The exceptional collection of late Microsoft founder Paul Allen (1953-2018) is on display in London ahead of what’s expected to be the largest ever auction in history at Christie’s, New York. Valued in excess of $1 billion (£900 million), the collection includes more than 150 masterpieces spanning 500 years.
Continue readingTag: art sale
MoMA works from media tycoon’s collection to sell at Sotheby’s, worth $70 million (£61 million)
A trove of Modernist masterpieces, owned by the late media tycoon William S. Paley (1901-1990), are heading to auction for a staggering $70 million to $100 million (£61 million to £88 million). Once displayed in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the collection will be sold across Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary art auctions held in London and New York.
Continue readingSotheby’s to honour the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with spectacular sale and exhibition
Ahead of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, Sotheby’s London will auction and exhibit rare British royal ephemera in a month-long programme in London. Queen Elizabeth II is Britain’s longest-reigning monarch at the age of 96, having ascended to the throne in 1953.
Continue readingGiant spider sculpture poised to break records at Sotheby’s Hong Kong
Arachnophobes, look away now! A rare spider sculpture by French-American artist Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) will headline Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary Art auction in Hong Kong later this month. It could become the most expensive sculpture ever sold in Asia, luring in collectors with an estimated value of HK$120 million to $150 million (£11.5 million to £15.3 million).
Continue readingPrado museum curators latest to cast doubts on the attribution of the ‘Salvator Mundi’
Curators at the Museo del Prado in Madrid are the latest in a long string of scholars and other arts professionals to publicly announce their doubts about the attribution of the Salvator Mundi to Leonardo da Vinci. The painting was sold at Christie’s in 2017 as by Leonardo for a staggering $450m, however even prior to the sale there was considerable debate over this attribution.
Continue readingJudge rejects appeal against art advisor Simon de Pury over $10 million ‘gentleman’s agreement’
Art advisors Simon and Michaela de Pury have had their $10 million (£7.9 million) commission affirmed by the Court of Appeals in London. The couple facilitated the sale of a Paul Gauguin artwork owned by Ruedi Staechelin on the strength of a handshake agreement. Continue reading