Fine Art

One New York saleroom that has been notably active in the book market during the Covid restrictions is Doyle (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium). A recent sale included original illustrations for some well-known English children’s books.

In 2017, this lost portrait miniature of a young Dickens emerged at an auction in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa where it sold together with some household goods for the equivalent of £27.

The migration to online sales that has occurred during the lockdown has brought about some noticeable changes to the art market. These include, not least, the profile of buyers at auctions.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including a landscape by French artist Pierre de Clausades that sold over estimate.

This portrait that emerged at the March 18 auction at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) of Shrewsbury appears to be closely based on Sir Peter Lely’s (1618-80) portrait of Mary II as a young girl that now resides in the Royal Collection.

This late-18th century French school portrait of Michel Louis Melan, architect to Louis XVI, will be offered for sale in Osenat’s auction titled La Royauté à Versailles to be held in the town on May 24.

Both American and European works are on offer in Skinner’s wide-ranging sale of paintings and sculpture to be held live online in its Marlborough rooms on May 31.

Auctions may be down in number but pre-lockdown sales provided some positive market signs

Seven lots by celebrated local artist Percy Kelly (1918-93) put in a decent performance at the most recent Antiques & Fine Art sale held by Cumbrian saleroom Mitchells (22% buyer’s premium).

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including a pencil and watercolour by Russian artist Vladimir Polunin.

Sir Oswald Birley (1880-1952) is among the artists most represented in UK public collections. Art UK records 173 works in national museums and institutions, National Trust properties and local museums.

Trudpert Schneider (1804-99), a Freiburg carpenter whose first brush with photography was to repair a broken box camera, is today deemed one of Germany’s most important daguerreotypists.