Old Masters

Traditionally this sector is defined as works by master painters working in Europe from before 1800. It includes Renaissance artists and Dutch Golden Age painters for example. Today Old Master auctions in London and New York will include works by British artists as well as some 19th century works.


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Crowdfunding project to bid for Turner at Sotheby’s hits six-figures

01 July 2025

A crowdfunding project by Bristol Museums Development Trust to bid for JMW Turner’s 'The Rising Squall, Hot Wells from St Vincent’s Rock, Bristol' (1792), has reached in excess of £100,000.

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Flemish Old Master generates great excitement in Frankfurt

30 June 2025

The demand for a well-documented genre painting by the 17th century Flemish artist Jan Steen surprised the auctioneers at Döbritz (26% buyer’s premium) in Frankfurt.

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Swiss collection includes a Cranach the Elder success

30 June 2025

A spring sale at Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer (25% buyer’s premium) in Basel was devoted to works of art from an impressive, wide-ranging Swiss collection.

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Painting by follower of Hieronymus Bosch takes six-figure sum at auction

30 June 2025

A recently discovered floral still-life by Jan Davidsz de Heem sold for €2.8m.

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Spotlight: 250 years of JMW Turner

23 June 2025

Many works by the great British artist are now owned by institutions but smaller paintings and sketches are common sights at salerooms

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Painter Devis whose passage to India proved to be a difficult process

23 June 2025

Artist survived a shipwreck but then spent a decade creating portraits and views of the local landscape

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Bidders vie in Vienna for rediscovered work by visionary landscape painter De Bles

23 June 2025

The Salvator Mundi drawing attributed to Leonardo da Vinci’s workshop which sold for €500,000 (ATG No 2692) was not the only sought-after work at Dorotheum’s (28/25/22% buyer’s premium) spring Old Master sale.

Arthur William Devis portrait

Devis in demand: ‘Relaxed’ portrait of a civil servant bid to £140,000

16 June 2025

Over recent years, works painted in India by Arthur William Devis (1762-1822) have become a valuable proposition.

William Dobson self portrait

Dealer brokers sale of Dobson self-portrait to two London museums

13 June 2025

A rare self-portrait by William Dobson (1611-46) has been jointly acquired by Tate Britain and the National Portrait Gallery in a £2.37m private treaty sale brokered by dealer Hazlitt.

Hot Wells from St Vincent’s Rock by JMW Turner

Turner prize: Rediscovered painting bought for £400 now estimated at up to £300,000 at Sotheby’s

10 June 2025

The first oil painting ever exhibited by JMW Turner (1775-1851) in his lifetime will be offered at Sotheby’s this summer.

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High expectations means bidders thin on the ground for Saunders Old Master collection

09 June 2025

The Saunders collection seems to have been the consignment that Sotheby’s could not afford to lose.

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Furious bidding for equestrian painting at US auction

09 June 2025

After what Sloans & Kenyon (23% buyer’s premium) president Stephanie Kenyon deemed “furious bidding that lasted at least five minutes”, a textbook equestrian painting by Benjamin Marshall (1767-1865) trotted to a fine result.

Gerard Dou painting

Van Beuningen’s Old Masters come to Christie’s

04 June 2025

Works from the heirs of the Dutch coal magnate and business tycoon Daniël George Van Beuningen (1877-1955) are being offered at Christie’s in London this summer.

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Auctions cover royalty at Versailles and empire at Fontainebleau

02 June 2025

French firm holds auctions relating to earlier monarchy and Napoleon

Singleton Painting Tipu Sultan Sons

Record price for Singleton as painting of the surrender of Seringapatam makes £1.7m

30 May 2025

A painting by Henry Singleton (1766-1839) depicting the surrender of Tipu Sultan’s two sons to Major General David Baird (1757-1829) made five times its estimate at Bonhams.

Portrait of a young artist by Catherine Lusurier

Portrait of an artist: New benchmark for Catherine Lusurier at Christie’s

29 May 2025

When it came to works drawing good competition at the latest series of Old Master auction in New York at the end of May, three works in particular caught the eye at Christie’s.

The Flagellation of Christ by Ribera

Newly discovered Ribera painting makes top estimate in Swedish auction

27 May 2025

A painting by Spanish artist Jusepe de Ribera (1591-1652) which emerged from a shed in rural Sweden drew competition at an auction in Stockholm.

Frans Hals portraits

Saunders collection raises $64.7m at Sotheby’s but misses overall target

22 May 2025

It was billed as the ‘first ever $100m collection of Old Masters to come to auction’ but the auction of the Saunders collection at Sotheby’s New York last night came in significantly below expectations.

Jan Davidsz de Heem still life

‘A feast for the eyes’: Luxurious de Heem still life emerges at Christie’s

21 May 2025

Christie’s has announced a major highlight for its Old Masters evening sale in London on July 1.

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Anatomical studies stand out as highlight of Paris drawings sale

19 May 2025

Sheet of various figures and body parts in red and white chalk set an auction record for Primaticcio

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