While such images currently may not be the most voguish of subjects, they still retain many devotees. Bonhams’ (19.5/10% buyer’s premium) sale at their New Bond Street rooms on March 9 of British and Continental watercolours and drawings featured three Allinghams from the impressive Marley Collection of Allinghams that Christie’s put under the hammer in September 1991 – a sale that resulted in bullish prices throughout, including a record £42,000 for the artist.
Returning to the market after 12 1/2 years, how would these three examples at Bonhams fare? Apart from a stunning watercolour and bodycolour of Titania, sleeping in the moonlight protected by her fairies, by John Simmons (1823-1876), which was hotly contested to £36,000, six times top estimate, it was the Allinghams that were the auction’s price leaders.
Buckinghamshire House at Penn Street, a 14 x 19 3/4in (35.5 x 50cm) watercolour, which at the Marley sale fetched £14,000 (£15,400 with premium), was bought in at £19,000 against expectations of £20,000-30,000. However, Near Hambledon, right, an 11 1/2 x 15in (29 x 38cm) work illustrated in Annabel Watts’ Cottage Homes Revisited (2003), sold at £21,000, compared with £15,000 (£16,500 with premium) in 1991. Meanwhile, The Fiddler, a charming scene of children outside a Witley
cottage listening to a fiddle player, went to a telephone bidder for £11,000, just £1500 above the Marley price.
What do these results tell us? In simple terms, yes, the market has fallen, taking into account factors such as inflation, but, on a more positive note, it still has plenty of life in it, too.
Roses’ bloom has faded, but not blown over
FIFTEEN or so years ago works by the likes of Helen Allingham (1848-1926) and the Stannards of Bedfordshire had the sweet smell of success all over them. However, in more recent times the general consensus is that watercolours of this genre, which I loosely describe as “roses round the cottage door”, have slipped from favour.
