not disappoint.

The export of Italian art has become easier following changes made to the country’s cultural laws.

Highlights from the first tranche of the clock collection of Isle of Man entrepreneur and horologist Dr John C Taylor (b.1936) were offered for sale by dealership Carter Marsh in London last week.

Dorset auction house Duke’s is creating a heritage and valuations division and has hired a former surveyor of The Queen’s Works of Art to form the new team.

Pauses to lockdown easing across the UK may affect plans for larger art and antiques events, fairs and markets in the coming weeks, while in Ireland a lifting of restrictions has begun.

In this week’s issue we present a special section dedicated to events taking place this summer.

A group of Ethiopian works of art believed to have been taken during the Battle of Maqdala in 1868 has been withdrawn from a Dorset auction after the Embassy of Ethiopia intervened.

Sotheby’s has delayed the sale of a library collection related to the Brontë family to give a chance for institutions to raise funds to buy it.

Auction Technology Group (ATG), owner of Antiques Trade Gazette and online marketplaces including thesaleroom.com, has announced the proposed acquisition of LiveAuctioneers, a major art and antiques auction marketplace in North America.