Burne-Jones glass panel for sale in NY
A stained-glass window by Edward Burne-Jones (1838-98) from a well-known series of nine panels is coming to auction at Bonhams.
The nine windows, created at the studio of William Morris (1834-1896), were originally designed by Burne-Jones for Woodlands, a home on the outskirts of Bradford which was built in 1866 for Angus Holden (Mayor of Bradford and later MP).
Woodlands was later demolished and seven of the panels were believed to have been later sold c.1912 to a private collector in Bath.
US film director and stained glass enthusiast Gabreal Franklin later tracked down the seven panels on a buying trip to England in 1978.
Since then he has sold some of the panels: five were once owned by rock guitarist and founding-member of Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page, and one is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s permanent collection.
This final panel, Sol, is being sold by Franklin at Bonhams’ Modern Decorative Art + Design sale on June 14 in New York. It has an estimate of $100,000-150,000.
Latest figures show first ARR payments
The latest Artist’s Resale Right (ARR) royalties figures from the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) reveal 873 artists and artists’ estates received fees and 53 artists were paid a royalty for the first time.
The data from DACS for the first quarter of 2023 revealed £2.3m was paid to the 873 artists and artists’ estates and the median ARR payment was £280. More than 60% of all ARR royalties paid out were under £500.
DACS said £120m has been paid in total to over 5900 artists and estates since 2006.
ARR gives creators of original works across their lifetime, and for 70 years after their death, the right to a payment when their work is resold in the secondary market with the involvement of an art market professional.
The royalty is chargeable when the sale price of the artwork exceeds €1000 (based on the exchange rate from the European Central Bank on the day of the sale). The amount due is calculated on a sliding scale and is capped at €12,500.
Despite Brexit, the UK government has reiterated that ARR will remain in force within UK law (see ATG No 2595 for more).
German Old Masters emerge
Among the highlights of the Röchling sale is A maid cleaning fish outside a house by Gabriël Metsu, estimated at £200,000-300,000 at Sotheby’s.
A group of works from a collection billed as ‘one of the finest privately assembled Old Master collections in Germany in the last half century’ will be offered at auction in London this summer.
Dr Hermann Röchling (1929-2020) came to collecting late in life with his interest in Old Master paintings piqued in 1995 when Sotheby’s staged a landmark sale of the collection of the Markgraf of Baden, in Dr Röchling’s native town of Baden-Baden.
He bought mostly at auction over 25 years, assembling an eclectic collection spanning the late Gothic works to Rococo pictures. He also had a specific passion for small-scale Italian works on copper.
Sotheby’s is offering a group of 12 works from the source across its evening, day and online sales in July. The combined estimate is £1.3m-1.8m.
Drenth steps down as TEFAF director
The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) has announced that Bart Drenth has stepped down. Drenth joined TEFAF in February 2022 as an interim director, becoming global managing director (shared with managing director Charlotte van Leerdam who is on leave), in December 2022.
The TEFAF board said it will announce its leadership plan in the coming weeks.
According to media reports he has left his role following controversial social media posts.
Hidde van Seggelen, president of the TEFAF executive committee, said: “The board is grateful to Bart for his accomplishments. He joined TEFAF at a time of upheaval and transition caused by the pandemic when the art market and fairs were just returning to business
“Despite these challenges, Bart’s leadership, fiscal discipline, and efforts to align and structure the team led to stability and progress for TEFAF.
“This year, TEFAF held two successful editions in Maastricht and New York, indicating that the foundation and fairs are well-positioned going forward. The board wishes Bart all the best in his future endeavours and thanks him for his service to TEFAF.”
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In Numbers
750
The number of antiquities returned to Italy that had been in the possession of a liquidated company Symes Ltd, owned by antiquities dealer Robin Symes. Italy’s Culture Ministry valued the items at €12m. They were returned to Italy on the same day that an agreement was signed between Symes and Greece to return other artefacts (as reported in ATG No 2595).
