The Tony Bingham collection: portraits that hit the right note
12 April 2022 The British and Continental art sale at Olympia Auctions on April 21 includes the Tony Bingham collection of pictures of musicians. The LAPADA dealer began dealing in old musical instruments in the mid-1960s and published nine books on the subject.
Portrait of a lady with a guitar attributed to John Partridge (1789-1872), estimate £600-800 at Olympia Auctions.
Bingham started in a shop on the King’s Road in the 1960s, followed by premises on Soho’s Poland Street and finally a gallery on Pond Street, Hampstead which was his base for almost four decades.
The 40 paintings of singers, string, wind, and brass players spanning the 17th-20th centuries, were hung in the various premises he occupied - a perfect backdrop to selling historical musical instruments.
Most are the work of competent anonymous artists – some copies ‘after’ well known Dutch or British portraits – but they were chosen for their musical subject matter rather than their great artistic prowess.
Estimates at Olympia Auctions in London range from under £100 up to £3000-6000 for an 18th century conversation piece Kammermusik showing a recital in a European country house by an artist in the circle of the German painter Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki (1726-1801).
English provincial school portrait of a mother and child with a Broadwood piano, signed and dated H Howle 1840, estimate £200-400at Olympia Auctions.
English school portrait of a trumpeter holding a rare slide trumpet c.1850, estimate £400-600 at Olympia Auctions.
Portrait of the fiddler Neil Gow after Sir Henry Raeburn, estimate £400-600at Olympia Auctions.
Kammermusik by an artist in the circle of Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki, estimate £3000-6000 at Olympia Auctions.
17th century portrait of a young woman holding a theorbo, circle of Sir Peter Lely, estimate £400-600 at Olympia Auctions.
Portrait of a gentleman playing the cello attributed to Henri Valton (1798-1878), estimate £300-500 at Olympia Auctions.