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Wednesday, August 12, 2026 · No. 223

Old Masters

All Old Masters news curated by The Cultural Signal — real-time press release coverage across the global art world.

47 stories across Old Masters, Paris, Modern, and Florence. Latest: Louvre, National Gallery London, Art Institute of Chicago Join for Major Zurbarán Retrospective.

Louvre, National Gallery London, Art Institute of Chicago Join for Major Zurbarán Retrospective

Louvre, National Gallery London, Art Institute of Chicago Join for Major Zurbarán Retrospective

The Musée du Louvre in Paris is organizing a major retrospective of Spanish Baroque painter Francisco de Zurbarán, running from October 7, 2026 to January 25, 2027.

ExhibitionOld MastersBaroqueParis
Louvre to Present 'Sculpting Colour' Exhibition of 17th-Century Spanish Polychrome Sculpture

Louvre to Present 'Sculpting Colour' Exhibition of 17th-Century Spanish Polychrome Sculpture

The Musée du Louvre will present 'Sculpting Colour', an exhibition of 17th-century Spanish polychrome wood sculpture, opening October 7, 2026 and running through January 25, 2027.

ExhibitionOld MastersSculptureSpanish
Two Missing Old Master Paintings Recovered by Kunsthaus Zürich

Two Missing Old Master Paintings Recovered by Kunsthaus Zürich

Kunsthaus Zürich announced on May 26, 2024 that two Old Master paintings on long-term loan from a private collection, missing since early 2023, have been recovered in good condition.

OtherOld MastersSwitzerlandRecovery
National Gallery to Mount First-Ever Exhibition of All 10 Jan van Eyck Portraits

National Gallery to Mount First-Ever Exhibition of All 10 Jan van Eyck Portraits

On August 1, 2026, the National Gallery in London announced "Van Eyck: The Portraits," the first exhibition ever devoted to the portraits of Jan van Eyck (active 1422–1441).

ExhibitionOld MastersLondonNational Gallery
Uffizi Opens Three New Rooms Dedicated to Andrea del Sarto and Fra Bartolomeo

Uffizi Opens Three New Rooms Dedicated to Andrea del Sarto and Fra Bartolomeo

On July 25, 2026, the Uffizi Galleries announced the opening of three new rooms on the second floor dedicated to Andrea del Sarto, Fra Bartolomeo, and their circle of painters active in Florence in the first two decades of the 16th century.

ExhibitionOld MastersFlorenceRenaissance
Artcurial to Auction Rothschild Collection Featuring Louis XVI Sèvres Porcelain

Artcurial to Auction Rothschild Collection Featuring Louis XVI Sèvres Porcelain

Artcurial will auction the collection 'Le goût Rothschild en héritage, Un pied-à-terre sur le Champ-de-Mars' on September 22, 2026, in Paris. The sale spans furniture, decorative arts, Old Master paintings, books, and autographs assembled over generations of the Rothschild family.

Auction ResultOld MastersDecorative ArtsParis

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Bonhams Classics Week Achieves £9.8M Total, Led by Record for Klontzas Triptych at £1.86M

Bonhams Classics Week Achieves £9.8M Total, Led by Record for Klontzas Triptych at £1.86M

Bonhams Classics Week achieved a total of £9,799,750 across seven live and four online auctions, with the top lot being Georgios Klontzas's triptych 'The Fall and Redemption of Man (the Spada Triptych)' which sold for £1,863,400, setting a world auction record for the artist.

Auction ResultOld MastersLondon#priority-hero
Bonhams to Sell Contents of Glyn Cywarch, Welsh Seat of Lord Harlech, on March 29, 2017

Bonhams to Sell Contents of Glyn Cywarch, Welsh Seat of Lord Harlech, on March 29, 2017

Bonhams will offer the contents of Glyn Cywarch, the Welsh seat of Jasset Ormsby Gore, the 7th Baron Harlech, in a single-owner sale on March 29, 2017, at its New Bond Street saleroom in London.

Auction ResultOld MastersFurnitureLondon

Getty Publications Releases New Scholarship on Michaelina Wautier and Anne Vallayer-Coster

Getty Publications has issued two new volumes, Michaelina Wautier by Katlijne Van der Stighelen and Anne Vallayer-Coster by Kelsey Brosnan.

