Oil painting

The total from last week’s Contemporary art auctions in London may have been a far cry from the record New York series in May where $1.57bn (£975m) of art changed hands, but there was still plenty of action as the market continued on its current buoyant course.

One of Claude Monet’s paintings from his celebrated Water Lilies series led a slightly mixed round of Impressionist & Modern art auctions in London last week.

Consigned by the debt-ridden Delaware Museum of Art, Isabella and the Pot of Basil by William Holman Hunt (1827-1910) was the top lot of Christie’s sale of Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite and British Impressionist art in London last week.

The earliest dated picture by the 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer (1632-75), one of only two works by the artist left in private hands, will be a highlight of Christie’s Old Masters auction in London next month.

When it comes to 20th century sporting pictures, there is no bigger name than Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959). Earlier this month, a sale at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury sale saw the consignment of certainly one of the more notable works by the Mendham, Suffolk-born artist to have appeared in the regions over recent times.

A painting of a well-known location in Manchester by L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) led the latest sale of Modern & Post-War British Art at Sotheby’s.

This portrait by Sir Anthony van Dyck, a spectacular discovery for the BBC’s ‘Antiques Roadshow’, will carry an estimate of £300,000-500,000 at Christie’s Old Master sale on July 8.

Two market-fresh British pictures consigned from a private American collection to Ahlers & Ogletree’s upcoming auction make a significant addition to the 1000-plus lots being offered at the Atlanta saleroom.

Most fine art sales at Exeter saleroom Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood feature multiple works by the irrepressible Robert Lenkiewicz (1941-2002) and their latest event was no different.

A reported increase in Asian buying was the most notable feature of a somewhat underwhelming series of Impressionist & Modern art auctions in New York last week.

Alasdair Nichol, picture specialist and vice chairman at Freeman’s of Philadelphia, called the Horst collection “an auctioneer’s perfect storm” – the sale of a previously unknown cache of untouched European and American art exposed to market for the first time in close to a century.

Appearing at the latest of the twice-yearly marine sales at Bonhams Knightsbridge was a painting by Charles Napier Hemy (1841-1917) which had local connections helping bring demand.

Bonhams will be looking for fair winds in July when the John Windeler Robertson collection goes under the hammer in New Bond Street.

A rare painting of two big cats by George Stubbs will be offered for sale at Sotheby’s Old Master sale in London on July 9.

An appeal to buy Van Dyck’s final self-portrait for the nation, painted in England in 1640-41, has been given a boost by the news that a lower price is expected.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.