Fine Art

Italian sculptors were the hottest property as garden statuary flourished at summer sales in the Home Counties.

Alongside traditional examples of furniture, pictures, jewellery and works of art, Jack-Philippe Ruellan’s July 27 Summertime à Vannes auction will feature plenty of items associated with the local area: paintings showing views of Brittany and examples of its well-known Quimper pottery.

Eanger Irving Couse oil painting of Native American is his first work to be offered in a British saleroom.

The Flemish post-Impressionist Emile Claus (1849-1924) embraced the prevailing taste for plein-air painting when he moved to the village of Astene by the river Lys in 1883.

In a relatively short period from 1959-64, the Spanish-Italian Realist Xavier Bueno (1915-79) created his most recognisable works: a series of melancholic and haunting portraits of children. For Bueno these ‘Bambini’ portraits symbolised a “humiliated and oppressed humanity”.

Alexandre Calame’s oil on canvas The River Lutschine near Lauterbrunnen was one of the highlight sales during this summer’s London Art Week (LAW).

This rare American scene by noted railway painter Terence Cuneo (1907-96) turned up at Canterbury Auction Galleries (20% buyer’s premium) in Kent.

Alexis Pentcheff's gallery in Marseille offers 19th and 20th century paintings.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales at £1500 or under, including a watercolour by a designer better known for Arts & Crafts jewellery.

Two previously unpublished watercolours painted by Lady Anne Barnard (1750-1825) during her momentous visit to the Cape of Good Hope emerged for sale at Stephan Welz & Co in South Africa earlier this month. They came for sale from the descendants of Lady Anne who had owned them since 1966.