LONDON (Reuters) – A female nude painted by Francis Bacon in 1963 will lead Christie’s London auction of post-war and contemporary art on February 14, where it is expected to fetch around 18 million pounds ($28 million).

“Portrait of Henrietta Moraes” depicts Bacon’s friend and former lover of Lucian Freud in a large, vibrant work which Francis Outred, head of post-war and contemporary art in Europe, called “one of the most seductive and sexually charged paintings I have ever encountered by Bacon.”

LONDON (Reuters) – French author and philosopher Voltaire had surprisingly close ties to the aristocracy during his stay in England during the 1720s which helped shape his thinking, newly-discovered letters reveal.

Professor Nicholas Cronk, director of Oxford University’s Voltaire Foundation and lecturer in the Medieval and Modern Languages Faculty, came across 14 previously unknown letters by the “Candide” writer during archival research.

LONDON (Reuters) – A major new show of British artist David Hockney’s recent landscapes is a homecoming of sorts, rooting the 74-year-old in his native Yorkshire and far from the swimming pools of Los Angeles for which he is most famous.

“David Hockney: A Bigger Picture” features more than 150 landscapes, many of which are vast in scale and vibrant in colour. Most date from the last eight years barring a few earlier landscapes going back as far as 1956.

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Silent movie “The Artist”
made itself heard on the awards circuit on Tuesday, leading the
field with 12 BAFTA nominations.

The French black-and-white comedy, a homage to the
“pre-talkie” era set in 1920s and 1930s Hollywood, was
shortlisted for best film, actor, actress, director and original
screenplay by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Scottish writer John
Burnside on Monday won the 2011 T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry,
overshadowed this year by the withdrawal of two nominees over a
sponsorship deal with an investment company.

Burnside picked up the coveted honour for “Black Cat Bone”,
which the judges described as “a haunting book of great beauty,
powered by love, childhood memory, human longing and
loneliness.”

LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Art market confidence shows
few signs of flagging despite broader economic concerns, with
both Christie’s and Sotheby’s predicting big sales in London
next month.

Christie’s, the world’s largest auctioneer, is expecting to
sell art worth 86.2-127.1 million pounds ($132-195 million) at
its impressionist, modern and surrealist evening sales on Feb.
7.

LONDON (Reuters) – English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran led the field with four BRIT nominations on Thursday, one ahead of global chart queen Adele who is down to perform at the awards after months out for throat surgery.

The annual honors, Britain’s top pop awards, will be handed out at London’s O2 Arena on February 21, and Adele’s live UK comeback is likely to be among the highlights.

LONDON (Reuters) – The BRIT Awards championed the solo artist on Thursday with nominations dominated by the likes of Ed Sheeran, Adele and Jessie J.

The annual honors, Britain’s top pop awards, will be handed out at London’s O2 Arena on February 21, and leading the pack is English singer-songwriter Sheeran who has yet to match the profile of his female rivals.

LONDON (Reuters) – The BRIT Awards championed the solo artist on Thursday with nominations dominated by the likes of Ed Sheeran, Adele and Jessie J.

The annual honours will be handed out at London’s O2 Arena on February 21, and leading the pack is English singer-songwriter Sheeran who has yet to match the profile of his female rivals.

LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister
David Cameron on Wednesday urged UK film makers, whose critical
hits often fail to translate into commercial success, to focus
more on the box office.

The movie industry is worth an estimated 4.2 billion pounds
($6.5 billion) to the British economy each year, but much of
that comes from blockbusters like the Harry Potter franchise
that are bankrolled by Hollywood studios.