Thomas GAINSBOROUGH (1727-1788)

The officially recognised start date of Christie’s auction activity is Friday 5 December 1766 when Mr James Christie hosted a sale of ‘the household furniture, jewelry, plates, firearms, etc… property of a noble character (deceased)” in London. Among other items, the sale included a pair of sheets, two pillowcases and two chamber pots… a banal […]

After the Christmas break the art market returns to serious business at the end of January with several events

The winter cease-fire has begun as the auction firms close out their year and prepare for their next sales in the first quarter 2016. Sotheby’s is already well prepared for the sale of

Old art is generally a less profitable segment of the art market than Contemporary art primarily because the latter segment enjoys the price impact of fashion, speculation and frequent turnover whereas old masterpieces are rare, relatively stable in price and sold much less frequently.

The Old Masters art market has two distinct levels: on the one hand there are hundreds of lesser-known artists whose works can often be acquired for 3-figure dollar prices,