A painting thought to be a "lost masterpiece" by Italian painter Caravaggio has been bought two days before it was due to go under the hammer in France. "Judith and Holofernes", which was found under an old mattress in the attic of a house in the French city of Toulouse, was snapped up by a foreign buyer, the auction house selling it said on Tuesday. Art expert Eric Turquin -- who authenticated the painting -- said it was worth between 100 and 150 million euros (up to $170 million), although several Italian specialists have doubts about the canvas. But Turquin, France's leading authority on Old Masters paintings, had staked his reputation on the work being the fiery artist's lost "Judith and Holofernes". The painting depicting a grisly biblical scene of the beautiful

A 16th century sculpture of Saint George in Spain whose amateur restoration left it looking like what many said was a cartoon character has been brought back to its original state, regional authorities said Monday. The botched restoration sparked anger when it came to light last year, drawing comparisons with a similar infamous renovation in 2012 by an elderly parishioner of a fresco of Jesus Christ which resembled a pale-faced ape with cartoon-style eyes. The wooden statue of St George charging a horse in the San Miguel church in Estella, a town in Spain's northern Navarra region, had turned a dark brown with age. But its restoration by a local crafts business left the soldier with a pink face and a surprised look. Some Twitter users likened the restored statue to Tintin or Woody from "Toy Story". Authorities fined the church and the crafts business 6,010 euros ($6,840) each. Now, after three months of work

The Art & Antique Dealers League has announced that their third annual Fine Art & Antiques Show—with 24 dealers—will open for a 5-day run starting Thursday October 31st at the St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Wallace Hall, 980 Park Avenue on New York’s Upper East Side. According to show manager Brad Reh, five galleries have joined the show. They include: Betty Krulik Fine Art, Ltd., from New York (19th and 20th century American art); Philadelphia’s Dolan/Maxwell Gallery (modern and contemporary art), Denmark-based Greg Pepin Silver (hollowware, silverware, and jewelry); New York-based Rehs Galleries (19th through contemporary paintings); and from Nantucket, Lynda Willauer Antiques (Chinese export porcelain, Majolica, Staffordshire ceramics). “We’re delighted to welcome these distinguished dealer to our roster,� says Reh. “Each enhances the wonderful offerings of our existing

Jean Dubuffet’s Cérémonie (Ceremony), a visceral portrait of cosmopolitan life from 1961, led the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction in London, selling for £8,718,750 / $11,107,688 (including buyer's premium). The sale totalled £45,179,450 / $57,558,619 — 94 per cent sold by lot and 99 per cent by value. For full results, see below. Channelling the currents of Pop Art, Abstract Expressionism and Tachisme, the top-priced work, which stands among the largest paintings in Dubuffet's celebrated ‘Paris Circus’ series, was made just a few months after the artist's return to Paris after six years in the countryside. Alive with kaleidoscopic texture and colour, it captures the newfound joie de vivre that swept the French capital during the early 1960s. The second and third highest prices on the night came for

This summer, Sotheby’s will present a roll-call of the greatest names in Western art history at its flagship Old Masters Evening Sale on 3 July. With an overall estimate of £4665.9m/ $59.5-83.7m, the sale next week is one of the strongest sales ever staged in this category, both in value as well as in the quality of works on offer. From some of the finest works by the three key British landscape painters remaining in private hands, to masterpieces and newly discovered works by Renaissance and Baroque masters, the sale features works by the biggest household names spanning six centuries. Going to Market, Early Morning is unquestionably one of Gainsborough’s finest masterpieces remaining in private hands, and one of the finest eighteenth century British landscapes by any artist ever to likely come to market. Painted in 1773 it is one of an important group of three major landscapes Gainsborough painted at this period that dea