The more Giacometti looked, the less he could see. But even as his sculptures shrank, Martin Gayford says, his influence grew
Much of the greatest figurative art of the 20th and 21st centuries – by Freud, Auerbach and Bacon – has come from repetition: depicting a few familiar models, again and again and again. Van Gogh, who was greatly admired by all ...
Friend to the greats of modern art when they were poor and unloved, Herbert Read kept the works artists showered on him in gratitude. Piers Paul Read introduces works from his father's stellar collection to be offered at Bonhams
In September 1949, my father, Herbert Read, realised a long-cherished ambition of returning to his roots in rural North Yorkshire ...
Last lover of silent-screen idol Rudolph Valentino, Pola Negri mourned him in characteristically flamboyant – and public – style. Laura Watts describes their afterlife together
On 23 August 1926, news broke that Hollywood heart-throb Rudolph Valentino had died, due to complications from peritonitis. He was 31 years old. Tens of thousands of fans took to the streets of New York ...
If you want to stage the motoring event of the decade, where better to hold it than Bonhams? Mark Beech reveals what happened when Rolls-Royce unveiled its new Phantom
It is the evening of 27 July and, in a hushed room at Bonhams, a black-tie audience await what many have called the automotive event of the decade. The lights dim ...
Europeans used carcasses to decorate tables – until trade between the Spanish and the Chinese presented a more elegant solution. William Sargent stands back in admiration
At first glance, these exquisite, sculptural porcelains might seem bizarre, even useless. They come from China, but illustrate a complicated story of 18th-century dining habits in Spain: what was eaten, how it was eaten, and ...
The life of Gabriele Finaldi, the Director of the National Gallery, changed when he saw a Rembrandt. He tells Lucinda Bredin what happened next...
The day that I saw Gabriele Finaldi, the Director of the National Gallery, had not got off to an easy start. The terrorist attack on London Bridge had occurred three days before and the gallery was ...
George Clausen's paintings conjure a peaceful, sun-drenched world, but were met with astonishing hostility. Kenneth McConkey explains why
It is midsummer. The mowers are active in the field beyond a row of trees. A child who has been clearing the hay props her rake against a tree, doffs a shabby straw hat decorated with meadow flowers, and slumps onto ...
John Kasmin is beguiled by the city's exquisite melancholy
It was Jan Morris who defined the 'Trieste effect'. In the only
book you need to read about the place, she summed up the city thus: "This opaque sea port of my vision, so full of sweet melancholy, illustrates not just my adolescent emotions of the past, but my lifelong ...
When she's looking for glamour, Twiggy knows just where to go...
Brasserie Zédel has one of the most beautiful dining rooms in London, possibly in the world. It was created in the mid Thirties, in the basement of the glamorous Regent Palace Hotel, and is entirely evocative of the period. Its fortunes declined after the Second World War, and ...
He was India's most significant modern painter, but he died in exile. Alastair Smart explores the life of M.F. Husain, a rock-star artist who captured the spirit of a new nation
One of India's most important artists of the 20th century, M.F. Husain was also undeniably its most flamboyant. With his mane of white hair, fondness ...
Even among the film stars and aristocrats of Swinging London, Andrew Grima was a celebrity. Nicholas Foulkes tells his story
At the distance of half a century it is difficult, if not impossible, to appreciate the excitement that surrounded 80 Jermyn Street, where Andrew Grima opened his eponymous jewellery shop in 1966.
Until that point, a smart jeweller's shop ...
Veronique Scorer describes the thrill of making discoveries and meeting new people to Lucinda Bredin
I remember visiting a retired couple at their bungalow in Buckinghamshire," recalls Veronique Scorer, Head of Pictures at Bonhams Knightsbridge. "The gentleman had inherited a painting after his father's death a few years previously and was keeping it under the bed. It turned out ...
Jancis Robinson's proudest moment was when she became a Master of Wine. In November, Bonhams holds an auction to help others achieve the same accolade
I've been writing about wine for so long – more than 40 years – that a certain number of awards and decorations have come my way. I'm flattered by all of them, but perhaps ...
Roll up, Rolls up
Rolls-Royce Phantoms are a rare sight, with only a few built each year. But the unveiling of the eighth generation of Phantom – the first new model in more than a decade – at Bonhams New Bond Street HQ in July was a one-off opportunity for car aficionados to pay homage. Lord ...