Sotheby’s evening sale of Old Master & British Paintings on July 9 brought in more than $60 million, a quarter of which was spent on a single piece, setting a new world record for that artist.

The market demand for Old Master & British paintings appears to be as hot as ever; Sotheby’s experienced yet another auction in which buyers’ checkbooks were smoking by the end of the evening. The star lot of the night was Lucas Cranach the Elder’s “Bocca della Verità (Mouth of Truth),” an odd but entrancing piece that realized $14.4 million, a new record for the artist. The painting was pursued by three bidders and nearly doubled the artist’s previous record. Sotheby’s reports, “This masterpiece of German Renaissance painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder can be counted amongst his most important works remaining in private hands today. It was painted in Wittenberg around 1525-28 and depicts the rarely illustrated subject of the Bocca della Verità or the ‘Mouth of Truth.’ This unusual story relates to an ancient stone mask of a river god that remains to this day in the porch of the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome, of which it was said that anyone who did not speak the truth while placing their hand inside the open mouth of the river god would lose it.”
 
Cranach the Elder wasn’t the only artist breaking auction records, however. Ferdinand Bol’s “Portrait of a Boy,” Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo’s “Unfinished Portrait,” an early still life by Fede Galizia, and Joseph Heintz’s “Diana and Callisto” all set new world records as well.
 
To learn more, visit ArtDaily or Sotheby’s.  
 
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Two Colorado painters were asked to document their unique perception of the ever-evolving Western landscape in a new exhibition at Ann Korologos Gallery. How did they perform?

The earth is an ever-maturing entity that changes its appearance due to both natural and man-made occurrences. Whether we marvel in awe at the tectonic folds of our nation’s mountains or at fields of majestic wind turbines, the discerning artistic eye can find profound beauty in both. Exploring themes from bygone days to the modern West, artists Peter Campbell and Terry Gardner have done just that in an exhibition at Ann Korologos Gallery in Basalt, Colorado. “The View: Past & Present” features 29 of Campbell’s and Gardner’s interpretations of the changing Western landscape.
 

 
Campbell, a Georgia native, is exhibiting 14 works. He suggests, “My interpretation really alludes to the passage of time and the transient nature of the landscape instead of a contemplation of nostalgia.” Continuing, he writes, “I hope the viewer can revel in the simplicity and honest exploration of the beauty that the land and sky provide us daily and see a reflection of their own recognition of that essence in my work.” Indeed, there is a noble simplicity found within the planes of color and winding rows of wheat in “Field of Gold.”
 

Terry Gardner, “Red Hill Pass,” oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in. Ann Korologos Gallery

Hailing from Missouri is Gardner, who says, “My intention was to paint contemporary images in which the subject helps tell the story of the changing face of the American West. The color choices, edge work, and tones are intended to elicit emotion and contemplation about an earlier time.” There is a noticeably feathery touch to Gardner’s work, which seems to allude to a memory, with well-defined edges but hazy details. Towering man-made wind turbines dominate the landscape in “Winds of Change II,” and they grab our immediate attention without upsetting the entire scene.
 

 
“The View: Past & Present” opened on July 10 and will remain on view until July 31.
 
To learn more, visit Ann Korologos Gallery.
 
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

For centuries, collectors and scholars believed there were no surviving bronze sculptures by the Renaissance genius Michelangelo. Has that narrative finally changed?

Monday July 6, 2015 was a monumental day for the art world as a panel of international experts presented papers that argued for and against the reattribution of the “Rothschild Bronzes” to Michelangelo. The pair of 16th-century sculptures, each depicting naked, bearded men riding panthers, have been attributed to a variety of sculptors, including Tiziano Aspetti, Jacopo Sansovino, and Benvenuto Cellini. Debate surrounding the sculptures began in February 2015.
 

(Michelangelo Buonarroti), “Nude Bacchants Riding Panthers” (detail), circa 1506-1508, bronze.
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

 
Scholars have suggested that the sculptures display a level of anatomical precision that is characteristic of the world’s most famous sculptor. Further, a drawing survives from one of Michelangelo’s students depicting what many believe to be the sculptures themselves. The July 6 symposium, which was held in the Howard Theatre, Downing College, Cambridge, England, included more than 10 presentations and roundtable discussions.
 

(Michelangelo Buonarroti), “Nude Bacchants Riding Panthers” (detail), circa 1506-1508, bronze.
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

 
The attribution is groundbreaking because no bronze sculptures by Michelangelo’s hand survive. Momentum appears to be in favor of a Michelangelo identification, but considerable debate remains, and the discussion will likely last for years to come.
 
To learn more about the symposium and the topics presented, visit the Fritz Museum.
 
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Inspiration from France, Italy, and New Mexico combine in the unique impressionistic vision of Joseph Breza during Santa Fe’s Summer of Color.

The gripping effects of vibrant color come to the fore in the ongoing exhibition of Joseph Breza’s latest paintings at Greenberg Fine Art. Titled “Euphorie de Couleur,” the exhibition has been scheduled as part of Santa Fe’s Summer of Color event, which features one-of-a-kind exhibitions, events, programs, and lectures at over 75 museums, galleries, hotels, and restaurants.
 

Joseph Breza, “Inlet Reflections,” oil on canvas, 24 x 48 in. Greenberg Fine Art

 
Breza’s work has a distinct mixture of styles and inspiration, built upon experiences abroad in France and Italy, as well as influences from Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. His exhibition will feature 21 new canvases, with subjects ranging from clouds and lily pads to lovely documentations of the range of colors and forms that winter has to offer.
 

