antiquesandartireland.com

In Amsterdam the Rijksmuseum has recorded a record attendance of 2.45 million visitors in 2014.  Half were from the Netherlands and more than 350,000 were children, an increase of nearly 20%. Around 100,000 children were on a school visit. Last year, after its re-opening, the museum attracted 2.2 million visitors. Main attractions this year were the Calder exhibition in the gardens and the opening exhibition in the Philips Wing – Modern Times, Photography in the 20th Century – which runs to next January 11.

Wim Pijbes, Rijksmuseum General Director said: At 350,000, the record number of children visiting the museum makes me feel especially positive about the future.

Here is a short video about the Rijksmueum.

THIS website is popular around the globe and regularly achieves around 1.2 – 1.3 million hits each month. It gets an approximately equal number of hits from Ireland, the United States and Britain followed in order by France, Germany, Italy, India, Canada, Spain, Australia, the Netherlands, Brazil, Belgium,  Turkey and the rest of the world. The attached image from Google’s Webmaster Tools shows that antiquesandartireland.com had 1,361,967 hits in the month from November 3 to December 3, 2014.  A big thank you to all readers.

Click on this image to enlarge it.

Steven P. Murphy

Christie’s announced today that Steven P. Murphy will step down as Chief Executive Officer at the end of the year.  Patricia Barbizet will become Chief Executive Officer as well as continuing in her role as Chairman of Christie’s.

“When Mr. Pinault and Madame Barbizet brought me into Christie’s, I was tasked with helping to modernise the company and enable it to grow in the new world in which we operate, while maintaining its extraordinary spirit and culture, and consistently focusing on the art itself.  We have now successfully concluded an ambitious three year plan and the company is in the strongest leadership position in its history,” commented Steven Murphy. “I have loved everything about working with the team here at Christie’s and am extremely proud of what we have collectively achieved.”

In a statement Patricia Barbizet commented: “We are extremely grateful to Steven for his vision, leadership and commitment to Christie’s since he joined in 2010. During his tenure Christie’s has assumed a truly leading position, with sales and profits at their highest ever levels. Over this period the company ventured into new markets in India and China, launched successful online auction sales and positioned itself at the forefront of the digital transformation in the art market.”

“Having completed this core work, the company is positioned for its next phase of development and I look forward to leading the global team into a new chapter of innovation and excellence as we take Christie’s to the next level.”

Oscar Wilde is on the right of this photograph.  UPDATE: IT MADE 7,000

A previously unpublished photograph of a young Oscar Wilde comes up as lot 696 at the James Adam Country House Collections sale at Slane Castle on October 13.  Contained in Lady Ardilaun’s photograph album it is part of a group photograph showing a house party at Ashford Castle, Co. Galway from October 4-12 in 1878.  The oblong 1870’s photo album has a red morocco cover.

The young Oscar, clad in tweed plus fours, is seated on the right of the photo seated on the balustrading on the front steps. The 29 leave album album, containing numerous cartes-de-visite portraits, groups, houses and scenery, mostly annotated, Macroom Castle, Birr Castle, Muckross, Bantry, Ashford, Ross Hill, Lough Cutra, Castle Macgarrett, St. Anne’s, Howth,  is estimated at 5,000-8,000.

UPDATE:  THIS SOLD FOR 7,000