Market - Finestre sull'Arte

Original Birkin sold at Sotheby's for $10 million, is the most expensive handbag ever

Ten million dollars for a handbag. Of course, it's not just any bag: it's the original Birkin bag, the first one ever made, the prototype that in 1984 Jean-Louis Dumas, creative director of Hermès, custom-designed for Jane Birkin beginning the...
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CortonAntiquaria 2025 returns: Italy's oldest antiques fair from Aug. 23 to Sept. 7

The CortonAntiquaria National Antiques Fair returns to take place, as per established tradition, from August 23 to September 7, 2025 in the historic center of Cortona, hosted inside theformer convent of Sant'Agostino, a building of historical and arc...
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Canaletto masterpiece sold at Christie's for £31 million

The Canaletto painting that was going up for auction late this afternoon at Christie's in London was sold for over £30 million. It was a masterpiece, for which there was great expectation: the work, The Return of the Bucintoro on Ascension Day, one ...
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Kicking off the 54th edition of Pennabilli Antiques, market exhibition bringing art treasures to the village

The 54th Pennabilli National Antiques Market Exhibition, a major event in the Italian antiques scene held from June 29 to July 13, 2025 in Pennabilli (Rimini), has started in Romagna. Organized by thePennabilli Antiques Cultural Association, the even...
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How 5% VAT on artworks could change the Italian market (and why it makes sense)

It is rare for a measure affecting art to become the subject of wide public debate, just as it is rare for it to make its way into the topics of the day on social media: yet, the announcement of the5 percent VAT on works of art, the long-awaited and ...
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Government lowers VAT on works of art to 5 percent. It is now the lowest rate in Europe

Italy, too, will introduce subsidized VAT on works of art: the 5 percent VAT so long awaited and hoped for by sector operators is about to become a reality. In fact, the Council of Ministers approved today the decree law "Urgent provisions for the fi...
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Major online auction at Piguet's: Italian Old Masters for sale

Important online auction, June 5-18: Piguet Hôtel des Ventes auction house in Geneva is in fact organizing an auction spanning three centuries of Italian creativity. The Swiss maison is offering an exclusively online sale until June 18, culmina...
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A recently discovered work by Artemisia Gentileschi ends up at auction at Sotheby's

Going up for auction at Sotheby's in London on July 3 is Artemisia Gentileschi's David with the Head of Goliath, one of the most recent additions to the painter's catalog. The work has been known to scholars for some time, and had risen to headlines ...
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