Features

RAF Wing Commander Terence Helfer’s Distinguished Flying Cross citation stated: “He has undertaken many hazardous missions…”

Old Masters dealers on the international fairs circuit have a robust range of exhibiting options ahead, despite nearly two years of pandemic-related disruption.

An unfinished portrait attributed to Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) led the inaugural sale held by Sloane Street Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in London.

A portrait of a young woman which was previously attributed to Angelica Kauffman drew bidding at Toovey’s (24.5% buyer’s premium) after being reattributed to George Romney (1734-1802).

More than 1000 Old Master drawings offered in around 500 lots over two days went under the hammer of Beaussant Lefèvre (27% buyer’s premium inc VAT) at Drouot on February 10-11 when the auction firm dispersed the collection of Jacques and Colette Ulmann.

A patriotic Walter Sickert (1860-1942) painting bought by the Imperial War Museum (IWM) in London is earmarked to be displayed among the exhibits in the new art, film and photographic galleries opening next year.

The only known blueprint of a Great War British Mark I tank has been sold by Carlisle auction house Laidlaw (18.5% buyer’s premium) to The Tank Museum in Bovington.

A rediscovered still-life by mannerist artist Fede Galizia (1578-1630) is among the highlights at Colnaghi’s exhibition 'Forbidden Fruit: Female Still Life'.

The healthy demand for top-notch medals with interesting back-stories shows no sign of decreasing, judging by recent results.

David Jeffcoat (1945-2020) was a man with many interests, not least setting up dining clubs such as the Lunardi Society celebrating the achievements of a hot air balloonist and another named after a local vicar turned highwayman.

The Voluntary Aid Detachments (VAD) comprised volunteer civilians providing care to British, Empire and allied troops during the First World War, both in field hospitals near to the battlefield and in more established places of recuperation back home.

Kathleen Lynn can be seen very much as a modern woman of her time. The daughter of a County Mayo Church of Ireland rector, her upbringing was conservatively Protestant and Unionist but she became politically radicalised through her exposure to the poverty of Dublin’s slums while she studied medicine.

French rediscovery of a German artist’s work leads a look at the Old Masters market

A lively 17th century painting showing people in a Flemish tavern, drinking, smoking and playing cards with a man playing the bagpipes will be among the lots at Bellmans’ Old Master & 19th Century Paintings auction in Wisborough Green, West Sussex, on March 29.

Buy low, sell high: one of the most basic rules of dealing. For young dealers breaking into the Old Masters market, however, it can be a challenge, writes Frances Allitt.

If a full-size Victoria Cross medal group is beyond your price range, a lot sold at Adam Partridge (20% buyer’s premium inc VAT) is perhaps the next best thing.

Among the Old Masters in Roseberys’ sale on March 22 is this painting depicting a view of Venice by Jacopo Fabris (1689-1761). It shows the Fondaco dei Turchi, a palazzo on the Grand Canal.

With the discovery of the intact tomb of Tutankhamun in 1923, an Egyptian revival swept through the decorative arts. Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels were among the first to design jewels that mixed Egyptian motifs with the geometry and bold colours of the Art Deco era. But other French, British and US ateliers soon followed.

Although Roamer fell victim to the ‘quartz crisis’ – the introduction of quartz watches in the 1970s and early 1980s that largely replaced mechanical watches – in the 1950s-60s the firm enjoyed a good reputation as the maker of good-quality, affordable automatic mechanical watches.

The Omega Seamaster 300, launched in 1957 simultaneously with the Railmaster and the Speedmaster, appears in numerous variations.