Antiques Trade Gazette 35

We will always have Venice – or Naples

SOMETHING long known in the art trade is that Venice is a commercial city. Another work that made a useful contribution to the bottom line at Cheffins’ sale on March 24-25 was a view from the Accademia Bridge by the ever-

reliable Edward Seago (1910-1974).

It came from a deceased vendor who had owned it for around 40 years and, although the 101

/4 x 151 /4

Above: Sheepscombe in the Snow, c.1948, by Patrick George (b.1923), oil on panel, 16in x 2ft 1in (41 x 63cm) – £9000 from Browse & Darby.

in (26 x 39cm) oil

on board was a bit dirty, it was in underlying decent condition and promised to clean up well.

Against a £20,000-30,000 estimate, it sold at £26,000 – substantially more than the less-inspiring view of a Norfolk farm by Seago that made £16,000 at the same sale.

Seago’s painting of Venice was one of

three picture lots showing the city by British artists which made significant prices in the English regions last month. In Send, Surrey on March 17-18,

Ewbank Clarke Gammon Wellers incorporating Riddetts of Bournemouth (20% buyer’s premium)

offered a pair of unsigned views of the Grand Canal catalogued as circle of

Edward Pritchett (fl.1828-1864) and

estimated at £1000-1500.

Measuring 14 x 21in (36 x 53cm), the oils on canvas had some minor paint loss but no visible damage. Being typically colourful works and romantic in style, they were deemed likely to be autograph works by bidders. They were taken to £9000, at which point they were knocked down to an Austrian dealer on the telephone.

Little is known about Edward Pritchett’s life, although his numerous Venetian scenes appear regularly on the market. A slightly smaller pair of views from the Piazza San Marco made £8500 at Cheffins last September. Over in Billingshurst, West Sussex on

March 17-19, Bellmans (20% buyer’s

premium including VAT)sold a view of the Scuola Grande di San Marco by Jane

Vivian (19th century) at £10,000

against an estimate of £3000-5000. The 231

/2 in x 3ft 5in (60cm x 1.05m) oil

on canvas came from a deceased estate in the Brighton area for which the auctioneers had carried out an insurance

valuation a few years ago. Unlined, it was in good condition with no obvious restoration work. It drew bidders on the telephone as well as trade interest in the room but, in the end, it sold to a local private collector in the room. If pictures of Venice hold a perennial appeal, then another Italian city which is a particularly commercial subject is Naples. An attractive view of the port by a highly regarded 18th century Milanese painter was always likely to do well when offered

at Woolley & Wallis (19.5% buyer’s

premium)in Salisbury on March 24. The view of the Strada Di Santa Lucia

from Pizzofalcone to the Ponte Della

Maddalena by Pietro Antoniani

(c.1740/50-1805) was a 121

/2 x 19in (32 x

48cm) oil on canvas which had originally been bought by one of the local vendor’s ancestors at Christie’s back in 1939. In good condition, it was unlined and had only slight retouching.

Although smaller in size than other examples of Antoniani’s work, it was a typically bustling scene and one of a number of views from this particular location looking over the harbour which he produced. Estimated at £10,000- 15,000, it drew interest from Italy but sold to the London trade at £29,000.

Above: View from the Accademia Bridge,Venice by Edward Seago – £26,000 at Cheffins. Below: View of Naples by Pietro Antoniani – £29,000 at Woolley & Wallis.

Selling the critic’s choice

Anna Brady

reports

FOR an art critic, the chance to select pictures for an exhibition based solely upon your own personal taste must simultaneously be both a great treat and a daunting task, publicly laying bare one’s particular penchants for critique by others. But Andrew Lambirth, curator, author and art critic for The Spectator, has taken up this particular gauntlet and from April 14 to May 7 Browse &

Darby will show A Critic’s Choice – Selected by Andrew Lambirth at their

19 Cork Street gallery in London, W1S. Lambirth and Browse & Darby have worked together before on various projects, and the premise behind the show was that Lambirth should choose artists from the gallery’s stable and combine them with artists who do not have gallery representation in London and some of his ‘old favourites’ who fall into neither camp.

Lambirth was keen to show paintings that had not been exhibited before or earlier work that has not been on show for some time, visiting the majority of artists directly in order to source the work and where necessary collaborating with other galleries who represent the estates of deceased artists. The result is an exhibition of 70 paintings and drawings by 24 British 20th century and contemporary artists. Although some works are on loan, 90 per cent will be for sale at prices from £700 to £50,000. Accompanying the show is a catalogue in which Lambirth explains his reasons for choosing each artist. To give a flavour of the show,

pictures by familiar 20th century names such as Eileen Agar, Roger Hilton and Euan Uglow rub shoulders with younger painters who are establishing reputations, including Kitty North, Robert Dukes and Dan Llewelyn Hall, the youngest at just 30 years old.

Contact 0207 7347984 www.browseanddarby.co.uk

Above left: one of a pair of unsigned views of the Grand Canal by Edward Pritchet – £9000 at Ewbank Clarke Gammon Wellers. Above right: View of the Scuola Grande di San Marco by Jane Vivian – £10,000 at Bellmans.

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