Fine Art

The stand-alone evening sale of 15 paintings by L.S. Lowry at Sotheby’s on March 26 raised £13m, with all bar two works getting away.

Images and footage of the First World War seem to be featuring prominently on TV at the moment, no doubt part of the extra attention engendered by the marking of the centenary of the outbreak of the conflict in 1914.

EXHIBITION – Edwin G. Lucas is not a name familiar to most, nor is the phrase ‘Scottish Surrealist’.

An appeal court ruling on the tax status of Sir Joshua Reynolds’ masterpiece ‘Omai’ means that a number of very rich people are likely to get a bit richer.

A previously lost Fabergé egg has been found by Mayfair jeweller Wartski in the American Midwest.

A sketch by LS Lowry will be offered at Peter Wilson of Nantwich in Cheshire on May 1.

A rare early work by the Dutch Old Master painter Dirck Van Delen (c.1605-1671) will be offered at Halls of Shrewsbury on April 16.

Recent reports suggest the number of copied Lowry prints in circulation is increasing.

This picture by CRW Nevinson (1889-1946) is being offered at the Spring Fine Art Sale being held by Tennants in Leyburn, North Yorkshire on March 28-29.

EXHIBITION – In 1956, the woodsman Ted Floate met Ivon Hitchens (1893-1979) quite by chance but ended up managing the artist’s estate while also helping with framing and even giving other technical advice.

Christie’s has announced a major consignment of Old Master drawings which will be offered over the next two years in a series of sales in London, Amsterdam and Paris.

EXHIBITION – As an artist in search of inspiration, the arrest of your dealer might not be your go-to choice of subject matter.

The purchase of a George Bellows painting has signalled a major change in policy at the National Gallery, ending 190 years of showing only European artists.

The fundraising campaign to buy Van Dyck’s final self-portrait for the National Portrait Gallery will continue into the summer.

This pencil drawing by John Constable inscribed ‘Binfiled Decr. 6th 1816’ is believed to have made when the artist was staying in Binfield in Berkshire whilst returning from his honeymoon in Dorset with his wife Maria.

The Contemporary art sales in London last week raised a hammer total of £254.6m, a record for an auction series in this category in the capital.

A single-owner collection of Modern British art will be offered at Boningtons’ sale of fine art, antiques and Asian works of art in Loughton, Essex on February 26.

Leading the latest series of Impressionist & Modern auctions in London, a textbook Cubist still life by Juan Gris (1887-1927) sold for £31m at Christie’s.

Last October, South Africa House in Trafalgar Square, London hosted an exhibition of artworks in the image of, and inspired by, Nelson Mandela.

The book of hours known as The Rothschild Prayerbook sold for $12m (£7.55m) at Christie’s in New York.