National Gallery buys ‘The Red Boy’
The National Gallery is to acquire a portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) with the help of charitable donations and advice from Christie’s.
The 1825 work, Portrait of Charles William Lambton (1818- 31), is known as ‘The Red Boy’.
The painting is being offered from a private collection by private treaty sale via Christie’s for £9.3m. The National Gallery plans to pay in instalments and will assume legal title (fully own the painting) when the full purchase price has been paid before the end of December 2021.
The funding is made up of commitments from the American Friends of the National Gallery, plus funding from other sources such as donations including from the estate of Miss Gillian Cleaver, The Al Thani Collection Foundation and The Manny and Brigitta Davidson Charitable Foundation, while Art Fund has given a grant of £300,000.
Man accused of art forgeries sales
A man who authorities say was trying to sell forgeries of works by artists including Jean- Michael Basquiat and Keith Haring was arrested on federal fraud charges, according to news agency AP.
In a federal court in Manhattan prosecutors allege 49-year-old Angel Pereda, of Mexico, “conned art buyers” who he hoped wouldn’t notice the art was forged. Prosecutors also allege that Pereda falsified the ownership history of the forged artwork on at least one occasion.
Art Basel and Miami announce updates
Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland, scheduled for September 20-26 this year, has 273 exhibitors, slightly down on its 2019 fair total of 290 participants. Around 24 are first-time exhibitors.
Sister event Art Basel Miami will give collectors longer to browse on the VIP day than normal when it returns this winter with a two-day preview event.
Invitation-only VIP preview dates will be November 30 and December 1, with public viewing days on December 2-4 (closing a day earlier than normal). The showcase of large-scale installations will open by invitation only on November 29.
Watch specialists join Christie’s
Christie’s has hired two new recruits for its watches department. In New York Keith Davis joins as head of watches and Adam Victor becomes senior watches consultant.
Davis has previously worked at watch brands Vacheron Constantin and Bvlgari and most recently was a director of timepieces at Heritage Auctions.
Victor has spent the last 30 years researching, collecting, and consulting clients and collectors on timepieces and worked for 25 years in the luxury fashions sector including at LVMH. He focuses particularly on vintage watches made between the 1930s-70s.
New management at Swiss saleroom
Elia Himmelreich, Markus F Rubli-von Graffenried and Sander Jongbloed will now run Auktinshaus Zofingen.
A new management team has taken over at Auktionshaus Zofingen in Switzerland.
Following the retirement of Dorothea Räber and Jules Lang and Hannes Hugentobler (who retired a year ago), three new members of the team will lead the business.
Elia Himmelreich, Markus F Rubli-von Graffenried and Sander Jongbloed will now run the saleroom and become new owners.
The firm will continue as owner managed and is now accepting consignments for its next auction in November.
Salon celebrates 10th anniversary
Salon Art + Design, celebrating 10 years, returns to the Park Avenue Armory, New York, this November with more than 50 exhibitors. The event, scheduled for November 11-15, focuses on vintage, modern and contemporary design as well as 20th century and Contemporary art.
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2 Portobello dealers ‘left reeling’ as flood hits shops and arcades
3 Portrait by artist Sarah Biffin, born without hands, arms or feet, is among the latest pick of five auction highlights
4 French state buys infamous Marquis de Sade’s manuscript with help from a wealthy banker
5 A slow recovery: stolen tortoises resurface after 29 years
In Numbers
78%
The proportion of US art galleries that did not make any layoffs in 2020, according to a survey conducted by the Art Dealers Association of America. A total of 84% put no staff on furlough last year.
