Fine Art

Thompson’s Gallery in Aldeburgh uses its annual Christmas exhibition to showcase works by historic artists such as John Maclauchlan Milne (1885-1957), whose oil on canvas The Hay Cole (1920), below, is offered for £6750.

Results from the December 2018 auction series of Old Masters in London.

Golden Age Dutch art topped the bill at Bonhams in the December 5 sale via a fresh-to-market still-life attributed to the 17th century painter Pieter Claesz (1597-1660), which sold for over four times the estimate at £130,000.

Combining results from the Albada collection and its evening sale, Christie’s achieved its highest evening total for a December Old Masters sale in London for seven years.

Dutch and Flemish art also dominated takings at Sotheby's in New Bond Street on December 5. The category was 90% sold and netted the lion’s share of the sale at £24.6m (with premium), against hopes of £16.8m-23.7m.

Star turn in a sale held in the French city of Angers on December 5 was this small painting by the 17th century French artist Jacques Stella (1596-1657), below.

When this Monet maritime sunset below was hammered down for €860,000 (£767,860) – or €1.18m/£1.05m including premium – in Millon’s (25% buyer’s premium) sale of Modern Art on November 26 it not only overturned its €80,000-100,000 estimate but also achieved the second highest result at auction for a pastel by the famous French Impressionist.

A series of portraits by some of the biggest names in the Old Master market led the way at the latest sales in this category in London. Among them were two versions of a Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) portrait – one fully ascribed to the artist.

“When I was putting this exhibition together, a lot of people thought I would not be able to find 50 different women British artists to show. In the end, I could have shown 500,” says Sacha Llewellyn of 20th century British art specialist Liss Llewellyn.

The festive season is upon us. And as art market tradition dictates, this means a generous helping of Old Masters.

Identifying the sitters of the past is one of the biggest drivers of value when it comes to selling traditional portraits on the secondary market.

The Dutch animal painter Paulus Potter (1625-54) succeeded in producing about 100 paintings before he died at the tender age of 28 from tuberculosis.

A monumental silver-gilt and cloisonné enamel kovsh by Feodor Rückert was among the highlights of the latest series of Russian art auctions in London

Among the works selling at the recent Art & Antiques for Everyone fair in Birmingham was a watercolour by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope (1829-1908).

Has Bowie made a difference? This question has been doing the rounds in Modern British circles since 2016 when Sotheby’s offered the highly publicised collection of David Bowie.

Few events shaped British art more in the 20th century than war. As commemorations reached a pinnacle during the centenary month of the First World War, the November Mod Brit series presented an opportune moment to sell art directly related to the conflict.