The painting is a newly discovered third version of Raphael’s Portrait of Julius II on display at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. The prime version is in the National Gallery, London, and a workshop copy is in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. The Frankfurt work, once sold as an imitator in 2007 Vienna auction, was acquired by the Ellermann collection and later attributed to Raphael and workshop by the Städel; it is displayed alongside the Uffizi version and Titian’s copy until 2 February 2014.
Jury verdict in Dallas federal court found that David Martinez, Studio Capital, and L&M Arts breached a confidentiality agreement in the sale of a 1961 Mark Rothko painting. The case Hoffman v. Martinez et al (3:10-cv-00953) resulted in a $1.7 million unanimous verdict for Marguerite Hoffman, the purchaser of the painting, with trial conducted before Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater.
Zao Wou-ki’s Abstraction sold for 89.68 million yuan at Sotheby’s China auction, setting a new record for the artist. The cover lot was estimated at 35 to 45 million yuan. Zhang Xiaojun identified as the buyer. The sale price includes an 18 percent buyer’s premium.
Zao Wou-Ki’s 1958 oil painting Abstraction sold for 89.68 million yuan (US$14.7 million) at Sotheby’s Beijing, setting a new record for the artist. The sale occurred during Sotheby’s first commercial auction in mainland China, which raised USD 37 million and was accompanied by private sales of Western old masters, modern paintings, furniture, and jewelry. The painting was purchased by Zhang Xiaojun from Shanxi province.
Christie’s evening sale of Old Master & British Paintings in London realises £21,858,250 / $35,803,814 / €26,382,908. The top lot was The Embarkation of Saint Paula by Claude Lorrain, which realised £5,066,500 / $8,298,927 / €6,115,266, a world record price for the artist at auction. The sale set 10 artist records, including for Claude Lorrain, Pietro Fabris and Marten van Cleve I.
Edward Hopper East Wind Over Weehawken sold for $40,485,000; George Wesley Bellows Evening Swell sold for $7,893,000; Georgia O'Keeffe Two Calla Lilies sold for $1,865,000; John Singer Sargent Mrs. Richard H. Derby sold for $1,805,000; Norman Rockwell The Thing to Do With Life is Live It! (Outrigger Canoe) sold for $1,625,000.
Carol Vogel reports that Alice L. Walton, heiress to the Walmart fortune and founder of Crystal Bridges Museum, is identified as the buyer of Warhol’s Coca-Cola [3] for $57.2 million at Christie’s on Nov. 12, while noting other record sales from the fall auction season.
Edward Hopper's 1934 painting East Wind Over Weehawken sold for $40m (£24.4m) at Christie's to an anonymous telephone bidder, setting a US artist auction record. The work previously held a record of $26.9m (£16.4m) from 2009 for Hotel Window.
Edward Hopper’s Depression-era view of New Jersey, East Wind Over Weehawken (1934), sold for $40 million at Christie’s, setting a US artist auction record. Norman Rockwell’s Saying Grace fetched $46 million at Sotheby’s, contributing to a total collection sale of $59.7 million, and surpassing his prior record of $15.4 million set in 2006.
Francis Bacon, Three Studies of Lucian Freud, 1969, is coming to the Portland Art Museum after a record auction price of $142.4 million; the triptych is on loan from a private collection with anonymous buyer details discussed by Beth Heinrich.
Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud triptych, sold for $142.4 million at a Christie’s New York auction, will be on view at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon; the buyer’s identity remains anonymous. The work portrays three views of Lucian Freud and set a new auction record, surpassing Edvard Munch’s The Scream. The Portland museum will display the piece through March 30 before it possibly returns to its private owner, with support from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.
Roy Lichtenstein Foundation to donate photographs to major institutions. Dorothy Lichtenstein and Jack Cowart announce that about 200,000 black and white prints, color prints, negatives, contact sheets and color transparencies from the Harry Shunk and Shunk-Kender Photography Collection will be given to five institutions: the Getty Research Institute, The Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, Centre Pompidou, and Tate.
Newsweek reports that on November 12, Christie's set a record by selling $691.6 million of art in a single night, including Francis Bacon's $142.4 million triptych portrait and Jeff Koons's $58.4 million balloon dog sculpture. The piece discusses Christie’s strategy to expand the secondary market through private sales and the potential disruption of traditional galleries like Gagosian and Zwirner.