Museums and Institutions

The National Portrait Gallery today launched an appeal to finish raising the £1.3m necessary to secure Thomas Lawrence’s portrait of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington for its collection.

An antique’s appearance in an exhibition in a gallery or museum can help boost auction value in several ways. One factor after the show is adding to the provenance: this item was so important it was selected for a landmark display on the artist or designer.

Christie’s New York have announced the sale of more than 30 pieces of Chinese art from Osaka’s Fujita Museum which will be offered at auction next year.

It is not always the most obviously valuable coins that make the most at auction. Or even the ones with the highest original value. A humble Irish 20p dating from the relatively recent year of 1985 is a good case in point.

A 600-work collection of late 19th and early 20th century French paintings worth an estimated €350m has been pledged to the Musee d’Orsay.

An Old Master painting recently saved for the nation by the Bowes Museum is set to be showcased at a new exhibition held in the painting’s new home.

In a new weekend series, Antiques Trade Gazette brings you a selection of quotes from dealers, auctioneers, collectors and others – from the future gazing to recalling past mistakes. For instance, which world famous art dealer sold a signed John Lennon album for a song?

Antiquities from the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio are to be offered at Christie’s in New York this month to benefit the Museum’s acquisitions fund.

A family row over a large collection of 17th century Chinese porcelain escalated this week after Art Fund trustee Caroline Butler hired Christie’s to value the collection.

Dealer and art historian Dr Bendor Grosvenor is fronting a new series called ‘Britain’s Lost Masterpieces’ on BBC Four.

A large collection of 17th century Chinese porcelain could be broken up and sold after a family feud among the heirs of Sir Michael Butler, a former aide to Margaret Thatcher.

Canterbury Cathedral’s prayers were answered when every one of the 144 lots from its cathedral stone sale were sold at Canterbury Auction Galleries at the weekend.

The Tate has acquired its earliest picture by a female artist.

Islington Museum has paid £8000 for a screen collage by Joe Orton's lover and killer Kenneth Halliwell at a JP Humbert auction this week.

The Dutch buyer of ‘the most valuable Second World War battle flag ever sold’ has loaned it to the National Military Museum in Soesterberg, the Netherlands.

The majority of a collection that was previously part of a long-running public exhibition of The Jam memorabilia comes to auction in Liverpool this October.

Islington Museum has issued a public plea to help it raise £20,000 to buy a screen collage by Joe Orton's lover and killer Kenneth Halliwell at auction later this month.

The director of the Victoria & Albert Museum is to step down this autumn after five years in the role.

With his trademark fez and deceptively shambolic stage persona, Tommy Cooper was one of Britain’s best known TV personalities. Now the Victoria & Albert Museum is acknowledging his fame and popularity with the announcement that they have acquired the comedian’s memorabilia collection.

A new exhibition at Oxford’s Bodleian Library examines how historical events appeared on stage in Regency Britain.