Billionaire art collector J. Tomilson Hill is identified as the mystery buyer of the disputed Caravaggio work, Judith Beheading Holofernes, found in an attic and previously reported sold at auction. The painting was expected to fetch up to €100–150 million and $114–171 million in Toulouse; Eric Turquin authenticated it and noted the private-sale offer exceeded the starting bid. Hill is associated with the Hill Art Foundation in Chelsea and has a history of high-value acquisitions.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has been ruled the rightful owner of Pablo Picasso's The Actor (1904–05), with the U.S. Court of Appeals upholding a prior ruling. The family of the painting's former owner, Laurel Zuckerman, claimed it was sold under duress to fund escape from Nazi Germany, but the court found the family waited too long to pursue restitution and that the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act did not apply due to the time elapsed.
Francis Bacon’s Self Portrait (1975) led Sotheby’s London Postwar sale, selling for £16.5 million ($20.95 million). The auction also featured works by Charline von Heyl, Albert Oehlen, and other artists, and generated £69.6 million ($88.4 million) with five records set and several unsold lots.
Rebecca Belmore, Forrest Bess, Frank Bowling, Leonora Carrington, Norman Lewis, Barry McGee, Kay Sage, Alma Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, and two works by Lygia Clark were acquired with funds from the Rothko sale at Sotheby’s for $50.1 million, of which SFMOMA received $42.8 million.
The article discusses a painting titled Judith and Holofernes, attributed to Caravaggio, whose mystery buyer is J. Tomilson Hill. The painting was estimated to sell for at least $110 million in Toulouse, France, but the sale was canceled after it was announced the painting had been sold to an outside-French collector. J. Tomilson Hill, a former Blackstone vice chairman and art collector, is linked to the purchase, and the work may be lent to major institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, or the Getty Museum.
Phillips’ 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale in London, held June 27, 2019, raised £35.9 million ($45.6 million) with fees across 36 lots, achieving an 89% sell-through. The top-performing lots were by women artists: Tschabalala Self’s 2015 work, Marlene Dumas’s Losing (Her Meaning) (1988), and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s Leave A Brick Under the Maple (2015). Roy Lichtenstein’s The Conductor (1975) led the sale at £4.2 million ($5.3 million).
Caravaggio, Judith Beheading Holofernes (circa 1607) was found in an attic in 2014 and restored; it was sold to a mysterious buyer for an undisclosed sum after a canceled Marc Labarre Auctions sale. Eric Turquin defended its authenticity with a catalogue and website.
Mickalene Thomas, Qusuquzah, une très belle négresse 1 (2011) is shown in the page. The article reports that SFMOMA sold a Mark Rothko for $50.1 million at Sotheby’s and used the proceeds to acquire 11 works by 10 artists, including Alma Thomas, Kay Sage, Frank Bowling, Leonora Carrington, Mickalene Thomas, Barry McGee, and Rebecca Belmore. The purchases aim to diversify the collection and address art-historical gaps, with funds partially set aside for future acquisitions and a new endowment fund.
Antonio Stradivari, el artesano del violín. El artículo describe a Antonio Stradivari, su perfección de las partes de sus instrumentos y su fama, mencionando violines, violas y violoncellos, y a artistas como Niccolò Paganini. También se refiere al origen en Cremona y su reconocimiento UNESCO.
The announcement lists 11 new acquisitions by 10 artists: Rebecca Belmore, Forrest Bess, Frank Bowling, Leonora Carrington, Lygia Clark, Norman Lewis, Barry McGee, Kay Sage, Alma Thomas and Mickalene Thomas, funded by the sale of Mark Rothko’s Untitled (1960). The works broaden SFMOMA’s modern and contemporary holdings and aim to address historical gaps; the acquisitions proceed as part of a new endowment for future acquisitions and will be shown throughout the museum beginning in late August 2019.
Tschabalala Self's Out of Body (2015) sold for £371,250 (with fees). The sale also featured Jonas Wood's Diet 7Up Frimkess Pot (2016) which sold for £1.3m (£1.6m with fees). The article discusses a lean, contemporary-heavy postwar and contemporary sale at Christie’s London, noting strong demand for fresh material from younger artists and a smaller group of masterworks to drive the market.
Francis Bacon’s Self-Portrait, 1975, sold for £16,542,650 at Sotheby’s in London. Jenny Saville’s Shadow Head, 2007-13, sold for £4,184,500. Albert Oehlen’s Selbstportrait Mit Leeren Händen (Self-Portrait With Empty Hands) sold for £5,949,950, setting a new auction record for the artist; another Oehlen work, Untitled (2005), sold for £1.8 million. Wols Vert Strié Noir Rouge, 1946-47, sold for £4,526,200, setting a new Wols record.
Judith Beheading Holofernes, an attribution to Caravaggio, is reported as sold in a private sale to a foreign collector. The piece was estimated at €100m-€150m and the buyer’s identity was undisclosed; the purchaser pledged to loan it to an important museum. The painting’s attribution and provenance have been debated, with earlier attribution including Louis Finson.
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Sabado por la Noche (Saturday Night), 1984, sold for £8.38 million ($10.7 million) at Christie’s London postwar and contemporary evening sale. The sale grossed £45.2 million ($57.6 million) across 32 lots, with a 94 percent sell-through; top lot was Jean Dubuffet’s Cérémonie, which brought £8.72 million ($11.1 million). Other notable outcomes included a new auction record for Tschabalala Self with Out of Body (2015) at £370,000 ($469,500), and strong results for Cecily Brown and Jonas Wood.
Titian’s masterworks, including Titian’s Milia and their daughter Emilia and Tintoretto’s The Angel Foretelling Saint Catherine of Alexandria of Her Martyrdom, are highlighted as part of the From Titian to Rubens exhibition in Venice. The show runs from 5 September 2019 to 1 March 2020 at Palazzo Ducale, organized by MUVE in collaboration with Rubenshuis and featuring works from Flemish collections and Marnix Neerman’s private holdings.
Sotheby’s documents the market development behind Sotheby's Hosts Conference on the Art Market During the Second World War. Its account reports that o mark the publication of Emmanuelle Polack’s book, The Art Market Under Occupation , and of the eponymous exhibition at the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris, Sotheby’s held a conference on Spoliations and the Art Market During Second World War: The Urgent Search for Truth , on 27 June 2019.
The National Music Museum’s Nicolò Amati violin, an Antonio Stradivari mandolin and a Stradivari guitar are among Cremonese treasures showcased at Museo del Violino in Cremona from September 21, 2019 to October 18, 2020. The display also features works by Amati, Bergonzi, Storioni, and a bow attributed to Stradivari’s workshop, primarily drawn from the NMM’s Witten-Rawlins collection.
Monet’s 1908 painting Nympheas sold for £23.7 million at Sotheby’s in London. The sale, part of a modernist and Impressionist auction that totaled £99 million, also included Modigliani’s portrait of an anonymous young man which sold for £18.4 million.
The article discusses Sotheby’s London Impressionist & Modern sale, led by a Monet and several restituted treasures, with a total of £98.9 million ($124 million) from 25 lots and higher-value highlights including Monet and Pissarro works. It compares Sotheby’s performance to Christie’s, noting more top lots and guarantees on Sotheby’s side.
Kenny Schachter reveals that Pierre Chen is the guarantor of Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi and discusses the Leonardo scoop and Art Basel’s major deals. The piece references Chen, his daughter Jasmine Chen, and connections to Sotheby’s and George Condo/Picasso exhibitions in Hong Kong.
The Broad in Los Angeles has purchased Mark Bradford’s Deep Blue, 2018, and David Hammons’s African American Flag, 1990. Bradford’s Deep Blue is a fifty-foot-wide painting depicting Los Angeles, with mounds of paint referencing the 1965 Watts Rebellion; Hammons’s African American Flag mimics the U.S. flag but uses Pan-African flag colors to evoke double consciousness.
The article discusses a major Caravaggio painting (Judith and Holofernes) auctioned in Toulouse for the first half of 2019, with mention of Monet, Bacon, and Basquiat in the context of top-tier blue-chip sales. Amounts cited include a potential price range for the Caravaggio between $115 million and $170 million.
