Sir Francis Drake wart and all portrait fetches £290,000 at auction

An early Anglo-Dutch portrait of the swashbuckling English sea captain Sir Francis Drake topped Bonhams’ Old Master paintings sale on July 4 in New Bond Street. It sold for £290,000, just below its juicy £300,000-500,000 guide.

The portrait shows Drake wearing enormously expensive blackened and gilded half-armour.

A facial …

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