Fine Art

A rare interior scene by Swiss painter Jean-Etienne Liotard (1702-1789) was the top lot at Sotheby’s Old Masters evening sale last night, selling at £3.8m.

An early 17th century self-portrait by the English court painter William Dobson (1611-46) was knocked down at £920,000 at Bonhams’ Old Masters sale today.

Two key figures who left senior roles at Sotheby’s earlier this year, Henry Wyndham and Melanie Clore, are setting up their own fine art company.

The Contemporary art sales in London last week saw a reduced supply of major works affect the overall totals which came in at their lowest levels since 2013. However, the material on offer generally met with decent demand and fears of a Brexit meltdown in the market did not materialise.

The latest themed auction held by Christie’s was their ‘Defining British Art’ evening sale in London. View ATG’s selection of 10 highlights here.

A series of blue-chip consignments from different sectors of the market helped Christie’s ‘Defining British Art’ evening sale in London last night to a £99.5m total including premium. The auction offered paintings by major names including Joshua Reynolds, John Constable, Stanley Spencer, Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon but it was a Henry Moore sculpture that led proceedings, selling at £22m.

Crowning the white-glove success of Japanese works from the Portier collection in Paris was the sale of this signature portrait print by Kitagawa Utamaro for €600,000 (£500,000).

Two paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) consigned to auction by the actor Johnny Depp sold for a combined £7.6m at Christie’s evening sale of post-war and Contemporary art last night.

Fears that the Brexit vote would seriously impact the art market were partially allayed last night as Sotheby’s Contemporary art sale delivered robust results.

Three Irish paintings that were previously stolen from their former owner's home are on the market this September.

Two finely carved marble figures of mourners from the tomb of Jean de France, the duc de Berry (1340-1416) brother of King Charles V of France were secured by the Louvre for €4.4m (£3.67m) at Christie’s Paris last week.

A rediscovered Augustus John (1878-1961) pencil drawing of his friend Jacob Epstein sold for £80,000 at Mellors & Kirk in Nottingham.

An 1885 Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) oil, ‘hidden in plain sight’ for decades, carries an estimate of $800,000-$1.2m at Litchfield County Auctions’ June 29-30 sale in the US.

In a difficult evening sale of Impressionist and Modern art at Christie’s, Amedeo Modigliani’s (1884-1920) portrait of Madame Hanka Zborowska was one of few highpoints.

Haynes Fine Art, established in the Cotswolds in 1971, will open a satellite London gallery on Pimlico Road later this month.

It was a pretty short sale. Sotheby’s evening sale of Impressionist and Modern art auction last night offered just 27 lots and took less than 90 minutes to complete.

Sotheby’s will start dedicated sales of Modern and Contemporary African Art in London next year. The decision underlines the growing importance of a sector in which Bonhams have stolen a march in recent years.

A painting catalogued as from the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens soared past a cautious four-figure estimate to take €1.56m (£1.3m) at a recent Paris auction.

A private collection of Scottish Colourist paintings assembled by a former president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh gave a major boost to Lyon & Turnbull’s latest specialist auction of Scottish Paintings & Sculpture.

Sacha Llewellyn is a co-founder of Liss Llewellyn Fine Art, which specialises in reappraising under-represented artists of the past.