Fine Art

Details on the back of a pastel drawing lead to detective work and royal portraitist connection...

Three gallery shows will focus on Scottish art of the later 20th century.

While plenty of general auctions around the country feature a range of 19th century and early 20th century paintings, Bonhams is staging its next dedicated sale in this category on September 27.

Located on the Vistula river in northern Poland, the old city of Torun somehow escaped undamaged from the ravages of the Second World War and is now recognised as one of the country’s national treasures.

A painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo will feature in the next auction at Alcalá Subastas on October 4-5.

A painting of a violin player holding a wine glass by Dirck Van Baburen will be offered at Koller’s upcoming auction in Zurich.

Fieldings’ picture consultant William Lacey said he could remember a time 30 years ago when works by Wigan artist James Lawrence Isherwood (1917-89) could be bought for £30-40.

A rediscovered Francis Bacon is to be offered at Christie’s next month with a £7m-10m estimate.

Stephen Camburn’s gallery is set in France’s Loire Valley. Camburn Fine Art France specialises in contemporary art and the paintings of Alan Halliday.

A c.1860 century bronze horse group by Pierre Jules Mene (1810-71) is among the pieces on offer at English and Continental Antique’s selling exhibition.

Victorian landscapes can often be difficult to shift at auction, but a fine panoramic view near Redhill in Surrey by Edward John Cobbett (1815-99) gave a boost to the Boningtons (20% buyer’s premium) sale in Epping on August 21.

Fieldings of Stourbridge set a new house record earlier this month when Emanuele Caroni’s (1826-76) marble sculpture of cupid taming the lion sold at £91,000 (plus 24% premium).

ATG’s weekly selection of items on sale at auctions and dealerships.

Two Mayfair exhibitions starting this month feature modern art, one focusing on British sculpture, the other on French painting.

Tim Sutton organises the successful annual two-day Urban Art Fair in Brixton in July, where this year around 15,400 visitors spent nearly £15,000 buying works from 200 artists. Art was strung out along the railings and on stalls in Josephine Avenue.

One of the less commonly known facts about Sir John Bernard Partridge (1861-1945), the lead cartoonist at Punch magazine, was that he had a spell as an actor in his youth.