Christie's and Sotheby's sell near identical Van Dyck portraits of Princess Mary, and new records are set for Frans Hals and a jolly Judith Leyster

Christie’s, more discreetly, entitles it “Portrait de femme”

Hockney made the headlines, but other artists made waves—or flopped—at November’s auctions

Auction house is yet to announce a successor, while Outred says he is taking time out to consider offers

Our picks from this week's fairs and auctions around the globe

The Yorkshireman's 1970s Californian scene, Portrait of an Artist, sold on the nose at $80m at Christie's in New York last night

We talk to David Hockney about Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), which broke an auction record this week, selling at Christie's New York for $90.3m with fees. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.

A double pool portrait, estimated at $80m and offered at Christie’s with no reserve, could set a record for the most expensive work by a living artist

At $317.8m, the Ebsworth evening sale becomes one of the top five most valuable collections ever sold at auction

Monet carries Christie's evening sale while a Magritte shines at Sotheby's, marking an auction record for the Surrealist painter

New York auction topped by Monet's Le bassin aux nymphaés, sold to an Asian buyer at $31.8m

Lesser known lots still hold plenty of hammer potential

Knowledge and Wonder was estimated to sell for more than $10m, but Chicago’s mayor had a change of heart

The 31 October sale has prompted calls for repatriation and criticism of the seller, highlighting the gap between art ethics and law

With no auction precedent and little primary market data, Christie's sale of a work made by an algorithm tests demand

A new portrait produced by an algorithm, expected to sell for around $10,000 at Christie’s this month, prompts new debates over authorship

The 20-lot sale spans the auction house's New York and London locations and includes works ranging from Old Master paintings to a Monet

Pair of portraits by Frans Hals expected to lead two-day sale of collection of Dutch entrepreneur, who was advised by the dealer Robert Noortman

Auction house sold the painting by Emma Sandys for £62,500 earlier this year, but now 19th century work is caught up in a legal battle

Now being sold by a London-based collector at Christie's New York, the work will probably go to Japan or China

Estimated at $300m, the sale of American Modernist masterpieces will be digitally encrypted by the blockchain startup Artory

Middle Eastern and South Asian works owned by embattled Dubai-based private equity firm carry much lower estimates than prices paid a decade ago

Francis Bacon's lighter depiction of George Dyer leads auction at £17.5m, with strong prices for Hurvin Anderson, Bridget Riley and Albert Oehlen

Profits from the sale will support new UK arts education programme in 2019

Our pick from this week's fairs and auctions

Move follows a record-breaking breaking year for Paris auctions in 2017

Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) could become the most valuable work by a living artist sold at auction

Rubens’s portrait of his daughter Clara Serena gave me the urge to steal a painting

Our pick from this week's auctions and exhibitions

Rockefeller auction plus leap in private and online sales drive 26% increase