https://youtu.be/hpLbQbGgiR8 The fascinating Duchess of Alba There exists not one but two Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828). He has gone down in collective memory as a portraitist to the Spanish royal family, where he...
Botticelli: Explanations and questions regarding a 92.2 million dollar painting
https://youtu.be/N_50PZxHyoY There are successive stories of old masters on the art market and yet no two are quite alike. Absolute record The absolute record for an old masters work, 450 million dollars, was obtained by Christie’s in...
Galerie de Bayser: An extraordinary place in Paris where you can see works by Delacroix, Degas and Vigée-Lebrun
https://youtu.be/RqfCyryJ2Ec Waiting for the museums to reopen In Paris there is a place that is absolutely unique in the world, which exudes an aura of art history and the mysteries of past masters. It is little known among the general...
Altdorfer at the Louvre :The artists who are the best at marketing are the ones who make history
Biographers and trends No one should believe that art history presents a fair view of artistic creation. Artists’ legacies wax and wane according to the changing tastes of biographers and trends. Such is the case for the German artist Albrecht...
Palazzo Butera: one of the most beautiful palaces in Sicily is all about Art and … immigration
City of migration Palermo is a fascinating city, and one that’s sparked a lot of conversation in recent years. Firstly, this is due to its current international relevance as it’s one of the major sites of migration from Africa to Italy, where its mayor Leoluca...
Paris: The former Biennale des Antiquaires is hosted by Christie’s
The end of the operating rules Nothing in the art market works as it used to. The great operating rules which once governed it have all been thrown into disarray by the Covid-19 crisis. Competition between dealers and auction houses The art...
Le Petit Palais in Paris: the far-reaching project of a private collection of French drawings
Drawing specialist Louis-Antoine Prat is a drawing specialist who happens to be very French. Firstly because the Parisian taught the subject of French drawings at the École du Louvre for no less than 40 years. And secondly because he decided...
The Old Masters market: why would artworks that have stood the test of time be affected by the coronavirus?
Established for many centuries When talking about the art market there’s a tendency to immediately think of 20th-century art, which attracts the most fans and the highest figures. However, at a time when values are being called into question,...
Dürer at the Albertina: the other exceptional exhibition of an old master in Europe
Leonardo in Paris As the whole world descends on Paris to see the masterpieces at the magnificent Leonardo retrospective, there is another very important exhibition also taking place in Europe: in Vienna. The giant of the German Renaissance It has the advantage of...
El Greco: In Paris the genius old master is presented as a modern painter, and it’s very successful
The question of autorship The problem with exhibitions devoted to the old masters is that you never really know what you’re looking at. Works from this era are constantly being contested and the field itself is rife with subtle disputes over the authorship of...
Leonardo da Vinci at the Louvre: an exceptional exhibition about the idea of the perfect painting
Unmissable It’s an exhibition the likes of which are seen perhaps once in a decade. An assemblage of artworks, some of which are intensely emotive. The Louvre is currently staging an exceptional exhibition dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci. 9 paintings Featuring 9...
Caravaggio. Speculations abound. Tom Hill does not confirm the purchase for an unknown sum of a painting that might not be a Caravaggio.
Unknown Imagine an absurd situation where there’s a canvas measuring 144cm x 173cm whose author remains unknown, whose sale price also remains unknown, and whose buyer’s identity isn’t really known either. This mass of mysteries has been the subject of intense...