News in Brief – including US museum buying an Old Master from a London dealer

The Triumph of Galatea, c.1675, by Luca Giordano sold by Colnaghi for a seven-figure sum.

23 Jan 2023

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Giordano painting buyer was museum

A painting sold at last year’s TEFAF Maastricht (as reported in ATG No 2550) was purchased by the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA), it has been revealed.

The Triumph of Galatea, a monumental mythological scene by Italian Baroque painter Luca Giordano (1634- 1705), is the first painting by the artist in the DMA’s collection.

It was acquired through the Marguerite and Robert Hoffman Fund for European Art Before 1700.

The 3ft 3in x 3ft 11in (1m x 1.2m) oil on canvas depicts a scene from the story of the mortal woman Galatea who rejects the cyclops Polyphemus for the mortal shepherd Acis. It sold from the stand of London firm Colnaghi at TEFAF for a seven-figure sum.

Alex Butcher joins Tyneside saleroom

Alex Butcher has joined Anderson & Garland.

Anderson & Garland in Newcastle has hired silver specialist Alex Butcher.

Butcher, previously at Lawrences of Crewkerne, Somerset, joins as head of its silver department. Originally from Warwickshire, he spent nearly 15 years as silver specialist with Christie’s and Phillips, before moving out of London in the late 1990s to work as a director at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury before joining Lawrences.

Butcher, who has taken 750 silver auctions, also has a number of roles outside the auction world including as a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmith’s and the City of London and a member of the Antique Plate Committee.

Antique arms fair makes a comeback

A London antique arms fair is returning on February 4 after being put on hold during Covid restrictions.

The Seventh Antique Arms Fair, which incorporates the Park Lane Arms Fair, is held at the same venue: the Novotel in Hammersmith, west London.

It features around 40 exhibitors such as Runjeet Singh, Gar th Vincent Antiques, West Street Antiques, Pete Holder, The Flintlock Collection, Hatford Antiques, Davinder Toor, Peter Yorke and George Yannaghas.

Exhibitors from overseas will include Patrick Mestdagh from Belgium, Peter Dekker from Holland and Artzi and Avner Yarom from Israel.

Organiser Thomas Del Mar said: “After a pandemic break we are thrilled to be holding another fair.

“As the only antique arms fair in central London, it promises to be an exciting day. We are expecting a number of visitors from the UK and overseas.”

Del Mar, founder of Olympia Auctions, and Sotheby’s consultant, launched the Antique Arms Fair in 2017. Now incorporating the Park Lane event, it last took place in February 2020.

Busy Art Business Conference agenda

The Art Business Conference has announced its calendar for the year.

It will host its first digital event, an Art Provenance Symposium, from January 31 to February 2. This is followed by the Art Business Conference, in person and for the first time, at TEFAF Maastricht on March 10.

Its Art Business Conference New York will return on April 26; and its flagship Art Business Conference in London is scheduled for the week commencing September 11.

Burglars target assay office

One of the damaged cabinets after the break in at the Sheffield Assay Office.

Sheffield Assay Office suffered a break-in this month and 14 pieces of contemporary silver were stolen.

The thieves were in and out of the building in less than five minutes and smashed a number of cabinets in the reception area. The items dating, from 2005-20, are a mixture of Sterling silver, Britannia silver and Palladium silver.

Anyone with information should contact South Yorkshire Police by calling 101 quoting crime reference 14/18526/23 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Frick Collection acquires Moroni

Giovanni Battista Moroni’s Portrait of a Woman (c.1575).

Image: Frick Collection

The Frick Collection in New York has acquired its first Renaissance portrait of a woman. The picture has been donated from the trust of As sadour Tavit ian, a Bulgarian-born, US-educated philanthropist who died in 2020.

Portrait of a Woman by Giovanni Battista Moroni (c.1520-80) is the most significant Italian Renaissance painting the museum has acquired in more than half a century.

It had previously been on loan to the museum’s Moroni show in 2019.

In Numbers

A c.1920 amethyst and diamond cross by Garrard sold for a hammer price of £130,000 at Sotheby’s Royal & Noble auction on January 18.

Credit: Sotheby's.

£130,000

The hammer price paid at Sotheby’s Royal & Noble auction on January 18 by reality TV star Kim Kardashian for a pendant, once worn by Princess Diana. The c.1920 amethyst and diamond cross by Garrard had been loaned to Diana. With premium the price paid was £163,800, against an estimate of £80,000-120,000.