Latest News Articles by Jonathan Franks
Head of a saint in Munich sale
28 October 2019The extensive autumn sale at Hermann Historica in Munich runs from November 11-20 and is accompanied by five catalogues for the ‘bricks and mortar’ sale and a further six for the subsequent online auctions.
Greek doves inspire Romans
28 October 2019The history of the motif which inspired an unknown Italian master of the second half of the 18th century can be traced back to the 2nd century BC.
Pendulum pioneers
07 October 2019In 1657, the 10-year-old Dutch orphan Christiaan Reijnaert was apprenticed to clockmaker Salomon Coster in The Hague. It was a momentous time for Coster: he is credited with building the first pendulum clock, incorporating the invention by Christian Huygens.
Rare at auction: Hamdi Bey work
07 October 2019Since 1984, only about 20 paintings by the Turkish artist Osman Hamdi Bey (1842-1910) have come on the auction market and many of his best-known works are in international museums.
Raise a glass to two big Munich fairs on in same month as the huge beer fest
07 October 2019Autumn in Munich means different things to different people. For several million visitors the high point of the year is the Oktoberfest. For several thousand the main attraction is two art and antiques fairs that run more or less concurrently.
Lalique table lamp
07 October 2019Munich auction house Quittenbaum is holding a specialist sale of works by René Lalique on November 12. One of the eye-catchers is an 11in (27cm) high table lamp with a bronze base, engraved with peacocks, and the opalescent figure of a naked young woman holding a translucent drape in her outstretched arms.
Accomplished still-life painter
07 October 2019Emilie Preyer (1849-1930) obviously learnt a lot from her father Johann Wilhelm Preyer, one of the most famous still-life painters in the Düsseldorf School in the late 19th century.
More from Munich: the Neumeister Collection
07 October 2019Over three days, from October 22-24, Neumeister in Munich is holding a very special sale. Katrin Stoll, the daughter of Rudolf Neumeister (1925-2017), who took over the running of the firm in 2008, and her team will be selling her father’s extensive private collection.
German goblet collection
07 October 2019Forty years ago, Dr Jürgen Fischer held his first auction in Heilbronn which was devoted solely to glass. Since then it has been the main, but not exclusive, focus of the house.
The Bauhaus influence on show at Heidelberg sale
23 September 2019Even though the Bauhaus design school was forcibly closed in 1933, its influence continues to this day.
Calculating a fortune in Cologne
23 September 2019On October 12 Auction Team Breker in Cologne is holding a sale dedicated to antique office equipment. Among the distinctive pieces on offer is this Arithmomètre from 1865 guided at €3000-5000.
Mengelberg’s Last Supper appears at Stuttgart auction
23 September 2019Traditionally, many 19th century painters copied famous works by the Old Masters as part of their artistic training.
Godchaux’s own Jungle Book
23 September 2019The key influence on the work of the French sculptor Roger Godchaux (1878-1958) came from an unexpected source. He had trained at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris and soon became passionate about animal figures, first exhibiting at the Salon in 1905.
An Oktoberfest for auction goers
23 September 2019Oktoberfest, the world’s largest volksfest held annually in Bavaria in September and October, is just one reason to travel to Germany in the autumn. Another is the plethora of auctions held in what is traditionally a busy season for the country’s salerooms
Bauhaus: Breuer name boosts furniture sale appeal
05 August 2019One the most productive Bauhaus furniture designers was the Hungarian-born Marcel Breuer (1902-81). From 1925-28 he was in charge of the so-called interior workshop at the design school.
Sales build on Bauhaus design for life
05 August 2019Centenary of the hugely influential school’s foundation prompts a string of auctions.
Metalware provides a wide price range for buyers to ponder
05 August 2019Metalware in all its forms played a major part in the development of the Bauhaus and recent sales contained examples in every price range.
Bauhaus: Miscellaneous manufacturing including ceramics from Velten-Vordamm factory
05 August 2019One of the offshoots of the Bauhaus was the ceramic factory in Velten-Vordamm, just north of Berlin. Much of the stoneware designed by the ceramic artists at the school was executed there, several examples of which came up for sale at Quittenbaum.
Postcards showcase big names of the future
05 August 2019In its active years, some 1200 students passed through the Bauhaus school. It marked the starting point of many an illustrious career as numerous members of the teaching staff went on to become the most important artists of their era.
Asian buyers compete for works from European collections in German and Austrian specialist auctions
15 July 2019Far and away the highest result for an Asian work of art in recent sales in Germany, Austria and Switzerland was the spectacular price of SFr4.2m (£3.3m) achieved by Koller in Zurich for a Chinese bronze censer (see front page, ATG No 2397).