Rembrandt’s “Portrait of the Father” has been recovered in Serbia, seven years after its theft from a museum in Novi Sad.  The painting, which is currently valued at $4 million, was stolen in a masked robbery alongside works by Peter Paul Rubens, marking the second time the painting has been stolen in the space of ten years.  The theft underlines Serbia’s problems with art theft, which has struggled to provide adequate security for some of its masterworks. (more…)

Bernd Neumann, the Minister of Culture for Germany, stated in an interview this past weekend that a new museum will be constructed in Berlin to house the city’s collection of Old Masters in the next 4 to 6 years.  Concerns over the collection of works by Rembrant, Botticelli, Vermeer, Rubens and others had arisen in the face of major museum renovations and limited funds. (more…)

A painting that was previously believed to be a copy of a work by Peter Paul Rubens is now being considered an original. Mary Magdalene in mourning with her sister Martha has been restored, revealing new imagery. The head paintings conservator from the Hermitage museum in Saint Petersburg, Viktor Korobov, has examined the piece and believes it to be authentic. The work was discovered in Irbit, a small town near Yekaterinburg, Russia. (more…)

Yves Klein all photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed

This year marked the 2nd iteration of the House of the Nobleman, a privately sponsored exhibition which took place at the Boswall House, 15,000sqft  mansion at 2 Cornwall Terrace, overlooking Regent’s Park and the Frieze 2011 Art Fair.  Art Observed was on site for the private viewing.  On view were works by Claude Monet, Auguste Rodin, Peter Paul Rubens, Edgar Degas, Max Ernst,  Damien Hirst, Marlene Dumas, Yves Klein, Lucio Fontana, Sigmar Polke, Christian Boltanski, Anish Kapoor, Nick Hornby, Matthew Day Jackson, Cecily Brown, Lucian Freud, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Yayoi Kusama, Robert Longo, Alexander Calder, Eugenia Emets, Francesco Clemente, Salvador Dali,  Peter Doig,  Olafur Eliasson, George Condo, Takashi Murakami,  Hiroshi Sugimoto and Gerhard Richter.

Monet, Claude “ Chemin dans le brouillard”, (1879)

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J. M. W. Turner, Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino, 1839 (estimate £12-18 million, realized £29,721,250), via Sothebys.com

Master Paintings Week continues in London after a boost from the Christie’s and Sotheby’s Old Master auctions that took place on July 6th and 7th. The Sotheby’s auction earned £53,484,350 against a high estimate of £50.8 million, while the Christie’s sale realized £42.3 million against a pre-sale estimate of £36.9–55.3 million (totals realized include buyer’s premium, estimates do not). More than half of the Sotheby’s earnings came from the sale of a single canvas by J. M. W. Turner, which sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles for a staggering £29,721,250. The painting, showing a view of the Italian capital from the Capitoline Hill, has a sterling provenance and equally impressive exhibition history. The sale established a new record for the artist at auction.

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