Old Masters

The latest Old Master sales in London put in a solid performance with the overall total from last week’s auction series running at £115m (including premium) with one day sale still to take place at the time of going to press.

An enticingly estimated drawing by the 17th century English court portraitist Sir Peter Lely offered for sale in a French provincial auction drew a flurry of attention from English trade and private bidders last week. It was propelled to over 20-times its estimate.

Recent Old Master paintings in Vienna and Cologne have yielded some predicted but also unexpected results including a high price for a work by a German better known for his poems and plays than his paintings.

A view of Ludlow Castle is one of the works included in Miles Wynn Cato’s ongoing exhibition.

Less than six months after they announced the discovery of an unpublished Leonardo drawing, the French auction house Tajan has revealed another major artistic discovery – a pair of paintings by Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) that last appeared in the late 18th century. Both the Leonardo and the Fragonards have been declared National Treasures by the French State.

“It has to be accessible. We don’t want to over-egg it. Trying to make Old Masters ‘sexy’ is not going to happen. But there are ways to get people interested.”

A Parisian fair is ‘exploring new horizons’ with its first international event held at a former royal ice rink in the Belgian capital.

A rather shabby portrait of an unknown woman sparked a bidding battle at W&H Peacock (17.5% buyer’s premium) in Bedford on May 5.

Estimated at CHF9000-12,000, a panel painted in the manner of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) sold for CHF700,000 (£564,500) at Galartis SA in Crissier, Lausanne on May 5.

Karl & Faber in Munich is offering 'Portrait of a Man, Holding a Carnation', a 16 x 11in (41 x 29cm) panel, attributed to Dirck Jacobsz (before 1497-1567) at its auction on May 19.

A Spanish oil billed as an early work by Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) sold for €8m (£7m) at the Madrid auctioneers Abalarte on April 25.

With prices lagging behind modern limited editions, Old Master prints may be the market’s best-kept secret...