“Not only is the vase unique and elaborate in design, it is also in pristine condition. To think, the distance the singularly fragile vase has travelled, and the tumultuous times it has survived, for it to be standing here in front of us today without so much as a crack or a chip, is truly extraordinary.”
Nicolas Chow, chairman of Sotheby’s Asia, on the pair to the famous ‘Bainbridge vase’ – which was knocked down at £43m in 2010 – which goes under the hammer this autumn.
“It’s quite unusual that you have a quite competent painter who was actually on the spot. All the other images of Dunkirk that I have seen by the official war artists are from the point of view of the sea looking towards the land.”
Dr Jonathan Black, an expert in British war art, speaks on camera to dealer Andrew Sim about a large painting of the Dunkirk evacuation by John Spencer-Churchill, an eyewitness, which is the centrepiece of his stand at September’s British Art Fair.
“When I was a young, married teacher in the ‘60s, I read a newspaper article about Stuart Devlin. The accompanying photo showed a pair of the most elegant and stylish candlesticks I had ever seen. At that moment the urge to buy some of his work was born, although I had to wait quite a few years to afford it. By chance, I visited an antiques fair in Harrogate and potted a small potpourri dish with the trademark silver gilt bubbly finish and so the collection was begun.”
The anonymous consignor of a huge single-owner Stuart Devlin silver collection which goes under the hammer at Catherine Southon Auctioneers & Valuers in October.
“Frazetta was known for painting strong, sensuous women in fantastic environments. Escape on Venus is a prime example of his ability to paint in a way that directs the focus to a specific place. In this painting the trees and plants around the borders are done in subtle, muted tones, sending the focus back to the tiger and the woman.”
Some viewers might have focused on the muscle-bound, nearly naked lady in the painting’s foreground without the subtle border tones, but no need to take chances. Heritage Auction’s Ed Jaster speaks about the appeal of Frank Frazetta's painting Escape on Venus, which came top of the auction house’s recent Comic and Comic Art auction.
“I’m genuinely shocked by that verdict. I didn’t expect it. I thought the case was so strong.”
Fiona Bruce of BBC’s Fake or Fortune? reacts to a William Nicholson expert’s conclusion that there was not enough evidence to prove that a still-life was, in fact, his work.
