Sculpture

A new high for any work of art sold at auction came at Christie’s New York last night as Pablo Picasso’s ‘Les femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’)’ sold at $160m (£108.1m).

This Italian baroque bronze depicting ‘Ganymede and the Eagle’ by Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (1656-1740) proved the highlight of Lyon & Turnbull’s recent sale in Edinburgh.

More information has emerged about the colourful recent history of the £5m Wolsey Angels.

The parties caught in a conundrum over proper title to two of the recently rediscovered Wolsey Angels have formed an extraordinary syndicate to resolve the issue.

The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge have promised to reveal more evidence backing the attribution to Michelangelo of a pair of bronze figures of two nude males riding panthers.

More than half the receipts from Christie’s inaugural Exceptional sale in New York came from a single lot. And it was one with quite a history.

A project to create a free, comprehensive photo catalogue online of all the sculptures held in UK public collections has moved a step closer thanks to a £2.84m pledge of support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Arguably the most famous historic figure in French history and a princely provenance proved an irresistible combination earlier this month in France when a collection of Napoleonic memorabilia formed by the Grimaldi dynasty of Monaco went under the hammer.

Piasa are not the only Paris étude to have moved to new premises this autumn. Cornette de Saint Cyr have now opened their new saleroom in a 19th century hôtel particulier on the avenue Hoche near the Parc Monceau.

Works 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.

Beyond Limits is Sotheby’s annual outdoor exhibition of monumental sculpture in the historic gardens of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire.

The Roman artist Bartolomeo Pinelli (1781-1835) is best known as a prolific engraver, selling to tourists his prints portraying the everyday life and costumes of characters encountered in and around the Piazza della Rotonda.

An ancient Roman marble bust of the Emperor Hadrian that had been in the same private collection for over half a century was the runaway highlight in a recent sale held by Tessier Sarrou & Associés at Drouot in Paris.

There was no slowing down in the Contemporary art market as the latest sales in New York posted a record for any auction series.

Thomas del Mar’s second sale of items from the John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection on May 7 included a number of related items, such as this 3ft 7in (1.1m) high panted limestone carving of St Eligius or Eloi, patron saint of horses and farriers.

A reported increase in Asian buying was the most notable feature of a somewhat underwhelming series of Impressionist & Modern art auctions in New York last week.

The ownership dispute over a Henry Moore sculpture dubbed Old Flo looks set to rumble on despite one side claiming victory and making plans to sell it.

Another Henry Moore sculpture has been taken in the latest in a spate of thefts targeting works by the artist.

This small sculpture conveying the raw horror of the First World War attracted serious competition at Duke’s of Dorchester.

This c.1614 polychrome alabaster sculpture lost from a London church during the Blitz has been returned to its original location.