A penury of Old Masters is good (and bad) for sales [Souren Melikian, International Herald Tribune]
Mr. Melikian wraps up last week’s Old Masters sales in London. A slideshow of sales highlights reveals some information that OMNP overlooked. Of note: A big reason that the Van Dyck portrait of a stallion (shown above) did so well was because it had never been on the market, let alone been seen by the public.
Melikian’s wit always manages make the monotonous subject of auction results an entertaining story. On the Frans Hals portrait, the star lot of the Sotheby’s sale:
“It seems likely that he [Frans Hals] left the execution of parts of the background such as the peremptorily painted curtain to the right, which serves to keep the composition in balance, to an assistant,” Sotheby’s specialists admitted. Change “peremptorily” to “atrociously,” and that about covers it.”
Christie’s Announces the sale of Yves Saint Laurent’s Art Collection [Art Info]
Christie’s wins the rights to the mammoth collection of Yves Saint Laurent. Expect excessive hype around next January. It’s interesting to see that the sale is taking place in Paris- not exactly an auction hotspot when considering the magnitude of this event. OMNP’s guess is the choice of locale was a consolation by Christie’s, as the Parisian auction house of Laurent’s heir, Pierre Berge, stands to gain a considerable amount of recognition through its association with the sale.
Munch prices “driven up by thefts” [Clemens Bomsdorf, The Art Newspaper]
OMNP found it interesting that this adds to a works cache however, this is probably limited to the Modern and Contemporary worlds. A work’s theft gives it a story, something to talk about at the dinner party of its owner. But when you consider how many Old Masters have been stolen and/or are awaiting restitution-it’s more likely to incite indigestion.
Paths to Fame: Turner Watercolours from The Courtauld at Wordsworth Museum
With the National Gallery lending out so many Turners for the retrospective taking place in the States, the Wordsworth Museum steps in to fill the void for Londoners.
Masaccio, the old master who died young [Simon Goddard, Guardian UK]
Apples and oranges here, but it’s kind of unfathomable to think that a guy who more or less invented the concept of perspective in painting and was behind three of the greatest works of the Renaissance, did so at an age when most of us are struggling to pay off grad school loans.
[...] the time of its announcement, OMNP predicted a press bonanza leading up to the sale of this collection, which at the time, had an estimated value of around [...]