Art Market

Naïve-style paintings of livestock remain one of the liveliest sectors of the 19th century pictures market, judging by the response to several examples offered in Gloucestershire.

A large oil painting offered at auction for first time depicts notorious figure from Charles II’s court and sells for five times top estimate.

As well as the Richard Platt consignment, David Lay offered more than 100 lots of modern art by a local Cornish family.

More than 100 Russian paintings consigned from a single source went under the hammer at Moore Allen & Innocent’s (18% buyer’s premium) July 7 sale in Cirencester.

Found among the contents of a storage unit, a watercolour of Venice by Edward Lear (1812-88) starred in Brighton General Auctions’ (15% buyer’s premium) sale on July 28.

Little-known but well-connected artist proves a hit as his widow sells 40 works in Penzance.

Southern softness and northern grit were both on display at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) of Leyburn on July 15.

More 19th century art was offered in London when over 120 lots of European and Orientalist pictures went under the hammer at Christie’s.

Works by the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers continued to outperform the rest of the Victorian art market during the latest round of sales in London.

Dreamy landscapes, fairies and classical female nudes fill many of today’s best-known canvases by the Victorian artist Edward Robert Hughes (1851-1914). But it was his skills as a portraitist that impressed critics most while he lived.

Possibly the largest quantity of watercolours by the Second World War artist Thomas Hennell (1903-45) to come to auction in one sitting was on offer at Mallams (20% buyer’s premium) on July 5

This work above by the popular cartoonist Max Beerbohm (1872-1956) was a highlight of Mallams’ library sale on June 21.

A scarce collection of watercolours by Biggles creator WE Johns (1893-1968) sold beyond expectations in Sworders’ (22% buyer’s premium) June 27 sale in Stansted Mountfitchet.

An impeccably preserved portrait of Thomas Pope, later 3rd Earl of Downe, by William Larkin (1580-1619), led Bonhams’ (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) Old Master Paintings sale on July 5.

A record-breaking Canaletto (1697-1768) drawing was the toast of the capital’s Old Masters drawings sales.

Written off by some as a dying area, the latest Old Master series in London defied the naysayers with encouraging results during its traditional ‘grand finale’ slot at the end of the London sales season.

Another work by CRW Nevinson (1889-1946) in the form of an aerial wartime print was offered in Gorringe’s (23% buyer’s premium) June 27 sale.

“It is something, at the age of 31, to be among the most discussed, most successful, most promising, most admired and most hated British artists.” So wrote the critic Charles Lewis Hind about the war artist CRW Nevinson (1889-1946) in 1920.

Over the last four months, a steady trickle of coaching scenes has been making its way onto the market via John Nicholson’s (24% buyer’s premium).

A “jewel-like” painting of a young girl reading by Edward Frampton (1870-1932) starred in Dominic Winter’s (19.5% buyer’s premium) June 15 sale.