Artprice by Artmarket.com

The role of independent experts in the Art Market

PARIS, Sept. 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2019, France's art auction turnover total rose by +18% versus 2018, reaching a record 830 million US dollars and consolidating the country's fourth place in the global ranking of major national marketplaces. But, it isn't yet a direct competitor to the United Kingdom which generated turnover 2.5 times higher in the art auction sector.

"France has several assets though, recalls thierry Ehrmann, CEO and Founder of Artmarket.com and its Artprice department, "and notably its hidden stock of old masterpieces, a number of which usually find their way into the country's auction rooms every year. But it takes all the know-how of an expert in Old Masters to defend their value and their rightful place in Art History. The quality of the work conducted by French art experts is today recognised all over the world."

The expert lives at 69... rue Sainte-Anne in Paris

Old Master paintings expert Eric Turquin admits that the sale of the small devotional panel attributed to the Master of Vyssi Brod was probably his firm's biggest success story in 2019. And yet the year was full of excitement as the Cabinet Turquin was deeply involved in the sale of the Toulouse Caravaggio in June 2019 (which finally sold privately), the Cimabue painting in October and even a work by Artemisia Gentileschi in November.

However, the attribution of that small panel to the artist known as Master of Vyssi Brod, a 14th century Gothic painter from Prague, was indeed a veritable tour de force. It took a lot of patient research to back up this delicate attribution, but it ultimately demonstrated the exceptional value of this small painting. Nine bidders competed for it in Dijon and it finally went to the Benappi Fine Art Gallery that bought the work for $6.8 million on behalf of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. 

An intense research dossier was also triggered by the discovery of a bronze bust of Paul Phélypeaux de Pontchartrain, one of Henri IV's Ministers. When auctioneer Géraldine d'Ouince saw it for the first time, she exclaimed "It can't be 17th century... it would be too good to be true... no more exist! …" . Busts from that period are indeed extremely rare, even in the most prestigious museums, and they are totally absent from the market. But, with the help of Elodie Jeannest and Alexandre Lacroix of the Sculpture & Collection appraisal firm (also based at 69 rue Sainte-Anne in Paris, next to the Cabinet Turquin), they were able to establish that the bronze dated from the first half of the 17th century.