As the art market catches up with financial markets, boom is turning to bust and contemporary is starting to look like history, says Ivan Lindsay Damien Hirst said, “I just wanted to find out where the boundaries were. I’ve found out there aren’t any. I wanted to be stopped but no one will stop me.”
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The market for classic British painting of the late 18th-century has been in the doldrums for decades. Not any longer, says Ivan Lindsay When in 1921 the second Duke of Westminster needed to raise funds to pay taxes, he turned to Joseph Duveen (1869–1938), the pre-eminent art dealer of his day, who bought three paintings
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It’s going to the dogs… Jim Mellon, 52, author, marathon runner, guitar player and songwriter is best known as one of the most successful businessmen of his generation (Sunday Times Rich List 2009, ranked 88 at £500m). Originally a specialist in Emerging Markets, Mellon is now a major investor in property and commodities. He has
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As Russia’s 18th richest man, Alisher Usmanov, snaps up the Rostropovich art collection ‘en bloc’ from Sotheby’s, Russianart expert, Ivan Lindsay, examines how President Putin isgetting involved with the ‘great Russian art grab’ The Russian art market continues to accelerate with new records being set at every sale, for both turnover and individual prices for
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Introduction In contemplating an Old Master painting, the frame is generally taken for granted. It is a fait accompli, and most of us may be unaware of how powerfully the frame can influence our perception and enjoyment of the picture within. The marriage of the two may be harmonious or discordant, enhancing or depressing, or
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Paintings can suffer physical loss or damage whether on the premises or in transit. Collectors can choose to bear these risks themselves, or to pass them on to an insurer. Unlike general contents insurance where items can be repaired or replaced with relative ease, paintings are unique and therefore irreplaceable. Even where cosmetic repair is
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Collecting art dates back to classical antiquity. The Romans collected Greek sculpture and, when no original was available, commissioned copies of famous works. Paintings, too, were collected but none have survived except for Egyptian Mummy portraits and Roman wall decoration. In the Dark Ages the concept of the individual artist was lost, but not the
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In a letter to a young friend, the artist Burne Jones once drew a cartoon of himself “attempting to join the world of art” by climbing into a picture – the effort ends up disastrously, of course, when he falls right through the canvas! Spending much of my time struggling to get ‘inside’ of paintings
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By William Allen, CBE., Bickerdike Allen Partners People who go to museums, art galleries and great private homes are familiar with the frustration of the bad lighting of pictures. Often incandescent striplights are placed at the top, lighting the upper few inches of a painting, the top of its frame, and some of the wall
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To write a true history of the collecting of old masters would mean examining the history of every surviving painting and ordering it into a colossal story. It has been possible to do this for a restricted number of well-known old masters whose surviving works are limited in number.  From these individual studies certain trends
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