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25 headlines
Source-linked reporting
classicfm.com
Nicola Benedetti is warned after two Stradivarius violins, worth up to £12 million, were carried on tour and left on a train in Switzerland. The instruments were lent by banker Jonathan Moulds, and Benedetti described the experience as terrifying.
svt.se
The Swedish SVT News story reports that a musician forgot a Stradivarius violin of several million kronor on a train in Switzerland; the instrument was later recovered from a lost-and-found office in Bern. The article notes that around 600 Stradivarius violins exist and are often valued at several million kronor, and mentions a 102 million kronor sale of a rare example last year to aid victims of the Japan earthquake.
20min.ch
The article discusses Antonio Stradivari violins as the world’s most valuable instruments. A man found a Stradivari on a Bern S-Bahn luggage rack and returned it to passerby Alexandre Dubach, with the finder later claiming the reward discussion would remain a secret; the violin is valued at up to 6 million Swiss francs.
classic.newsru.com
The article reports that a Swiss musician forgot a Stradivarius violin on a commuter train from Biella to Thule, valued at about 2.5 million USD; the instrument was recovered four days later and returned to its owner. The violin was lent to the musician by a friend for a performance, and the loss prompted an investigation after surveillance footage identified the likely thief; the violin was eventually found at Bern station's lost-and-found and returned to the owner. The piece notes that there are about 650 Stradivarius violins in the world and that the average value is around 2.5 million USD, with the most expensive violin sold for 16 million USD in 2011.
en.vijesti.me
The Stradivarius violin, worth several million euros, was found in the lost and found office at Bern station after a musician forgot it on a train.
telegraph.co.uk
In Switzerland, a Stradivarius violin possibly worth several million pounds was handed in to a lost-property office after a musician left it on a train near Bern. The instrument, built by Antonio Stradivari, was lent by the owner to a musician friend who forgot it on the train and could not recover it after staff conducted a search.
swissinfo.ch
The article reports that a Stradivari violin forgotten in a Bern S-Bahn was returned to its owner after about two days. A male passenger was seen on video taking the violin and later handed it to the lost-and-found at Bern station; the owner expressed relief and gratitude.
wealthmanagement.com
The article discusses Estate of Ileana Sonnabend and a disputed valuation of a 1959 Robert Rauschenberg work titled Canyon, which includes a stuffed golden eagle. The IRS argued federal estate tax could apply despite the artwork not being legally saleable, under the Eagle Protection Act. The painting was valued at zero FMV by the estate, with appraisals, and the case involves the Art Advisory Panel and implications of the act on art valuation.
artnews.com
Dallas Museum of Art may acquire Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, rediscovered painting priced around $200 million; Maxwell Anderson, DMA director, previously led Whitney Museum of American Art and Indianapolis Museum of Art. The work was formerly associated with an 2011 National Gallery of London Leonardo exhibition and is currently in the hands of unidentified dealers. If acquired, it would be outsize compared with recent old master purchases such as Michelangelo’s The Torment of Saint Anthony bought by the Kimbell Art Museum.
observer.com
Sam Francis’s Blue Balls V was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art as its first oil painting by the Abstract-Expressionist Sam Francis, donated by the artist's foundation. The Met already holds Structure II (1957, watercolor) and an untitled monotype (1977); the new oil enters the collection alongside the museum's American Abstract Expressionist and Color Field holdings.
bbc.co.uk
The article reports that a Matisse painting, Odalisque a la culotte rouge, stolen from the Caracas Museum of Contemporary Art, was recovered in the United States in an FBI operation in Miami. Pedro Antonio Marcuello Guzman and Maria Martha Elisa Ornelas Lazo were arrested on possession of stolen goods, with the painting valued around $3 million. The piece was stolen about a decade ago after a forgery replaced the original in 2003.
artsjournal.com
Leon Black was reported by Kelly Crow of the Wall Street Journal as the buyer of Munch’s The Scream, which sold at Sotheby’s on May 2 for $119.92 million, a record auction price. Black is CEO of Apollo Global Management and serves on the boards of MoMA, the Met, and Asia Society.
