Podcast
Sisters are painting it for themselves: meet the female Old Masters finding prominence at last
We speak to curators Letizia Treves and Jordana Pomeroy about the growing trend to bring historical female artists to the fore. Plus, Kate MacGarry tells us about participating in Condo London. Produced in association with Bonhams, auctioneers since 1793.
NewsOld Masters
Brickmaker moves out of construction and into Old Masters investment, buying a $75m Michelangelo painting
New US owner of former Chinese building-materials business turns to lucrative fractional ownership of art
NewsOld Masters
Heart-stopping: man has heart attack in front of Botticelli
Another tourist had an epileptic fit in front of the artist's Venus in 2016
NewsExhibitions
London's National Gallery plans major Artemisia Gentileschi show in 2020
Exhibition of Europe’s greatest female Old Master will include museum's freshly conserved acquisition
NewsArt market
Jump-bidding for Rembrandt's fingerprints and a tale of two Van Dycks: dispatches from London's Old Master auctions
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
PreviewExhibitions
Piero della Francesca exhibition at the State Hermitage Museum is largest ever—with 11 works
Half of movable works by Renaissance master included in St Petersburg show
NewsRenaissance
Isenheim Altarpiece restoration finally back on track after public outcry
More than 30 conservators will treat paintings and sculptures, seven years after French culture ministry halted reckless cleaning of two panels
NewsArt market
Tefaf drops dealers and auction house specialists from vetting committees
Move brings Dutch and New York art fairs in line with each other
NewsArt market
Eric Albada Jelgersma's Old Master collection estimated to make over £26m at Christie's
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
NewsConservation
Family reunited: US exhibition brings together the pieces of cut-up 17th-century Frans Hals portrait
Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio shows three paintings confirmed as one original work by recent conservation
NewsConservation
Titian's Crucifixion work torn after falling from the wall in Spain's Royal Monastery
Sixteenth-century painting of Christ on the cross was rushed immediately for conservation
NewsConservation
Is Bergamo’s rediscovered Mantegna linked to a triptych in the Uffizi?
Accademia Carrara’s curator Giovanni Valagussa explains how he put “two and two” together
PreviewExhibitions
Under the skin of Jusepe de Ribera’s ‘extreme violence’ at the Dulwich Picture Gallery
First major UK exhibition of Spanish artist aims to show how his brutal realism was informed by classicism
PreviewExhibitions
Rembrandt the master printmaker—and shrewd market manipulator
Denver Art Museum's exhibition of the Old Master's prints looks at how he “intentionally made rarities” for his collectors
NewsArt market
Sticking the knife into the patriarchy: Artemisia Gentileschi painting to be sold for the first time in Vienna
The female Italian Baroque artist's depiction of Lucretia is thought to have been in European collection since the 19th century
NewsOld Masters
Heading home: early Rubens masterpiece returns to the artist's Antwerp studio for the first time
The work, lent by Art Gallery of Ontario ahead of a major travelling show on the artist, will undergo research at the Rubenshuis
AnalysisArtists
From the archive: Why the art world is crazy about Cranach
New technology is shedding light on an Old Master as the prolific, multi-talented artist enjoys a renaissance
AnalysisArt market
More than just a pretty face: furrowed brows win at Christie's patchy Old Master sale, but £6.7m sculpture tops paintings
Tacca's Hercules is star of the bronzes, while Carracci's military portrait and Rembrandt's print find favour where Rubens's daughter flounders in £31.1m sale
AnalysisArt market
Guarantees, the Beckham effect and warts-and-all portraits: Sotheby's pulls off a consistent Old Master sale
No big hitters, but overall quality and new buyers from Asia and Latin America buoyed £42.6m auction, with £5.3m record for Canova set in day sale
NewsArt market
Otto Naumann comes out of 'retirement' to join Sotheby's
Veteran Old Master dealer will join the auction house in New York at the end of the summer, months after selling his inventory there
PreviewExhibitions
Crowd-magnet Vermeer borrowed for Alte Pinakothek’s curtain-raiser
Munich museum has undergone a four-year €12m renovation
NewsArt market
Old Master saga: expert hired by vendor to prove Saint Jerome's authenticity says it is a fake
Maurizio Seracini concurs that the painting sold by Sotheby’s in 2012 is a modern forgery
PreviewLondon Art Week
Re-discoveries, the Holy Grail of Old Master dealers: we pick out four at London Art Week
From a Van Dyck once thought to be by Rubens to William Nicholson's portrait of an actress identified only weeks ago
NewsConservation
Mauritshuis invites visitors to watch conservators clean its oldest painting
Dutch museum will remove yellowed varnish from Van der Weyden's The Lamentation of Christ
NewsAcquisitions
Dallas Museum of Art acquires Derick Baegert panel, a first for a US museum
The Descent from the Cross is the museum's first acquisition backed by the Marguerite and Robert Hoffman Fund, a hefty $17m endowment
NewsAttribution
Italian museum discovers painting by Renaissance master Andrea Mantegna in its collection
The Accademia Carrara in Bergamo has re-attributed the 15th-century work Resurrection of Christ
BlogDiary of an art historian
Are Old Masters old fashioned?
