London

An exceptionally rare miniature book, a 'Kalendarium Evangelia' printed by Christopher Plantin in Antwerp in 1570, measuring just 35mm high appeared at a recent Bonhams sale.

“In order to prevent the further slaughter of Dublin citizens, and in the hope of saving the lives of our followers, now surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered, the members of the Provisional Governments present at Head Quarters have agreed to an unconditional surrender…”

It is tempting to write off 19th century pictures as passé. A field relegated to the dusty corners of the art market, while contemporary art reigns supreme.

Showing some internal staining, browning and other soiling, this 1517 Lyon printing of one of the works of GB Castiglione, a humanist and sometime tutor to the future Elizabeth I, sports a contemporary English binding of blind-stamped calf.

The antiquities trade’s packed summer schedule got off to a bright start at Sotheby’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) in London. The ancient art sale was the second to be held since the auction house reopened its London unit in 2016. Over the last two decades, Sotheby’s had sold ancient art through its New York saleroom only.

Catalogued as ‘after the antique’, this marble figure of Aphrodite was the unexpected star of Chiswick Auctions’ June 14 sale of antiquities and tribal art in London.

“I have gazed upon the face of Agamemnon”. Arguably the most famous words in archaeological history, they were supposedly uttered by German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 as he unearthed a gold mask at Mycenae. Some 140 years later, portraits from antiquity remain powerful reminders of our ancient past.

Karen Taylor Fine Art’s exhibition of British drawings, watercolours and oils takes place from 30 June-July 7 at Illustrationcupboard Gallery in St James’s.

More 19th century pictures will go under the hammer this summer at auction houses in London. Christie’s dedicated sale in King Street on July 13 is led by a collection of 46 Orientalist works.

An exhibition of the photographs of Marilyn Stafford travelled from Lucy Bell Fine Art in East Sussex last weekend to reopen in London’s Art Bermondsey Project Space on Tuesday, June 27.

Charles Ede has bowed out of this week’s Masterpiece London in favour of the trio of TEFAFs. ATG meets two of the directors to find out how a synthesis of ancient and modern can benefit this long-standing family firm.

Walter Leblanc’s (1932-86) paintings and sculptures create illusions of movement through the manipulation of unconventional media. Originally from Antwerp, Leblanc started exhibiting with the ZERO movement in the early 1960s.

Some of the more successful lots in a June 1 sale at PBA Galleries (20/15% buyer’s premium) of the first portion of the Richard Beagle collection of angling and sporting books were scarce accounts of early hunting trips in the Yukon and Wyoming.