Old MastersStill LifeLos AngelesArt History
Getty Museum Explores the Historical and Technical Evolution of White Pigments in Art

Getty Museum Explores the Historical and Technical Evolution of White Pigments in Art

The Getty Museum has published an article examining the use of white across art history, from Paleolithic cave drawings made with calcite and chalk to lead white pigment in European painting and modern photographic prints.

Old MastersPhotographyModern#city-los-angeles
Getty Museum Explores the Historical Evolution and Symbolism of Green Pigments in Art

Getty Museum Explores the Historical Evolution and Symbolism of Green Pigments in Art

The Getty Museum highlights the history of the color green through works in its collection, including Landscape with a Thunderstorm by Emilie Mediz-Pelikan from 1896 and A Draped Figure Holding a Book from around 1380.

Old MastersLos AngelesArt History#city-los-angeles
Artcurial Old Masters Sale Totals €21.2M, Sets World Record for Guido Reni

Artcurial Old Masters Sale Totals €21.2M, Sets World Record for Guido Reni

Artcurial's November 25, 2025 auction, conducted under Matthieu Fournier in collaboration with Millon, totaled €21,251,779 including fees, three times the overall estimate. Guido Reni's rediscovered 17th-century painting sold for €12,386,600, setting a world record for the artist at auction.

Auction ResultOld MastersParisWorld Record
Artcurial Decorative Arts Sale Totals €2.9M with 80% of Lots Sold

Artcurial Decorative Arts Sale Totals €2.9M with 80% of Lots Sold

Artcurial held its final auction of the season on December 16 and 17, 2025, dedicated to decorative arts from the 17th to the 19th century. The two sessions offered over 400 lots from several European private collections and achieved €2.9 million with more than 80 percent of lots sold.

Auction ResultOld MastersParisDecorative Arts
Bonhams The Classics London Sales Total £5.53M Across Six Auctions

Bonhams The Classics London Sales Total £5.53M Across Six Auctions

Bonhams concluded The Classics series in London with six live sales that generated a combined £5,534,325. The auctions spanned Fine Clocks, European Ceramics, Old Master Paintings, Fine Decorative Arts and Antiquities, following an earlier edition in Paris.

Auction ResultLondonOld MastersCeramics

Getty Museum Opens 'Virtue and Vice' Exhibition Exploring Moral Allegory in European Drawings

The Getty Museum presents Virtue and Vice: Allegory in European Drawing, an exhibition of 16th- to 19th-century European drawings that use biblical, classical, mythological, and everyday subjects to convey moral instruction.

ExhibitionOld MastersLos AngelesDutch Golden Age
Artcurial Reports Record 2025 Results for Orientalist and African Art Auctions at La Mamounia

Artcurial Reports Record 2025 Results for Orientalist and African Art Auctions at La Mamounia

Artcurial achieved the highest auction results of 2025 for Mohamed Melehi, Hassan El Glaoui, Jacques Majorelle, Alexandre Roubtzoff, José Cruz Herrera, Chaïbia, Aboudia, Otto Pilny, Céline Lepage and Pascale Marthine Tayou.

Auction ResultContemporaryModernOld Masters
Getty 'Close Looking' Episode Explores De Gheyn Drawing as Exhibition Closes June 7

Getty 'Close Looking' Episode Explores De Gheyn Drawing as Exhibition Closes June 7

Getty drawings curator Stephanie Schrader examines Jacques de Gheyn II's Allegory of Avarice, about 1609, in the third season of the museum's Close Looking video series. The pen and brown ink drawing uses a frog as an allegory of avarice.

ExhibitionOld MastersLos Angeles#event-2026-06-07
Rijksmuseum Announces New Acquisitions and Loans Supported by Vereniging Rembrandt and City of Amsterdam

Rijksmuseum Announces New Acquisitions and Loans Supported by Vereniging Rembrandt and City of Amsterdam

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has added multiple works to its collection. Several pieces are on loan from the City of Amsterdam. Additional acquisitions were purchased with support from the Vereniging Rembrandt and the M.B.T. de Groot Family/Rijksmuseum Fonds.

