Old Masters

Two Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) drawings created national news last week as Christie’s posted a record for a sketch by the great master in London while a court in Paris is to determine whether another can be legally exported from France.

An occasional feature on mystery works the Art UK charity is seeking help to identify

Old Master paintings come up for sale throughout the year in France but the summer season traditionally mounts a number of dedicated auctions in the field.

Some of the world’s most famous Old Master paintings have been highly regarded for many centuries, carrying a reputation that has led to them being replicated and copied by other artists – sometimes soon after their creation.

Believed to date from the mid-17th century, this double portrait is a fascinating painting on many accounts.

For over a century, a 5ft x 6ft 4in (1.52 x 1.93m) painting of Samson and Delilah had slumbered as the work of an unknown Italian artist in a German private collection.

These pastel portraits depicting Georgiana and Henrietta Cavendish, the two legitimate daughters of Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire, are soon to hang side by side for the first time in over a century.

An unrecorded landscape by Andrea Locatelli (1693- c.1741) is among the lots on offer at Bonhams’ Old Masters sale in July.

Among a number of historic portraits at West Norwood saleroom Roseberys in the auction of Old Master & 19th Century Pictures on July 20 is this painting of a man wearing a fur collar, white lace ruff and a skull cap, below.

Discoveries take centre stage as event incorporates London dealers beyond its normal area

Among the highlights at Sotheby’s Old Masters evening sale on July 7 is one of a series of eight views of the Thames estuary exhibited by JMW Turner (1775-1851) at his gallery in Harley Street between 1807-09.

With fewer collectors and international dealers expected in London this summer, the capital’s high-end art fair 'Masterpiece' migrates online for its 2021 edition

It’s not often that a guinea pig features in an Old Master painting.

This painting of a girl leaning on a pedestal is one of the leading lots at Woolley & Wallis’ upcoming Old Master, British and European Paintings sale.

Restituted pictures remain a key area of supply for fresh Old Masters and Christie’s evening sale on July 8 includes two Dutch Golden Age paintings.

Drawings fair will be staged in the usual venue but dealers can also take part online

Discovered lying unrecognised on a bookcase in a Sussex cottage, a unique edition of Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard will be offered at Gorringe’s this month with a £100,000-150,000 estimate.

This panel painting of The Annunciation is on offer at the sale of Old Master paintings at Aguttes on June 17.