Former Nuns and Antique Dealer Arrested in Raid
December 8 2025
Picture: eldiario.es
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Spain that authorities have arrested two former nuns and an antiques dealer who are accused of the attempted theft and sale of 30 artworks from the Monastery of Belorado in Orduña. Click on the link to see photos of the recovered artworks.
Anton Raphael Mengs at the Prado
December 8 2025
Video: Prado
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Prado in Madrid have recently opened their Anton Raphael Mengs exhibition. It will run until 1st March 2026.
According to their website:
Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779) brings together a total of 159 works, including 64 paintings, 14 examples of the decorative arts, and 81 drawings, prints and studies on paper, allowing visitors to explore both the artist’s role as court painter and muralist as well as his intellectual and theoretical dimension. The works have been loaned from 25 international and 9 Spanish institutions and 10 private collections, reflecting the European reach of Mengs’s influence and the richness of his legacy.
Giuseppe Bottani acquired in Mantua
December 8 2025
Picture: gazzettadimantova.it
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Mantua that the city's Ducal Palace has acquired Giuseppe Bottani's (1717-1784) The Death of Dido. The work will be redisplayed to the public in January once the painting finishes undergoing restoration.
Classical Collapse in Naples and Milan
December 8 2025
Picture: NICOLA SAMORÌ / capodimonte.cultura.gov.it
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan and the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte in Naples have just opened a new exhibition of works by the contemporary artist Nicola Samorì entitled Classical Collapse. As the name suggests, the show features many Old Master motifs which have been defaced by contemporary sculptural (plastic vs. pictorial, apparently) interventions. Click on the link to see more (beware, some of works may be shocking to lovers of painting).
The exhibtions will run until January and March 2026 respectively.
Duke of Norfolk purchases Duke of Norfolk at Sotheby's
December 5 2025
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Arundel Castle, the seat of the Dukes of Norfolk, have announced the acquisition (on Instagram) of Hans Eworth's portrait of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (1538–1578) in the recent Sotheby's London Old Masters sale. The picture, formerly in the Rothschild Collection and kept at Waddesdon Manor, realised £3,212,000 over its £2m - £3m estimate.
Habsburg European and Spain celebrated in Alejandro Sanz Peinado Collection Exhibition
December 5 2025
Video: MEET Málaga Espacio Expositivo Tabacalera
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A new exhibition has just opened in Málaga, Spain, of 80 paintings from the collection of Alejandro Sanz Peinado which examines the art of Habsburg Europe and the Spanish Golden Age. The display will run until 30th September 2026.
Artemisia acquired by Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson
December 5 2025
Picture: Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Spain that the Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson have acquired Artemisia Gentileschi's The Virgin Nursing the Child. The picture was last sold at the Dorotheum back in 2024 for €565,000.
Day Sale Surprises
December 5 2025
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Several pictures that performed well in the Christie's Old Masters to Modern Day sale included the following Neapolitan School, 17th Century Allegory of Painting, which realised £120,650 (all prices inc. commission) over its £6k - £8K estimate. A Follower of Rembrandt portrait also made £101,600 over its £20k - £30k estimate, and a very fun 16th century Brussels School hawking party £120,650 over its £12k - £18k estimate.
Down the road at Sotheby's no particular unattributed pictures soared past their estimates. Although, there were several very strong results against estimates achieved by pictures by Guercino, Sebastian Vrancx, Willem Claesz Heda, Simon Luttichuys and Eglon Hendrik van der Neer.
Burlington Travel Bursaries to Study European Drawings
December 5 2025
Picture: burlington.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Burlington are offering a generous set of travel bursaries presently for the study of European drawings.
According to their website:
Funded by the Rick Mather David Scrase Foundation, the bursaries will support travel to major collections anywhere in the world to view works of Western art on paper from the Renaissance to 1900.
Such travel will typically form part of a post-graduate project but may include curatorial research.
Awards for travel within Europe are expected to be £2000–£2500 and awards for intercontinental travel £3000–£3500.
Applications must be in by 1st February 2026.
Poole Museum Reopens
December 5 2025
Picture: poolemuseum.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I forgot to mention that Poole Museum in Dorset reopened to the public last month after a £10m renovation project. The refurbishment has included the creation of new galleries and exhibitions, all of which began back in 2018.
Sotheby's London Results
December 3 2025
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Sotheby's London Old Master & 19th Century Paintings Evening Auction realised £30,670,450 (all prices inc. commission) tonight with a sell-through rate of 76.66%.*
The big lots managed to attract bids within and at the top of their estimates, including the Hans Eworth, Rembrandt, Rubens, Turner and Brueghel the Younger, as the total above demonstrates. Lots that performed well against their pre-sale estimates were the triptych from Sherborne Almshouse which soared to £5,664,000 over its £2.5m - £3.5m estimate, the Teniers Village landscape which made £215,900 over its £80k - £120k estimate, the Eglon van der Neer Mousetrap which realised £254,000 over its £80k - £120k estimate and the early German portrait of an architect which realised £317,500 over its £100k - £150k estimate.
