Oil painting

An oil in gilt frame by John Thomas Serres (1759-1825) of 'The Entrance to Plymouth Sound' offered at Charles Miller’s (24% buyer’s premium) April 30 auction represented a primitive but effective early sat nav for ships.

A classic oil on canvas of yacht racing by renowned British painter Montague Dawson (1890-1973) was top-seller of The Marine Sale at Bonhams Knightsbridge (27.5/25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium) on May 1.

A portrait by John Opie (1761-1807) led nearly two dozen family portraits from the historic Penrose Estate in Porthleven, Cornwall, at local Penzance saleroom David Lay (18% buyer’s premium) on May 2.

Godwin Swifte, who styled himself as Lord Carlingford, was a member of one of Ireland’s notable families and a maverick of early flight.

A monogram and faint signature to a botanical study sold at Derbyshire saleroom Hansons (20% buyer’s premium) revealed it to be the work of celebrated Australian artist Sidney Nolan (1917-92).

In the 1980s, the 3ft 7in x 2ft 9in (1.1m x 85cm) canvas of Saint Bartholomew being offered by Dorotheum in Vienna on April 30 was tentatively ascribed to Caravaggio. The treatment of light and shadow and the extreme naturalism in the portrayal certainly indicate a proximity to the revolutionary artist.

David Fulton (1848-1930) was a Glasgow painter who, like his contemporaries Gemmell Hutchison and William Marshall Brown, specialised in painting children in sentimental settings.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Drawing interest from the US was a portrait of a fierce-looking Scottish laird by John Pettie (1839-93).

A painting by one of Picasso’s mistresses drew considerable interest at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) of Shrewsbury on February 6.

An oval oil portrait painted by the Chinese artist Spoilum (fl.1785-1805) depicting Captain George Delanoe, a 1st Lieutenant and Commander of HMS Repulse, drew fervent interest at Mellors & Kirk's latest sale in Nottingham.

Among the prominent sitters for the Austrian artist Wilhelm Viktor Krausz (1878-1959) was Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis.

Works by two artists who made the ocean their muse were the focus of a small collection at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (21% buyer’s premium) on January 29.

This inter-war ‘English school’ portrait of a seated gentleman wearing a bow tie, bought for around £150 three decades ago, sold for an unexpected £7600 at Charterhouse (21% buyer’s premium) on January 17. The unfinished 4ft 2in x 3ft 4in (1.27 x 1.01m) oil was dated 1922 but unsigned.

A painting by Scottish artist Dorothy Johnstone (1892-1980), executed near the peak of her career in 1921 made £3250 at Edinburgh saleroom Franklin Browns (15% buyer’s premium).

The £140,000 record-breaking Cedric Morris lower painting at Chichester saleroom Henry Adams (plus 20% buyer’s premium) was not the only work by an artist-plantsman to feature in the January 17 sale (see ATG No 2377 for more on that Morris result).

An English School painting depicting one of the earliest venues in cricket was knocked down at £14,000 in a Winchester auction.

Greenslade Taylor Hunt’s (19.5% buyer’s premium) first sale of the year got off to a bright start with a Singaporean painting sailing to £19,000.

Whitford Fine Art from London is a long-standing BRAFA stalwart (understandably given that the gallery’s core stock is work by 20th century Belgian and international artists).