The altar dates to the 1st century AD and is carved for a mother and son. With a provenance back to the Mellini Collection of the early 16th century, it is offered by Daniel Katz for £215,000.
Like many of the London dealerships taking part in this summer’s LAW, the gallery is both open by appointment and showing on a new virtual platform designed for the event. On the online site, galleries show individual works as well as exhibiting in themed ‘viewing rooms’. The altar, for example, is visible in a ‘room’ dedicated to ancient and Medieval art.
Tom Dawnay works on the physical exhibition at Trinity Fine Art. He is pictured with a Florentine ‘desco da parto’ or ‘birth tray’ by Lippi d’Andrea from c.1400 showing the ‘Justice of Trajan’ on one side and a putto on the other.
The summer staging of the biannual event runs as planned until July 10, one of the few recent art world events to have any physical presence following months of lockdown. Since exhibitions are held in galleries around Mayfair and St James’s, most local dealerships have been able to take part with the appropriate precautions.
Thanks to LAW’s expanded digital presence, there are also more galleries participating than ever before – around 50 – with many international exhibitions showing online only.
New exhibitor Osborne Samuel prepared for the return of visitors with automatic hand sanitiser as well as boxes of gloves and masks. The gallery offers Modern British art.
First time participant Mireille Mosler from New York said: “I am really in favour of supporting an old master platform and see this as perhaps the only digital strategy in our field. With the cancellation of all fairs this year, I want to support LAW DIGITAL, and our old master community, as we find new ways forward in the online world to connect with our international audiences.”
Among the artists on offer are Bonnard, van Dyck, Rodin and Picasso.
