Art and antiques news from 2015

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.

Bonhams’ New Bond Street saleroom has won a RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architecture) 2015 National Award.

Sotheby’s evening sale of Old Master and British paintings was led by Lucas Cranach the Elder’s La Bocca della Verità (The Mouth of Truth) which made a major auction record when it was knocked down at £8.2m.

The BADA Antiques & Fine Art Fair has announced the appointment of Madeleine Williams as fair manager.

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.

The Paris dealer Patrick Seguin, specialist in work by pioneers of French 20th century design such as Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand and Jean Royère, will open a gallery in London this September.

Only a year before the centenary of the Easter Rising, a powerful letter by the Anglo-Irish diplomat and Irish nationalist Roger David Casement (1864-1916) has surfaced in South Africa.

The latest series of Contemporary art auctions in London posted a bumper total despite the failure of some big-ticket lots.

Reaction to the news that the Paris ‘Biennale’ will become an annual event has been largely positive.

William Wilson’s patent for a perambulator was cheered by the infants of well-to-do-Victorians.

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.

Members of French dealers’ association the Syndicat National des Antiquaires have voted to make the Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris an annual event.

A leading CITES lawyer has criticised DEFRA’s “wholesale failure” to alert the public to law changes, after a court fined a jeweller £2000 for selling antique tiger claw pendants.

Last week in London, it was hard to know where to be or look as, alongside the major Impressionist and Modern art auctions, ‘Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair’ and ‘Masterpiece London’ at the Royal Hospital Chelsea coincided for the first time.

The law on tiger jewellery is frequently flouted. Last week on eBay – a site that operates a ban on antique ivory – several items of big cat jewellery were on sale from UK vendors.

The founders and sponsors of Antiques Young Guns hosted an awards ceremony at the ‘Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair’ to honour the 12 Antiques Heavy Artillery mentors who gave their time and expertise to mentor the finalists of the AYG of the Year Awards 2014.

A group of restituted paintings were among the highlights of a robust series of Impressionist and Modern art auctions in London.

Art dealer David Carter has admitted intentionally selling fake paintings purporting to be by well-known Cornish artists. He has pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud at Truro crown court and may face jail.

Sotheby’s and Christie’s have well-established specialist departments for brokering deals on sale of Nazi-looted works returned to rightful heirs. Over the last decade some major pieces of Impressionist and Modern art have come to auction as a result of restitution settlements.