Old Masters

Artemisia Gentileschi, Michelangelo and Rembrandt bring new energy and records to New York's Old Masters sales

The week's sales also saw a near-record for a Canaletto painting and a seven-figure result for a 15th-century Hebrew illuminated manuscript

US National Gallery of Art acquires important Artemisia Gentileschi painting

The Baroque master’s “Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy”, which sold at auction for €865,500 in 2014, will go on display in Washington, DC, later this month

American poet Stanley Moss's passion for Old Masters comes to the fore at Sotheby's

The acclaimed poet, who died in 2024, was “a unique figure" who combined collecting and selling art with writing and publishing literature

Dürer ‘copy’ at London’s National Gallery is the real thing, expert claims

In a new book, German scholar Christof Metzger also argues that a portrait in Vienna is ten years older than thought

Frankfurt’s Städel Museum announces ‘momentous’ acquisition of Altenberg Madonna

The museum describes the purchase of the 14th-century Madonna sculpture as “one of the most significant acquisitions in its history”

Comment | Tate Britain’s Turner and Constable show got me thinking about Marxist art history

On a recent trip to London, Bendor Grosvenor enjoyed the buzz of the Old Masters auctions but bemoaned Tate’s exhibition labels

First-ever oil painting depicting an artist at work to star in female Old Master exhibition

Catharina van Hemessen’s self-portrait will be presented at the National Gallery, as interest in early women painters grows

Comment | Lessons of the Contessa: do we need special laws for spoliated art in private collections?

Following the rediscovery of Nazi looted work in an Argentinian home, Alexander Herman asks how the art market can sufficiently root out toxic provenance

Miniature Michelangelo drawing—identified as a study for the Sistine Chapel—heads to Christie's

The newly attributed, five-inch-tall sketch of a foot has an estimate of $1.5m to $2m

Art marketinterview

'Age alone does not guarantee value': Thomas S. Kaplan is showing his Dutch Old Master collection in US for first time

The collector behind the Leiden Collection talks about the upcoming exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art, and why you will not find any of the works in his home

Police hunt for Old Master painting looted by Nazis after it appears in Argentinian property advert

Eagle-eyed Dutch journalists spotted what is believed to be ‘Portrait of a Lady’ by 18th-century Italian artist Giuseppe Ghislandi in a photo—but the work has quickly disappeared once more

Turner painting bought last year for £500 sells for almost £2m at Sotheby's

The Old Master sale on Wednesday night totalled £14.5m, led by a record price of £2.7m for Florentine artist Lorenzo di Credi

New world record for Canaletto as view of Venice sells for £31.9m

The painting, once owned by Britain’s first prime minister, Robert Walpole, was sold during Christie's £55m Old Master sale in London tonight, alongside works by Constable, Willem Key and Gerrit Dou

Rediscovered Artemisia Gentileschi painting offered for sale in London for £1m to £2m

David with the Head of Goliath, fully attributed to the artist in 2020, will headline Sotheby's Old Master evening auction on 2 July

Art marketanalysis

Sotheby’s $51.8m Saunders collection falls short, but still breaks Old Masters record

The sale achieved a 62% sell through rate and made new auction records for Luis Meléndez and Frans Post

Lacma acquires self-portrait by long-overlooked female Old Master

Virginia Vezzi's "Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria" is one of the 112 pieces acquired during the museum's annual Collectors Committee Weekend

Getty Museum acquires painting by Spanish Renaissance master Luis de Morales following extensive conservation

The painting, “Christ Carrying the Cross”, from around 1565, had been enlarged in the 18th century, work the Getty’s conservators had to painstakingly undo

Art marketanalysis

Is the declining value of Old Masters due to a lack of education?

Tefaf Maastricht, which holds its 38th edition this month, is attempting to teach audiences about pre-20th century art. But brand obsession among young buyers and a global education crisis are creating barriers to its appreciation

The Saunders collection will be a real test of the Old Master market

Due to be sold at Sotheby's New York in May, the group of works includes pieces by Guardi and Canaletto and is billed as the "most valuable single-owner collection of Old Master paintings ever to appear at auction"

Sotheby's secures most valuable single owner collection of Old Master paintings to come to auction

Around 60 works estimated for a total of $80m to $120m from the collection of Jordan and Thomas A. Saunders will be offered in New York this May

New York Old Masters sales fall just short of expectations at Christie’s and Sotheby’s amid ‘tough’ market

At this year’s winter auctions, the two big houses saw ‘a mixed bag and mixed results’

Classic Art London rises from the ashes of London Art Week

After the Old Master focused gallery trail was forced to wind down due to lack of funding, a new visitor engagement effort is launching this summer

Christie's pulls El Greco work from sale after Romanian government intervenes

Romanian prime minister Marcel Ciolacu said a legal team is pursuing the recovery of the painting once owned by King Carol I of Romania

Wherever its sales are based, the Old Master market is in good health

The art market has not left London but it does seem to be leaving, and anyone watching sales in Paris can see where it has begun to shift

Was Cimabue the true father of the Italian Renaissance? New restoration reveals pivotal innovations

The Louvre’s conservation of La Maestà sheds new light on the painter’s techniques and influences

MFA Boston's Old Master paintings could bring up to $3.8m at auction

The deaccessioned works, to be offered at Christie's in New York, include 17 pieces by Dutch and Flemish artists from the 17th century

£10m Botticelli leads London's pre-Christmas Old Master sales

Nine bidders competed for the 15th century painting of a Virgin and child at Sotheby's, while Zoffany, Tiepolo and Van Dyck topped auctions at Bonhams and Christie's

Sportfeature

The beautiful game? Untangling the tricky relationship between art and football

The sport has a rich historical connection to visual culture but a new trend to immortalise the living presents interesting challenges

Two-for-one: double-sided Van Dyck to be sold at Christie's

An Andalusian horse was last sold at the auction house in 2000, after which another landscape was discovered, hidden on the back

US election, the glory of Siena, Gabrielle Goliath — podcast

What is at stake for the US cultural sector as the nation chooses its next president? Plus, a tour of 14th-century Sienese masterpieces and a conversation with Goliath about her ongoing video series Mango Blossoms