Domenico ZAMPIERI

Today our fortnightly Top-10 auction ranking takes a look at the world’s best-ever auction results for Madonnas… Like all markets, the art market is mainly a question of supply and demand.In the case of Madonnas – a religious subject essentially depicted by Old Masters and subsequently side-lined in the Modern and Contemporary periods – demand […]

The price index for Old Masters reached its peak of the decade in October 2008. Thus, like a number of other art segments, it benefited from the auction room euphoria that developed between 2004 and 2008 and then suffered from the meltdown as the economic crisis chased confidence out of the market. However, since the end of 2009 the major works withheld from auctions when the market was weak have started to return.

After two days of prestigious Old Master’s sales in London, Christie’s posted a substantially higher revenue total than its rival Sotheby’s with $99.4m (vs. $20.7m) and four new historic records, including one for Raphaël that outclassed the record set by the Chinese artist Wu Bin.