Sales of Russian art in New York this month slackened in what had been an exploding market: Sotheby’s and Christie’s totals were both slightly down compared with last year. The reason? Russian buyers’ taste is moving towards international modern and postwar names. This is reflected in the tactics of Aurora Fine Art Investments, the first Russian art investment fund, founded in 2005. It initially only bought Russian art but is now expanding into other fields.

This week, the 190-year-old art dealer Agnew’s revealed it has sold its Old Bond Street building in London to the fashion house Etro. It joins a list of Old Master galleries undergoing change, including the Maastricht-based Old Master specialist Noortman’s, which now belongs to Sotheby’s and Colnaghi, the Mayfair dealer, bought by Konrad Bernheimer in 2002. All Old Master dealers are grappling with an evaporating pool of quality paintings. But the greatest threat is from the auction houses. Christie’s, for instance, brokered the sale of Duccio’s “Madonna and Child” to the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 2004, reportedly for over £25m. Even 15 years ago, this might have been handled by Agnew’s.