With the closing of Sothebys.com this week, art selling on the internet is deemed a failed idea. “What happened? With other Internet sales skyrocketing, why did no one – not even the powerful Sotheby’s – succeed in flogging enough Warhol paintings and Chippendale chairs on the World Wide Web to make a decent profit? Because it is a losing battle: Everything that makes art compelling is blunted by the virtual, one-click world of the Net.”