KettererKunst

International collectors invested considerable sums in the Expressionist paintings on offer at German sales over the last few weeks.

The composition and use of colour make 'Monica nude with Lichtenstein', which is being sold by Ketterer Kunst in Munich on June 9, instantly recognisable as a work by American pop-artist Tom Wesselmann (1931-2004).

According to Munich saleroom Ketterer, the 3ft 4in (1.02m) square painting N. O. 9th . Ward, which is part of the sale on December 9, is the first work by the American artist Stanley Whitney (b.1946) ever to be offered at a German auction.

'Hortus sanitatis' (Gart der Gesundheit, Augsburg 1485), considered among the most important early works of natural history and one of the first scientific incunabula in a vernacular language, is on offer at Munich saleroom Ketterer Kunst on November 28.

Ketterer’s (25/20% buyer’s premium) recent evening sale in Munich got off to a perfect start.

Since 1962, when the German artist Horst Antes (b.1936) first introduced his profile of the male figure to his art, it has become an instantly recognisable aspect, not only of his paintings and lithographs but also of his sculptures.

Although he was born and died in Moscow, the decisive phase of Wladimir von Bechtejeff’s artistic development can be dated to his time in Germany.

A copy of the first modern atlas by Abraham Ortelius, which set the standard for all following atlases, will be on offer at Ketterer Kunst in Hamburg on November 29 with an estimate of €80,000.

In terms of improvement on expectations, the most successful lot at a Ketterer Kunst (25% buyer’s premium) sales earlier this year comprised early 19th century paper-cuts.

'Doppelspindel-Rot', a monumental oil on canvas from 1967 by Ernst Wilhelm Nay (1902-68), topped the latest evening sale of Modern and Contemporary art at Ketterer Kunst (25% buyer’s premium) in Munich.

Among the surprises at a Contemporary art sale at Ketterer (25% buyer’s premium) in Munich was the result for a work by the painter-poet Henri Michaux.

Sold for a record €260,000 (£234,235) in Hamburg was a copy of Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer’s Speculum nauticum super navigatione maris occidentalis…

For many decades, Jeanne Mammen was a forgotten artist. In the 1920s-30s she had been a celebrated illustrator and chronicler of the Weimar Republic.

Before he turned to painting cans of soup and Brillo boxes, Andy Warhol had to make a living by more conventional means.

Always likely to produce one of the sale’s best results, a 1798 first of Thomas Malthus’ 'Essay on the Principle of Population' duly led the bidding in a recent German sale.

It is thought that the German artist Adelheid Dietrich (1827-91), renowned for her incredibly detailed still-lifes of fruit and flowers, completed only 50 paintings during her career.

Among the very earliest printed works sold at auction at the end of last year was a beautifully illuminated Biblia Latina printed in August 1462, just seven years after the great Gutenberg Bible.

The German artist Franz von Stuck is generally associated with portraits of sultry, mystical fin-de-siècle women, laden with symbolism.