Fine Art

Three modestly valued works drawing attention at salerooms across the UK.

An oil on copper painting depicting Saint Joseph by the Bolognese artist Gaetano Gandolfi (1734-1802) was the highlight of Brightwells’ spring fine art sale in Leominster on March 21-22.

A rediscovered neoclassical painting by Charles Meynier somersaulted nine times over its estimate to sell for €1.8m (£1.57m) at a sale in Nantes.

Guy Peppiatt specialises in 18th and 19th century British watercolours and drawings and is based in Mason’s Yard, St James’s.

Given current market conditions, watercolours can often be ‘the poor relation’ when it comes to mixed category picture sales. But examples benefitting from fine condition, colouring or execution, or a combination of these key factors, can lead to a very different outcome.

Synonymous with luxury and style, the Normandie epitomised the Art Deco era.

Three more modestly valued works drawing attention at Woolley & Wallis

Domenico Tintoretto (1560-1635), trained in Venice in the workshop of his renowned father, Jacopo.

Panter & Hall holds an exhibition of the works of Alberto Morrocco (1917-1998) in its Pall Mall gallery this month.

A painting of Farnham High Street from 1794 by a little-known artist fetched a not-so-little £8500 at Woolley & Wallis.

Marines and seascapes were a strong feature of Woolley & Wallis’ latest picture sale and, while there were plenty of affordable works on offer (see separate story), the sale was led by one of the larger works by a well-recognised name.

In a career of remarkable highs and lows, incorporating high political office, financial scandal and near bankruptcy, enormous success as a novelist and imprisonment for perjury during a libel case that he had won years earlier, Jeffrey Archer has himself been the subject of many a caricature and cartoon.

During the later decades of the 20th century, post-war British artist Alan Davie (1920-2014) fell into relative obscurity. However, recent months have been eventful for the painter’s legacy.

The first Cotswolds Decorative, Antiques & Art Fair of the year comes to Westonbirt School this month. Running from April 13-15, the 29-year-old event hosts 43 dealers (fully booked), particularly those from around the west of England.