Latest News Articles by Alex Capon
Positive faces helped by primary provenance at Bonhams
21 July 2025Three portraits that came fresh to the market with an unbroken provenance drew strong interest at Bonhams’ latest Old Master auction in London.
Copy of Hokusai’s ‘Great Wave’ print makes £300,000 at Dreweatts
18 July 2025A hammer price of £300,000 sounds like a pretty hefty sum for any print sold in the UK regions. But when it comes to the legendary Katsushika Hokusai’s (1760-1849) ‘Great Wave’, it’s actually a relatively middling amount.
Bawden prints in demand as artworks from Kent County Council’s collection make over £40,000 at auction
16 July 2025A group of prints tucked away in the basement of Kent County Council’s County Hall in Maidstone has sold at a Sworders auction.
Sotheby’s launches ‘The Specialist’ podcast series
15 July 2025Sotheby’s has launched a new series of podcasts titled ‘The Specialist’ in which the auction house’s experts give a behind-the-scenes look at the auction world.
Stanley Spencer ‘personal’ lots sold at Dreweatts auction
14 July 2025Billed as ‘the last opportunity to own something very personal from the family’s own collection’, a group of drawings, paintings, letters and memorabilia relating to Sir Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) came to auction from one of the artist’s descendants at Dreweatts.
Hefty price achieved for ‘England’s fattest man’ portrait
14 July 2025When Daniel Lambert, the famously rotund prison warden from Leicester, died in June 1809 at the Waggon and Horses Inn at Stamford, Lincolnshire, the title of ‘England’s fattest man’ transferred to a new contender.
Rare copy of Victorian photograph book makes £40,000 at Roseberys
11 July 2025Discovered buried in the back of a closet in the US, a rare surviving copy of Peter Henry Emerson’s 1886 work ‘Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads’ sold for £40,000 at Roseberys today.
Top 10 Old Masters at auction
08 July 2025The record-setting £27.5m Canaletto at Christie’s last week represented the sixth highest sum ever recorded at auction for an Old Master. But what others feature in the top 10?
Canaletto is toast of London season as ‘£400’ Turner discovery nets £1.5m
07 July 2025Works by two of the biggest names in art history put in a strong performance at the latest series of Old Master auctions in London.
Pick of the week: Enwonwu works emerge in Surrey
07 July 2025Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu (1917-94) is sometimes described as ‘the first African artist to gain international recognition in the modern art world’.
Bonington’s atmospheric sketch attracts interest at Dreweatt’s Feigen collection sale
07 July 2025The late US dealer Richard L Feigen (1930-2021) handled works by numerous artists over his long career.
Turner’s earliest exhibited painting makes huge return for eagle-eyed vendor
03 July 2025A ‘lost’ landscape by JMW Turner (1775-1851), thought to be the first oil painting the artist ever exhibited, sold for £1.5m at Sotheby’s latest Old Master evening sale.
‘A handsome bee’: Portrait of Elizabethan dandy makes major sum at Bonhams
02 July 2025An extraordinary Elizabethan swagger portrait drew dramatic competition at Bonhams’ latest Old Master sale.
‘Prime period’ Canaletto makes record £27.5m at Christie’s
02 July 2025A painting by Canaletto (1697-1768) once owned by the first British prime minister Sir Robert Walpole sold for £27.5m at Christie’s latest Old Master evening sale.
Ben Enwonwu paintings bring strong interest at Surrey auction
02 July 2025Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu (1917-94) is sometimes described as ‘the first African artist to gain international recognition in the modern art world’.
Record for Ethel Walker as elegant still life emerges from huge collection
01 July 2025An enormous deceased estate in West Yorkshire has been providing Scarborough saleroom David Duggleby (25% buyer’s premium) with a vast range of works to offload over the last two years.
Monumental Hungarian painting makes 60 times the high estimate in West Sussex
30 June 2025A large diptych depicting a profusion of colourful and curious figures attracted spectacular bidding at a recent sale held by Toovey's (24.5% buyer’s premium).
John Nash brings in big Bucks with his countryside scenes
30 June 2025Local landscapes by brother of the prominent Modern British artist Paul are now witnessing growing demand
Tamara de Lempicka leads latest London Modern and Contemporary art series
27 June 2025The latest Modern and Contemporary art auctions in London raised a combined £97.8m. This compared to £132.3m from the equivalent series last year.
Italy aims to become ‘increasingly competitive’ in the global art market after VAT cut
26 June 2025Italy has announced a cut in VAT for art and antiques from 22% to 5%, making it lower than any other EU state. The country also aims to halve VAT on imports to 5%.