Sri Lankan artist Senaka Senanayake's work can be found in the White House, the UN building in New York, in museums, private collections and corporate headquarters of multinationals around the world. He has held over a hundred exhibitions in over 18 countries spanning the five continents. Now he is at the Grosvenor Gallery in London from June 2017.

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Trump Skyline

Image on sale at auction!

One piece of art missing from the White House right now is President Donald J Trump's own skyline painting,  which is up for auction!

Trump shares a passion for painting with former US Presidents Dwight D Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter and George W Bush. All have spent time off from the Oval Office behind an easel with canvas, paints and brushes.

Most recently, a piece by current U.S President, Donald J Trump, was sold in July at Los Angeles-based auction house Nate D. Sanders. Trump created the skyline piece in 2005 for a charity event. The charity auction also included original works by Republican Senator John McCain. Bidding at Nate D. Sanders started at $9 000 before the gavel came down at a final price of $29,184 for President Trump's work.

Pontus Silverstope, co-founder of Barneby's says: "This work by President Trump is just the kind of thing that stumps experts. How does one value a painting by a sitting President with little previous exposure to the art market? It will be interesting to see if this picture tops a similar one that sold previously for $30,000 to benefit a charity."

Barnebys, the world's leading auction search service (or aggregator), features over a half million items for sale through 2,000 auction houses worldwide and 1.5 million visitors a month. It is increasingly the online art platform chosen by anyone interested in tracking down a work of art, an antique, a design icon for sale in the world's auction houses. It is often called the Google of the art world.  Because of its massive database of goods moving through the art world it can track trends as few others can and is sensitive to market movements.

Barnebys' team of experts was recently sent an example of Trump's work, an image of the New York skyline, composed and signed by the 45th President himself. The black and gold skyline was accompanied by a letter of provenance, which identified the piece as having been created by Trump. In the letter, the owner of the artwork explains how Trump gave the piece to her father whilst he was ''working as an attorney for Mr. Trump.'' The letter goes on to describe how the consigner's father ''watched Donald J Trump 'draw and sign the original art.' ''

It is quite likely, that the Trump skyline just submitted to Barnebys was originally sold in the same 2005 auction as the piece sold this July at Nate D. Sanders. So, our Barnebys user who sent in their original Trump could be in for a very happy financial surprise when the piece comes to auction.

The Trump skyline sent in to Barnebys appraisal service was spotted by Julien's Auctions. Founded in 2003 by Darren Julien, the Hollywood-based auction house has earned its place as the king of pop culture memorabilia auctions. Other record-breaking and headline-making sales at Julien'sinclude: the kit used by Ringo Starr on The Beatles hits Can't Buy Me Love and She Loves You which sold for $1.9 million. So clearly the Trump piece will be in very good company when it comes up for sale with Julien's and is sure to draw in the crowds.

So how does Barnebys appraisal and valuation service work? Simply create an account withBarnebys, upload photographs and information on your piece - which can all be done straight from your smartphone. Your piece is then automatically sent to our team of specialists, who will expertly appraise the piece and create your personalized valuation certificate. Best of all, each valuation you submit has a guaranteed response time of only 48 hours. Our team of specialists areseasoned auction experts who have accumulated decades of art market experience. Representing over 40 categories, our Valuations Team is able to appraise the full spectrum of fine and decorative art globally.

Barnebys Valuation finds: A jug made by Picasso; Danish artists who have a penchant for burning things and £40 000 worth of Russian silver: what do they all share in common? They are a handful of incredible pieces that have been sent in by you, our wonderful Barnebys users, to our Valuation Service. Three exquisite pieces of Russian silver were sent in to our Valuation Service. Spying these were something that could not be missed, they were consigned to Christie's for their Russian Art sale set for summer 2017. Christie's Russian Art Sale at their King Street sale room in London's St. James saw 255 lots achieve a total of £5 050 750, including buyer's premium. Of this figure, the Russian silverware sent into our Valuation Service accounted for over £40 000.

                                      www.barnebys.co.uk

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Sir Winston Churchill's final painting could fetch £80,000 at a London Auction next month.  'The Goldfish Pool at Chartwell'  depicts his 'special place' at his Kent home.  The work was given to a bodyguard shortly before the ex PM died in 1965.  Amethystine agree that for a political leader,  his beautiful work stands head and shoulders above the others!