Fine Art

Fine art is a staple of the dealing and auctioneering industry, featuring works ranging from Medieval art to traditional Old Masters, and right through to cutting-edge Contemporary art.

While oil paintings represent a large part of the sector, other mediums adopted by artists across the ages include drawings, watercolours, prints and photographs.

18th century bust

UK institution sought for 18th century Bouchardon sculpture being sold by Scottish Highland council

13 January 2026

A bust of 18th century politician and landowner John Gordon of Invergordon (1707-83) has been blocked from export by the UK government in the hope a museum will raise the £3.1m needed to keep it in the country.

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Set of 12 Chinese export pictures portrays a production line of porcelain

09 January 2026

A set of 12 Chinese export pictures depicting the manufacture and distribution of porcelain was among the highlights of a recent sale held by Nadeau’s in Windsor, Connecticut.

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Bought for buttons, now worth £48,000

09 January 2026

Bought for just £40 last year, two rare bronze buttons designed by Alberto Giacometti for Elsa Schiaparelli hammered for £48,000 at the latest Modern Decorative Art & Design sale at Bonhams Knightsbridge.

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Edgar Allan Poe captured in pioneering photo form

09 January 2026

As he died more than a decade before the medium really took off, very few photographs of the American author Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) exist.

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Eager eyes on the precocious George Richmond and 'supremely talented' Leon Bonvin in west London

09 January 2026

A group of works by George Richmond (1809-96) offered at auction at the end of last year showed plenty of life remains in the market for the London-born painter.

The Happy Family

‘Mysterious’ collection of 18th-century French paintings comes to auction

08 January 2026

A group of 30 Old Masters, including pictures by Fragonard and Watteau, held in a private collection for decades and rarely seen in public will be offered at Christie’s Paris this spring.

head study of a bearded man

Bidders overlook condition issues as drawing flies to 50 times estimate in Gloucestershire

06 January 2026

Despite suffering from water damage, wear and loss to the sheet as well as chips and cracks to the later 1950s-style frame, a head study of a bearded man brought intense competition at a recent sale at Wotton Auction Rooms.

Ronald Searle illustration

Do book collecting terms fox you? Pick up a Searle at auction

05 January 2026

An original illustration for one of the most entertaining works on rare book collecting hammered for £15,000 to lead Mallams’ latest Modern Art & Design auction.

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Found behind the blue door

05 January 2026

Print specialist who relocated to Chichester now opens a gallery in the ‘growing creative community’

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Bust follows style of sculptor and ‘nose breaker’ Torrigiano

05 January 2026

When a 16th century white marble bust of an elderly man with a furrowed brow and resolute gaze came up for sale at Nagel (29.5% buyer’s premium) in Stuttgart, it was clear that more than one bidder was confident of knowing either the identity of the artist or that of the subject.

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Statue showing Romans fleeing Pompeii is saved from a garden

05 January 2026

Numerous bidders at a Peter Karbstein (25% buyer’s premium) auction in Düsseldorf took a fancy to a 19th century marble statue of The Flight from Pompeii.

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Latin America art emerging at last in its own right

05 January 2026

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

A daguerreotype of Ada Lovelace

National Portrait Gallery buys only known photographs of Ada Lovelace via Bonhams

02 January 2026

Three photographs of computing pioneer Ada Lovelace (1815-52) have been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in a private treaty sale.

Madonna and Child painting

Five top picture lots sold at auctions outside London this year

27 December 2025

The top pictures sold at regional salerooms in 2025 included an Old Master, a Lavery double portrait and a John Constable sketch. Here we pick out five of the best results which were covered in ATG

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A £31,000 Fabergé farmyard star brings animal magic to Macclesfield

19 December 2025

The first day of the December 10-12 sale at Adam Partridge in Macclesfield, Cheshire, included a 2in (5cm) high Fabergé jewelled agate model of a cockerel or rooster.

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Costume drama in a small case

19 December 2025

So-called ‘talc pictures’ or ‘metamorphoses’ were fashionable amusements in European courts in the second half of the 17th century.

Study for St Nicholas Cole Abbey and Bow Church

Jerwood Foundation buys sketch by British realist painter Coldstream

19 December 2025

Arts charity Jerwood Foundation has purchased a William Coldstream (1908-87) sketch from an art dealer in Somerset.

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Shepard pooh-poohed the idea

19 December 2025

Illustrator famous for helping to bring alive the beloved bear preferred his other commissions

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Latest Old Master sales demonstrate value of market freshness and impressive ownership history

19 December 2025

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.

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Rembrandt and Dürer prints drive results to best for decades

19 December 2025

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.

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