Oil, Acrylic paintings & Mixed Media

The latest batch of period portraits to pass through Cheffins featured several from a late-16th century property in Great Chesterford, Essex. Passed by descent, the quartet was led by an attractive English School portrait of Queen Mary I (1516-58), an oil painted on an oval 2ft x 21in (62 x 53cm) canvas.

This portrait of Maria Luisa Maldonado, Marquesa de Torneros (1907) by the Valencian artist Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923) is a highlight of the next auction series at Ansorena to be held from July 17-19.

A quartet of oils by the contemporary British painter Sherree Valentine-Daines (b.1959) produced multi-estimate prices when they went under the hammer in Sussex.

Two contemporary exhibitions in London next month feature artists with an interest in the imagery and techniques of the past.

Guided at £200-400, a pair of 17th century British school portraits (one pictured below) went on to fetch £1150 each at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) of Shrewsbury.

Pride comes before a fall and in the case of Napoleon, Smolensk came before Moscow. On May 18 Ketterer Kunst is selling a 2ft x 2ft 7in (60 x 79cm) scene of Napoleon observing the burning city of Smolensk.

The paintings of Welsh landscape artist Kyffin Williams (1918-2006) are much in evidence in this, the year of his centenary, and nowhere so much as in his native land.

LS Lowry’s industrial northern English city scenes, populated with his trademark ‘matchstick’ figures, have inspired many artists. Chief among them was Brian ‘Braaq’ Shields (1951-97), dubbed ‘Liverpool’s Lowry’.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Alan Wheatley Art opens a retrospective of the art of Modern British artist Alan Davie (1920-2014) this week.

Essex saleroom Sworders (23% buyer’s premium) set a new auction high for Belle Epoque artist Albert de Belleroche (1864-1944).

Increasing number of auctions and shows around the Salon make Paris a must in March.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

An oil by the famous Maltese painter Giuseppe Cali (1846-1930) fetched a five-figure sum when it went under the hammer at Moore Allen & Innocent (20% buyer’s premium) in Cirencester.

A painting of Farnham High Street from 1794 by a little-known artist fetched a not-so-little £8500 at Woolley & Wallis.

Led by the portrait of an Italian mastiff by il Guercino (1591-1666), dogs took a starring role in the Cheffins' March 8 sale. The delightful oil of a stocky ‘Cane Corso’, perhaps the artist’s own dog, overshot a £80,000-120,000 estimate and was knocked down at £570,000 – the highest auction price in the English regions so far this year.

Tutu, a previously lost portrait by Ben Enwonwu (1917-94) of the Ife royal princess Adetutu Ademiluyi set a new record for the artist at Bonhams’ Africa Now auction.

The 20th century portraitist Meredith Frampton (1894-1984) achieved remarkable success in a relatively short career.