If you want Old Masters or modern giants, from Breughel to Monet to Van Gogh to Picasso, TEFAF in Maastricht is the place to be. The European Fine Art Fair which runs from March 10 to 19 is an assembly of art, antiques and antiquities like no other. Business has been brisk at a press preview where some of the leading curators in the world rubbed shoulders with billionaires in pursuit of the range of the sometimes gobsmacking delights on offer. London dealers Colnaghi made a five million euro sale at preview. Their previously unknown masterpiece by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi (1587-1625) has been in the same family collection for over a century and had been misattributed.
Where else can you expect to find a Van Gogh on a stand at a fair? His view of The New Church and Old Houses in The Hague is priced at 2.25 million at the Dutch Gallery Albricht and they anticipate a quick sale. Quality and rarity abounds. Histoire Ancienne jusqu’à César and Fait des Romains, c.1370-80, an illuminated manuscript on parchment with 78 miniatures by the Master of the Coronation of Charles VI, is at Les Enluminures. This historical chronicle, with impeccable provenance and once in the collection of Chester Beatty, is priced at $4.5 million. A lime wood and walnut Julius Caesar, c.1551 is the earliest recorded work and only-surviving wood sculpture by master sculptor Giambologna (1529-1608). Tomasso brothers are seeking a price in the region of 1.5 million. Everything here is rigorously vetted for authenticity. Here is a small selection:
This rediscovered work by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi sold for 5 million at Colnaghi
Vincent van Gogh – The New Church And Old Houses In The Hague at Galerie Albricht
A cabinet on stand with 13 drawers signed ‘Josef Frank 1965’ at the Swedish firm Modern or Svenskt Tenn priced at 36,000
A large Monteith at Luis Allegria Ida priced at 290,000
A pair of armchairs by Diego Giacometti at L’Arc en Seine priced at 650,000
A Royal Neoclassical Table En Commode For The Personal Use Of King Vittorio at Burzio priced at 250,000.
A Pair of ‘Soldier’ vases and covers at Jorge Welsh priced at 625,000
Julius Caesar by Giambologna at Tomasso Brother priced in the region of 1.5 million
An illuminated manuscript at Les Enluminures priced at $4.5 million
Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806)
Mu Tamagawa (The Six Jewel Rivers), Kinta Tamagawa at Galerie Tanakaya priced at 65,000