Latest News Articles by Jonathan Franks
Museum homes in on dolls’ house packed with details
12 August 2024Sometime c.1900, a craftsman or accomplished amateur spent a lot of time building or converting a 6ft 7in (2m) cupboard into a fully fitted dolls’ house.
Works by Swiss artists tempt Swiss collectors
12 August 2024Swiss collectors were in a generous mood at Koller’s (25/22/15% buyer’s premium) recent Zurich auction.
Du Paquier porcelain packs in plenty of interest for bidders
12 August 2024Examples of products by Viennese factory founded 10 years after Meissen prove popular purchases
Drawing result is a surprise even for Klimt in Austria
12 August 2024Works on paper by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) are regularly strong sellers at Austrian auctions, but even so, the result for one of his coloured pencil drawings at a Dorotheum (30/25% buyer’s premium) sale in Vienna was quite a surprise.
Cannon barrels point to date around time of Ottoman invasion and Siege of Vienna
05 August 2024On July 2, Vienna auction house Tiberius (27% buyer’s premium) sold the inventory of Laudon Castle, a privately owned, moated baroque residence on the outskirts of the Austrian capital.
Artist not confirmed but Old Master tells a Florentine family history tale
24 June 2024While the identity of the main artist was up for debate, the impressive ownership of a work sold in Austria was not in doubt
Old Master by unknown painter causes a stir as Bavarian collection comes to auction
24 June 2024On May 8, Neumeister (30% buyer’s premium) in Munich sold the collection of Hans Constantin Faussner, a Bavarian lawyer and art collector.
Bulldog advertising sign lights up the saleroom
24 June 2024It is safe to say that nowadays the image of a smoking dog would find little favour with animal rights activists or for that matter with the current (for now) UK Prime Minister.
Fish market scene catches the eye
24 June 2024A monumental painting of a fish market soared to unexpected heights at the May 16 auction at Lempertz (26% buyer’s premium) in Cologne.
Menzel’s Moroccans became a timely work
24 June 2024June 2, 1878, began as a normal day in the varied life of the German artist Adolph von Menzel.
Highlights: a recent selection of stand-out lots sold at auction
24 June 2024This recently discovered example of the iconic Bauhaus tea-infuser, designed by Marianne Brandt in 1924, on offer at Lempertz on May 15 for €200,000, was knocked down to the Hamburg Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (Museum for Art and Industry) for €260,000 (£222,220).
Prophet and profits of horology auctions held in Germany and Switzerland
17 June 2024Moses automaton watch is one of the stand-out hammer highlights in recent sales
Best of British: Bullock longcase on offer in Heidelberg
17 June 2024If proof were needed that regional British clockmakers were as capable of making impressive works as those of London colleagues, then an 18th century longcase clock being sold by Metz on July 19-20 in Heidelberg without reserve, provides it.
Kirchner steps back into view
11 May 2024For over a century, the whereabouts of the painting Tanz im Varieté (Steptanz) (Vaudeville Dance/Tap Dance) by the Expressionist Ernst Ludig Kirchner were unknown.
Javanese prince who became an artist
06 May 2024Over the years, Cologne auction house Van Ham has achieved high prices for works by Raden Saleh Ben Jaggia.
Monkey business from von Max
06 May 2024The German artist Gabriel von Max (1840-1915) was not only an accomplished painter but also a passionate follower of Darwinism.
Prud’hon Psyche caused a stir
06 May 2024One of the highlights on the first day of the May 30-31 auction at Grisebach in Berlin is a collection of 33 works on paper from the collection of the one-time Cologne gallery owner Rudolf Zwirner.
Flights of fantasy: artist depicted hot-air balloons he never saw
06 May 2024With very few exceptions, the French artist Victor Philippe Lemoine-Benoit devoted almost all of his painting career to one subject: hot-air balloons of the Montgolfière type.
Latest brews: ninth Brandt tea-infuser emerges
06 May 2024It has often been said that no other work of art encompasses the spirit of the Bauhaus more perfectly than Marianne Brandt’s tea-infuser or Teeextraktkännchen MT49, as it was officially called.