Fine Art

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

Among a glut of upcoming single-owner collections on offer from Scottish and Irish salerooms, Glasgow firm Great Western Auctions will sell items from the estate of curator, dealer and writer William ‘Bill’ Hardie (1941-2021) later this month.

A painting of Venice’s Dogana da Mar painted from the Bacino di San Marco which has been attributed to Canaletto (1697-1768) will be offered at Gorringe’s of Lewes in the autumn.

The National Library of Wales was among the successful bidders when an archive relating to the poet and painter John Dyer (1699-1757) emerged for sale in Yorkshire this month.

A couple of Modern British works on paper drew keen attention at a recent West Sussex auction.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week

Pre-1950s Mary Fedden works are stylistically different to her later still-lifes and coastal subjects

Semley (22% buyer’s premium) earlier this summer sold this portrait of a young boy in profile by Maurice William Greiffenhagen (1862- 1931).

Exhibition showcases work inspired by artists’ colony of Kirkcudbright and surrounding area

The status of a Eugène Boudin (1824-98) painting stolen 30 years ago from a Mayfair dealership is currently in limbo while the rightful owner is sought.

The latest Welsh sale at Rogers Jones in Cardiff – topped by a record price for a Sir Kyffin Williams picture – included this remarkable early 19th century Ewenny pottery slipware wassail bowl and cover.

From the same north London home as the Chinese Export mirror and an Irish dining table sold at Dreweatts was this pair of bronzes by Alfred Drury (1856-1944).

If Marie Bashkirtseff had her way, the portrait she painted of her cousin in the late 1870s would never have survived, let alone made it to auction.

A Grand Tour portrait that came to auction directly from the family of the sitter was among the most contested lots at Bonhams’ (27.5%/25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) Old Master Paintings sale on July 7.

While Christie’s had by far the top-selling Old Master drawing of the latest series (the £7.5m Leonardo da Vinci drawing of the head of a bear - see ATG No 2501), a good number of other works on paper generated better competition although sold for understandably lower prices.

Dramatically lit above a Windsor armchair, 'Up and Across' by St Ives artist Trevor Bell (1930-2017) is a dynamic work of abstracted shapes in fiery red, browns and gold.

Richard Whittle founded Whittle Antik in Oxfordshire earlier this year and offers a range of objects from 18th century oak to naïve folk art, Mid-century furniture, taxidermy and Contemporary art.

Nagel (25% buyer’s premium) in Stuttgart underestimated the international interest for a 16th century painting of Christ Carrying the Cross.

After a difficult period because of the pandemic, the latest round of Old Master sales in London returned to some kind of normality.