Fine Art

A portrait of a 16th century Protestant theologian and reformer surfaced at a sale at Ginhart (23% buyer’s premium) in Tegernsee, some 35 miles south of the Bavarian capital Munich.

Three works by Ipswich painter perform well in rescheduled East Anglian-themed auction

Shortly before the UK lockdown, Cumbrian saleroom Thomson Roddick (17.5% buyer’s premium inc VAT) offered works from the collection of The Shorthorn Society, a body that promotes the famous breed of cattle in the UK and Ireland.

It was a case of interesting artist, distinctive painting and intriguing subject that sparked a strong bidding competition at a Glasgow sale.

While the Japanese woodblock print artist Okumura Masanobu (1686-1764) is credited with the first use of one-point perspective in the depiction of interior spaces, a technique previously known only in Western art, his colleague Utagawa Toyoharu (1735-1814) achieved even greater fame when he mastered the creation of perspective prints of outdoor scenes, known as Uki-e.

Painting went through lengthy ownership saga before being returned to family and then sold.

Turning heads at Bonhams Knightsbridge’s sale of Modern British art was a group of 22 pen and ink drawings by Cecil Beaton (1904-80) which formed part of the photographer’s 'The Book of Beauty' published in 1930.

This pastel of Venice by Leonard Squirrell (1893-1979) forms part of an online exhibition that features him and two other contemporaries also from Suffolk, Harry Becker (1865-1928) and George Thomas Rope (1846-1929).

Work on paper outperforms more traditional works at Bonhams Knightsbridge lockdown sale of Modern British art

'Composition bleue' (1940-42), an oil by French artist Georges Folmer (1895-1977), is on offer at Waterhouse & Dodd’s online retrospective 'Il n’y a pas de hasard en Art'.

One New York saleroom that has been notably active in the book market during the Covid restrictions is Doyle (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium). A recent sale included original illustrations for some well-known English children’s books.

In 2017, this lost portrait miniature of a young Dickens emerged at an auction in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa where it sold together with some household goods for the equivalent of £27.

This portrait that emerged at the March 18 auction at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) of Shrewsbury appears to be closely based on Sir Peter Lely’s (1618-80) portrait of Mary II as a young girl that now resides in the Royal Collection.