Art Market

Salisbury is latest auction house finding a sense of optimism despite some patchy areas

A good mix of traditional and modern pictures drew decent bidding at Mallams’ (20% buyer’s premium) on March 16.

Demand for the delicate 20th century dynamic prints of the Grosvenor School has softened since the string of recordbreaking sales and prices taking place several years ago.

This Japanese rice paper drawing was among a number of lots to draw strong bidding at Dreweatts and Bloomsbury’s (24% buyer’s premium) offering of the Jan Krugier collection.

A trio of watercolours painted by British topographical artist Frank Dillon (1823-1909) were among the highlights of Diamond Mills’ (15% buyer’s premium) March 8 sale in Felixstowe, Suffolk.

Private works on a European theme yield strong prices in Cambridgeshire sale...

An oil of HMS Ophir moored off Halifax in Canada sold for a multi-estimate sum at George Kidner’s (19% buyer’s premium) sale in Lymington on March 2.

Among the picture highlights of Peter Wilson’s (24% buyer’s premium) Fine Art Sale on March 2 in Nantwich was a coastal sunset scene by prolific Birkenhead artist Samuel John Lamorna Birch (1869-1955).

Rare painting by 19th century American artist achieves record price at Bonhams

A lithograph of David Roberts’ (1796-1864) lost painting The siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under the command of Titus took top honours at Staffordshire auction house Cuttlestones (17.5% buyer’s premium) on March 2-3.

Private buyers hold strong in Dublin despite Brexit concerns keeping northern dealers at bay

Attracting new and younger buyers is the thinking behind Tennants’ (18.5% buyer’s premium) modern and contemporary art sales. Held three times a year, the auctions offer art by a range of painters and sculptors at affordable levels to encourage new buyers into the market, while also appealing to established collectors.

Prints of Dublin as it would have looked in the late 18th century starred in an interiors sale held in the same modern-day city at Adam’s (20% buyer’s premium).

Owing to today’s minimalist taste, Continental views of 19th century ports are not an easy sell. This pair of canvases proved otherwise when they topped Thomson Roddick’s (15% buyer’s premium) March 18 sale in Carlisle, Cumbria.