The gold fix in the UK rose above £2000 for the first time last week, continuing the strong increases recorded since the summer with prices rising by 9% over the last three months alone.

The French artist Alexandre-François Desportes (1661-1743) spent much of his early career as a portraitist, including a notable spell working at the court of King Jan Sobieski of Poland.

Sale that featured Constable and Drury big-hitters also included intriguing lots at lower price levels

With Old Master sleeper spotters trawling through online catalogues looking for works with hidden potential, it is not unusual for the odd lot to draw unexpected bidding at auctions all over the country.

London dealer Dickinson is offering what it says is ‘the one of the most exciting old master discoveries to have been made in recent decades, and is an important addition to the small group of extant drawings by Michelangelo’.

Memorabilia collected by a founding father of modern computing makes for a remarkable auction

James McNeill Whistler’s (1834-1903) first portrait commission, a painting of Lucas Alexander Ionides, drew a strong bidding battle at Bonhams on September 25.

The J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has returned an ancient bronze funerary couch to Turkey after concluding that it had been illicitly excavated in the early 1980s.

Recent picture highlights at auction include works by artist renowned for his poultry depictions and writing on the subject

Christie’s posted a spate of record prices at three New York sales from September 10-12 offering Paul Allen’s extraordinary collection of scientific and technological items.

In the 1870s, French artist Émile-Auguste Hublin (1830-91) made frequent trips to the villages of Brittany, producing a large body of work recording the customs – and costumes – of traditional rural life as the region rapidly industrialised.