Latest News Articles by Alex Capon
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Sotheby’s fend off Caravaggio claim
16 January 2015A High Court judge has dismissed a claim made against Sotheby’s surrounding the sale of a disputed version of Caravaggio’s ‘The Card Sharps’.
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£27m record for Mr Turner at Sotheby’s
08 December 2014The outstanding lot of the latest Old Master auction series in London, ‘Rome, from Mount Aventine’ by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851), was knocked down at £27m at Sotheby’s evening sale, setting a record price for the artist.
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O’Keeffe sets $39.5m female artist record
24 November 2014New York has witnessed some spectacular auction prices of late and another came last week as ‘Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1’ by Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) was knocked down at $39.5m (£26.3m) at Sotheby’s American art sale.
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Warhol’s Elvis helps Contemporary art frenzy reach record levels
17 November 2014Christie’s latest evening sale of Contemporary art in New York posted a premium-inclusive total of $852.9m (£557.4m), a new record for any auction.
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Giacometti’s Chariot leads the charge at Sotheby’s $370m record sale
10 November 2014Works by Édouard Manet, Vincent van Gogh, Alberto Giacometti and Amedeo Modigliani were the highlights of the latest series of Impressionist & Modern art series in New York.
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Caravaggio case – Sotheby’s come out fighting
03 November 2014The opening salvos have been fired in the court case centred on the version of Caravaggio’s ‘The Card Sharps’ which sold at Sotheby’s in 2006.
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Frieze week auctions set £197m total
23 October 2014The Contemporary art auctions staged during London’s Frieze week showed no signs of letting up as the bidding took little account of the stockmarkets that were nosediving at the same time.
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A fitting memorial at CSK
09 September 2014This memorial design featuring a magnificent peacock resting on a bier and surrounded by myrtle leaves was painted by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones in 1886 following the tragic death of Laura Lyttelton, a friend of the artist who died a few days after giving birth to a son.
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Ravilious discovery among highlights in the regions
29 August 2014With the new auction season kicking off in September, plenty of pictures will be going under the hammer over the next few weeks and, naturally, there are a few stars that have come to light across the regions.
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Sotheby’s auction totals up but private sales fall
18 August 2014Sotheby’s figures for the first half of 2014 saw a significant increase in auction totals help them to a 20% rise in operating income compared to the equivalent period last year.
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Artist’s studio records top hits with scenes of 1930s funfair
15 August 2014When dispersing the contents of an artist’s studio, there is always the question of whether to sell the works all in one go or drip them onto the market over a longer period of time.
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Matania lots give boost to Yorkshire sale
17 July 2014Twenty lots comprising works by Anglo-Italian artist Fortunino Matania will be offered at the upcoming fine art sale being held by Tennants of Leyburn, North Yorkshire.
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Old Master series boosted by sale of key collections
14 July 2014While two of the top prices of the London auctions last week came for ancient sculptures – the £14m Old Kingdom Egyptian limestone statue at Christie’s and the £8.3m for the Roman marble of Aphrodite (c.41-54AD) at Sotheby’s – there was also a bumper run of Old Master and British picture sales.
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Bacon triptych tops contemporary sales
07 July 2014The total from last week’s Contemporary art auctions in London may have been a far cry from the record New York series in May where $1.57bn (£975m) of art changed hands, but there was still plenty of action as the market continued on its current buoyant course.
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Mixed fortunes but Monet in the money at flagship London art sales
30 June 2014One of Claude Monet’s paintings from his celebrated Water Lilies series led a slightly mixed round of Impressionist & Modern art auctions in London last week.
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Holman Hunt sells below estimate but still sets auction record
24 June 2014Consigned by the debt-ridden Delaware Museum of Art, Isabella and the Pot of Basil by William Holman Hunt (1827-1910) was the top lot of Christie’s sale of Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite and British Impressionist art in London last week.
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Munnings hunting scene is hotly pursued in Salisbury
16 June 2014When it comes to 20th century sporting pictures, there is no bigger name than Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959). Earlier this month, a sale at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury sale saw the consignment of certainly one of the more notable works by the Mendham, Suffolk-born artist to have appeared in the regions over recent times.
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Lowry’s view of Manchester takes £2m at Sotheby’s
13 June 2014A painting of a well-known location in Manchester by L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) led the latest sale of Modern & Post-War British Art at Sotheby’s.
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No end to desire for Russell Flints
28 May 2014An instantly recognisable William Russell Flint (1880-1969) watercolour drew a strenuous competition at Mallams in Oxford last week.
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Fresh British pictures on the US starting line
23 May 2014Two market-fresh British pictures consigned from a private American collection to Ahlers & Ogletree’s upcoming auction make a significant addition to the 1000-plus lots being offered at the Atlanta saleroom.