The article announces the three finalists for the 2019 Michael Hill International Violin Competition: Jevgēnijs Čepoveckis, Do Gyung (Anna) Im, and Eric Tsai. It notes their chosen concertos and some highlights from the quarter-finals, and invites viewers to the live broadcast on Saturday night.
The article discusses the missing Salvator Mundi and Kenny Schachter’s information about its possible whereabouts, citing sources and references to Wikipedia’s changing description of the work. It notes the sale at Christie’s for $450 million to an intermediary for Saudi Arabia and references Ben Lewis’s book The Last Leonardo.
The article reviews the final of the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in Auckland, detailing Do Gyung (Anna) Im’s win and the performances of Jevgenijs Cepoveckis and Eric Tsai. It notes that Im won the 40,000 prize with bonuses, and mentions a 1645 Amati violin awarded to Cepoveckis by Sir Michael Hill.
Anna Im of South Korea won the 2019 Michael Hill International Violin Competition, announced at Auckland Town Hall. Finalists were Anna Im, Eric Tsai (USA), and Jevgēnijs Čepoveckis (Latvia). Prizes included NZ$40,000, a recording contract, tour, and a pendant among others; top prizes were listed and new Arancio Prize announced.
The article reports that 21-year-old Do Gyung Anna Im of South Korea won 1st prize at the 2019 Michael Hill International Violin Competition in Auckland, New Zealand, with a prize package including NZ $40,000 (USD $26,000), a recording on the Atoll label, and a professional development package. It also notes 2nd and 3rd prizes awarded to Eric Tsai and Jevgēnijs Čepoveckis, and lists 4th to 6th prize winners as Angela Sin Ying Chan, Hannah Cho, and Victoria Wong, respectively.
The Violin Channel reports that one of six prize winners at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in Auckland, New Zealand, will receive a two-year loan of the 1645 Ex Christian Ferras grand pattern Nicolò Amati violin, loaned by Rare Violins In Consortium in New York. The consortium was founded by Bruno Price and Ziv Arazi; prior recipients include Nathan Meltzer and Kevin Zhu who perform on notable instruments. The Arancio Prize will be presented after the Grand Final of the 2019 competition.
Sotheby’s documents the market development behind Lowry, Hepworth and Moore Lead Modern & Post-War British Art Auction. Its account reports that flanagan’s Acrobats , featuring the sculptor’s most celebrated subject, the hare, comes from the collection of the late Pat and Penny Allen – a couple who spent their lives immersed in the London art scene.
Alice Walton was reported as the buyer of Robert Rauschenberg’s Buffalo II (1964), which sold for $88.8 million at Christie’s in New York, surpassing his prior record. The sale price hammer was $78 million after bidding with Walton reportedly involved via Sara Friedlander.
The Christie’s press release reports that Christie’s New York design auction totaled $14,038,250, selling 80% by lot and 96% by value. The top lot was an Important Cabinet by Eugène Printz and Jean Dunand, which sold for $5,496,000, setting a new record for the collaboration or independent design by these artists.
The piece discusses Gustave Courbet, born 10 June 1819, and an exhibition at Ornans' Courbet Museum titled "Yan Pei-Ming face a Courbet". It notes Courbet’s auction record of $15.3 million for Reclining Nude (1862) at Christie's New York in 2015 and describes the typical market for his works, mainly small landscapes and oil-on-canvas pieces mostly under $200,000.
Sotheby’s documents the market development behind Sotheby's Launches Auctions Dedicated to Aboriginal Art in New York. Its account reports that inaugural Auction Dedicated to Aboriginal Art at Sotheby's New York Achieves $2.8 Million](https://www.sothebys.com/en/press/inaugural-auction-dedicated-to-aboriginal-art-at-sothebys-new-york-achieves-2-8-million).
Jevgēnijs Čepoveckis, Angela Sin Ying Chan, Hannah Cho, Do Gyung Anna Im, Eric Tsai and Victoria Wong are the six semi-finalists in the 2019 Michael Hill International Violin Competition in Queenstown, New Zealand.