Latest News Articles by Alex Capon
Results for Taubman collection question level of guarantee
09 November 2015The hefty guarantee paid out by Sotheby’s to secure the Alfred Taubman collection meant the stakes were running high for the first and most financially crucial tranche of the four-part auction staged at Sotheby’s New York.
No cut-price deal as £35m Rembrandt stays in UK
02 November 2015A Rembrandt portrait sold in a £35m private sale negotiated by Sotheby’s will be staying in the UK after the overseas buyer withdrew their application to export the painting.
Hepworth’s Orkney sculpture heads to its ‘natural home’
26 October 2015A small Dame Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975) sculpture bought at a Christie’s auction by The Pier Arts Centre in Orkney has now gone on display.
Christie’s to shake up NY calendar
19 October 2015Christie’s have announced a new themed week of sales in New York next April.
Constable sketch brings £252,000 in Exeter
13 October 2015A John Constable (1776-1837) oil sketch drew prolonged competition at the latest auction held at Exeter saleroom Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.
A shock to the senses: New Jersey sleeper thought to be early Rembrandt
07 October 2015This painting, found by John Nye of Bloomfield, New Jersey saleroom Nye & Company Auctions leaning up against a cellar wall, became one of the sleepers of the year on September 22.
A second turn of The Lock – Constable heads to Sotheby’s with £8-12m estimate
06 October 2015Three years after Christie’s sold an earlier version for £20m, a second version of John Constable’s (1776-1837) The Lock is being offered at Sotheby’s Old Master & British Paintings Sale on December 9.
Modigliani nude to be auctioned at Christie’s New York pitched at $100m
07 September 2015Christie’s have announced a major highlight for the upcoming New York auction series. They are offering Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu couché (Reclining Nude) which they have estimated at in excess of $100m.
Sotheby’s guarantee $500m Alfred Taubman collection
07 September 2015The collection of the late A Alfred Taubman is to be offered in a series of sales in New York, starting this autumn.
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.