Guy Peppiatt offered this watercolour, On the river Esk looking towards Whitby, Yorkshire for £25,000 at London Art Week and it was snapped up by a private collector.
As recounted in the early LAW sales report (News, ATG No 2551), this edition of the event, which ran from July 3-8, was marked by robust institutional attendance and sales. But plenty of individuals were buying too.
The de Wint watercolour, which had an asking price of £25,000, was among these, going to a private collector.
Fellow works on paper gallery Lowell Libson & Jonny Yarker also made several significant private sales.
One was a Grand Tour drawing by Pietro Fabris. Another two were watercolours by Cornelius Varley, which sold to US collectors at prices between £20,000-40,000. These joined the early sale of a George Romney figure for a six figure sum, also to a private buyer.
Libson said: “It has been a constructive week for us, and marvellous to see the community being active and social once again.
“We were delighted to see many of our clients back in London after a long absence and to welcome them to our new gallery.
“There is undoubtedly a real appetite for exceptional works.”
Tuneful theme
LAW picked music and dance for its theme this time, making a point of mingling post-Covid restrictions with live concerts in various galleries.
For the museum buyers attending it was a welcome return; many of those from the US had serious restrictions on travel from the earliest days of the pandemic and this was a first outing since 2019.
Among the institutional attendees were the Met, Cleveland Art Museum and the Rijksmuseum.
While for many participants it was a return to familiar ground, LAW hosted newcomers such as Miles Wynn Cato who exhibited an impressive clutch of rediscoveries.
Among his sales was a Suffolk landscape chalk drawing by Gainsborough which was offered for £4500.
Debut appearance
Jean-Bernard Duvivier’s Head of a Bearded Man was offered by Colnaghi Elliott Master Drawings for £25,000 and was bought by a European museum.
It was also the first outing for Colnaghi Elliott Master Drawings, an enterprise between the leading Old Masters gallery and newcomer Elliott Fine Art.
Among their sales were Jean-Bernard Duvivier’s Head of a bearded man ticketed at £25,000 which went to a museum in Europe. Portrait of a man in a turban by Magda Nachman was acquired by a UK institution at an asking price of £25,000.
Dealer Will Elliott said: “The gallery has been busy throughout LAW with visitors who are both familiar with the Colnaghi brand, as well as newcomers brought in by the Colnaghi Elliott drawings exhibition and the array of events on offer. All in all, a brilliant week.”
