Fine Art

Among the highlights of Sotheby’s New York’s $96.9m Important Old Master Paintings sale on January 25 was Portrait of Captain Robert Shore Milnes painted in 1771-72 by Joseph Wright of Derby.

As recent London sales have demonstrated, demand for top-class Italian maiolica is on something of a roll. There is an international roster of collectors who are attracted to this colourful ceramic version of Italian Old Master painting.

THE end of 2006 sees the $160m Australian art and antiques auction market in a state of flux again. Chris Deutscher, one of the two main partners in the Menzies group, has announced his departure from the company. He intends to set up a rival firm by the new year.

The highlight of this year’s Old Master picture series in London was a pair of Roman vedute by Bernardo Bellotto (Venice 1721-1780 Warsaw).

Contemporary art plans for Shanghai and Dubai

This Edgar Degas bronze owned by the late art dealer Lillian Browse has been saved for the nation in a deal brokered by Christie’s in lieu of inheritance tax. It follows a similar sale recently arranged by the auctioneers that saw the National Gallery acquire two works by Italian artist Giovanni Paolo Panini.

November saw the art market hit a new high as Christie’s capped a remarkable series of New York sales with a record $240m (£131m) for post-War and Contemporary art.

Two sections of a painting by Francis Hayman are being officially re-united for the first time in almost three centuries at London dealer Philip Mould’s new gallery in Dover Street.

The discovery of two small panels by Fra Angelico (c.1395-1455) in a semi-detached house in Oxford ranks as one of the most remarkable art finds this country has ever witnessed.

Feeding frenzy sets new record as bidders get their fill despite absence of Lloyd Webber Picasso

Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern art sale of 83 lots on November 7 generated $238m (£131.5m) and was the auctioneers’ highest auction total since the previous Impressionist and Modern high water mark of May 1990.

Jackson Pollock’s 1948 drip painting Number 5 has set a new record for a painting. Mexican financier David Martinez has reportedly paid $140m for it in a private deal brokered by Sotheby’s.

MASTER Drawings in New York, a new Anglo-American trade initiative will be launched in January. It is modelled on Master Drawings in London which has been held since 2001.

“A MOMENT of European importance” is how architects acknowledge Tyringham Hall in Buckinghamshire. It is one of the greatest country houses designed by Sir John Soane (1753-1837), the leading architect of his generation.

IT would have been the most expensive picture ever sold. At $139m, the private deal between two American billionaire buddies would have upped the record high for any painting by $4m. But the deal is now off.

CONTEMPORARY art has helped the Fine Art Society triple its turnover in the past four years, according to results just released.

Renowned Bristol-born graffiti artist Robert Banks, better known as Banksy (b.1975), has made himself into a globally-recognised phenomenon by planting his subversive guerrilla artwork in the world’s best galleries, museums, and amusement parks.

£57m Indian summer for auction rooms

NEW guidelines limiting the types of print that can attract the Artist’s Resale Right have come into force. They restrict qualifying works to those where the artist has been directly involved in preparing the matrix – the inked surface used in printing.

CHRISTIE’S are hoping to generate up to $140m for the four remaining works by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) that were part of the high-profile Bloch-Bauer restitution case.