Fine Art

“If I was to select just one lot we have sold this year,” says John Albrecht, managing director at Leonard Joel, “it would be the haunting, period photo of Australia’s infamous bushranger, Ned Kelly, taken in 1874 after a boxing match.”

This watercolour bearing the signature of Norwich School artist John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) attracted a flurry of bids when it went under the hammer in Nottingham.

Renowned today for his fusion of Post- Impressionism and eastern European folk-art, the Jewish painter Mark Gertler (1891-1939) was inspired at the outset of his career by the northern and early-Italian Renaissance masters.

The exhibition Shashin: are-bure-boke at Michael Hoppen Gallery in Chelsea celebrates the work and legacy of Japan’s post-war photographers who rejected glossy, commercial and documentary images during the country’s turbulent period of reconstruction.

Distinctly patriotic in nature, stage and mail coach depictions started c.1815, reaching peak popularity in the later 1820s with the artist James Pollard (1792-1867).

Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury will sell an important oil by Chinese contemporary artist Yang Fei Yun (b.1954) next month. It comes for sale from the charity established by Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick (1942-2007).

Striking depiction of Folies Bergère entertainer is among eclectic selection offered in Sussex.

Winter is putting in an early appearance at Dorotheum in Vienna in the sale of Old Master paintings on October 23 in the shape of a 20in x 2ft 2in (52 x 66cm) oak panel Allegory of Winter, painted by Flemish artist Sebastiaen Vrancx (1573-1647).

Standing proud in full riding wear, this early 20th century portrait of a female rider and her two terriers, below, struck a chord with bidders in Sussex.

Geble auction house in Radolfzell, on the shores of Lake Constance, has an intriguing work by the renowned French craftsman Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751- 1843) in its October 20 auction.

The remote rocky islands of Orkney were a source of continued inspiration for the prolific Scottish painter Stanley Cursiter (1887-1976).

A painting by Herbert Arnould Olivier (1861-1952), a British artist and the uncle of the actor Lawrence Olivier, is among the stand-out works on show in Jeremy Green’s third gallery exhibition this year.

On October 27 Lehr in Berlin is selling this 14 x 14in (36 x 35cm) bronze relief, a self-portrait by Paul Gauguin.

Dealers at Frieze Masters reported a strong start to the London event with a number of six- and seven-figure sales recorded in the fair’s first days.

Pictures, trophies and other mementos were among the contents from a historic nursing home in south-west London dispersed at Ewbank’s (22.5% buyer’s premium).