Fine Art

Some areas of the secondary pictures market march to their own beat, appearing to defy the usual forces that determine value. Ancestral paintings are such a category.

The independent salerooms and those operating from the Drouot auction centre in Paris provide an important part of the city's Drawings Week.

Marie-Louise von Motesiczky (1906-96) was one of those artists who took little pleasure in selling their work. Indeed, Motesiczky’s obituary in The Independent described her “aristocratic disdain for the marketplace” and stated that “while she half welcomed exhibitions, they remained uncomfortable experiences… she never needed to sell her paintings, indeed she preferred to keep them around her.”

An abstract creation by the revered Singaporean artist Cheong Soo Pieng (1917-83) took £15,500 at Derbyshire saleroom Hansons (20% buyer’s premium).

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales at £1000 and below, including an oval oil head study by the Victorian painter Joshua Hargrave Sams Mann (1826-88).

St James’s exhibition shows works of a watercolourist seduced by British rural beauty.

The long-standing fair 'Salon du Dessin' remains at the core of the annual works on paper events in the French capital.

An oil on board painting Rotherhithe from Wapping Pierhead (c.1955) is among the works by Dorothy Rendell (1923-2018) currently on show at Abbott and Holder where it is offered for £2750.

Two previously unpublished ink sketches by John Constable (1776 -1837) excelled at Chiswick Auctions’ latest British & European Fine Art sale.

Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia has acquired a Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-97) portrait of an Irish veteran of the French and Indian War. The foundation bought it at Sotheby’s Old Master day sale in London in December when it sold for £40,000 plus premium.

A lack of sufficient stellar consignments at the latest Contemporary art sales in London meant the overall total was down on last year.

A wave of fresh interest in female artists is sweeping the UK, forcing museums and galleries to rethink their displays and purchasing policies – and driving demand at dealerships and auction houses in the process.

Two early panel paintings, one German, the other Cretan, emerged from a Florida collection to sell for six-figure prices at the Premier Auction at Brunk (20% buyer’s premium) in Asheville, North Carolina, on January 28. Both were new discoveries by rare artists.