Antiques Trade Gazette 35


a sporting chance?


When Munnings was still learning his craft at evening classes


THE sale held by Keys (15% buyer’s premium) in Aylsham, Norfolk, on March 18 also had a good selection of sporting pictures, with one stand-out offering in particular. This was a picture of horses and figures entitled Ber Street by the artist, who along with George Stubbs, is considered England’s finest exponent of sporting art, Sir Alfred James Munnings (1878-1959). Signed and dated 1897, the 9 x 12in


(23 x 30cm) watercolour and gouache came from a local estate which was the source of around 25 works at the sale. The scene itself was an early work by


the Suffolk-born artist made during the time he was working in a lithographer’s studio and taking evening classes at the Norwich School of Art. It depicted a street in Norwich and had featured at the 1928 Munnings exhibition at Norwich


Above: The Pack by John Sanderson-Wells (1872-1955), 15 x 14in (38 x 36cm) pencil and watercolour, signed lower left – £2850 from Messum’s.


Traditional commitment


Anna Brady reports


Above: Ber Street, Horses and Figures by Sir Alfred James Munnings – £33,000 at Keys.


Castle Museum for which it had a label attached to the verso. While certain areas of the picture were


not in mint condition, the colours overall were well retained. The named location of a busy town


scene, which crucially featured four equine as well as human subjects, drew good interest against a £10,000-15,000


estimate. Despite local bidding in the room, it came down to a battle between two dealers on the telephone and sold at £33,000. From the same source, but selling to a


different trade buyer on phone, was John Frederick Herring Jnr’s (1815-1907) A Farmyard in Winter which made £5200 against a £5000-6000 estimate.


Bobins Collection to enjoy a day at the races


ONE of the wealthiest buyers of racing prints over the last 25 years has been the Chicago banker Norman R. Bobins who, now retired, has chosen to offload some of his collection with Dreweatts. The 170 lots of British sporting


prints will be auctioned in a special sale at Donnington Priory on April 20. To promote the event, the auctioneers are sponsoring the handicap stakes at the Newbury Races on April 15 with highlights of the sale on show in the pavilions overlooking the pre-parade ring. The collection includes some


exceptional impressions of major 18th and 19th century British races including scenes from Epsom, Goodwood, Ascot, Newmarket and Doncaster. Among the numerous ‘action’ scenes,


are images after the painter and engraver James Pollard (1792-1867). A fine equine painter, around 350 of his works were engraved, roughly half by himself and the rest by other artists. Pictured here is a hand-coloured


aquatint from 1836 by Richard Gilson Reeve after Pollard’s Epsom Grand Stand, The Winner of the Derby Race. In good condition, other than some


faint spotting and a minor repair, it will be offered as part of a set of four 12½


“TRADITIONAL British paintings have never been better value than at the present time,” asserts David Messum in his introduction to Messum’s exhibition, Traditional British Pictures 2011 to be held from March 30 to May 21 at 9 Cork Street, London. Eighteenth and 19th century British


pictures, although often technically adept, are not in vogue, and prices pale in comparison to Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary works. But there is still a market for traditional paintings and this exhibition shows Messum’s continuing commitment to them, despite the gallery’s expansion into British Impressionism and Contemporary pictures. Messum’s chose the recent BADA fair


– where there is still a healthy demand for traditional British pictures – to preview highlights from the exhibition, which aims to illustrate how the many painters of the period were “eager to record growing industrial activity and to celebrate their new surroundings”. It will include around 60 pictures,


priced between £1650 and £48,500, by artists including Wilfrid de Glehn, Derek Gardner and William Lionel Wyllie. Subjects are varied and typical of the


period – dominated by bucolic landscapes and marine pictures, peppered by attractive portraits of wistful women. And of course, the odd sporting scene. Also opening at Messum’s on March


Above: aquatint by Richard Gilson Reeve after James Pollard’s Epsom Grand Stand, The Winner of the Derby Race – among the Bobins Collection to be offered by Dreweatts.


x 15¼in (32 x 39cm) prints of major flat races estimated at £2000-3000. The prints also feature other sports


including rowing, cricket, curling, rackets and golf. A copy of the rare


1790 mezzotint by Valentine Green of Francis Abbott’s painting To the Society of Goffers at Blackheath – reputedly the earliest published golfing print – is estimated at £6000-8000.


30 (continuing until April 16) is an exhibition of the work of Rose Hilton, widow of Roger Hilton, to celebrate her 80th birthday. The show comprises Rose’s recent paintings which are priced between £2650 and £26,500, and some prints from £125 to £385. Contact 020 7437 5545 www.messums.com


galleries@ antiquestradegazette.com


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