AcquisitionOld MastersAmsterdamMuseum Collection
Artcurial to Auction Jean-Jacques Rotthier African and Oceanic Art Collection During Parcours des Mondes

Artcurial to Auction Jean-Jacques Rotthier African and Oceanic Art Collection During Parcours des Mondes

Artcurial, in partnership with Lempertz, will present the African and Oceanic art collection assembled by Belgian collector Jean-Jacques Rotthier from the 1970s in Paris on 8 September during Parcours des Mondes.

Auction ResultAfrican ArtOceanic ArtParis
Uffizi Galleries Announces Special Opening Schedule for June 1-2, 2025

Uffizi Galleries Announces Special Opening Schedule for June 1-2, 2025

The Uffizi Galleries will open all spaces of the complex during ordinary hours on June 1, 2025, including the Uffizi Gallery, Palazzo Pitti and Boboli Gardens. On June 2, 2025, only the Uffizi Gallery will operate during ordinary hours, with the Vasari Corridor closed to visitors.

OtherOld MastersMuseum OperationsFlorence
Louvre Announces 2025 Exhibition Schedule Including Farnese Gallery and Adolphe Thiers Collection

Louvre Announces 2025 Exhibition Schedule Including Farnese Gallery and Adolphe Thiers Collection

The Louvre presented multiple exhibitions with dates including The Making of the Farnese Gallery from 5 November 2025 to 2 February 2026, Near Eastern Antiquities in Dialogue from 29 February 2024 to 14 December 2025, and The Adolphe Thiers Collection from 14 May to 25 August 2025.

ExhibitionOld MastersParisModern
Uffizi Galleries Announces Death of Art Historian and Donor Detlef Heikamp

Uffizi Galleries Announces Death of Art Historian and Donor Detlef Heikamp

The Uffizi Galleries announced the death of Detlef Heikamp, a scholar of Mannerist sculpture and Medicean collecting. Heikamp, who collected works himself, donated many pieces from his own holdings to the museum.

Old MastersSculptureFlorence#city-florence
Artcurial to Auction Christian Levett and Jean-Jacques Rotthier Antiquities Collections in Paris

Artcurial to Auction Christian Levett and Jean-Jacques Rotthier Antiquities Collections in Paris

Artcurial will hold an antiquities auction on May 12, 2026, presenting the second part of the Christian Levett collection of ancient arms and armor from the former Mougins Museum of Classical Art.

Auction ResultOld MastersParisAntiquities
Musée du Louvre Announces New Workshop Programming for 2025-2026 Season

Musée du Louvre Announces New Workshop Programming for 2025-2026 Season

The Louvre Museum is running a series of workshops from 19 November 2025 to 31 August 2026. The programming is listed under the museum's news and events section with two results focused on workshops. Sessions are available for discovery throughout the full period.

OtherParisOld MastersExhibition
Musée du Louvre Announces New Schedule of Exhibitions and Guided Tours

Musée du Louvre Announces New Schedule of Exhibitions and Guided Tours

The Musée du Louvre presents exhibitions for visitors to discover. The museum offers official guided tours to explore its collections.

ExhibitionOld MastersParis#city-paris
Getty Releases New 'Becoming Artsy' Episode Featuring Sarah Stone Watercolors and Avian Art

Getty Releases New 'Becoming Artsy' Episode Featuring Sarah Stone Watercolors and Avian Art

The episode of Becoming Artsy shows host Jessie visiting the Getty Museum’s Drawings Room to examine two bird watercolors by artist Sarah Stone. She next meets ornithologist Allison Shultz at the Natural History Museum, where a collection of taxidermied tanager birds is displayed.

OtherOld MastersNew MediaMuseum Education
LACMA to Present 'Deep Cuts: Block Printing Across Cultures' Exploring Global Printmaking Traditions

LACMA to Present 'Deep Cuts: Block Printing Across Cultures' Exploring Global Printmaking Traditions

On October 28, 2025, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced Deep Cuts: Block Printing Across Cultures.

ExhibitionContemporaryOld MastersLos Angeles
LACMA Acquires Seven Major Works and Textile Collection Following $2.5 Million Fundraiser

LACMA Acquires Seven Major Works and Textile Collection Following $2.5 Million Fundraiser

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art acquired six works for its permanent collection during the 39th Collectors Committee fundraiser, including pieces by Max Beckmann, Manuel de Arellano, Chiura Obata, Miné Okubo, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Tokio Ueyama and Virginia Vezzi, as well as a group of 101 Indone.

