Flaky winning bids are knocking the gloss off record-breaking sales

$450m Salvator Mundi sale too late to be included in new book, The Orange Balloon Dog, but would have filled several chapters, economist says

We talk Titian, Constable, Veneziano, Wright of Derby, Van Dyck and, yes, Leonardo, with art historian Bendor Grosvenor. And we get Judd Tully’s views on Miami’s annual art fair.

Gesture consolidates close political alliance between Saudi Arabia and the UAE

Rothschild's El Greco, a candlelit scene by Joseph Wright of Derby and an out of season crucifixion scene lead pre-Christmas sales

Slick marketing produced stupendous sale price for Salvator Mundi, but it sparked revulsion as well as elation

Martin Gammon on the historical precedents of the $450m sale

Rumour mill has gone into overdrive over record-breaking auction

Export bar placed on plush piece with asking price of more than £480,000

A growing number of women are appearing on the rostrum and taking senior auctioneer roles

Thomas Campbell posted an image of the Salvator Mundi before conservation, triggering a row with its former co-owner Robert Simon and Christie’s Loic Gouzer

BUM was created just before Boty died of cancer aged 28 in 1966

How the art sale of the century happened, with Judd Tully, our man in the salesroom. Plus, a new museum in Indonesia

Despite buy-ins, the sale saw several strong prices and records below the dizzy height of $450.3m for Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi

Price makes it the most expensive painting of all time

Painting is being presented by Christie’s as the “Holy Grail of Old Master paintings”

Pre-auction assessment offers evidence that painting is original Leonardo but also reveals problems posed by painting’s wooden panel

Salvator Mundi will break Old Master auction record as seller dispute rumbles on

Pent-up demand for top material kicks off New York's key auction week, with a $81.3m Van Gogh and records for Léger, Magritte, Man Ray and Vuillard

Discretionary sellers gain confidence in the market and Christie's leads its contemporary sale with Da Vinci—but recent overreaches sound a cautionary note

At HK$294.3m, the Ru ware piece set a record for a Chinese ceramic at Sotheby's during Hong Kong's busy autumn auction and fair series

Market’s appetite shows no signs of flagging for fresh works that are correctly priced

Christie’s moves October auction to London as rival plans first sale in the UAE

In 2014 we noted that market speculation can offer rich rewards, but in the long term, it may do collectors more harm than good