Monthly archive
12 headlines
Source-linked reporting
artforum.com
The stolen Chagall painting Study for Over Vitebsk, valued at $1 million, was recovered and returned to its Russian home after being held by thieves who demanded peace in the Middle East; it had been stolen in June 2001 from the Jewish Museum in New York where it was on loan.
upi.com
The article reports that two paintings, Francisco de Goya's El Atraco a La Diligencia (1793) and Tsuguharu Foujita's Buste de Jeune Femme (1926), were offered as payment in a cocaine trafficking scheme. The paintings were valued at about $1 million each and were seized in New York, with suspects charged in the case.
milforddailynews.com
The article discusses a Vienna-themed exhibition at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, with works by Gustav Klimt, Bernardo Bellotto, Otto Wagner and Josef Hoffmann. It notes this is part of the Vienna Project by 11 Berkshire arts groups, running through Sept. 2, highlighting Klimt’s landscapes as the largest U.S. showing of his landscapes.
theglobeandmail.com
David Thomson, Toronto billionaire art collector, purchased The Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens at Sotheby’s London for $76.7 million U.S. (about $117 million Canadian), defeating seven rivals including the Getty Museum. Paul Mitchell, Thomson’s long-time framer and art historian, praised the work as the finest old masters painting in existence and discussed framing considerations.
nytimes.com
Peter Paul Rubens's The Massacre of the Innocents (c.1610–11) sold for £49.5 million ($76.6 million) at Sotheby’s, a world record for an Old Master painting. The sale surpassed Sotheby’s estimate and previous high prices for Old Master works, with bidding between Sam Fogg and George Wachter/J. Paul Getty Museum representation; Rembrandt’s Portrait of a Young Woman was second in interest with an estimated £10–£15 million.
theguardian.com
The Guardian review discusses Brahms's Violin Concerto and Double Concerto as a generous coupling on a single disc, performed by Gil Shaham with Jian Wang, conducted by Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Shaham's Violin Concerto is praised for urgency and drama, while the Double Concerto is noted for spontaneous-sounding music-making and warm interaction between Shaham and Wang.
independent.co.uk
The painting Rubens Massacre of the Innocents sold for £49,506,650 at Sotheby’s in London, surpassing the previous record; Sam Fogg commented on the rapid bidding and the likelihood of public display for the buyer.
elpais.com
Rubens’s Desconocido cuadro La masacre de los inocentes fue vendido en Londres por 49,5 millones de libras, la cifra más alta jamás alcanzada por una pintura en una subasta, según Sotheby’s. El lienzo, fechado entre 1609 y 1611, superó las estimaciones y desplazó al Retrato del doctor Gachet de Van Gogh como la obra de mayor precio en subastas; el comprador era un coleccionista privado.
latimes.com
The Los Angeles Times reports that a chalk and wash drawing attributed to Michelangelo, valued between $10 million and $12 million, was bought for $60 in 1942 from an English estate; the work, depicting a seven-branched candelabrum that may be a menorah, is 17 by 10 inches, on cream paper, and its provenance links it to Michelangelo and possibly the Medici tombs project.
independent.co.uk
Rubens' The Massacre of the Innocents, once thought by some to be by a lesser follower, is expected to fetch a record price for Rubens at Sotheby’s. The work, dated about 1610, was rescued from destruction during World War II and later scrutinized by Old Master specialist George Gordon, who believes it is of higher quality than the attributed author. The painting could sell for up to £10m, surpassing Rubens' previously highest auction price of £4.6m for Portrait of a Man as the God Mars.
cincodias.elpais.com
El artículo informa que Aceralia, del Grupo Arcelor, pagará el impuesto de Sociedades con la compra de la obra Apostolado del Marqués de San Feliz de El Greco, que comprende 12 cuadros de cada apóstol y asciende a 18 millones de euros; la obra irá al Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias en Oviedo.
swissinfo.ch
Wassily Kandinsky’s Improvisation Nr. 10, an oil painting confiscated by Nazi Germany in 1937, will remain in Switzerland after an out-of-court settlement between the Ernst Beyeler Foundation and the heirs of Sophie Lissitzky-Kueppers. The painting will stay in the Beyeler Foundation in Basel, with the deal announced in Basel.