19th Century European Art

London and Petworth dealer Timothy Langston Fine Art & Antiques has sold a portrait of the Regency period antiquarian Sir William Gell (1777-1836) to the British Museum.

Traditionally, many 19th century painters copied famous works by the Old Masters as part of their artistic training.

A busier than usual summer for the local housing market appeared to boost both vendor consignments and bidding at Market Harborough auctioneers Gildings (18% buyer’s premium).

Gavin Claxton of Academy Fine Paintings specialises in 19th century British and European oil paintings and is among the exhibitors at the LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair.

Drawing keen interest at Hansons (20% buyer’s premium) in Derbyshire last month was a work by Belgian painter Francois Joseph Navez (1787-1869), an artist who rarely appears in the UK salerooms.

The Flemish post-Impressionist Emile Claus (1849-1924) embraced the prevailing taste for plein-air painting when he moved to the village of Astene by the river Lys in 1883.

Berlin auction house Grisebach posted an auction record for the Swiss artist Karl Stauffer-Bern (1857-91) on May 29 when it sold a self-portrait which had been recently restituted to the family of its original Jewish owners.

The painter Franz Roubaud (1856-1928) was born in Odessa of French parents and studied painting at the local academy and for several years in Munich. He made a name for himself with huge panoramic paintings and battle scenes.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Helped by conservatively pitched estimates, a clutch of middle-market Orientalist pictures achieved some modest growth in value on their first return to auction in three decades.

Bonhams’ (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) latest sale of 19th century pictures in London may have been small – running to just over 100 lots – but what it lacked in size it made up with the broad scope of its contents.

Much of the pre-sale interest in the 19th century paintings offered at the major London rooms centred on two landscapes by Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) at Sotheby’s (25/20/12.9% buyer’s premium).

The Old Masters section of Doyle’s auction in New York on October 31 will include a portrait by the French 19th century artist Eugène Delacroix.

Portraiture was not the preferred genre of the Valencian artist Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923), but early in his career he recognised its value as a reliable source of income and persisted with it throughout his lifetime.

Spurred on by Middle Eastern demand, Orientalist art came out top at Christie’s 19th century European & Orientalist Art auction in London.