SURGE OR SLUMP?

The well-publicized sums paid at auction last week for two Victorian-era paintings (£6.6 million by Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber for John William Waterhouse’s “Saint Cecilia” and £2.6 million by Australian collector John Schaeffer for Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s “Pandora”) may not tell the whole story about what’s really happening in the world of Victorian art sales. In fact, Sotheby’s failed to sell 40% of its British art on the block last week, while Phillips’ unsold lots (of mainly Victorian pictures) totaled 50 percent. – The Telegraph (UK)