Old Masters

The Big Review: Vermeer at the Rijksmuseum ★★★★★

A less-is-more approach to the biggest ever exhibition of the Dutch Old Master’s paintings makes this blockbuster a triumph

Diaryblog

The curious case of Madonna and the missing Old Master

Mayor of Amiens in France asks pop star to loan work believed to be by Jérôme-Martin Langlois, spotted in a photograph of her home

Restituted, record-setting Bronzino and gruesome Rubens lead Sotheby’s Old Masters sales in New York

The auction house’s four-part auction extravaganza was a decidedly mixed bag, bringing a total of $74.5m across 124 lots

Record-breaking Goya portraits lead the way at Christie’s muted $62.7m Old Masters auctions in New York

Despite works the collection of film producer Jacqui Eli Safra that were enticingly offered with no reserves, the auction house’s two marquee sales fell short of expectations

Take four—Naples exhibition curators attribute a new quartet of works to Artemisia Gentileschi

Organisers of Gallerie d’Italia show have given full attributions to four works on loan from public and private collections in the US and UK

Was a Vienna auction's €6,000 'copy' of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling actually by Michelangelo?

My heart-stopping research saga to find out if Dorotheum’s part-painted cartoon by a "follower" was in fact a sleeper

Crime news

Following his arrest in Italy, Old Master forgery suspect Giuliano Ruffini is turned over to French authorities

After seven years of investigations, Ruffini has been handed over to French authorities, likely setting the stage for a trial in Paris

Brexit woes contribute to slim Old Master sales in London

Nonetheless, buoyed by the Grasset collection, Sotheby's posted its best results in six seasons and Christie's sale was up 26% up on last December

Old Mastersanalysis

Old Masters need reinventing to avoid being frozen out

Last year, European Old Masters represented just 4% of the world’s $26.3bn art auction sales. In our contemporary-obsessed world, we’re just not paying them enough attention

Damaged Salvator Mundi copy by unknown artist sells for €1m at Christie's

Dated to a century after Leonardo's death, the work does not come from the artist's studio

Auctionspreview

From a Dutch Golden Age still-life to a Nobel Prize medal: our pick of the highlights from December's sales

Plus, a Modernist landscape by Ferdinand Hodler and a sumptuous Old Masters Madonna

In time for Christmas: London's National Gallery unveils newly-restored Piero della Francesca nativity scene

Painstaking restoration of Italian master’s revered painting reveals its full glory once more

Did Leonardo da Vinci's studio produce two Salvator Mundis in parallel?

Martin Clayton, the Royal Collection Trust's head of prints and drawings presented his research at a major conference in Leipzig

Crime news

Suspected Old Master forger Giuliano Ruffini—wanted by French police—cannot be found

The French dealer, who is under investigation for selling a series of allegedly forged paintings, has had a warrant out for his arrest since 2019

Five years since the $450m Salvator Mundi sale: a first-hand account of the nonsensical auction

At the record-breaking sale at Christie's New York on 15 November 2017, the audience gasped and whooped as if they were at a very exclusive firework display

Oil sketch in Dutch museum could be by Rembrandt, says art historian

The work, housed at The Hague's Museum Bredius, will now undergo further study by Rijksmuseum experts

How did a clergyman come to own hundreds of Edward Hopper works? We delve into the Whitney's archive controversy

Plus, a horror show in London and a Flemish masterpiece in Bruges

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall
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Divorcing collectors to sell Old Masters trove at Sotheby’s in New York, led by $25m early Rubens

Ten works from the collection of Mark Fisch and Rachel Davidson will be on offer during the Master’s Week sales in January

Titiannews

A painting marketed as 'by Titian'—but also attributed to his workshop—will be offered at Sotheby's in December for £8m

The work, which could become the second-most expensive by the painter at auction, failed to sell in 1998

Van Dyck or copies? The curious case of the socialite, the scholar and the Old Masters

Plus, Joan Mitchell and Claude Monet at the Fondation Louis Vuitton and England's Tudors head to New York

Hosted by Ben Luke. Produced by David Clack, Aimee Dawson and Henrietta Bentall
Sponsored byChristie's

Old Master upgrades: how dealer James Stunt's ‘sleepers’ became autograph Van Dycks worth millions

Georgina Adam and Mark Hollingsworth investigate a troubling case of serial reattributions, showing how easily scholarly “opinion” translates into financial fact

Auctionsanalysis

Digging deep for Old Master treasures: mixed results at London sales as dearth of 'good material' continues

Christie's made a perky £28.1m while Sotheby's raised only £7.1m—a dramatic drop from pre-pandemic totals

Galleries bring out their prized works for first Tefaf Maastricht since pandemic—but sales are slower than usual

Dealers say that the two-year gap between the Dutch fair's editions has helped galleries to bring higher quality works

Book Clubinterview

Old Master meets YBAs: James Cahill tells us all about his debut novel

The author explains why his new coming-of-age novel is set against the backdrop of the 1990s art world and what drew him to the paintings of the titular Tiepolo

Why take binoculars on your next museum visit? You might solve an art history mystery

An unattributed painting in Lincolnshire's Burghley House bears a striking resemblance to the work of Hans Eworth

America's racial reckoning: inside the controversial Guston show

Plus, London's new Queer Britain museum and a rediscovered work by Caterina Angela Pierozzi

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Review: Does the Whitney Biennial really reflect the world today?

Plus, the exhibition Afro-Atlantic Histories opens in Washington and Raphael's late self-portrait at London's National Gallery

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Newly attributed Michelangelo drawing expected to make €30m at Christie’s Paris next month

Formerly attributed to “the school of Michelangelo”, experts now say the nude sketch is by the master's own hand

Louvre suspends sale of Chardin's record-breaking strawberries

The French museum is now seeking funds to buy the still-life painting, which was sold last week by Artcurial to a US dealer for €24.3m