Three-panelled screen by George Romney, £60,000 at Bonhams.
The top price came for the final lot of the sale on December 6: a three-panelled screen of classical figures dancing by George Romney (1734-1802).
A large and unusual lot for one of these sales, the screen originally had five leaves but, having become separated, the three panels here (which were painted on canvas and laid on card) were purchased by the vendor’s late mother in Italy in the 1990s.
Estimated at £70,000-100,000, it sold at £60,000.
A view of Somerset House, London, a work catalogued as by an ‘English follower of Canaletto', £32,000 at Bonhams.
More interest came for a group of four views of London by an English school artist described as a ‘follower of Canaletto’. Offered separately, they all had provenance to the Spencer Stanhope family of Cannon Hall, Barnsley, and were consigned by a descendant.
With three of the four going above estimate, they raised a combined £85,000 and were led by a view of Somerset House that was probably derived from one or two of Canaletto’s compositions of the same location painted in the 1750s.
Estimated at £20,000-30,000, the 2ft x 3ft 4in (61cm x 1.02m) oil on canvas showed the house and the formal gardens with figures walking by the wall running alongside the river bank.
It sold at £32,000.
