Strong interest in sketches, portraits and watercolours reflects in prices at sale
An exquisitely energetic small-scale sketch by the masterly Sir Alfred Munnings, sold for £80,000 in Tennants Auctioneers’ British, European and Sporting Art Sale on July 13 (all figures exclude buyer’s premium).
“Lord Astor on Shooting Stick with Horses” is a sketch for ‘A Summer Evening at Cliveden, Waldorf Astor, Second Viscount Astor (1879-1952), seated’, held in the Cliveden Estate Collection in Buckinghamshire, now managed by the National Trust.
William Waldorf, 2nd Viscount Astor, was one of the greatest owner breeders of his day, and greatly admired by Munnings.
The pair felt a deep kinship, both at their happiest when surrounded by horses. In the present sketch, Astor and his trainer Mr William Guy inspect a parade of mares and foals on a gloriously sunlit evening at Cliveden.
From the same private collection was a watercolour by Munnings; ‘In the Woods Near Noyon 1918 Attack. Our Retreat’ was executed while the artist was serving in WW1 with the Canadian Cavalry (sold for £5,200).
A charming portrait sketch by the renowned George Romney, which had been in the same family collection since it was painted, sold for £18,000.
The sketch depicted Caesar Hawkins and is thought to have been executed in preparation for a full-length portrait of Caesar, his sister Louisa Anne, and their mother Emma Hawkins (née Adair), which was once in the collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Art.
Among Romney’s extant studio records are references to the family's appointments and sittings with the artist, and this painting represented a wonderful insight into the creative process of one of Britain's most important 18th century portrait painters.
The sale’s range of period portraits all performed well, topped by a work by celebrated society portrait painter Philip Alexius de László.
Portrait of Admiral Sir Hedworth Meux demonstrated the artist's characteristic liberal application of paint, which imbued the sitter with a natural and engaging presence (sold for £8,000).
Strong interest was seen for a pair of small oval portraits catalogued as by a Follower of Kneller, which secured a comment-worthy hammer price of £4,500, possibly due to their intimate scale and appealing presentation.
A small group of works by the Scottish artist William Miller Frazer all performed well, too, with the highest price secured for On the River Tyne, at £1,200, which embodied much of the atmosphere and lively brushwork for which the artist is known. A further tranche of works from the same collection will be offered in Tennants’ Country House Sale on September 14.
Within the watercolour and works on paper section, one highlight was the charming Self Portrait on Iona by Frances Campbell Boileau Cadell (sold for £7,000).