Fine Art

Fine art is a staple of the dealing and auctioneering industry, featuring works ranging from Medieval art to traditional Old Masters, and right through to cutting-edge Contemporary art.

While oil paintings represent a large part of the sector, other mediums adopted by artists across the ages include drawings, watercolours, prints and photographs.

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5 Questions: Francesca Fiumano of Fiumano Clase

13 August 2018

London gallery Fiumano Clase formed in 2017 when dealers Francesca Fiumano and Andrés Clase merged their respective contemporary art dealerships. Its next exhibition, BOOM, is a solo show of works by Roger Holtom. Here, we talk to Fiumano.

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London events celebrate British love of art and the garden

10 August 2018

Along with national characteristics such as moaning about the weather, constantly saying sorry and an eagerness to join a queue, the British love of gardening is very well known.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi

Salvator Mundi: Christie’s refutes Oxford academic’s opinion challenging attribution to Leonardo

09 August 2018

Auctioneers Christie’s have refuted the view expressed by Oxford academic Dr Matthew Landrus that Salvator Mundi should be attributed to one of Leonardo’s assistants rather than the master himself.

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Pick of the Week: John Gibson terracotta sculpture emerges from house clearance

06 August 2018

Part of the intake for a general sale, a terracotta sculpture by a protégé of Antonio Canova sold for £21,000 (plus premium) at Reeman Dansie in Colchester.

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Corbet oil head and shoulders above the rest

06 August 2018

A small but enigmatic study attributed to Victorian artist Matthew Ridley Corbet (1850-1902) drew dramatic competition at John Nicholson’s in Fernhurst, Surrey.

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Eighteenth century armadillo that made it alive to Britain

06 August 2018

A 3 x 5in (7cm x 13cm) miniature watercolour on ivory offered for sale at Toovey’s (plus 24.5% buyer’s premium) in Washington, West Sussex, recalls a small but significant moment in the history of British zoology.

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Sketchbook seals bidder interest

06 August 2018

Demand for Scottish artist with a ‘distinctive personality’ drives a good auction result in Somerset.

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Artists brush up on their military skills

06 August 2018

A very suitable buyer emerged for an 19th century picture of The Artists Rifles by John Evan Hodgson (1831-95) offered in Exeter.

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’Giotto’ export an issue for Italy says High Court

06 August 2018

The owner of a rediscovered painting attributed to Giotto has lost a High Court battle over its export from the EU.

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Search for promised land in Wales

06 August 2018

This small 7 x 91/2in (18 x 24cm) oil on panel Biblical scene by the Victorian artist William Edward Frost (1810-77), below, doubled its top guide at Peter Francis (20% buyer’s premium) of Carmarthen on July 11.

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Mill in splendid isolation sails to high price in Chichester

06 August 2018

A sweeping landscape by John Arnesby Brown (1866-1955) made a multi-estimate sum at Henry Adams (20% buyer’s premium), the second time in four months a work by the painter has done so at the Chichester firm.

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Saleroom selection: Three modestly valued works in regional sales including Bush Hardy river scene

06 August 2018

A trio of works in regional auctions which sold under £300, including a watercolour of the River Dart in Devon by Thomas Bush Hardy.

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Latest London Art Week shows buyers are looking for personality in their portrait purchases

06 August 2018

Eye-catching, head-turning and mouth-watering: it was the human form, from ancient statuettes to modern portraits, that caught buyers’ attention at the most recent edition of London Art Week.

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Joseph Farquharson and Thomas Gainsborough works among highlights of McEwan Gallery's summer show

06 August 2018

August can be a quiet time for exhibition-goers as dealers head off home or on holiday following the busier days of June and July. But some galleries take the summer as an opportunity to display an assortment of stock.

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5 Questions: Bill Clark

06 August 2018

Bill Clark runs Clark Art, which specialises in LS Lowry and modern British art, in Cheshire.

hardstone Fabergé frame

Saleroom selection: 5 lots that caught bidders’ eyes this month including a Fabergé picture frame

31 July 2018

Among the lots at auctions around the UK that brought keen bidding in July were a Fabergé picture frame, a Scottish banknote, a Modern British bronze sculpture and a Maltese lacquered wall clock. Further afield, a Korean censer drew attention in the Netherlands.

Madonna and Child

Owner of rediscovered Giotto valued at £10m loses High Court battle over export

27 July 2018

The owner of a rediscovered early Renaissance painting has been blocked from taking the work to Switzerland after a High Court judge rejected her claim over the granting of an export licence.

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Fascinating archive up at Canterbury reveals the glory days of the space race

23 July 2018

The lifelong interest which inspired an extensive archive of space exploration photos now coming up at auction was first sparked off by a HG Wells novel received as a gift.

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Rembrandt and Turner lead London's works on paper offerings

23 July 2018

Two high-quality works on paper made their presence felt at the top end of the Old Masters market during the latest series in London.

Sir Francis Drake wart and all portrait fetches £290,000 at auction

23 July 2018

An early Anglo-Dutch portrait of the swashbuckling English sea captain Sir Francis Drake topped Bonhams’ Old Master paintings sale on July 4 in New Bond Street. It sold for £290,000, just below its juicy £300,000-500,000 guide.

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