Ink Drawing

Drawings by the great fell-walking guidebook author catch the mood of escapism

Label, listed provenance and technical qualities lead to a contest to land a possible big Guercino catch.

Three small sketches of polar scenes caught the attention at a recent auction held by Lawrences (20% buyer’s premium) of Bletchingley in Surrey.

One section of the Asian art sale at Koller in Zurich on December 3, with its own catalogue, is devoted to a private collection of Chinese ink drawings.

A record price of £10,200 was paid last month for a pen and ink sketch by fell-walking legend Alfred Wainwright at 1818 Auctioneers of Milnthorpe, Cumbria.

This Neoclassical drawing by the Swedish sculptor Johann Tobias Sergel (1740-1814) proved very popular in the opening Old Master works on paper section of the mixed-discipline traditional sale held by the Hôtel des Ventes de Monte-Carlo 25% buyer’s premium) on November 27 in Monaco.

George du Maurier (1834-96) joined the staff at Punch magazine in 1865, drawing two ink cartoons a week until his eyesight deteriorated in 1891. His most common targets were the affected manners of Victorian society and Britain’s growing middle class in particular.

A collection of rediscovered drawings by the 19th century artist Elizabeth Frances Batty (1791-1875) feature at Bloomsbury gallery Abbott and Holder this month.

Painted by Lt Gen Henry Hope Crealock (1831-91), this 6ft 8in (2m) wide pen and ink drawing is an eyewitness account of The Action of Bareilly – the battle of the last stronghold of Indian independence in 1858.

The setting for this near-monochrome self-portrait, below, by Walter Sickert (1860-1942) is the Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo in Venice and shows the equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni and the Scuola Grande di San Marco.

This work above by the popular cartoonist Max Beerbohm (1872-1956) was a highlight of Mallams’ library sale on June 21.

A superb suite of the original ink and gouache drawings – one shown here – made by Carl Otto Czeschka to illustrate a 1908 edition of Die Niebelungen dem Deutschen Volke sold at $290,000 (£224,805) in a Sotheby’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) sale of June 6 called Important Design.

Francis Picabia (1879-1953) famously declared that he wanted to change his ideas “as often as one would change one’s shirt”, and he embraced many different artistic styles throughout his life.

It may have been under 2in (5cm) high, but a tiny ink drawing by Aubrey Beardsley sold for a sizeable $10,000 (£8000) in a sale of Illustration Art held by Swann (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) in New York on March 21.