ibtimes.co.uk
Leon Black, founder of Apollo Global Management, is identified as the buyer of Edvard Munch’s The Scream for $119.9 million at Sotheby’s in May. The article notes Black’s net worth around $3.4 billion and his roles on the boards of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, as well as his art collection including works by Vincent van Gogh, Raphael and JMW Turner.
torontosun.com
The article reports that London, Ontario cellist Christine Newland sold her 18th-century cello by Joannes Franciscus Celoniatus for $500,000 to the Canada Council Instrument Bank, which renamed it in her honor as the Newland Joannes Franciscus Celoniatus cello. The instrument, made in 1730 in Turin, Italy, was purchased for loan purposes and is now valued at $750,000 as part of a bank with 19 instruments.
m-news.artron.net
Christie’s evening auction of Old Master and British Paintings realised 133,454,590 USD, with The Lock by John Constable achieving 35,210,321 USD. The sale total was a record for the category and included top price for Constable and notable results for multiple artists including Van der Ast, Coorte, Lorenzetti, Wtewael and Zurbarán.
latimes.com
An 1824 John Constable painting titled The Lock sold for about $35 million (22.4 million pounds) at a Christie’s auction in London, setting a record for the English artist. The sale followed family and museum-related controversy over deaccessioning from the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection.
spiegel.de
The article discusses Alfred Flechtheim, an art dealer and promoter of modern art, whose heirs, led by his grand nephew Michael Hulton, seek restitution of 11 paintings and six works on paper now housed in German museums, with an estimated market value of €100 million ($124 million). The piece notes that these works, including pieces by Pablo Picasso, Max Beckmann, and Paul Klee, are also in American museums, and outlines the legal and political complexities of postwar restitution in Germany and other countries.
artnews.com
John Constable’s The Lock (1824) led Christie’s old master sales in London, achieving $35.2 million and setting a record for the artist. The painting shared the top price with George Stubbs’s Gimrack on Newmarket Heath, with both reportedly reaching the same high figure in July of the previous year.
financialmirror.com
The article reports Sotheby’s London sales setting records, including Willem van de Velde the Younger’s The Surrender of the Royal Prince during the Four Days’ Battle, 1st-4th June 1666, selling for 5.3 million pounds; a Canaletto drawing of Campo di San Giacomo di Rialto selling for 1,945,250 pounds; and a pair of Sèvres porcelain vases selling for 1,777,250 pounds in the Treasures, Princely Taste sale, with overall sale totals and sale percentages provided.
english.elpais.com
John Constable’s The Lock (1824) was sold for about 20 million pounds (24.8 million euros) at Christie’s in London to an anonymous telephone buyer; the sale is part of Carmen Thyssen’s collection being loaned to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the broader context involves the Thyssen family and Spain’s cultural debates.
bodovosshenrich.com
The post discusses designing an instrument for the play “au fil des myths,” inspired by a spinning wheel and an electrical violoncello; it notes the instrument can be played like a cello but isn’t suitable for spinning wool.
bbc.co.uk
John Constable's The Lock sold for £22,441,250 at Christie’s in London, making it one of the most expensive British paintings. The work, from 1824, had been housed at Madrid's Bornemisza Museum and was owned by Baroness Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza, who said she needed liquidity to sell amid the economic crisis.
Christie’s
Christie’s London reported a category-record £85.1 million Old Master and British Paintings evening sale, with John Constable’s The Lock setting an artist record at £22.4 million.
cassone-art.com
Ben Uri, The London Jewish Museum of Art, announces the acquisition of Chaïm Soutine's La Soubrette (Waiting Maid), c. 1933, acquired through Sotheby’s with multiple funders including an £193,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant; the news mentions prior acquisition of Marc Chagall’s Apocalypse en Lilas, Capriccio (1945).
blog.feinviolins.com
Elizabeth Pitcairn, born in 1973 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is linked to the 1720 ‘Red Mendelssohn’ Violin, which reportedly sold for about $1.7 million. The article notes her studies with Robert Lipsett, her Gamma Phi Beta sorority membership, and her roles at the Colburn School, Luzerne Music Festival, and as a guest artist/teacher.