Fine Art

Three modestly valued works in regional sales, including a mini-sleeper at an Essex auction.

A single-owner private collection, including significant works by artists from the Modern British canon, will be sold at Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet on January 15.

Results from the December 2018 auction series of Old Masters in London.

Dutch and Flemish art also dominated takings at Sotheby's in New Bond Street on December 5. The category was 90% sold and netted the lion’s share of the sale at £24.6m (with premium), against hopes of £16.8m-23.7m.

When this Monet maritime sunset below was hammered down for €860,000 (£767,860) – or €1.18m/£1.05m including premium – in Millon’s (25% buyer’s premium) sale of Modern Art on November 26 it not only overturned its €80,000-100,000 estimate but also achieved the second highest result at auction for a pastel by the famous French Impressionist.

An Adventure with Colman’s Mustard by British painter Arthur Wardle (1864-1949), shown below, is among the pictures on offer at Richard Green gallery’s 50 Paintings Under £50,000.

Thompson’s Gallery in Aldeburgh uses its annual Christmas exhibition to showcase works by historic artists such as John Maclauchlan Milne (1885-1957), whose oil on canvas The Hay Cole (1920), below, is offered for £6750.

Combining results from the Albada collection and its evening sale, Christie’s achieved its highest evening total for a December Old Masters sale in London for seven years.

After a summer series remembered for its quirky ‘warts and all’ portraiture and an improbable list of celebrity endorsers, including former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham who hosted a series of Sotheby’s consignments at her London fashion showroom, Old Masters were back in familiar territory for the latest offerings in London.

Golden Age Dutch art topped the bill at Bonhams in the December 5 sale via a fresh-to-market still-life attributed to the 17th century painter Pieter Claesz (1597-1660), which sold for over four times the estimate at £130,000.

Star turn in a sale held in the French city of Angers on December 5 was this small painting by the 17th century French artist Jacques Stella (1596-1657), below.

A series of portraits by some of the biggest names in the Old Master market led the way at the latest sales in this category in London. Among them were two versions of a Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) portrait – one fully ascribed to the artist.

The festive season is upon us. And as art market tradition dictates, this means a generous helping of Old Masters.

The Dutch animal painter Paulus Potter (1625-54) succeeded in producing about 100 paintings before he died at the tender age of 28 from tuberculosis.

Identifying the sitters of the past is one of the biggest drivers of value when it comes to selling traditional portraits on the secondary market.

“When I was putting this exhibition together, a lot of people thought I would not be able to find 50 different women British artists to show. In the end, I could have shown 500,” says Sacha Llewellyn of 20th century British art specialist Liss Llewellyn.