Country Walkers’ Post

On July 2nd in #London, Christie's will hold an exciting auction sale of Old Master paintings, led by masterpieces by Titian, Quentin Metsys and Franz Hals.   This event is a good opportunity to focus on the evolution of the market for Old Master paintings (OMP), which is undoubtedly one of the categories of the #artmarket that has seen the most significant movements in the last 15 years.   These developments can be summarised around three main axes, as evidenced by Christie's data.   1- The evolution of collectors’ tastes towards modern and contemporary art has resulted in a decline in both the number and total value of recorded transactions for OMP, but this decline is almost entirely driven by the lower end of the value scale. The annual average of total auction sales of Old Master painting at Christie’s fell from to $211 million between 2012 and 2014 to $187 million between 2021 and 2023, but over the same period the average price for works sold at auction has risen from $130,000 to $305,000. The number of lots offered in OMP auctions dropped by around 55% but the number of bidders by only 33%, from around 1,500 per year to about 1,000 per year. American collectors remain dominant (about 63% of bidders between 2021 and 2023), although significantly less than a decade or two ago when they supported nearly 80% of the global market.   2- Significant transactions continue to take place each year. Of the twenty most expensive Old Master paintings sold at Christie's since 2010, eight have been sold since 2021, including the landmark sale of Chardin's masterpiece, ‘Le Melon entamé’, last month in Paris for $27m. Major works continue remain highly sought after, despite the erosion of the lower-value segment of the OMP. This shift is partly due to changing collector profiles over the past 15-20 years; new entrants prefer buying across different categories rather than deeply specialising in one. The most spectacular example of this evolution was undoubtedly that of Paul Allen, whose extraordinary collection, sold at Christie's in November 2022, ranged from Botticelli and Turner to Cezanne and David Hockney.   3- Christie's strategy has successfully evolved in response to market changes. This includes integrating the category into broader sales contexts, such as the memorable sale of Leonardo da Vinci's ‘Salvator Mundi’ within a contemporary art auction in November 2017. Christie's also focuses on more selective sale formats, leading to improvements in some key metrics such as the average percentage of works sold annually (increasing from 64% between 2012-2014 to 76% between 2021-2023) and the average number of bidders per lot (rising from 2.4 to 3.7 over the same period). In addition, there is a strong emphasis on private sales, which have become another preferred channel for masterpiece transactions in this category.

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it's staggering, to see how many working hard twisting realities to convince you with a mistake. instead of, admitting or rectifying it. communication 101: send a clear message, use common words that most would accept, understand and respect. imagine sending this memo to your international employees: "Hey Top Dogs, We need to hustle and get this project done ASAP. Everyone should be working like slaves to meet the deadline, so no slacking off, no yellowing out. Make sure there are no shady moves, or it will be instantly reported to the chief. let's keep everything halal. Best, Your Alfa Dog" Here is some Facts about #Leonardo_da_Vinci's "The Last Supper": 1. Location of Creation: "#The_Last_Supper" was created on the wall of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in (#Milan, #Italy). 2. Current Location: The painting remains in its original location at the Convent of #Santa_Maria_delle_Grazie in Milan. 3. Date of Creation: Leonardo da Vinci painted "The Last Supper" between 1495 and 1498. #norelevance #nocontext #norespect

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