Redemption, joy, and debauchery reign supreme down Bourbon Street and across the rest of “Who Dat Nation?,” in the aftermath of the New Orleans Saints historic victory last night. Lest us forget, however, that this particular raising of the Fleur’ de Lis,  is one of many that extends back to the  Middle Ages, when the [...]

BY VICTORIA ROMEO
The Winter Antiques Show, going on now through January 31 at the Park Avenue Armory, has a wide variety of treasures worth checking out.  The annual event serves as both art fair and charity benefit, with some of the proceeds going to the South Bronx not-for-profit organization, the East [...]

OMNP is finding galleries to be clearly outgunning the auction houses for this year’s crop of works for sale at Old Master Drawings Week in New York. Among the highlights below, we see the flair that Delacroix had for equine subjects, in “A Bugler on Horseback, Accompanied by a Hound,” being exhibited by Stephen Ongpin. [...]

BY VICTORIA ROMEO
Amidst the multitude of horrors that characterize World War II, the Nazis’ systematic plundering of some of the world’s greatest works of art is one of the lesser known histories.  The Rape of Europa tells this complex tale and its resonating effects in a compelling and eloquent manner.  The film, released in [...]

Families murdered, judges assassinated, and a masterpiece ruined…in a tale fit for a Scorcese flick, Jonathan Jones spares none of the gruesome details surrounding one of the most notorious art crimes in history: the theft of Caravaggio’s “Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence.”
The masterpiece that may never be seen again [Jonathan Jones, Guardian UK]
Caravaggio, [...]

Conventional thought can mistake progress in art as linear. It can be confused with the scientific process, where advancements are made by drawing upon the knowledge of past studies. Masterpieces have always been distinguished by their expansion upon the influences of past works to create their own pure and original form of expression. Such [...]

OMNP reflects on an expert’s discussion of the Old Masters market, sponsored this past weekend at the Morgan Library in New York City by the ADAA (Art Dealer’s Association of America)

A look back at some of the atmosphere surrounding the bidding room floor during Old Masters week, this past January

With a little over a month one month to go, the deadline for Britain for preempting the sale of this prized Titian is beginning to loom larger. Even with a recent donation of $15 million from the National Heritage Memorial Fund , less than half of the required funds has been raised to meet the [...]

While the Hirst auction ended up being a defiant cash cow for Sotheby’s, channeling the artist’s aesthetics  through works like the Warhol print above couldn’t save the auction house from disappointing results from last week’s Contemporary sales.
Is a bleak one (at least for the short term).
As the maelstrom of turmoil affecting the international economy continues [...]

49m GBP to go..
Perhaps awash in patriotism after the recent save of one of its national treasures , the Art Fund announced last week that it will be donating £1 million GBP towards reclaiming the famous “Diana and Acteon” by Titian, which was recently announced as threatened to being put on the open market. Despite [...]

Giovanni Antonio Canal, known as Canaletto, “The mouth of the Grand Canal looking west towards the Carità,” c.1729-30
On the heels of the recent coverage of the Royal Collection’s current and upcoming exhibitions, OMNP came across some thoroughonline image archives/presentations of past shows at Buckingham Palace:
“The Later Flemish Pictures in the collection of her Majesty the [...]

A £5.7m bargain
The suspense presiding over the fate of Pieter Paul Ruben’s sketch “Apotheosis of James I”, as covered by OMNP here came to an end this week, as the UK was able to retain what was described as a “unique treasure in the history of British art” for half of its estimated value. Pooling [...]

OMNP lists a few more exhibitions hitting up the big museums in the US and Europe in the upcoming months. Links are below. Newslinks have been updated on the right, as well.
US
Exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook and other priceless Renaissance artifacts from the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in “Medieval and Renaissance [...]

Market issues, attractive purchases, and the opening of what looks to be an exquisite exhibition of Durer prints highlight OMNP’s weekend reading:
Buyer Beware, [Noah Charney, ART INFO]
This article was of particular interest to OMNP for its breakdown of the different types of forgery that inflict the art market. The concept of alteration forgery, for example [...]

As we round out this first month of the site, OMNP would like to ask you, the reader, what you would like to see published. Are there particular artists, OM or contemporary that interest you? Any particular subjects on the market that you would like to see covered, or OM-related questions that you would like [...]

OMNP previews Thursday’s Day and Evening sales of Old Master paintings at Sotheby’s, New Bond Street. Read below for a full breakdown and analysis of selected lots in three different price ranges (High End, Middle End, Low End.)
While it will probably not match the exorbitant price paid for Watteau’s “La Surprise” , OMNP’s choice for [...]

OMNP takes a look at Christie’s upcoming sales of Old Master paintings and British pictures, this Wednesday and Friday in London. Click MORE below for a full breakdown and analysis of selected lots in three different price ranges (High End, Middle End, Low End.) Click on each image to be redirected to Christie’s website [...]

OMNP offers up a preview of Wednesday’s Old Master Drawings sale at Sotheby’s, New Bond Street. Click MORE below for a full breakdown and analysis of selected lots in three different price ranges (High End, Middle End, Low End.) Click on each image to be redirected to Sotheby’s website for a full description of each [...]

OMNP takes an inside look on some of the highlights from Tuesday’s Old Master Drawings sale at Christie’s. Click MORE at the bottom for a full breakdown for select items in three different price ranges.