Latest News Articles by Alex Capon
Export bar for Niagara Falls picture as Ed Vaizey hopes to keep early watercolour in UK
21 August 2015The UK government has placed a temporary export bar on the earliest known on-the-spot depiction of Niagara Falls which sold at Christie’s South Kensington earlier this year.
Mitchells of Cockermouth to sell treasure trove owned by an artists’ champion
18 August 2015An impressive collection of pictures, studio pottery, furniture, personal effects and letters has been consigned to auctioneers Mitchells of Cockermouth from the estate of Mary Burkett, former director of Abbot Hall art gallery in Kendal.
Sotheby’s weaker results show effects of painting ‘anomaly’
17 August 2015Sotheby’s share price dropped by over 8% earlier this month after the company posted some weaker-than-expected second quarter results.
Provincial museums purchase prize paintings
07 August 2015A large marine painting by Charles Napier Hemy (1841-1917) showing oyster fishing off the Exmoor coast has been bought by The Museum of Somerset.
Lord Ashcroft buys secret agent Violette Szabό’s George Cross medal group at £260,000
23 July 2015The George Cross medal group awarded to Second World War heroine Violette Szabό has sold for £260,000 at London auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb.
Leighton’s study for Flaming June takes £135,000 at Sotheby’s
17 July 2015A study for one of Frederic, Lord Leighton’s (1830-1896) greatest paintings sold to an American private collector for £135,000 at Sotheby’s sale of Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite and British Impressionist Art.
Godward’s dancer heads to online auction house
16 July 2015The online auction house Fine Art Bourse (FAB) has announced a major consignment for its first sale in September. An Ionian Dancer by John William Godward (1861-1922) will be offered with $300,000-400,000 estimate.
Stanley Gibbons buy online wine auctioneer
16 July 2015The Stanley Gibbons Group has bought online wine trading platform Bid for Wine.
Coastal landscape by Richard Parkes Bonington tops Christie’s Old Master auction
09 July 2015A rare painting by Richard Parkes Bonington (1802-1828) that had hung in the Prime Minister’s residence at 10, Downing Street for nine years led Christie’s evening sale of Old Master & British paintings in London.
Cranach the Elder leads Sotheby’s Old Master sale at £8.2m
08 July 2015Sotheby’s evening sale of Old Master and British paintings was led by Lucas Cranach the Elder’s La Bocca della Verità (The Mouth of Truth) which made a major auction record when it was knocked down at £8.2m.
Contemporary art week: some bumps on the record road
06 July 2015The latest series of Contemporary art auctions in London posted a bumper total despite the failure of some big-ticket lots.
Rare Franz Sedlacek oil blooms at £85,000
02 July 2015An oil on panel by Franz Sedlacek (1891-1945), an Austrian artist prominent in the Vienna Secession group of painters, drew international bidding at Toovey’s of Washington, West Sussex.
Restituted works headline Impressionist and Modern art auction series
29 June 2015A group of restituted paintings were among the highlights of a robust series of Impressionist and Modern art auctions in London.
Klimt portrait tops Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern art sale at £22m
24 June 2015A couple of recently restituted works of art drew prolonged bidding at Sotheby’s evening sale of Impressionist and Modern art in London including Gustav Klimt's (1862-1918) portrait of Gertrud Loew which was the top lot of the night at £22m.
Constable family portrait rediscovered
24 June 2015In the 1984 book ‘The Late Paintings and Drawings of John Constable’ by Graham Reynolds, a pencil drawing of the back and shoulders of the artist’s wife Mrs Maria Constable (nee Bicknell) is described as ‘whereabouts unknown’.
Gainsborough sketch surfaces in Ruislip
15 June 2015Auctioneers Bainbridges of Ruislip are selling a chalk and gouache drawing attributed to Thomas Gainsborough.
Thin sales indicate slump in Russian market
08 June 2015The slump in the Russian art market was laid bare last week. The total for the latest auction series in London was a third of the equivalent sales in 2014.
Ashmolean launches campaign to secure Turner’s view of Oxford
05 June 2015The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has launched a public campaign to raise the funds needed to secure JMW Turner's The High Street, Oxford.
Newly discovered Thomas Girtin watercolour of London knocked down at £125,000
02 June 2015Found in the attic of a large Welsh house, this watercolour by Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) of St Paul’s Cathedral drew dramatic competition at Chorley’s sale in Gloucestershire.
It’s not over yet: the continuing saga of the ‘six sixes’ cricket ball
01 June 2015A new twist has emerged in the long-running story of the ‘six sixes’ cricket ball.