How to bring new audiences to older art displays
NewsConservation
The Met resurrects Italian Old Master’s Entombment
Museum’s restoration lifts “grey veil” from final commission by the Renaissance artist Moretto da Brescia
NewsArt market
Rediscovered painting by the Le Nain brothers goes to auction in France
The 17th-century work, a depiction of Christ as a child, could set a new artist record in June
NewsArt market
Drawings week hits Paris
The 27th edition of Salon du Dessin at Palais Brongniart assembles 39 dealers from Europe and the US
NewsArt market
Sotheby’s unveils Old Master painting in the Middle East for first time
Will Jeff Koons’s handbags for Louis Vuitton help find a buyer for the Rubens portrait?
AnalysisArt market
Tradition in flux: the shifting landscape of Tefaf Maastricht
With new exhibitors, two preview days and refreshed floor plan, the grande dame of art and antiques fair is changing, albeit slowly
FeatureTEFAF Maastricht 2018
Big data meets Old Masters at Tefaf Maastricht
As artificial intelligence becomes more common, the market is embracing tools that might help to bring digital natives into the Golden Age
NewsMuseums
British government gives 11th-hour permission for Joshua Reynolds's Omai to leave UK
The celebrated portrait is owned by a foreign collector who thwarted Tate’s attempts to purchase it in 2003
NewsArt market
Old Masters market shows some life in New York auctions
Leonardo buzz may have given bidding a boost, but results still show a sharp divide between the best and the rest
NewsArt market
New discoveries add value to Old Master drawings
From Pontormo to Klimt, dealers invest in research in the hope of boosting prices
PreviewArt market
Spotlight on… Master Drawings New York
Exhibitions to seek out at Manhattan's annual gallery trail, which now embraces paintings and sculptures
NewsArt market
Beyond Leonardo: the artists who led the auctions in 2017
We survey the top five results in key markets, from Old Masters to Post-war and contemporary
AnalysisMuseums
The top ten museum acquisitions of 2017
We look back at some of most important purchases and donations that entered public collections this year
BlogDiary of an art historian
How to identify a wreck
Better public understanding of condition requires greater access to digital images
NewsArt market
Re-discoveries lead London Old Master auctions
New £7.3m record for Joseph Wright of Derby painting tops December sales in London
NewsArt market
Three highlights from London's Old Master auctions
Rothschild's El Greco, a candlelit scene by Joseph Wright of Derby and an out of season crucifixion scene lead pre-Christmas sales
NewsArt market
What does a $450m Leonardo mean for the Old Master market?
Slick marketing produced stupendous sale price for Salvator Mundi, but it sparked revulsion as well as elation
NewsArt market
Spotlight on: London Art Week Winter
Inaugural December event brings city's Old Master dealers out from the shadows with exhibitions at more than 30 galleries
NewsArt market
Analysis: Christie's postwar and contemporary auction nets $785.9m, with a big assist from an Old Master
Despite buy-ins, the sale saw several strong prices and records below the dizzy height of $450.3m for Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi
NewsArt market
Leonardo's Salvator Mundi sells for $450m at Christie's New York
Price makes it the most expensive painting of all time
NewsRestitution
Lord Mayor of London returns Nazi-looted Dutch Old Master
The Oyster Meal, insured for £1.5m, has hung in Mansion House for nearly three decades
NewsConservation
Old Masters, new tricks: conservators unearth century-old collection’s secrets
Two years of investigation preceded the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s exhibition of highlights from the Johnson Collection
FeaturePodcast
Podcast episode seven: the tale of an Old Master forgery scandal
The 'masterpieces' that fooled the art world. Plus: a review of London's latest shows, from Cezanne to Soutine.
NewsDonations
Double Dutch: MFA Boston gets aligned gifts of 17th-century Netherlandish art, with work by Rubens, Rembrandt and van Dyck
The donation—the largest in the museum’s history—also include funds for a new study centre dedicated to the period
NewsOld Masters
Christie’s to auction long-lost painting by Mannerist artist Spranger
German private owner reaches settlement with Jewish art historian’s heirs
NewsNew York
Longstanding Met curator moves to Colnaghi to launch New York gallery
After nearly 30 years at the museum, antiquities expert Carlos Picón will head dealer’s new US venture
ReviewExhibitions
Worth the pilgrimage: on Francesco de Mura at Vassar College
Much of this long-neglected Baroque artist's work is lost, but what remains is worth another look
Review
Worth the detour: on the National Gallery's lesser-known Renaissance masterpieces
Works from Bologna and Ferrara are the subject of a comprehensive new catalogue
NewsCommercial galleries
Old Masters collectors chase new discoveries at New York sales
Competition is stiff for confirmed works, but buyers also gave a nod to quality