Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Old Master Market Loses Critical Mass

January 31, 2012 by Marion Maneker

Colin Gleadell outlines some of Old Master failures last week in New York as tastes shift and the market loses critical mass:

one of the last paintings by Hans Memling in private hands was just too highly estimated at $6 million to find a buyer. A similar fate met a rare painting by the 16th-century mannerist Arcimboldo. Depending on which way up you hang it, it is either a still life of fruit, or a portrait. It sold 10 years ago for $1.4 million, and no one was prepared to meet the new $3 million estimate.

In some cases, sellers who were simply trying to get their money back were disappointed, perhaps because they had paid too much. In 2006, one had paid a record £825,000 – 10 times the estimate – for a still life by the 17th-century Dutch painter Simon Luttichuys. The next year, it appeared at the Maastricht art fair with a $4 million price tag; last week it went unsold with a $1.8 million estimate.

Art sales: $4.1m Martini stirs market (Telegraph)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Hugo Weihe Leaves Christie’sHugo Weihe Leaves Christie’s
  • Designers Who Show Like PaintersDesigners Who Show Like Painters
  • Shopping the Mondrian MarketShopping the Mondrian Market
  • Indianapolis Goes OutsideIndianapolis Goes Outside
  • Mei Moses Closes 2009Mei Moses Closes 2009
  • Forging Family TiesForging Family Ties

Filed Under: Auction Results

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • Asian Art Market Continues Rapid Ascent at Sotheby’s $270 M. Hong Kong Sales
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • How to Chant Like an Auctioneer
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Christie's Announces $70m Picasso Self Portrait
  • Sotheby’s to Sell $40 M. Monet Water Lilies Painting in May
  • Tracey Emin Neon Lights Up Sotheby's 'Contemporary Showcase' Pop-Up
  • $1.2 M. Dalí Magazine Painting, Reproduced in Artist's Autobiography to Sell at Auction
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor