Magritte emerges into the spotlight
Sotheby’s is to auction René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières. The picture was created in 1961 for Baroness Anne-Marie Gillion Crowet, the daughter of Magritte’s patron, the Belgian Surrealist collector Pierre Crowet, and has remained in the family ever since.
With an estimate in excess of $60m (£44m), it will be offered at Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary Evening auction in London on March 2.
The estimate is more than double Magritte’s current record set at Sotheby’s New York in November 2018.
Magritte first started work on a version of this subject in 1948, returning to the idea numerous times over the next decade resulting in a group of 17 oil paintings titled L’empire des lumières constituting a ‘series’ of works.
The work to be auctioned in March has been on loan to numerous exhibitions and museums over the years including for the past decade at the Magritte Museum in Brussels.
Anderson joins as Flints expands
Marc Anderson has joined Flints.
Photographic and scientific instruments specialist Flints Auctions has hired Marc Anderson as a full-time valuer to introduce fine and decorative arts auctions at the firm.
Anderson previously worked at Silverwoods of Lancashire but has also been a freelance auctioneer for Flints and arms and armour specialist Antony Cribb. He will continue his role as auctioneer at Antony Cribb alongside the Flints role. He has worked as a restorer.
Flints is also expanding into numismatics, fine art and Asian art and ethnographic art auctions this year.
Sotheby’s could be listed in the US
According to Bloomberg, Sotheby’s, the auction house owned by French telecom billionaire Patrick Drahi, has selected Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to work on a potential US stock market listing.
If it went ahead later this year the company could be valued at about $5bn, excluding debt. Drahi bought the business for $3.7bn including debt in 2019. Prior to that it had been a listed company for three decades.
Ivory Act awareness survey extended
The deadline for a government survey for dealers and auction house specialists to help develop an awareness campaign on the Ivory Act has been extended.
The Act was given Royal Assent in December 2018 but the enforcement was delayed due to the administrative and legal changes needed to be in place around the workings of the new law, as well as a legal challenge mounted by antiques dealers under the Friends of Antique Cultural Treasures (FACT) Ltd, a lobby group set up to fight the near-total ban.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) last year said it would be enforced from spring 2022.
Ahead of this, Defra said it is working on the awareness campaign to aid the “understanding of the ivory ban and to support compliance among commercial dealers of ivory and members of the public”.
The deadline for the survey, due to close on January 14, has been extended until January 21 and is available online via atg.news/Defrasurvey
Defra said it is “inviting views from the sector, via a short survey, to help ensure that our campaign is as effective as possible”.
Defra asks anyone with questions to contact Tom.Edwards@defra.gov.uk.
Caine downsizes via London auction
A selection of items from the Sir Michael Caine collection, including 'Les Amoureux dans l’arbre' by Marc Chagall which has an estimate of £30,000-50,000 at Bonhams.
A Rolex wristwatch, spectacles, a director’s chair, film posters and artwork owned by Sir Michael Caine are among the items to be offered at a Bonhams auction.
Sir Michael Caine: The Personal Collection sale takes place on March 2 and has been put together as the actor and his wife are downsizing.
A Lincoln Townley (b.1972) portrait of Sir Michael is estimated at £10,000-15,000. Proceeds of this lot will go to the NSPCC and Bonhams will waive its vendor’s commission.
Most read
The most viewed stories for week January 7-13 on antiquestradegazette.com
1 George III carved mahogany tables in our pick of five auction highlights
2 Government undertakes Ivory Act survey for “awareness campaign”
3 A collection of Cotswolds school furniture is among five lots to watch
4 A rare silver souvenir of the 1684 frost fair
5 New hires and salerooms – a round up of movers and shakers in the UK, US and China
In Numbers
234
The number of art dealers and intermediaries that are on the Irish Department of Justice’s database for monitoring anti-money laundering compliance.
