The Mocking of Christ, by the 13th-century Italian painter Cimabue, was sold at auction, reportedly to collectors in Delaware, for €24.2 million. The French government promptly declared the painting a "national treasure," barring export for 30 months, giving the Louvre time to raise funds to match the bid. - Artnet
The director of the Museum Langmatt in Switzerland described the upcoming auction at Christie's of three Cézanne paintings as an "emergency measure," saying that the sales will finance an endowment and compensate the heirs of a Jewish dealer forced to sell the artworks during the Nazi era. - The New York Times
According to a statement from Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, a missile launched by Russia caused significant damage to the Odesa Fine Arts Museum, one of the most important Tsarist-era palaces in Odesa’s historic city center. - ARTnews
A controversial Hungarian law bans the "display and promotion of homosexuality" in materials accessible to children, such as books and films. The museum recently hosted the World Press Photo exhibition, featuring shots of LGBT people in the Philippines. - BBC
The notorious art object, titled America, was stolen from an exhibition at Blenheim Palace in England in 2019. There's as yet no indication of the whereabouts of the object itself, which is widely presumed to have been melted down. - The Guardian
Two members of the British group Just Stop Oil took hammers to the glass protecting Diego Velázquez’s "Rokeby Venus" at the National Gallery in London. (This isn't the first time that painting has been damaged by a protester: it was attacked by a suffragette in 1914.) - CNN
The planned exhibition, Treasured Ornament: 10 Centuries of Islamic Art, features ancient and modern Islamic glassware, ceramics, metalwork, painting, weaponry and more, which the Frick said in a 3 October press release sought to invoke “the rich history of the Islamic world and the shared human experiences that bind us”. - The Art Newspaper
Auction houses are now playing to millions of viewers from all over the world, who stream the action live on social media sites including YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram Live, as well as their own websites — riveted by how the one percent spends its money. - The New York Times
Rowan Moore wants more info about Liverpool Street Station plans."Given the scale and impact of this orgy of construction and disruption, the burden of proof is surely on to demonstrate its necessity." - The Observer (UK)
Sir Peter Blake, "at the age of 91, ... has been collaborating with a robot powered by AI and is excited by the artistic possibilities of this 'kind of magic.'" - The Guardian (UK)
Why? Why? "To the unknowing customer, it may just look blandly inoffensive—'so severely inoffensive, you could be anywhere,' is how I would describe this aesthetic’s aim." - Slate
"Most writers have yet to be directly financially affected by A.I. This is not true for the commercial artists who create their book covers." - The New York Times
Sotheby’s and Christie’s expect that the November auction season could bring their companies upward of $1 billion each. But despite the claims of some auctioneers who said there are masterpieces around every corner, art advisers and market experts have noted the broader market’s lack of stellar inventory and buyer focus. - The New York Times
