Fine Art

On the same day as Chiswick Auctions’ British & European Fine Art auction (see main report), a sale of Old Master Paintings & Drawings took place immediately beforehand. Comprising nearly 50 lots, it totalled £102,500 including buyer’s premium.

A painting of apple blossom by the Austrian Impressionist Olga Wisinger-Florian (1844-1926) drew a five-way online bidding battle at Canterbury Auction Galleries (24% buyer’s premium inc VAT) on August 1.

Claude Francis Barry’s wartime work The Heart of the Empire, Our Finest Hour, 1940, is among the highlights coming up at Liss Llewellyn’s second season of Hidden Gems.

This portrait of doctor Heinrich Wolff, the stadtphysikus (city physician) in 16th century Nuremberg, is one of the highlights in the sale at Wendl in Rudolstadt on October 22-24.

Separated for many years, portraits of two brothers by WBE Ranken (1881-1941) came up at auction at different London salerooms last week. The fact that they emerged on the market simultaneously was seemingly pure coincidence.

A newly-discovered work by François Desportes (1661- 1743) sold for a sensational €1.65m (£1.5m) at auction in Bordeaux.

Edward Bawden (1903-89) was one of a number of artists invited to submit designs ahead of Britain’s changeover to decimal coinage. Designs were invited for six coins: the 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p pieces.

In 1902, American inventor Frederic Eugene Ives applied for a patent for his Parallax Stereogram.

Among the million-plus visitors to the notorious 'Die Ausstellung Entartete Kunst' organised by the Nazis in 1937 was the painter Karl Kunz (1905-71). He was not there to be disgusted by the excesses of the “modern degenerates”, as was the official intention, but rather to be inspired by the work of his fellow painters.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including a Louisa Canziani painting.

Until the process of independence began (starting with Ghana in 1957), photography in West Africa had been mainly a bureaucratic tool and was viewed with suspicion.

August is traditionally a busy month for Edinburgh saleroom Lyon & Turnbull (25/20% buyer’s premium) and this year was no exception – despite the exceptional circumstances.

Early work by the Plymouth artist portrays himself alongside German alchemist

The term ‘works on paper’ encompasses a diverse range of media from the drawings that offer a glimpse into an artist’s creative process to prints, posters, ephemera and documents. Pictured here is a section of items available to buy from dealers or bid for at auction.

Modern and contemporary gallery recalls the faces and the artists of fabled Soho drinking den

Just occasionally it doesn’t always pay to catalogue with great depth.

A group of works by famed Victorian art critic John Ruskin (1819-1900) features in Guy Peppiatt’s latest exhibition of British drawings and watercolours.