AcquisitionContemporaryModernOld Masters
Artcurial to Auction Rediscovered Antoine-Jean Gros Drawing of Napoleon Bonaparte from 1796

Artcurial to Auction Rediscovered Antoine-Jean Gros Drawing of Napoleon Bonaparte from 1796

Artcurial will offer a preparatory drawing by Antoine-Jean Gros of General Bonaparte capturing the Bridge of Arcole on November 15, 1796, in its Old Master & 19th Century Drawings auction.

OtherOld MastersModernParis
Tate and National Portrait Gallery Acquire Rare William Dobson Self-Portrait for Public Collection

Tate and National Portrait Gallery Acquire Rare William Dobson Self-Portrait for Public Collection

Tate and the National Portrait Gallery have jointly acquired William Dobson’s Self-Portrait c.1635-40, one of the earliest known works by the artist widely considered Britain’s first great painter.

AcquisitionOld MastersLondonBritish Art
Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer Basel Sales Total CHF 4.9M, Led by Record Patek Philippe Result

Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer Basel Sales Total CHF 4.9M, Led by Record Patek Philippe Result

Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer held its annual auction in Basel featuring Swiss Art, International Art before 1900 and Important Watches. The three sales reached CHF 4.9M (€5.4M). A new world record was set when the Patek Philippe “Beyer. No. 17” Ref. 3940 sold for CHF 762,150 (€843,113).

Auction ResultOld MastersModernBasel
Artcurial to Auction Final Installment of Jean Bourdel Library Collection on April 14, 2026

Artcurial to Auction Final Installment of Jean Bourdel Library Collection on April 14, 2026

Artcurial will auction the third and final part of the Bourdel collection on April 14, 2026, in collaboration with experts Emmanuel Lhermitte and Philippine de Sailly.

Auction ResultOld MastersParisRare Books
Artcurial Reports €208.5 Million in 2025 Sales, Marking 12% Increase and Multiple Records

Artcurial Reports €208.5 Million in 2025 Sales, Marking 12% Increase and Multiple Records

Artcurial achieved total sales of €208.5 million in 2025, including €15.2 million from Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer, marking a 12% increase from 2024.

Auction ResultOld MastersModernContemporary
Bonhams to Auction the Cannon Collection Across Two Sales in London This April

Bonhams to Auction the Cannon Collection Across Two Sales in London This April

Bonhams will present The Cannon Collection in two parts this April. Part I, a live auction, takes place at Bonhams New Bond Street on April 15, 2026, with Part II offered online from April 6 to 16, 2026.

Auction ResultModernLondonOld Masters
Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr to Auction Aivazovsky Seascape and European Old Masters in Paris

Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr to Auction Aivazovsky Seascape and European Old Masters in Paris

Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr will hold its Old Master Paintings sale in Paris on 21 April 2026.

Auction ResultOld Masters19th CenturyParis
Bonhams Asia Week New York Totals $12.5 Million at New U.S. Headquarters

Bonhams Asia Week New York Totals $12.5 Million at New U.S. Headquarters

Bonhams March Asia Week New York at its new U.S. headquarters at 111 West 57th Street concluded with a total of US$12.5 million across six live sales.

Auction ResultNew YorkContemporaryModern
Bonhams to Auction Imperial European Silver and Meissen Porcelain in Paris Classics Sale

Bonhams to Auction Imperial European Silver and Meissen Porcelain in Paris Classics Sale

Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr will hold its Classics auction in Paris on 22 April featuring an exceptional collection of early Meissen porcelain assembled in East Asia including pieces from the personal collection of Augustus the Strong Elector of Saxony and King of Poland.

Auction ResultOld MastersParisModern
Bonhams Fine Jewellery London Sale Realizes 98% by Value, Led by Cartier and Natural Pearls

Bonhams Fine Jewellery London Sale Realizes 98% by Value, Led by Cartier and Natural Pearls

Bonhams held its Fine Jewellery London auction on March 25, 2026. The 273-lot sale was 87% sold by lot and 98% by value. The top lot, a Cartier diamond 'C de Cartier' necklace, achieved £40,960 against a pre-sale estimate of £18,000-25,000.

Auction ResultLondonJewelleryModern