Latest News Articles by Jonathan Franks
Putting Berlin on the Islamic globe
29 June 2020The sky was (almost) the limit at the recent sale at Bassenge (28% buyer’s premium) in Berlin when an Islamic celestial globe came up for sale.
Munch's moonlight woodcut emerges from shadows
29 June 2020Edvard Munch returned to the subject 'Woman in Moonlight – The Voice' on several occasions.
Poster showing life on the ocean waves sails into saleroom
29 June 2020A memento of the last great age of transatlantic ocean travel can be found at the sale of Peter Karbstein in Düsseldorf on July 11.
Dietrich’s flower study blooms in Munich
29 June 2020It is thought that the German artist Adelheid Dietrich (1827-91), renowned for her incredibly detailed still-lifes of fruit and flowers, completed only 50 paintings during her career.
Coecke van Aelst sends right note to Old Masters market
29 June 2020Vienna saleroom Dorotheum (28/25/22/18% buyer’s premium) was hoping to send a positive signal for the art market from its latest Old Master sale.
Webb’s ‘incomplete’ view of Cologne to go on display at city's town hall following auction
29 June 2020For 300 years, from the 1520s to the 1820s, the great Gothic cathedral in Cologne remained unfinished – the building overshadowed by a large crane, which for centuries dominated the panorama on the banks of the Rhine.
Nusser’s legacy at Munich saleroom
29 June 2020In April this year, the founder of the auction house Nusser in Munich, Ursula Nusser, died aged just 66.
German auction house Nagel begins insolvency process but remains operating as coronavirus hits trade
23 June 2020Nagel in Stuttgart, which has been trading since 1922, has been so severely affected by the coronavirus lockdown that it has begun an insolvency process.
Pocket previews
15 June 2020Dual time zones watches first came into fashion in France, where they were used to show both ‘time’ in the traditional manner and also Revolutionary time, a short-lived idea based on the decimal system.
Pick of the week: The bones of a fine Old Master drawing
08 June 2020A black chalk drawing of a skeleton drew an extraordinary competition at a German auction house Lempertz at the end of last month. Estimated at €3000-3500, it attracted at least 15 bidders and was eventually knocked down at €420,000 (£381,820) to a French dealer.
Presentation box pays tribute to earlier kaiser
08 June 2020A recent sale at Lempertz (25/20% buyer’s premium) was held in Berlin dedicated to works of art from Prussia. The outstanding favourite was a gold and enamel presentation box, a gift from the German Emperor Wilhelm II.
Portrayal of the price of poverty
08 June 2020Under the changed regulations in Germany it would have been possible for Dr Andreas Sturies (20% buyer’s premium) in Düsseldorf to hold the spring auction in front of an audience.
Freeform table flies past estimate to take €75,000
08 June 2020A freeform table from the 1950s was the surprise winner at the design sale of Schops Turowski (23% buyer’s premium) in Krefeld on May 9.
Nagel to offer Johann Heinrich von Dannecker terracotta model for clock case
08 June 2020In his day, Johann Heinrich von Dannecker was one of the most prominent German Neoclassical sculptors. He was born as the son of a stable-hand to the Duke of Württemberg, but went on to become the duke’s court sculptor.
German collector wins battle for portrait of Johannes Draconites in Bavaria
08 June 2020A portrait of a 16th century Protestant theologian and reformer surfaced at a sale at Ginhart (23% buyer’s premium) in Tegernsee, some 35 miles south of the Bavarian capital Munich.
Toyoharu’s powers of perspective evident from album offered in Zurich
08 June 2020While the Japanese woodblock print artist Okumura Masanobu (1686-1764) is credited with the first use of one-point perspective in the depiction of interior spaces, a technique previously known only in Western art, his colleague Utagawa Toyoharu (1735-1814) achieved even greater fame when he mastered the creation of perspective prints of outdoor scenes, known as Uki-e.
Descendants win fight for justice for Carl Spitzweg painting
08 June 2020Painting went through lengthy ownership saga before being returned to family and then sold.
Gods adorn Moscow tankard offered in Vienna
08 June 2020A veritable pantheon of Greek gods adorns this partly gilt silver tankard which is coming up for sale in an auction at Im Kinsky in Vienna on June 23-25.
Bronze figures representing rivers by Bernini’s pupils bring strong bidding in Lower Saxony
08 June 2020One of the central attractions in Rome is the Piazza Navona and the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers). It was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1650 at the behest of Pope Innocent X.
Chinese table clock combining Western and Oriental features offered at Hanover sale
11 May 2020For centuries, China was a rewarding market for European clock and watchmakers who created extravagant timepieces for their Oriental clientele.