Latest News Articles by Jonathan Franks
Flamboyant Meissen ewer draws strong bidding at Wendl
20 July 2020There is absolutely no way that one can describe the decoration of a late 19th century Meissen ewer sold by Wendl (21% buyer’s premium) in Rudolstadt as restrained.
Artist Georg Schrimpf attracts flurry of bids at Van Ham
20 July 2020In his autobiography Georg Schrimpf described how he originally lacked the courage to become a painter and spent several years as a baker, a waiter and a coalman until he finally found the conviction to devote himself exclusively to art.
Netsuke nets a white-glove result
20 July 2020Two hundred eagerly awaited examples from Brockhaus collection generate suitable response.
Another Batoni emerges from the wilderness
20 July 2020Among the most important clients of the 18th century artist Pompeo Batoni was Domenico Orsini, Duke of Gravina, who went on to become Cardinal Domenico Amedeo Orsini d’Arago.
Moroccan collector secures Dinet painting depicting Sahara culture
20 July 2020An oil painting by Alphonse Etienne Dinet from 1897 caused the greatest stir at a recent auction at Karl & Faber (25% buyer’s premium) in Munich.
Feininger before the oil paintings
06 July 2020Without the signature and dedication, this crayon and pencil drawing of 'Dorfhaus mit Baum und Randsteinen' (Village House with Tree and Rocks), coming up for sale at Neumeister in Munich on July 16, would be virtually impossible to attribute to its creator.
Le Gray’s ancient and modern Paris comes to Berlin auction
29 June 2020The sale of Selected Works at Grisebach in Berlin includes this early photographic view of Paris, taken in the 1850s by Gustave Le Gray.
Tiffany’s inspired Cypriote brings demand at German sale
29 June 2020It was a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art sometime in the 1880s that inspired Louis Comfort Tiffany to produce his so-called Cypriote range of art glass.
Putting Berlin on the Islamic globe
29 June 2020The sky was (almost) the limit at the recent sale at Bassenge (28% buyer’s premium) in Berlin when an Islamic celestial globe came up for sale.
Munch's moonlight woodcut emerges from shadows
29 June 2020Edvard Munch returned to the subject 'Woman in Moonlight – The Voice' on several occasions.
Poster showing life on the ocean waves sails into saleroom
29 June 2020A memento of the last great age of transatlantic ocean travel can be found at the sale of Peter Karbstein in Düsseldorf on July 11.
Dietrich’s flower study blooms in Munich
29 June 2020It is thought that the German artist Adelheid Dietrich (1827-91), renowned for her incredibly detailed still-lifes of fruit and flowers, completed only 50 paintings during her career.
Coecke van Aelst sends right note to Old Masters market
29 June 2020Vienna saleroom Dorotheum (28/25/22/18% buyer’s premium) was hoping to send a positive signal for the art market from its latest Old Master sale.
Webb’s ‘incomplete’ view of Cologne to go on display at city's town hall following auction
29 June 2020For 300 years, from the 1520s to the 1820s, the great Gothic cathedral in Cologne remained unfinished – the building overshadowed by a large crane, which for centuries dominated the panorama on the banks of the Rhine.
Nusser’s legacy at Munich saleroom
29 June 2020In April this year, the founder of the auction house Nusser in Munich, Ursula Nusser, died aged just 66.
German auction house Nagel begins insolvency process but remains operating as coronavirus hits trade
23 June 2020Nagel in Stuttgart, which has been trading since 1922, has been so severely affected by the coronavirus lockdown that it has begun an insolvency process.
Pocket previews
15 June 2020Dual time zones watches first came into fashion in France, where they were used to show both ‘time’ in the traditional manner and also Revolutionary time, a short-lived idea based on the decimal system.
Pick of the week: The bones of a fine Old Master drawing
08 June 2020A black chalk drawing of a skeleton drew an extraordinary competition at a German auction house Lempertz at the end of last month. Estimated at €3000-3500, it attracted at least 15 bidders and was eventually knocked down at €420,000 (£381,820) to a French dealer.
Presentation box pays tribute to earlier kaiser
08 June 2020A recent sale at Lempertz (25/20% buyer’s premium) was held in Berlin dedicated to works of art from Prussia. The outstanding favourite was a gold and enamel presentation box, a gift from the German Emperor Wilhelm II.
Portrayal of the price of poverty
08 June 2020Under the changed regulations in Germany it would have been possible for Dr Andreas Sturies (20% buyer’s premium) in Düsseldorf to hold the spring auction in front of an audience.