Fine Art

Dreamy landscapes, fairies and classical female nudes fill many of today’s best-known canvases by the Victorian artist Edward Robert Hughes (1851-1914). But it was his skills as a portraitist that impressed critics most while he lived.

Possibly the largest quantity of watercolours by the Second World War artist Thomas Hennell (1903-45) to come to auction in one sitting was on offer at Mallams (20% buyer’s premium) on July 5

This work above by the popular cartoonist Max Beerbohm (1872-1956) was a highlight of Mallams’ library sale on June 21.

The two galleries in Wales that fall under the umbrella of Martin Tinney celebrate local art in their summer shows.

Among the visitors coming to Bury Street gallery Rountree Tryon during London Art Week to view a painting of the doomed Lancastria was the youngest female survivor of that wartime tragedy.

A superb suite of the original ink and gouache drawings – one shown here – made by Carl Otto Czeschka to illustrate a 1908 edition of Die Niebelungen dem Deutschen Volke sold at $290,000 (£224,805) in a Sotheby’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) sale of June 6 called Important Design.

A scarce collection of watercolours by Biggles creator WE Johns (1893-1968) sold beyond expectations in Sworders’ (22% buyer’s premium) June 27 sale in Stansted Mountfitchet.

An impeccably preserved portrait of Thomas Pope, later 3rd Earl of Downe, by William Larkin (1580-1619), led Bonhams’ (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) Old Master Paintings sale on July 5.

A record-breaking Canaletto (1697-1768) drawing was the toast of the capital’s Old Masters drawings sales.

A dealer will offer what he believes is a Joseph Wright of Derby self-portrait at the LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair this autumn.

Written off by some as a dying area, the latest Old Master series in London defied the naysayers with encouraging results during its traditional ‘grand finale’ slot at the end of the London sales season.

“If I was a dealer, I’d buy the whole lot and put on a show. He’s a sort of great ‘undiscovered’ artist.” Mimi Lay of the Penzance auction house David Lay is referring to a consignment of graphic art by the 20th century painter and lithographer Richard Platt (b.1928).

Mayfair Art Weekend (which was held from June 30-July 2) may not be the time to make major sales but remains an opportunity to raise the profile of commercial galleries in the area.

A pair of lions from the funerary monument of Charles V of France was the toast of Christie’s Exceptional sale in London on July 6.