ARTFIXdaily News Feed - Breaking News from the Art World

Museo dell'Opera del Duomo Reopens With More Space Two Years After Tourist Breaks Statue

ArtfixDaily / October 30th, 2015

Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence, Italy, re-opened on Oct. 29, 2015, following a gallery expansion. It is the world's largest repository of Florentine medieval and Renaissance sculpture with 750 statues and about 250 artworks including masterpieces by ...

Cranach's Renaissance Adultery Test Spurs Artist Record $14.3 Million

Bloomberg / July 9th, 2015

A Northern Renaissance masterpiece by Lucas Cranach the Elder brought an artist auction record of 9.3 million pounds ($14.3 million) at Sotheby’s in London on Wednesday. A private American collector prevailed over several competitors worldwide for the Cranach. Painted circa 1525-1528, the ...

NYC's Museum of Biblical Art Will Close Its Doors, Despite Crowds for Recent Exhibition

ArtfixDaily / April 29th, 2015

Visitor attendance has been high for exhibitions at New York's Museum of Biblical Art (MOBIA). But the popularity of the current show Sculpture in the Age of Donatello is not keeping the museum afloat. The museum's board announced this week that MOBIA will shut down in June after the 23 ...

Facebook Does Not 'Like' All Art

WaPo / March 10th, 2015

A French schoolteacher posted an image of Gustave Courbet's "L'Origine du Monde" on Facebook only to have the famous painting of lady parts from the Musee d'Orsay collection censored by the social media giant. He has now sued Facebook in a Parisian court. The court agreed to hear the case in ...

Jewish Heirs Sue Germany Over $226 Million Medieval Treasure

ArtfixDaily / February 24th, 2015

The heirs of Jewish art dealers who sold a trove of medieval treasures to the Nazis are suing the German state in a U.S. lawsuit. Gestapo founder Herman Goering orchestrated the sale in 1935 with four Jewish art dealers who received millions of dollars. The collection is now thought to be worth ...

Italian Police Seize 'Lost' da Vinci

Telegraph / February 10th, 2015

A long-lost painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci was confiscated from a bank vault in Switzerland after Italian police said it had been exported illegally and was in danger of being sold for up to £90 million. Swiss police, acting on a request by their Italian counterparts, ...

Legal Case Continues Over Contested 'Adam and Eve' Masterpieces

ABCNews / January 22nd, 2015

The Supreme Court will allow the ownership case of two Nazi-looted Renaissance masterpieces to go to trial in a longstanding battle between the heir of a noted Jewish art dealer and the Norton Simon Museum.

Vegetation in London's 'Virgin of the Rocks' Are Wrong for da Vinci, Claim Scholars

Guardian / December 10th, 2014

Scientists and art historians are trying to work out to what extent Leonardo had a hand in both versions of Virgin of the Rocks – the one in the Louvre, in Paris, and the replica in the National Gallery in London. Doubts have long been cast over whether the Renaissance master made the ...

Italian Benefactor Helps Save Piero della Francesca Masterpiece

Independent / November 17th, 2014

Flaking and discolored, a Piero della Francesca work once described as "the greatest picture in the world" is in dire need of conservation.

Detroit Hit With a $4 Billion Proposal for City's Art

New York Times / August 27th, 2014

New York-based Art Capital has offered Detroit a loan of up to $4 billion in a new proposal that leaves the city's museum intact with its art used as collateral.

Battle Ensues Over 'Adam and Eve' at Norton Simon Museum

ArtfixDaily / June 9th, 2014

An ongoing legal battle over Lucas Cranach the Elder's 'Adam and Eve' (circa 1530) has again erupted in a Nazi restitution case brought by...

Recently Attributed Leonardo da Vinci Painting Sold for Over $75 Million

ArtfixDaily / March 3rd, 2014

A painting by Leonardo da Vinci discovered at an estate sale sold privately in May 2013 for between $75 million and $80 million.

Possible da Vinci Painting Emerges from Swiss Bank Vault

ArtfixDaily / October 6th, 2013

Italian media has reported that a portrait of a woman found in a Swiss bank vault may be by Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci.

Tests Show Second Mona Lisa is the "Original," Foundation Claims

RT / February 14th, 2013

A Swiss foundation says that another version of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece 'Mona Lisa' has undergone new tests and verified to be an original by the Renaissance painter, not a later copy. The non-profit Mona Lisa Foundation announced Wednesday that...

Rockefeller's Botticelli in Record-Smashing Auction Series

ArtfixDaily / February 3rd, 2013

Old Master and Renaissance art brought record prices totaling $170 million at Sotheby's and Christie's auctions in New York last week.

Skeleton Uncovered in Florence Could be Mona Lisa

Daily Mail / January 6th, 2013

A group of Italian art historians and archaeologists are looking for the secret behind Mona Lisa's mysterious smile. Headed by former TV producer Silvano Vinceti, the team believes they have found...

Dallas Museum of Art Denied da Vinci Acquisition

Dallas News / December 18th, 2012

Officials from the Dallas Museum of Art have revealed that their efforts in fundraising tens of millions of dollars for a rediscovered work by Leonardo da Vinci were fruitless. The owners have...

Mona Lisa Double Reveals New Discoveries

Telegraph / February 1st, 2012

A recent cleaning of a painting in Madrid's Prado has unveiled some of the mystery surrounding Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (ca. 1503-06). Previously thought to be a later and inferior copy, the restored painting has been determined to be the earliest copy of da Vinci's masterpiece, and importantly, created by a key pupil at the same time as the original.

Old Masters with Staying Power Buoy Auction Series to $122 Million

Telegraph / January 31st, 2012

Falling below expectations, the Old Masters auction sales in New York brought in a combined total of $122 million last week. About one-third of offered lots went unsold. Buyers were choosy and works with conservative estimates sold well, along with enduringly-popular...

Gardner Museum Addition Dazzles Critics, Some of the Crowd

Boston Globe / January 29th, 2012

A glass box-like punctuation point to its original palazzo-style museum, the new Renzo Piano-designed addition of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum opened January 19 to critical acclaim, with accolades for the functionality of the architecture itself. The Boston Globe notes, "...its sloping ...