Europe

BRAFA is a big draw for the visitor in late January but as well as enjoying all that Brussels has to offer in general cultural terms there are other art and antiques-related events on at the same time.

Among the numerous dealers at BRAFA showing early works of art is Brussels’ Gallery Desmet, which specialises in sculpture and objects ranging from Antiquity to the Grand Tour.

Whitford Fine Art from London is a long-standing BRAFA stalwart (understandably given that the gallery’s core stock is work by 20th century Belgian and international artists).

Finch & Co from London has been showing at BRAFA for 12 years. “We regard it as one of the most successful and well-organised art and antique events in Europe,” notes the firm’s Jan Finch.

One of the attractions of BRAFA, the Brussels art and antiques fair which is traditionally a new-year opener in continental Europe, is its breadth. This is not a specialist event: it concentrates on quality across a range of disciplines.

A 1627, Ulm first of Johannes Kepler’s 'Tabulae Rudolphinae…', an important astronomical work named in honour of the then Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, sold for SKr350,000 (£30,535) on December 7.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from January 15-31, 2019.

UK art shippers are urging the government to speed up Brexit ‘deal or no deal’ preparations at the country’s major ferry ports as the UK prepares to leave the European Union on March 29.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from January 8-31, 2019.

Since 1994, the New York businessman Richard Baron Cohen has been a welcome guest at international auctions, fairs and dealers.

A rare 11th century Portolan chart on vellum will be offered by the Il Ponte auction house in a sale of books and manuscripts in Milan on January 22.

German and Latin versions of ‘Nuremburg Chronicle’ impress in separate sales.

Eight determined bidders were on hand when Karl & Faber (25% buyer’s premium) sold a floral still-life by Nicolaes van Veerendael (1640-91) at auction in Munich.

Two pieces with imperial connections took the top honours during the November 5-23 sale at Hermann Historica (25% buyer’s premium) in Munich.

Topping the results list at a recent sale at Grisebach (30/25/20% buyer’s premium) in Berlin was a work by the German Expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner that was created on island in the Baltic.

One of the most iconic photographic images of war came under the hammer at a recent Westlicht (20% buyer’s premium) auction in Vienna.

Since the early 1990s Wolfgang Thillmann, a German and philosophy teacher, has devoted himself to collecting Thonet bentwood furniture and become an internationally acknowledged expert in the process.