 
“Summer Evening” is a representative work, complete with broad, thick applications of primary color. Overall, the piece seems both completely abstracted and naturalistically legible, a fascinating dichotomy. Others, such as “Inlet Reflections” and “Fields of Lavender and Gold,” are easier to read, but also display a complete control over the quick application, patterning, and layering of color.
 

Joseph Breza, “Out of the Blue,” oil on canvas, 30 x 24 in. Greenberg Fine Art

 
“Euphorie de Couleur” opened on July 10 and will continue through July 23.
 
To learn more, visit Greenberg Fine Art.
 
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

On rare occasions, the public is given opportunities to experience the diligent pursuits of a visionary art collector. The results are typically outstanding.

Private collections are often just that, but the Portland Museum of Art has been granted access to an excellent collection of American 19th-century painting. “Magnificent Stillness: American Art from a Private Collection” showcases 15 paintings assembled by PMA Trustee and patron Dr. Walter Goldfarb and his late wife, Marcia. The Goldfarbs began collecting several decades ago, and the exhibition is representative of their excellent aesthetic eye. Their collection focuses on three primary categories of painting: ship portraits by Robert Salmon and others, landscapes in the tradition of the Hudson River School, and trompe l’oeil still life.
 

Fitz Henry Lane, “Christmas Cove,” 1863, oil on canvas, 15 1/2 x 24 in. Collection of Walter B. and Marcia F. Goldfarb

In addition to Robert Salmon, featured artists include Martin Johnson Heade, John Frederick Kensett, Fitz Henry Lane, John Haberle, William Michael Harnett, and John Frederick Peto. Of particular note is Kensett’s “A Quiet Day on the Beverly Shore, Magnolia, Mass.” of 1871. Its pictorial illusionism and naturalistic detail are emotionally moving. A powerful zigzag composition provides our pathway through the scene from bottom right to middle left. Sailboats slip across a gleaming bay underneath a sparsely populated sky. Although dominated by the blue hues of the sky and water, Kensett offers respite for the eye in the warming pinks, oranges, and browns of the beach and rocky projection. There is a calming resonance within this piece that additionally flows throughout the entire exhibition, which will surely leave a delightful impression on museumgoers.
 

 William Michael Harnett, “Latakia II,” circa 1880, oil on canvas, 11 x 15 in. Gift of Walter B. and Marcia F. Goldfarb

“Magnificent Stillness: American Art from a Private Collection” opened on June 26 and will hang until November 8.
 
To learn more, visit Portland Museum of Art.
 
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

In this ongoing series for Fine Art Today, we take a longer look at the history and features of a soon-to-be-available artwork of note. This week: Gideon Jacques Denny’s “Coastal Cliffs.”

Gideon Jacques Denny (1830-1886) cultivated a love for the sea and the beauty it offered at an early age. Born in Delaware, Denny frequently sailed the Chesapeake Bay as a young man before heading to San Francisco during the Gold Rush of 1849. His passion for art and drive to create eventually led to an apprenticeship in Milwaukee with Samuel Marsden Brookes, a still life painter with whom Denny would have a lifelong friendship. Denny and Brookes moved together to San Francisco six years later and set up a small studio on Bush Street. By the end of his life, Denny had become the most coveted maritime and seascape painter in San Francisco. Collectors had come to admire the artist’s penchant for displaying ships in distress and his talent for capturing nature. In addition to his fame as an artist, Denny served as the first director of the San Francisco Art Association and was active in the Bohemian Club, Pacific Union Club, and Society of Californian Pioneers. 

The work featured here, titled “Coastal Cliffs” and dated 1879, is a magnificent example of his mature manner. A subtle golden hue falls over the canvas, providing balance and leaving the viewer with the sense that we’ve just emerged from a violent storm. Flashes of white from breaking waves and a retreating dark cloud at upper left offer visual interest and a sense of dramatic kinetic energy. This movement is reinforced through Denny’s masterful composition. A low horizon line provides a stable reference for the diagonal lines of the surf and beach. Our eyes are brought back into the scene via imposing cliffs to the right, which recede into the distance and leave us at the center of the canvas. Flocks of seagulls dart and scatter over the cliffs while a distant steamboat cruises along the horizon to the left. Denny has splendidly captured the beauty of the shore while reminding his viewers of their smallness and fragility.

“Coastal Cliffs” will feature in the July 20 Art + Décor sale at Bonhams, San Francisco. Auction estimates are $3,000-$5,000.
 
To view the full catalogue, visit Bonhams.
 
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Collectors will have their chance to own one of Rembrandt’s entertaining self-portraits in an upcoming sale at Bonhams. 

Rembrandt’s curious investigation of his own visage is a well-documented phenomena.  Featuring in Bonham’s July 14 sale of “Prints and Multiples” are several self-portraits of Rembrandt and studies of his beloved wife, Saskia.

To view the full catalog, visit Bonhams.

Quidley & Company Fine Art showcases the newest acrylics by Forrest Rodts beginning July 10.  The exhibition will be on view through July 15.  

For more information, visit Quidley & Company Fine Art.
 

Paintings by – among others – Sir Alfred James Munnings, Stanhope Alexander Forbes, John William Godward feature in an upcoming auction.

Sotheby’s presents the “Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist Art” sale July 15th, beginning at 9 a.m. eastern. 

To view the full catalogue, visit Sotheby’s.

A successful exhibition continues at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  “Sultans of Deccan India, 1500-1700 Opulence and Fantasy” shows until July 26th and brings together one of the largest collections of Deccani poetic lyricism in painting, metalwork, and textile production.

Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art for more information.