Art News. Vasari Codex

trending_up market schedule Jul 7, 2025 visibility 11 link 13 artists, 2 galleries

londons old masters week sees rare works sell and mid market paintings struggle

Christie's, Sotheby's, and Bonhams held Old Masters auctions in London, with Christie's achieving a record £31.9 million ($43.7 million) sale for Canaletto's *Venice, the Return of the Bucintoro on Ascension Day* (circa 1732), more than half the sale's total of £60.8 million. The painting, once owned by Robert Walpole, set a new auction record for the artist. Sotheby's evening sale brought in £14.5 million, with J.M.W. Turner's rediscovered *The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent's Rock, Bristol* (1792) selling for £1.9 million, seven times its estimate. However, mid-market paintings struggled, and the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery failed to acquire the Turner despite fundraising £109,000.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 8, 2025 visibility 17 link 6 artists

manny davidson collection sale results sothebys paris

Sotheby’s Paris raised €18.6 million ($21.5 million) from two live sales of the Manny Davidson collection this week, with a third online sale still ongoing. The collection, spanning nearly 500 lots, included rediscovered Old Masters, 18th-century gold enamel, and an automaton clock by James Cox. Highlights included Michael Sweerts’s *A young man wearing a turban holding an upturned roemer: the fingernail test* (1648–52), which sold for €1.6 million, and Joshua Reynolds’s *Self-Portrait, in doctoral robes* (ca. 1770), which fetched €838,200. The evening sale achieved 83% sell-through by lot, with most buyers from Europe and a third from the US.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 6, 2025 visibility 14 link 3 artists

manny davidson collection sale sothebys paris

Sotheby's Paris is selling "The Manny Davidson Collection: A Life in Treasures and Benevolence," a multi-owner sale of nearly 500 lots spanning Old Masters, 19th-century British paintings, 18th-century gold enamel, and decorative objects. Highlights include a rediscovered Michael Sweerts portrait estimated at €800,000–€1.2 million, a Thomas de Keyser portrait of a silversmith, and a Joshua Reynolds self-portrait study. The sale, which includes an evening auction on November 5 and an online component, was previewed by Sotheby's global head of private sales, Old Masters, Chloe Stead.

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trending_up market schedule Jul 3, 2025 visibility 16 link 13 artists

turner rediscovered masterpiece auction

A rediscovered oil painting by J.M.W. Turner, titled *The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent’s Rock, Bristol*, sold for £1.9 million ($2.6 million) at Sotheby’s Old Masters and 19th Century Paintings evening auction in London—more than six times its high estimate. The work, painted in 1792 when Turner was 17, had been misattributed and sold for just $506 at a Dreweatts auction the previous year. After cleaning revealed Turner’s signature, scholars confirmed its authenticity, and it was identified as Turner’s first publicly exhibited oil painting, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1793. The winning bidder was a private collector in the U.K., outbidding Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, which had raised over £100,000 from donors in a failed attempt to acquire the work.

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trending_up market schedule Dec 5, 2025 visibility 14 link 6 artists

tudor portrait auction record

A 16th-century portrait of Thomas Howard, the 4th Duke of Norfolk, by Hans Eworth sold for £3.2 million ($4.2 million) at Sotheby’s Old Masters sale in London on December 4, setting a record as the most expensive Elizabethan portrait ever sold. The painting was purchased by the art advisory Clore Wyndham on behalf of the Duke of Norfolk and the trustees of Arundel Castle, where it will be displayed. The work, painted in 1562, depicts Norfolk at the height of his political power, dressed in opulent Tudor fashion, and is one of only two known portraits of him.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 9, 2025 visibility 13 link 3 artists

lost turner auction sothebys london

One of J.M.W. Turner's earliest oil paintings, *The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent's Rock, Bristol*, painted when he was 17, will be auctioned at Sotheby's London with an estimate of £200,000–£300,000. The work had been misattributed for decades and sold last year at Dreweatts for just £600–£800 as a work by a follower of Julius Caesar Ibbetson, before cleaning revealed Turner's signature. The painting was originally exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1793 and had not been publicly displayed for 167 years.

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trending_up market schedule Jul 4, 2025 visibility 14 link 16 artists

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

At Sotheby's Old Master paintings evening sale in London on July 2, a Turner painting purchased last year for £500 sold for nearly £2 million, highlighting the sector's resilience. The auction achieved £11.5 million hammer total (£14.5m with fees), with 81% of lots sold, including a rediscovered 14th-century Byzantine icon that far exceeded estimates and three new artist records for Lorenzo di Credi, Corneille de Lyon, and others. The sale contrasted with Christie's previous evening's £46.2 million total driven by a record Canaletto.

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trending_up market schedule Jun 9, 2025 visibility 12 link 2 artists

Newly attributed Turner painting, last sold for £500, goes under the hammer at Sotheby's with £300,000 estimate

A painting attributed to JMW Turner, titled *The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent’s Rock, Bristol*, is set to be auctioned at Sotheby’s London on 2 July with an estimate of £200,000–£300,000. The work was sold last year at Dreweatts Donnington Priory for just £524.80, then catalogued as a follower of Julius Caesar Ibbetson. After a collector purchased it and arranged restoration, Turner’s signature was uncovered, and leading Turner scholars unanimously endorsed the attribution. The painting, made in 1792 when Turner was 17, depicts Hot Wells House in Bristol and was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1793.

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