Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun’s Portrait of Muhammad Dervish Khan, Full-Length, Holding His Sword in a Landscape sold for $7.1859 million, a record for the artist at auction and for a female artist of the pre-modern era. A drawing by Peter Paul Rubens titled Nude Study of Young Man with Raised Arms sold for $8.2 million, setting a new record for a Rubens drawing. Sotheby’s Masters Week in New York reported totals around $67.8 million across Old Master Drawings and Master Paintings.
The Australian Chamber Orchestra adds a 1590 Brothers Amati violin to its Golden Age collection, to be played by violinist Ike See. The Instrument Fund received a $1 million injection from Media Super, supporting this fourth Golden Age instrument.
Peter Paul Rubens’s Nude Study of Young Man with Raised Arms (1608) sold for $8.2 million at Sotheby’s New York Old Masters drawings auction, exceeding its $3.5 million high estimate. The work set a new record for a Rubens drawing at auction. The piece has long been in the family of King William II of the Netherlands.
Bobby Owsinski reports on the creation of the Stradivarius Sound Bank in Cremona, Italy, describing efforts to record the instruments housed at the Museo del Violino and the city’s quieting measures. The project involves four musicians over January recording two violins, a viola, and a cello with a 32-mic array and an extensive eight-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week schedule.
The Guggenheim Museum will deaccession a Zao Wou-Ki painting from 1958 that has been held by the institution for decades and intends to auction it at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in March for an estimated HK$60 million–HK$80 million (about $7.7 million–$10 million). The painting, from the artist’s Oracle Bone period, previously appeared at the Kootz Gallery in New York and was donated to the Guggenheim in 1964 by Judge and Mrs. Samuel I. Rosenman. Proceeds will support the museum’s art fund. A prior Zao record sale in Hong Kong yielded $65 million for Juin, Octobre 1985.
Sotheby’s documents the market development behind Humanity Revealed in Portraits and Property from a Distinguished Private Collection. Its account reports that sotheby’s is honoured to offer this incredible private collection spanning all the way from Old Master Paintings and Drawings, to Impressionist and Modern, Contemporary Art, and Prints.
The article reports that the Violin of Mstislav Rostropovich, made by Giovanni Guadagnini in Turin in 1783, was sold at Sotheby’s for 2.5 million dollars and later acquired by Swedish Torelief Tedeeen (Tedeen). It notes Rostropovich bought the instrument in 2000, and mentions Stravinsky’s birth details in a related aside.
Zao Wou-Ki is described as a blazing market star and will receive a two-city extravaganza at Kamel Mennour. The article notes a past auction record of Juin-Octobre 1985 (1985) selling for $65 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, and discusses the artist’s market activity posthumously, including a two-city solo show organized in collaboration with the Zao Wou-Ki Foundation in Paris and London.
Gaby Del Valle reports on Salvator Mundi, the Leonardo da Vinci painting that sold for just over $450 million, and how a conspiracy theory links it to Trump and Russia; the piece discusses the painting’s provenance and subsequent speculation around its ownership and display.
Ammi Phillips’s Girl in a Red Dress with a Dog and Edward Hicks’s Peaceable Kingdom both sold for $1,692,500 at Christie’s Important American Furniture, Folk Art, Silver and Prints auction in New York. Phillips’s work set an auction record for the artist, while Hicks’s piece sold for the same amount to a phone bidder; both were estimated at $800,000–$1,200,000.
This article from Spettacolo Periodico Daily describes a project in Cremona called the “Banca del suono” that aims to archive and reproduce the sounds of four historic instruments from the Museo del Violino, created by Stradivari, Amati, and Guarneri. From January 7 to February 9, four renowned interpreters will record the viola, cello, and two violins in the Giovanni Arvedi auditorium, using over 30 microphones; the recordings will be processed in Germany and stored for future access by luthiers, musicians, and researchers.
The piece discusses the project Banca del Suono by Audiozone studios in Piacenza, involving Stradivari, Amati and Guarneri violins from the Cremona Museo del Violino. The project, highlighted by the New York Times, records each instrument note by note with extensive microphone setup and collaboration with academic partners.
The page reports the opening of Discriminating Thieves: Nazi-Looted Art and Restitution at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, focusing on four looted works recovered after World War II. The exhibition highlights the Nazis' art thefts, the journey of the four works, and provenance research led by MacKenzie Mallon; it includes works by Nicolas de Largillière, Pierre Bonnard, Augustin Pajou, and Emil Nolde.
The article reports ICA Boston acquiring Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirror Room LOVE IS CALLING, a key work within Kusama's Infinity Mirror Rooms series, to become a new anchor in ICA Boston's collection. The piece mentions the work LOVE IS CALLING (2013) and notes acquisition details and gallery/ownership context.
Yayoi Kusama, LOVE IS CALLING, 2013. The work, a large Infinity Mirror Room consisting of inflatable, polka-dotted sculptures inside a mirrored space, was acquired with support from Barbara Lee/The Barbara Lee Collection of Art by Women and several donors. The piece joins a previous Kusama work in ICA Boston’s collection and is slated to go on view in Fall 2019.
Keqiao Cheng reports that the Wanling Violin Museum in Wanling Ancient Town, Rongchang District, Chongqing opened to the public on January 13 with an investment of RMB 590 million and houses over 500 violins and parts. Notable exhibits include instruments from Antonio Stradivari, Amati, Andrea Guarneri, and Jacob Steiner, with the museum claiming the largest exhibition area in the world and a live show.
Paul Rosenberg, a Jewish art dealer who popularized Picasso and Matisse, led efforts to recover 400 works stolen by the Nazis. The article discusses his role in building a premier gallery in Paris and his relationships with Picasso, Braque, Léger, and Matisse, as well as the impact of the Nazi era on his business.
Italy’s violin-making schools are represented at the 13th International Music Festival of Cartagena. Daniele Carlo Pitturelli discusses with young Colombian musicians about Cremona’s reputation for coveted stringed instruments, with lectures by Gualtiero Nicolini, Andrea Marziani, and Elisa Srollavezza. The event includes an exhibition sponsored by the Italian Government and a workshop on how violins are assembled by Cremonese luthiers, and notes that Latin America is underrepresented in the Scuola Internazionale di Luteria Cremona.
The painting The Kaws Album (2005) by KAWS sold for $14.7 million at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, setting a new auction record for the artist. The sale was part of the NIGOLDENEYE Vol. 1 sale and came from the collection of Nigo, contributing to nearly $28 million total across 33 lots.