Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (Leiden 1606 – 1669 Amsterdam), Portrait of a man with arms akimbo, 1658. Oil on canvas, 42.25 x 34.25 in. A Rembrandt portrait, one of the last works from the Dutch master’s late career still in private hands, will be offered for sale at the TEFAF Maastricht art fair later this [...]

Two North Italian style tables with opposing winged griffins reputedly sold for a fraction of their construction price. Christie’s will announce record global sales of £3.2 billion ($5 billion) for 2010 next month. The figure includes both auction sales and private sales, and just nudges ahead of the company’s previous high of £3.1 billion in [...]

The cover page of the auction book for U.S photographer Richard Avedon art sale is presented at Christie’s auction house in Paris, Thursday Nov.18, 2010. More than 60 photographs for the Avedon Foundation will be auctioned next Saturday. AP Photo A model in a silk Dior gown, posing with elephants. The psychedelically colored faces of [...]

Following yesterday evening’s remarkably strong results, Sotheby’s October Sales Series of 20th Century Italian Art and Contemporary Art today concluded with the Contemporary Art Day Auction, which brought the near-top estimate total of £9,683,850 ($15,513,528/€11,014,376) (est. £7.5-10.6 million). The sale established sell-through rates of 83% by lot and 86% by value.

Detail from Edvard Munch’s Madonna The controversial artwork, in Munch’s famous swirling style, had been estimated to fetch £500,000 to £700,000 at Bonhams Prints sale in London. Bonhams said that as well as setting a UK record, the image was also the second most expensive print to be sold in the world. Another Munch work, [...]

Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto by Pablo Picasso The highest-profile piece sold was Picasso’s Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto, purchased for £34,761,250 at the much anticipated sale by Christie’s on Wednesday evening. Picasso’s piece was from the collection of Lord Lloyd-Webber and was dropped from a New York sale four years ago at [...]

Edouard Manet’s Self-portrait With a Palette has been owned by such renowned collectors as Auguste Pellerin and Jakob Goldschmidt. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images An important Édouard Manet self-portrait – one of only two that the artist ever painted – set an auction record last night when it sold in London for £22.4m. The artist’s depiction [...]