Old Masters

Famously, the academic ‘Hierarchy of Genres’ set out a pecking order for different types of painting.

Paintings by the Dutch artist Rachel Ruysch seldom make it to market and when they do, regularly command six-figure and on occasions even seven-figure prices.

French neoclassicist Marie Guilhelmine Benoist (1768-1826) is another of the long-overlooked female artists whose work is being reappraised by the market in the 21st century.

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.

An early view of the Royal Hospital in Greenwich was among the lots generating interest at Sloane Street Auctions (26.5% buyer’s premium) in London this summer.

For almost half a century, a portrait of a young nobleman by the Flemish artist Bernard van Orley had been hidden.

An unattributed French 18th century pen and ink drawing was highly sought after at the auction held by Bassenge (25% buyer’s premium) in Berlin.

Kinsky (25% buyer’s premium) in Vienna completely underestimated the international interest for a painting by the late 17th century Swiss artist Joseph Werner (1637-1710) offered in an art and antiques sale this summer.

The one-time director of the State Museum of Baden in south-west Germany, Rudolf Schnellbach, was obviously an astute buyer of art.

A portrait by Robert Peake the Elder (c.1551-1619) was the top lot at the Bonhams (28/27% buyer’s premium) Old Master Paintings sale in London on July 1.

Two notable works by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88) from different ends of his career drew contrasting levels of demand at separate summer auctions.

Latest auction results suggest the market is showing encouraging signs as new collectors emerge and others expand their horizons