T his winter season we are delighted to offer an exciting array of Old Master and British works on paper from the 16th to the 19th century, executed in a variety of media and spanning various collecting genres. The sale will also feature 97 portrait miniatures from the celebrated Pohl-Ströher collection.
The sale will take place online from 26 November - 4 December. A selection of highlights from the auction will be exhibited in our New Bond Street galleries, alongside works from our Old Master Paintings and Old Master Prints sales, on 3 and 4 December.
From Portrait Miniatures to portraits executed on a larger scale and in a variety of media this sale showcases portraits in pastel, coloured chalk, pen and ink, gouache and watercolour. The portraits below illustrate the different approaches artists had to representing their sitters, from their unique physiognomy, to their settings and attributes.
The Follower of Jean Marc Nattier, Portrait of a Lady places emphasis on elegance and grandeur and the portraits by Nicolas Lagneau provide more humourous undertones, veering towards the caricature. We even see examples of group portraiture in the wonderfully vibrant gouaches of Neapolitan peasants by Xavier della Gatta.
Artists like Jacob Philipp Hackert, Xavier della Gatta and Franz Kaisermann produced many works in gouache for tourists on the Grand Tour, during the late 18th and early 19th Century. Their works were very much sought after by visitors to Italy who wanted to bring home a souvenir of their travels aboard.
The demand for beautiful landscapes, ancient ruins and the people of the region meant that these artists not only produced originals in gouache and watercolour, like the examples selected below, but they also worked with engravers who rapidly multiplied these highly coveted designs for mass distribution. The engravings were often hand coloured to simulate originals in watercolour or gouache.
The sale also features 97 miniature portraits from the renowned Pohl-Ströher collection.
