EL GRECO

“Saint Dominic in Prayer”

“Saint Dominic in Prayer”

Introduction

Art simply is an expression or crafting of the ingenious ideas which a human can visualize in the form of a sculpture and painting. In the vast field of art, painting has received a significant importance because it's a way through which an individual can express its ideas to the general public in a very effective manner. A number of artists have played their very important role in the betterment of the society by introducing new designs, architecture and other related work. Every culture, tradition and religion has its own artists which have contributed allot of in reviving the society from different aspects. “El Grece” (Doménikos Theotokópoulos) a Spanish Renaissance is also one of those master mind who saw and interpreted this world from their imaginative eyen (Evengelatou, p.17). This essay discusses in detail about this artist and the work done by him. Most prominently his painting of “St Dominic in Prayer” and its recent auction is also discussed.

Discussion

Market Trends in Art Market

Art market is showing a noticeable growth from previous few years. Astonishing stories regarding the selling price of master pieces are appearing every day. The art market has become a new stop for the investors. Art lovers and investors both are bidding very high to keep the custody of such priceless master pieces with them. There is a positive skewed trend in the art market across the globe (Deloitte, 2013. P.5) the top ten countries based on the auction turnover are given in figure 1.1 in appendix.

Art Market- Price Indices

The valuation of contemporary art can be traced from the fluctuation in its prices through a historical path. The art market faced its peak in the year of 2008 when it raised the record level of 340% growth. But the market starts declining after the clash of Lehman Brother; prices touched its minima or bottom level in the year 2010. Detail of price movement from 1985 to 2010 is presented in fig. 1.2 in appendix.

Top Ten Auction Houses Art market is considered as a niche market that's why the quantity of auction houses is comparatively low. All these auction houses are performing very well in their industry and earning a substantial amount of turnover. The top ten auctioneer houses on the basis of their turnover are as follow

Auctioneer Name

Turnover (Amount in €)

Turnover in %

Christie's

244,006,580

28.25

Sotheby's

189,004,193

21.88

Phillips de Pury & Company

89,961,674

10.41

Poly Auction

56,323,539

6.52

China Guardian

37,715,050

4.37

Shanghai Auction

23,077,565

2.67

Rong Bao Auctions

19,877,113

2.3

Ravenel Art Group

16,631,453

1.93

Council Auction

12,794,077

1.48

Xiling Yin she Auction

12,649,905

1.46

Others

161,766,089

18.73

Sotheby's

Sotheby's and El Greco are the focus point of our essay, Sotheby's is the world's leading brokerage house dealing in almost every kind of art related auctions. It was founded in London (UK) in 1977 by Baker, Leigh and John Sotheby, Company has it's headquarter in New York. Currently company has of 1446 employee overlooking its operations in 40 countries worldwide.

El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos)

Doménikos Theotokópoulos (a name synonymous to perfection) is considered as one of the most wonderful sculptor, painter and architect of the ...