News

THE Financial Services Authority’s imminent regulation of insurance mediation activity should not present a burden for UK auctioneers and dealers says the managing director of a leading fine art insurance specialists.

THE work of the pioneering Victorian designer Christopher Dresser is soon to have a major public airing in an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum opening this September. In the meantime the rarest examples of his iconic designs continue to command high prices in the marketplace.

Actor, sitcom star, game-show host, children’s entertainer – Leslie Crowther has been a regular face on British television since the 1960s.

WHEN does a jumbo tent look sophisticated and soigné? When it houses 77 galleries participating in artLONDON, which took place between June 9-13 at Burton’s Court in Chelsea.

ON July 15, Bonhams will present a double-catalogue sale of 500 lots of natural history books and watercolours from a single collection and one of the highlights will be a very special copy of Audebert & Viellot’s Oiseaux dorés ou a reflets metalliques... of 1800-02.

The Exiled Collector: William Bankes and the Making of an English Country House by Anne Sebba, published by John Murray. ISBN 0719563283 £22.50hb.

The primary artistic influence behind the Prattware phenomenon that captivated Victorian society for 40 years was the freelance artist and engraver Jesse Austin (1806-1879).