Fine Art

Portrait miniatures by the renowned British artist face a different and difficult modern mindset

In retrospect, it was a blessing for Victor-Gabriel Gilbert (1847-1935) that his parents did not have the money to finance his training at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Lots from the extraordinary collection constructed by the McAlpines come to auction in Berkshire

Hargesheimer (25% buyer’s premium) in Düsseldorf devoted an auction to the sale of 61 works of art from the collection of a couple from Wiesbaden who had spent many decades amassing sculptures and old master paintings.

Scheublein (27% buyer’s premium) offered 1000 lots from the collection of a branch of the Bavarian royal family this summer.

The furniture in the background of many paintings by Walter Sickert has proved to be a useful aid when dating his works.

Visions of the Orient is a selling show staged by Darnley Fine Art but also includes rarely seen loaned works from Rochdale’s museum that have been in storage for many years.

An oversize 1881 albumen photograph of Thomas Hill’s painting 'The Last Spike', depicting the instant of the creation of the first continental railroad in the US, rolled to a five-figure sum at Freeman’s (28% buyer’s premium) in Chicago.

'Rumsinterior', a signed, undated oil on canvas by Swiss-born Danish artist Bertha Wegmann (1847-1926), hammered for $24,000 (£17,900) at Stair (31% buyer’s premium).

A small landscape by Lucien Pissarro (1863-1944) depicting a scene near Lyme Regis in Dorset was among the lots attracting interest at the sale of the Simon Hilton collection at Sworders (27% buyer’s premium).

Collotype portfolios by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) ranked first and second in a Prints & Multiples sale at Toomey & Co (28% buyer’s premium) in Chicago.

Thomas Annan’s Photographs of The Old Closes and Streets of Glasgow is the earliest and most famous photographic record of the city’s slums.

George Washington portrait was thought to be a copy of Gilbert Stuart work by Canton artist Foeiqua