J.M.W Turner’s The Lake of Lucerne from Brunnen (c. 1840s)—one of the finest watercolours by the artist left in private hands—was sold for £2 million by Sotheby’s today (4 July). The stunning Swiss landscape, painted by Britain’s favourite artist, fetched among the highest prices paid for a watercolour by the artist. It was sold in the Old Master & British Works on Paper sale, whose proceeds totalled more than £5.5 million. Created in the final...
Sotheby’s London sold Portrait on a White Cover (2002-03) for £22.5m at its Evening Sale of Contemporary Art last night (26 June). It was the highest price ever paid for a Lucian Freud work on British soil, beating the artist’s previous record of £16.1m set by Pregnant Girl (1961) at Sotheby’s in February 2016. A late masterpiece, Portrait on a White Cover—painted when the artist was 80 years old—represents the culmination of Lucian Freud’s lifelong...
Sotheby’s and Victoria Beckham are staging a collaborative exhibition at the revered fashion designer’s contemporary Dover Street store in Mayfair, London. The exhibition, which opened on 22 June, features highlights from Sotheby’s 4 July Old Master Paintings sale. It is Victoria Beckham’s first collaboration with the international auction house and perhaps her most significant partnership since her duet with Dane Bowers. But it is not the first time the flagship store of her eponymous brand...
Julien’s Auctions has sold Han Solo’s Blaster from Return of the Jedi (Lucasfilm 1983) for almost half a million pounds. Julien’s says Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum purchased the blaster—whose sale topped the world-record-breaking auction house’s Hollywood Legends auction—for $550,000 (£415,000). The BlasTech DL-44 blaster was one of many items to go under the hammer at Julien’s Auctions Hollywood Legends sale at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Sunday (24 June)....
A portrait of Golden Muse by Picasso is among the paintings set to fetch millions at Sotheby’s London Impressionist and Modern Art Sale next week. The painting of Marie-Thérèse Walter is expected to sell for about £33 million at Sotheby’s months after a similar work went for almost £50 million. James Mackie, Sotheby’s head of Impressionist and Modern Art, said the scale of the 1932 oil painting, which is 1.1 metres by three-quarters of a...
Julien’s Auctions has announced a star-studded lineup for its HOLLYWOOD LEGENDS sale, taking place on June 23. Highlights from the auction, which will be held at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, will include an Ewok axe and Imperial Trooper blaster from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Marilyn Monroe’s black wool dress and Superman III’s full costume. Also on offer will be meteorologist Valerie Voss’ Playboy bunny costume, Hugh Hefner’s robe and Donald...
The record-breaking, the eclectic and the unique; we bring you the latest from the world’s most renowned auction houses with auction highlights. Dreamlike abstraction The Architect’s Home in the Ravine (1991) by Peter Doig fetched £13.2 million at a recent Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction. A fine example of Doig’s early oeuvre, The Architect’s Home in the Ravine depicts the home of Eberhard Zeidler, situated in the suburb of Rosedale in Toronto, Canada. This piece was...
A Sotheby’s auction will offer a stunning masterpiece by revered Italian sculptor Antonio Canova at its 4 July sale in London. Bust of Peace (1814), not seen in public for more than 200 years, is one of only a handful of autograph Canova works to ever come to market. The monumental work, first shown at the 1817 Royal Academy summer exhibition, was carved for Canova’s first British patron and close friend, John Campbell, Lord Cawdor....
Sotheby’s will auction an extremely rare Imperial porcelain vase as part of their sale of Asian art in Paris this June. Sotheby’s recently revealed the rediscovery of an extraordinary porcelain vase; an 18th century piece from Imperial China. The artefact was found in an attic in France and was consequently carried in a shoebox to the auction house in Paris in order for experts to survey it. Henry Howard-Sneyd, Sotheby’s Chairman of Asian Art in...
A third generation entrepreneur, Darren Julien has built his entire career around the auction industry. He cut his teeth at Sotheby’s and went on to establish Julien’s Auctions—today a globally recognised brand. In an Arts & Collections exclusive, he talks predictions, new technology and how to avoid potential provenance pitfalls. Memorabilia’s global appeal It’s no secret that, in recent years, auction houses have expanded into new markets abroad. Russian oligarchs and wealthy Asians now enjoy unfettered...
