International

About 80% of the global art market by value takes place outside the UK. The largest art market in the world is the US with China in third place (after the UK) followed by France, Germany and Switzerland.

Many more nations have a rich art and antiques heritage with active auction, dealer, fair, gallery and museum sectors even if their market size by value is smaller.

Read the top stories and latest art and antiques news from all these countries.

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How bible translations in China spread the word

15 May 2026

One of two translated versions that appeared almost simultaneously emerges in German saleroom

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Museums on the hunt for drawings and works on paper in Paris

15 May 2026

Institutional purchases have become a major feature of the Salon du Dessin works on paper fair

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Letters from French and Scottish queens who shared tragic fates

15 May 2026

The sales at Stargardt (20% buyer’s premium) in Berlin are an important rendezvous for autograph dealers and collectors.

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Moreau festive designs for birth of the Dauphin are now celebrated by the Palace of Versailles museum

15 May 2026

The artist Jean-Michel Moreau the younger (1741-1814) was employed from the 1780s onwards as a dessinateur des Menus-Plaisirs.

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Focus on Murano includes Martens vase

15 May 2026

London dealer Liliane Fawcett, who since 1984 has traded from Notting Hill as Themes and Variations, began acquiring Italian post-war glass just as the secondary market was forming.

Keats' love letters

Keats’ love letters returned to family after theft now come to auction

12 May 2026

A rare group of eight autograph letters by John Keats (1795-1821) to his fiancée Fanny Brawne that had been stolen in 1989 but later recovered are now heading to Sotheby's.

Castiglione picture

Hong Kong auctions get off to an auspicious start

08 May 2026

Sotheby’s Hong Kong’s Asian Art Week was led by the earliest extant court painting by the Italian Jesuit painter Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766).

A Roman marble torso

Roman torso and ‘Cycladic’ figure stand out for bidders

08 May 2026

The modest reserve of €2500 for the 13in (34cm) Roman marble torso of a seated man from the 1st or 2nd century left the bidders at Dr Eder (25% buyer’s premium) in Cologne with plenty of upward scope.

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Books, maps and prints auction previews

08 May 2026

A selection of upcoming highlights at UK, US and European auctions

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Sixteenth century Old Master sleepers awake in Switzerland

08 May 2026

In recent sales at Artcurial, Bailly, Beurret and Widner (25% buyer’s premium) in Basel, works of art from the renowned collection of Lotar Neumann in Gingins have been consigned by his descendants and achieved notable results.

Primavera vase by Ercole Barovier

Cracking price for rare crackled Primavera glass

08 May 2026

Vases and other vessels employing the Primavera technique belong to the rarest types of glass produced in Murano.

Zsolnay charger by Armin Klein

Actor star value pushes up prices

08 May 2026

Collection of popular and well-respected Austrian figure puts in a notable performance at auction

Giuseppe Castiglione painting

Earliest known Castiglione court painting to headline Sotheby’s Hong Kong series

01 May 2026

Asian Art Week at Sotheby’s Hong Kong will be led by the earliest extant court painting by the Italian Jesuit artist Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766).

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De László portraits rediscovered in North Carolina auction

01 May 2026

Two pictures relating to the family of former US president George HW Bush added to catalogue raisonné

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‘Try to find another one that’s not in a museum’

01 May 2026

This Flemish Baroque carved ebony table cabinet shown below opens to reveal intricate silk needlework images of flowers to the inside of its three doors.

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Beauty of Brancusi’s world caught on camera

01 May 2026

Galerie Negropontes has turned to photography to explore the work of another canonical artist.

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Big bucks for British documents as James I royal warrant and Trafalgar order of battle emerge

01 May 2026

Two choice British documents emerged across two different sales at Amherst, New Hampshire firm RR Auction (25% buyer’s premium).

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Naturalist got into a flap after his pigeons book was hijacked

01 May 2026

While many people have a decided aversion to pigeons, this did not apply to the bidders at Kiefer (25% buyer’s premium) in Pforzheim, Germany.

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Ignatius Sancho second edition sells in New York

01 May 2026

Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African, tells the remarkable story of an African born on a British slave ship who earned a place among the London elite.

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Dublin-made Egyptian revival mirror brings competition between 16 bidders

01 May 2026

An Irish Regency overmantel mirror in Egyptian Revival style by the Dublin artisan Joshua Kearney (1797-1849) hammered for $22,000 (£16,400) against a $6000-8000 guide at Andrew Jones Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in Los Angeles.

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