Fine Art

The key influence on the work of the French sculptor Roger Godchaux (1878-1958) came from an unexpected source. He had trained at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris and soon became passionate about animal figures, first exhibiting at the Salon in 1905.

A selection of Victorian cricket scenes (one shown below) by Lucien Davis (1860-1941) was offered at Roseberys London (25/20/12% buyer’s premium).

Bellmans in Wisborough Green, West Sussex is to offer two watercolours by Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) as part of a Fine Paintings sale on October 15. Both come from a local private collection.

Daniel Mendoza is considered one of the first ‘modern’ boxers – one who helped elevate boxing to a sport rather than just two blokes beating each other up.

Proceeds of painting by artist-plantsman Cedric Morris will benefit Benton End – the house where it was painted and home of the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing

A group of First World War pastels depicting members of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps harvesting peat moss for use in field dressings are typical of the variety collectors will find at the 'British Art Fair' (BAF).

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales below £2200, including an unsigned oil on board, attributed to the English Vorticist Frederick Etchells.

The prolific artist Percy Kelly (1918-93) was averse to the limelight and only a few of his paintings were shown publicly during his life. But a major retrospective at the Tullie House gallery Carlisle in 2015 and a birth centenary last year has helped raise the Cumbrian artist’s profile.

Inspired by LS Lowry, the self-taught Mancunian artist Fred Yates (1922-2008) set out to paint pictures about the lives of ordinary people. These canvases – ranging from the industrial architecture and street life of Manchester to the sunnier scenes he painted after his move to Cornwall in 1969 – attract a loyal following on the secondary market.

This Italian marble bust of an emperor, catalogued as 17th century after the antique, provided a moment of saleroom drama at Sworders’ Fine Interiors auction in Stansted on September 10.

George du Maurier (1834-96) joined the staff at Punch magazine in 1865, drawing two ink cartoons a week until his eyesight deteriorated in 1891. His most common targets were the affected manners of Victorian society and Britain’s growing middle class in particular.

A gold, jade and rock crystal model of a sedan chair by Fabergé was hammered down at £380,000 last week – a new house record for a Gloucestershire auctioneer.

A busier than usual summer for the local housing market appeared to boost both vendor consignments and bidding at Market Harborough auctioneers Gildings (18% buyer’s premium).

Marking 20 years in business, Clark Art is holding a show featuring works by some of the key artists it has championed across two decades.

A portrait of an unidentified young man by the 18th century French artist Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805) will feature in the auction to be held by Skinner in Boston on September 27.

'La horde de barbares' (1934) by Surrealist painter Max Ernst (1891-1976) is offered in an exhibition dedicated to the German artist at M&L Fine Art.

One of the star turns in the summer sale in South Cerney of Martin Orsky’s wonderful library emerged towards the end of the day. This was a uniformly framed set of five stencil coloured woodcut broadsides, heightened with bodycolour and glitter and representing ‘The Five Senses’, sold at £30,000.

It was while working as a studio assistant to Lord Leighton in the early 1860s that John Emms (1841-1912) travelled to Lyndhurst in the New Forest, a trip that would define his career as a painter of dog portraits and sporting scenes.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales below £3000.