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The daddy of all fairs, The European Fine Art Fair TEFAF is now underway in Maastricht in The Netherlands. Distinguished by the rarity and quality this is where curators and the wealthiest collectors in the world come to buy.  On the opening day the Rijksmuseum acquired an Italian sculpture from 1556.  The expressive wax model of a naked young man holding a globe as a symbol of the cosmos was made by Bartolomeo Ammannati.  Made for the Medici family it is a preparatory model for the fountain in the Palazzo Pitti.

This large fair divided into a variety of sections is a hub for more than 280 of the worlds finest art, antiques and design dealers.  Sculpture from across the centuries is particularly well represented this year.  An extraordinary, evocative bronze piece, Torso of a Crouching Woman by Camille Claudel (1864-1943) at Daniel Katz Gallery is believed to reflect the destructive relationship between Claudel and Auguste Rodin in whose studio she worked for many years.

At TEFAF Design Demisch Danant offer an impressive wall library crafted in 1958 and presented that year at the Brussels International Exposition where it was awarded the Grand Prix and Gold Medal.

At TEFAF Modern Paolo Antonacci celebrates the first retrospective dedicated to the Italian artist Marino Marini at the Peggy Guggenheim Gallery in Venice.  He is showing the powerful Cavallo e Cavaliere, a 1952 oil on canvas by Marini (1901-1980).

Richard Nagy will offer works by the Austrian master Egon Schiele, the centenary of whose death occurs this year.  Among these are Nude with Green Stockings 1918, a gouache and black crayon on paper.

TEFAF Ancient Art enables visitors to view some of the oldest works of art available to buy today with objects from right around the world.  A highlight from The Merrin Gallery is a Mayan polychrome cylinder vase depicting young corn gods on a jaguar skin cushion which dats to 550-950 AD.

TEFAF Tribal is the newest section of the fair, which made its first appearance last year.  Of note here is a standing statue from New Ireland, black Uli, which is shown by  the Belgian dealer Bernard de Grunne.  TEFAF continues until March 18.