Fine Art

A John Constable (1776-1837) oil sketch drew prolonged competition at the latest auction held at Exeter saleroom Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.

This painting, found by John Nye of Bloomfield, New Jersey saleroom Nye & Company Auctions leaning up against a cellar wall, became one of the sleepers of the year on September 22.

Three years after Christie’s sold an earlier version for £20m, a second version of John Constable’s (1776-1837) The Lock is being offered at Sotheby’s Old Master & British Paintings Sale on December 9.

Exeter saleroom Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood will offer a well-provenanced oil by John Constable (1776-1837) in their October 6 fine art sale.

Christie’s have announced a major highlight for the upcoming New York auction series. They are offering Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu couché (Reclining Nude) which they have estimated at in excess of $100m.

This recently rediscovered painting of Sir Winston Churchill by Walter Sickert (1860-1942) will be offered for sale for the first time at the 20/21 British Art Fair.

Police have released a CCTV image of a man they want to speak to in connection with a theft at the Masterpiece fair held in July at the Royal Hospital site in Chelsea.

The UK government has placed a temporary export bar on the earliest known on-the-spot depiction of Niagara Falls which sold at Christie’s South Kensington earlier this year.

West Sussex auctioneers Bellmans enjoyed considerable success on August 5, with a single-owner collection of around 30 Indian and Tibetan bronzes collected by a private vendor in the 1960s.

An impressive collection of pictures, studio pottery, furniture, personal effects and letters has been consigned to auctioneers Mitchells of Cockermouth from the estate of Mary Burkett, former director of Abbot Hall art gallery in Kendal.

Sotheby’s share price dropped by over 8% earlier this month after the company posted some weaker-than-expected second quarter results.

Two regional auctioneers – Halls of Shrewsbury and Bigwoods of Stratford-upon-Avon – are joining forces to conduct an ‘on-the-premises’ sale of art and antiques owned by the colourful publisher Felix Dennis (1947-2014).

A large marine painting by Charles Napier Hemy (1841-1917) showing oyster fishing off the Exmoor coast has been bought by The Museum of Somerset.

A photo album showing the former King Edward VIII giving Nazi salutes is on offer for the first time in 30 years, auctioneers Morgan Evans have revealed.

The new major of Tower Hamlets has pledged to exhibit Henry Moore’s Old Flo in London’s East End after the local council were declared the legal owners of the sculpture in the High Court.

The online auction house Fine Art Bourse (FAB) has announced a major consignment for its first sale in September. An Ionian Dancer by John William Godward (1861-1922) will be offered with $300,000-400,000 estimate.

A stolen Auguste Rodin sculpture, recovered after it was consigned to Christie’s in 2011, will go to auction later this year.

A rare painting by Richard Parkes Bonington (1802-1828) that had hung in the Prime Minister’s residence at 10, Downing Street for nine years led Christie’s evening sale of Old Master & British paintings in London.

Six paintings consigned to Gorringes of Lewes, East Sussex, have been returned to the Amsterdam Museum after being identified as those stolen from the Dutch institution over 40 years ago.

An oil on panel by Franz Sedlacek (1891-1945), an Austrian artist prominent in the Vienna Secession group of painters, drew international bidding at Toovey’s of Washington, West Sussex.