AskArt.com is a research service providing biographical and pricing information on American art and artists. Claiming to list 25,000 artists, AskArt.com offers general biographical information, descriptions of works (many with images) both sold and unsold, and an abbreviated bibliography. The database exclusively covers American painting, sculpture, and illustrations, and includes auction sale...

What if Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights had been named Jimmy? Or can one imagine J.D. Salinger’s Fanny as, say, Sarah? Authors frequently spend long hours determining the appropriate names for their characters and readers often develop a close bond with these personas as they begin to develop throughout a novel or short story. In a very interesting twist, a number of contemporary authors are...

Recently Sotheby's Auction House of London announced that a rarely seen painting by the French post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin would be put up for auction on June 23rd. The painting, titled L'Apparition, was executed by Gauguin in 1902 on the French Polynesian Island of Hiva Oa, and is a study of a local magician and a nude. The work has been in private ownership since 1944, and if it garners its...

Sir Winston Churchill, along with his prodigious powers of diplomacy, was also known for his love of a good cigar. In fact, he was known to smoke as many as 10 a day, and eventually a class of cigars was named after him. On December 12th at Sotheby's of London, one of his half-smoked cigars sold for $3,585, when the predicted auction price was expected only to reach $1,100. Quite a few items of...