Fine Art

This wartime portrait of the writer Amelia Defries shows her in the role of an ARP warden in Kensington.

At Frant there dwells a Man of fame. By trade a Tailor, Smart by name.

'Plumb-pudding in danger or State Epicures taking un Petit Souper' is the most famous of all James Gillray’s satirical caricatures and perhaps the most well-known of all Georgian political cartoons.

A group of 24 works from the collection of Wilfred and Jeannette Cass provided a boost to Bellmans’ (22% buyer’s premium) latest Modern British and 20th Century Art auction.

Compact Paris exhibition includes 19 works with a ‘super provenance’ to the artist’s wife

Works by Surrealist artist Ithell Colquhoun (1906-88) have been rising in popularity.

Female artist at centre of early British Surrealism scene now fetches sizeable sums

William Nicholson (1872-1949) is known today for restrained and sensitively handled still-lifes but in his day he found more success with his portraits.

One of the most eyecatching consignments of Modern British art outside London was a private collection of 14 paintings by David Bomberg (1890-1957).

The latest series of Old Master sales in London put in a decent if not stellar performance, aided by one or two notable lots and a couple of important collections coming forward to the auction block this season.

A bust of Roman emperor Antoninus Pius sold for more than ten-times its low estimate at a Sotheby's sale

The second tranche of the collection of Hong Kong property investor Sir Joseph Hotung (1930-2021) generated some strong competition at Sotheby’s in London with a number of high-value pictures, as well some exceptional pieces of furniture, ceramics and decorative art, on offer last week.

The last few months have been an interesting time for followers of John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-93).

Engraving on Tiffany pepperette reveals the provenance as a princely present in 1879

Found in a cigar box during an attic clearance and taken to Exeter auction house Bearnes, Hampton & Littlewood (25% buyer’s premium), seven framed daguerreotypes in poor condition provided one of the better sleepers of the year on November 22-23.

The philanthropist, retired businessman and one-time Olympian bobsledder for Canada, Sir Christopher Ondaatje, chose a good time to sell a painting depicting a young 19th century black woman.

Terracotta Virgin and Child joined a handful of other known works after 2010 attribution

This youthful work by Edouard Manet (1832-83) was the top-seller in the Modern and Contemporary auction at Tajan (26/21/14% buyer’s premium) in Paris.

Commissioned by the 'Illustrated London Times' to document the construction of the mighty Great Eastern, the young photographer Robert Howlett (1831-58) took some of the most famous images of ship’s designer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-59).