Old Masters

An old label on the back of a Medway view that emerged in Germany gave a tantalising suggestion that the British artist John Constable was involved.

A ‘lost’ late 16th century portrait miniature by Italian painter Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614) has been rediscovered by an art dealer.

A monumental painting of an Old Testament subject, which came to auction in a gloomy state, drew a remarkable bidding battle at a West Sussex sale.

The personal art collection of film director and intellectual Pierre Rouve (1915-98), kept in his Chelsea house until he died, will be offered at auction.

A recent Brunk’s (23% buyer’s premium) auction in Asheville, North Carolina, included a group of six small oil-on-copper mythological scenes by Neapolitan painter Luca Giordano (1634-1705).

It’s wise to keep a lid on estimates for traditional pictures where condition and market freshness is lacking

Two prominent single-owner collections put together into a single Town & Country sale at Dreweatts generated some decent if selective bidding when it came to the pictures on offer.

Two titled topographical views by a journeyman 18th century Venetian artist excelled at the Old Masters and 19th Century Paintings sale at Wannenes (35% buyer’s premium) in Genoa.

This 18th century pastel on paper portrait showing a young friar has many hallmarks of the work of the Venetian painter Rosalba Carriera (1675-1757).

A rare picture painted in India by Arthur William Devis (1762-1822) depicting a group of Bengali weavers was the subject of dramatic competition at Gorringe’s (25% buyer’s premium) spring fine art and antiques sale.

Two portraits of Regency beauties by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) come for sale at Cottone Auctions in Geneso, New York, on March 20. Both come by descent from by the Buffalo industrialist Colonel Charles Clifton (1853-1928) who paid huge sums for them in the early 1920s.

Although the late antiques dealer Maurice ‘Dick’ Turpin (1928-2005) may have been better known for his expertise in furniture and works of art, he also had an eye for a painting.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

Flavio Gianassi of FG Fine Art specialises in Italian Old Master paintings and is among the dealers standing at the TEFAF Maastricht Showcase this year

It is a good time to be selling works by Thomas Daniell (1749-1840).