Latest News Articles by Gabriel Berner
The web shop window: ornate Renaissance pearl pendant
11 January 2021Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.
London fair provides folk art platform via the internet
11 January 2021Folk art is in the spotlight at the first digital edition of The London Art Fair.
Tune in to a group of folk zingers
21 December 2020Simple folk art depictions stuffed full of charm prove highly attractive to buyers at Dreweatts' auction.
'More affordable' alternatives to the very top names at Roseberys
21 December 2020An array of affordable alternatives to the blue-chip names in Modern British art generated strong bidding at Roseberys' (25% buyer’s premium) auction.
Affordable art: Three works sold for under £1600 including a Harry Fidler oil
21 December 2020Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including a Harry Fidler oil.
Venetian works by ‘follower of’ Canaletto make big sums in their own right
19 October 2020A high-quality veduta of Venice by one of Canaletto’s followers was the runaway star at Chorley’s (22.5/15/12.5/10% buyer’s premium) two-day auction in Gloucestershire.
Humbert Craig’s Irish outlook brings benefit to Locke & England
19 October 2020Irish artist James Humbert Craig’s (1877-1944) passion for the outdoors and landscape painting took him frequently to Donegal, Connemara and the glens of Antrim.
Portuguese works pop into Chichester saleroom
19 October 2020A pair of late oil landscapes by Silva Porto (1850-93), a pioneer of naturalism in Portugal whose works appear rarely outside his home country, drew multiple bids at Chichester saleroom Henry Adams (20% buyer’s premium).
Affordable art: Three works sold for under £1700 including a Sylvia Gosse street scene
19 October 2020Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including a Sylvia Gosse street scene.
Lenkiewicz turns art into saleroom gold
28 September 2020Early work by the Plymouth artist portrays himself alongside German alchemist
Old Pretender in Scotland at last
28 September 2020August is traditionally a busy month for Edinburgh saleroom Lyon & Turnbull (25/20% buyer’s premium) and this year was no exception – despite the exceptional circumstances.
Affordable art: Three works sold for under £2000 including a Louisa Canziani oil on canvas
28 September 2020Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including a Louisa Canziani painting.
Antiquities: The impressive body of bidders at ancient art auctions
14 September 2020Not just whole figures but parts such as feet and hands are sought after by collectors in the antiquities market, as evident at a vast six-day auction in Essex
Greek terracotta goddess doubles estimate at Christie's
14 September 2020This exceptionally preserved Greek terracotta seated goddess retaining much of its stylised red slip decoration emerged as one of the highlights of the summer antiquities sales in London.
Mosaic fragments ‘from a Roman villa’ sell in Bristol
14 September 2020Consigned from a private deceased estate, a group of decorative mosaic floor tile fragments took a multi-estimate £2200 at Clevedon Salerooms (22% buyer’s premium) in Bristol.
Group lot contained a Samian surprise
14 September 2020Unearthed in a group lot at Lindsay Burns (20% buyer’s premium) in Perth, this Roman marbled Samian ware bowl is believed to closely relate to another in the British Museum.
Egyptian bronze falcon sarcophagus emerges in Salisbury auction
14 September 2020A dozen lots of Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts once owned by Ferdinand Mainzer (1871-1943), a German-Jewish gynaecologist turned historical author, will open Woolley & Wallis’ tribal art and antiquities auction in Salisbury on September 22.
Hellenistic gold bracelets offered in Bavaria
14 September 2020This elegant pair of finely worked early Hellenistic gold bracelets featuring a rather sympathetic and graceful rendering of the snake-haired gorgon Medusa are believed to have been made by a courtly goldsmith workshop during the 4th-3rd century BC.
Egyptian mask comes to Somerset auction
14 September 2020This Egyptian polychrome painted wood sarcophagus mask comes from the lid of an anthropoid coffin. These were coffins carved to the outline of the mummy’s body and decorated with the face and wig of the deceased.
All about information sharing
31 August 2020Wider spectrum of buyers means presenting catalogue entries in greater detail can pay off