Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452-1519). La Bella Principessa, ca. 1480-90. ‘Picture kept in a drawer ‘is £100m da Vinci’.” That’s how the article in The Sunday Times on July 27, 2008 breathlessly reported the incredible story of how the Paris-based American dealer Peter Silverman discovered a lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci. Visiting [...]
Christian Kobke “View of Dosseringen near the Sortedam Lake Looking towards Norrebro” When Queen Margrethe II of Denmark opens the National Gallery’s luminous survey of the art of Christen Købke today, she will take her photo call in front of View of Dosseringen near the Sortedam Lake Looking towards Norrebro. This was inevitable: Købke is [...]
Henri Matisse, “Nu au coussin bleu”, 1924. Estimate: $20-30 million. Photo: Christie’s Images Ltd., 2010. Christie’s announced the sale of one of the greatest private American collections of Modern Art to come to auction: The Collection of Mrs. Sidney F. Brody. Remarkable for its extraordinary depth and quality, the collection boasts a wealth of master [...]
The reputations of artists are almost always in a state of flux, but the works of few painters can have suffered a more graphic illustration of the descent from superstar to pariah than Paul Delaroche. At the height of his fame this French painter of mostly English historical scenes was critically applauded and popularly fêted [...]
What is the most important work of British art of recent decades? One contender is the stunning installation 20:50, created by the sculptor Richard Wilson in 1987, when Damien Hirst was still just a pugnaciously precocious student at art school, and now reprised in the Saatchi Gallery off the King’s Road in London. Over the [...]
National Trust’s eBay auction to save English Baroque house (February) The National Trust launched an unusual fundraising drive to save Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland, asking supporters to bid on eBay for a range of experiences at its properties around the country. They included a banquet at the Victorian Gothic home of William Morris, the [...]