Old Masters

The arts and crafts of colonial America are enjoying a purple patch in the market as Western institutions seek to tell the story of Latin American art in more inclusive and expansive ways

Market freshness and good provenance have always been key components in the Old Master sector, and the latest series of auctions in this category underlined how heavily dependent the market remains on the supply of works that have these qualities.

Karl & Faber’s (27% buyer’s premium) latest auction of Old Master prints in Munich was its most successful sale of this type for many decades, achieving several new German records.

A handful of determined bidders were enamoured of a painted wood panel, originally catalogued as 18th or 19th century, which was in the sale held by Scheublein (27% buyer’s premium) in Munich.

Over his career, the Flemish artist Hendrick van Balen (1573-1632) collaborated with a number of other artists, not least Rubens. Another was Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625).

With works by female artists now having a much higher profile among Old Masters than in the past it was not surprising to see a painting by the famous French portraitist Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842) among the best-sellers in a September sale of works from a country house in Brittany.

The latest Old Master auctions in London produced the highest total for a December series for seven years.

An oil of a scarlet ibis by Philip Reinagle (1749-1833) is among the works starring at Rafael Valls this month.

Works by Ambrosius Benson and an unknown artist possibly from Antwerp go way beyond estimates

A Shropshire dealership has rediscovered a lost portrait of an Elizabethan lawyer through heraldic research.

David Ker, who has died aged 74, was an important and pioneering art dealer and larger-than-life figure, described as one of the most vivid upper-class characters of the last half century.