With 11 phone bidders booked, the pair eventually sold above the £2000-3000 guide for £11,000 to an Italian private buyer, who fought off competition from the Italian trade.
Depicting bustling street scenes, the small 10 x 16in (25 x 40cm) oils date to 1853 and were consigned from a private property in Nottingham.
“The appeal lay in the charm and elegance of the period that they capture so well,” said specialist Adrian Rathbone. Although little is known of Candido as an artist, his canvases attract a strong following at auction and regularly sell for five-figure sums.
Other sale highlights included A woodpidgeon on the branch of a pine tree, a watercolour by Archibald Thorburn (1860-1935) pictured below right. The 14½ x 10½in (37 x 27cm) work was consigned by a local private client and entered with a £1000-1500 guide because of its ordinary subject matter. However, on the day it was hotly pursued to £5400 where it was hammered down to a private buyer.
