Fine Art

Royal Museums Greenwich are attempting to raise £10m to buy a version of The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I. The work currently belongs to descendants of Sir Francis Drake but the institution say that unless the required funds are raised, the painting “could be sold on the open market and even go overseas”.

Although its launch was only announced in February, the ‘Modern Art Fair’ planned for September in London has been postponed, but will run in 2017.

Eric Bijzet has become the latest expert to leave Sotheby’s as he plans to set up on his own as a dealer back home in Amsterdam.

Two landscapes by 19th century European artists have been donated to the National Gallery by Asbjørn Lunde, an American of Norwegian extraction who is one of the world’s top collectors in the field.

Phillips have announced the appointment of Cheyenne Westphal as chairman, reporting to CEO Edward Dolman. Formerly Sotheby’s worldwide head of Contemporary art, she will start in her new role in 2017.

Just under $1.2bn changed hands at the top-end of the art market in New York this week as Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips all held their Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary auctions over seven days for the first time. Here is ATG’s pick of individual highlights sold across the week.

Christie’s have announced details of their latest ‘themed’ sale – an evening sale of British art which will take place in London on June 30.

Dealers starting out today will struggle to replicate the success of established Old Master dealers, according to Richard Green.

A selection of works by David Tindle (b.1932) will be offered at Grand Auctions in Folkestone on May 9.

A portrait by Eugène Delacroix redolent with associations to Nineteenth century French Romanticism has been secured by the Paris museum dedicated to his work.

A large drawing by Edgar Degas (1834-1917) which has never been exhibited before has gone on display at Pallant House Gallery after being acquired by the Chichester gallery via the Acceptance in Lieu scheme.

In the space of just 48 hours, two paintings by the self-taught Welsh artist and horticulturalist Cedric Morris (1889-1982) raised the auction bar for his work to a new level.

A watercolour by Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) drew serious bidding at Sworders this week, overtaking a £40,000-60,000 estimate before it was knocked down at £85,000.

An important drawing by Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) that changed hands in a major private sale has been temporarily stopped from leaving the UK.

The 20/21 British Art Fair will be relaunched next summer at the newly refurbished Mall Galleries in St James’s.

The 29th staging of TEFAF Maastricht will go down as a good edition of the fair with dealers reporting decent sales overall and the changes made for this year’s event meeting general approval among the standholders.

An Eric Ravilious (1903-42) watercolour has emerged at Sworders of Essex and will be among the star lots at their first dedicated Modern British Art sale next month.

Among the lots drawing competition at the latest picture sale held by Mallams of Oxford was a hilltop view of the Sussex landscape by Hannah Gluckstein (1895-1978).

An important work by Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) will be among the leading lots on offer at this summer’s auction series in London. Lot and his Daughters from c.1613-14 will be the centrepiece of Christie’s newly launched ‘curated’ week of sales branded Classic Week in July.

The aisles were busy at the opening of the 29th edition of TEFAF Maastricht 2016 and a decent stream of sales to private buyers added to the buzz created by some significant museum acquisitions.