The Art Newspaper -As a packed week for Old Masters lovers in New York drew to a close, auctions and pop-up shows alike demonstrated that the market moves quickly for acknowledged masters and A-plus examples from lesser names—but is increasingly bifurcated between the very finest, and all the rest.
In its 24 January sale of Old Master Drawings, Christie’s notched a total of $6.2m including buyer’s premium on 127 lots, a vast improvement from the $3.2m it made on 131 lots a year ago. The auction house recently snagged the former Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Stijn Alsteens to serve as the international head of its Old Master Drawings in Paris, and his former Met colleague and Italian school expert, Furio Rinaldi, is now overseeing the department in New York as an associate specialist. It is perhaps no surprise, then, that Venetian artists, including Guardi, Tiepolo, and Piazzetta made up half of the top ten prices at this week’s sales. Christie’s also held its first sale of Old Master Prints in New York in 15 years on 25 January, adding $4.6m with premiums to the week’s total. – read more