* - Not lots were withdrawn.
Christie's London Results
December 2 2025
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Christie's London Old Masters Evening Sale achieved £12,712,000 (all prices inc. commission) tonight with a sell-through rate of 67.74% / 63.63% including withdrawn lots.
The selling lots did hit most of their expected values. The highlights that performed well against their pre-sale estimates were Gerrit Dou's Flute Player which realised £3,832,000 over its £2m - £3m estimate, two of William Hodges' Indian scenes did well realising £571,500 and £139,700 over their estimates respectively, a theatrical Charles-Antoine Coypel which made £482,600 over its £250k - £350k estimate and a rather evocative Bonington marine which realised £889,000 over its £400k - £600k estimate.
Women Artists of Düsseldorf
December 2 2025
Picture: kulturstiftung.de
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I'm slow to news that the Düsseldorf Kunstpalast opened a new exhibition in September drawing attention to the female artists of the Düsseldorf School of Painting. Drawing on artists from the 19th and early 20th centuries, the show will include works by the likes of Paula Monjé (1844–1919), Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann (1819–1881), Marie Wiegmann (1820–1893) and Gabriele Münter (1977–1962).
The show will run until 1st February 2026.
Bendor on AI Connoisseurship
December 2 2025
Picture: FT
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I'm sure Bendor would like me to draw attention to his recent article on AI & Connoisseurship in the FT. Click on the link to read what he has to say on the subject (I'm sure the majority of readers will be able to guess).
Rediscovered Rubens reaches €2.9m
December 2 2025
Video: ABS CBN News
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The aforementioned rediscovered Rubens Crucifixion realised €2,940,799 (inc. commission) over its €1m - €2m estimate at Osenat in Versailles yesterday.
Latest Burlington Issue
December 2 2025
Picture: burlington.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Here are the main articles featured within December's edition of The Burlington Magazine:
Fashionable equivocation of gender: a portrait of a lady in hunting garb - By Valerio Zanetti
Artemisia Gentileschi in England - By Niko Munz
Projects, plans and politics: a Scottish architectural tour by Lord Mar and James Gibbs in 1712 - By Margaret Stewart
Benjamin West’s ‘lost’ history painting - By Adam D.C.B. Chen
Ludwig Pollak, Denis Mahon and Guercino’s ‘Mystical ecstasy of St Francis’
Nehemiah Partridge: an early colonial American portrait painter in Jamaica
Assist Research at Oxford
December 2 2025
Picture: University of Oxford
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The University of Oxford are currently looking for a Research Assistant in Global Renaissance Studies.
According to their website:
We seek a dynamic and self-motivated individual with expertise in the ‘Global Renaissance’ (defined temporally as c. 1400 to c. 1650) to facilitate research and engagement work in relation to a major exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, which addresses the theme of sensory experiences and exchanges across the early modern world (co-curated by Geraldine A. Johnson and Leah R. Clark). The working title of the exhibition is ‘Sensory Wonders of the Renaissance World’ and the opening is planned for June 2027. The post is based at the University of Oxford’s History of Art, Faculty of History, based in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities in the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Oxford OX2 6AH.
The post comes with a salary of between £39,424 - £41,636 and applications must be in by 9th December 2025.
Good luck if you're applying!
Courtauld Institute Unveil £82m Campus Project
December 1 2025
Picture: The Guardian
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Courtauld Institute in London (1) (2) have unveiled their plans for a £82m renovation project for their campus in Central London. Plans include revamping the teaching spaces at Somserset House, helping supports schools with the teaching of art history, a new lecture theatre and 'increasing its focus on global geographies such as the Americas, the African diaspora and the arts of Asia.'
Rembrandt in Florida
December 1 2025
Video: Norton Museum of Art
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I'm slow to news that the Norton Museum of Art in Florida just recently opened an exhibition, drawing on loans from the Leiden Collection, entitled Art and Life in Rembrandt's Time. It will run until 29th March 2026.
_________
As the Leiden collection's owner Thomas Kaplan recently floated the idea of selling shares in his art collection, might this show provide the perfect opportunity for prospective investors to take their pick?
The Brueghels in Milan for 2026
December 1 2025
Picture: 24oresystem.ilsole24ore.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Some early news (spotted via @MarteVelazquez) that the Palazzo Reale in Milan will be opening an exhibition on the Brueghel dynasty in October 2026. Entitled THE BRUEGHELS. THE ORIGINS OF PICTORIAL GENRES IN EUROPE, the travelling exhibition will afterwards head to the Museo Thyssen in Madrid in March 2027.
______________
Apologies if AHN is a little 'exhibition heavy' at present. More news on the big Old Master sales happening in London this week in due course.
