After the encouraging results of Christie’s sale on Tuesday night, Sotheby’s follow up on Wednesday was an uneven one (20 of the 54 lots did not sell,) yet overall, produced some spectacular surprises. The market’s connoisseurship once again demonstrated that value is not necessarily found in a big name-two of top selling lots were [...]

So where exactly are you parking your millions of dollars during the recession? Apparently, buying an Old Master painting is a good bet- Christie’s first major Old Masters sale since the September financial collapse, sold 80% of its lots last night.
The small rediscovered portrait of “Flora” by Venetian master Giambattista Tiepolo more than tripled [...]

OMNP previews select lots from Christie’s London sale of Old Master paintings on Tuesday, December 2rd.
An excellent Breughel work, comparable to Sotheby’s showcase lot on Wednesday, is being estimated by Christie’s at under $1m USD
Rediscovered Masterpiece by Tiepolo Goes on Public View at Christie’s [Art Knowledge]

Previous reading:
Upcoming Old Masters Auctions [Old Masters, New Perspectives]
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For [...]

A few articles leading up to this weeks Old Master sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s. Will the market’s softening extend itself to the market, or will history repeat itself? From Margaret Studer’s article below:
“In the last major art-market slowdown, in the early 1990s, old masters were “affected, but less,” says Alex Bell, world-wide head [...]

Mystery portrait is Lucrezia Borgia, claims gallery [Ellen Connolly, Guardian UK]
A rather scandalous story lies behind this portrait, claimed to be of the illegitimate child of Cardinal Borgia, by the Northern Renaissance master Dosso Dossi
Missing Van Dyck Portrait to go on show at Tate Britain [Art Daily] [Tate Museum]
Lost painting by Italian master fails to [...]

OMNP previews today’s auction affordable Old Master paintings at Christie’s Milan. The drawbacks of the Italian Old Master market also reveal its strengths-while export restrictions keep this market rather tame-the sheer richness of available material within its borders still allows for many quality works by lesser known painters to come to the block. Click MORE [...]

The Winter Old Master sales in London are steadily approaching with a fair amount of anticipation in light of the art market’s recent struggles. Following the strong results of this past July, will the Old Master market be less affected by recent economic downturn? Click MORE for a basic rundown of some the notable upcoming [...]

Unearthed Masterpieces
Old Masters treasures from sunken Russian ship to be salvaged [Russia IC] [Dutch News.nl]
Lets hope that the paintings from this sunken, 237 year-old ship were WELL packaged
Trove of Raeburn drawings discovered in England [ART INFO]
Lost Caravaggio Goes on Display in Scotland [ART INFO]
Click MORE for a remembrance of a distinguished dealer, and the latest [...]

Restoration, attribution, and temporary replacement happen are respective occurrences for different museum masterpieces:
Raphael’s Masterpiece “Madonna of the Goldfinch” Presented Fully Restored After Ten Years [Art Daily]
A before and after look at the recently restored Raphael

Veronese at Austin Museum Belongs to Long-Lost Altarpiece [ART INFO]

Lucian Freud portrait hangs beside Old Masters after collector fills gallery gap [...]

Following up on the previews of Old Master exhibitions in Europe earlier last month, OMNP follows up with comprehensive coverage of some of the major shows, along with a rundown of those recently announced, both in the US and abroad.

Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian, now on view until January 18, at the UK National [...]

The more things change, the more they stay the same..Amidst all the fervor regarding the art market’s highs and lows-Old Masters, as they did during the last serious decline of the market in the early 90’s, are poised to emerge as a source of stability. The strong performance of Bonham’s premier OMP auction late last [...]

 
Proceeds from the sales of this Degas pastel and "Suprematist Composition" by Kasimir Malevich are two surefire bets that Sotheby’s will be counting on to keep them afloat this fall.
As an economic recession looms larger, the future prosperity of the art market remains very much of a concern. OMNP continues its earlier coverage with further [...]

Lot 2: Veneto School “Annunciation Scene”: A meek estimate around $3,000-4,000 USD is being put on this captivating piece from the 15th century
OMNP previews today’s auction of lower priced Old Master paintings at Bonham’s Knightsbridge in London. It will be interesting to see how collecting interest plays out here-this sale follows the strong results of [...]

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 [...]

In the age of the blockbuster exhibition, museums pack the crowds with exhibitions that present popular, headlining-grabbing artists. Two recent Old Masters shows demonstrate how this curatorial approach can sometimes produce stimulating results and at other times, head-scratching ones.
Turner to be compared to Masters [BBC]
“Turner and the Masters” [Tate Britian official website]
On the heels [...]

For the Old World, cultural pride is regularly reinvigorated when historic paintings threaten to skip across a country’s borders. In a less restrictive marketplace such as the UK, prices for top-flight Old Masters are at a premium, and owners of works that have come to symbolize the country’s rich artistic heritage have considered cashing in. [...]

After a week or so off, a few links/announcements to run down:
First, a site update: “Why Collect Old Masters?” has been added to the page section below, in the left hand column. This page discusses the collecting advantages of the Old Master market; .pdf and .doc formats will be available for download shortly.
In other news:

“Marriage [...]

OMNP recently spent a Friday afternoon with the charming Hugo Nathan, a young Old Masters dealer who presides over the New York branch of Dickinson-Roundell-a prestigious dealing partnership in the field for the past two decades. Mr. Nathan was recently responsible for the gallery’s exhibition, Devotio Moderno, a show that caught OMNP’s eye for it’s [...]

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 [...]