Specialist Highlights | British and International Pictures, March

This month we have, as ever, an eclectic and fine selection of pieces from artists who hail from Glasgow to across the Channel! Below is a selection of our specialist’s star lots in this month’s British and International Pictures Auction.

Lot 21 - Annie French (Scottish, 1872 – 1975), 

Lady with Children

£300 – 500

Annie French’s exquisite linear technique is evident in this tender piece depicting a mother with her children. Her highly decorative style was informed by Art Nouveau and the Pre-Raphaelites, making her work suitable for illustration on fairy tales and poems. This pen drawing is a beautifully delicate example of the highly collectable work of the Glasgow Girls, and carries an attractive auction estimate of £300-500.

Lot 26 - Pierre-August Renoir (French, 1841 – 1919), 

Etude de Tetes

£15,000 – 25,000

It’s not every day you can say you’ve held the work of a French Impressionist in your hands, and lucky for me this is the perfect fit. Measuring slightly larger than a postage stamp, Study of Heads by Renoir measures 8.3cm x 6cm. Painted in 1898, by this point in his career Renoir’s output mainly concentrated on monumental nudes and domestic scenes. The subjects in this oil sketch are unknown, but the loose brushwork suggests it was executed quickly and informally perhaps to inform a later piece. This work will be included in the catalogue raisonné online of the work of Pierre-Auguste Renoir currently being prepared by the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, and in the second supplement of Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Catalogue Raisonné des Tableaux, Pastels, Drawings and Watercolours, in preparation by Guy-Patrice and Floriane Dauberville at Editions Bernheim-Jeune.

Lot 35 - Katherine (Kate) Cameron, 

The Chase

£200 – 400

A beautiful example of the work of another Glasgow Girl, Kate Cameron who like her contemporaries forged a successful career in book illustration with her sensitive portrayals of flowers and landscapes. The Chase is a fine example of Cameron’s contribution to etching and a testament to her love and dedication to capturing the wonders of the natural world, with a whimsical and magical touch.

Lot 42 - Edward Atkinson Hornel (Scottish, 1864 – 1933), 

The Green Ribbon

£10,000 – 15,000

Hornel celebrated Galloway’s beauty with an intense, decorative approach to painting, with a heavy impasto to create a tapestry of colour. He drew great pleasure from the creation of his own garden, and this is reflected in the rich textures of the flowers and his desire to paint sur le motif. The Green Ribbon is a beautiful and fresh example of the style which characterised his work for over a decade and carries an auction estimate of £10,000 – 15,000

Click to view auction catalogue. >>

Jenny MacLeod

If you have pictures you wish to sell, please contact pictures@mctears.co.uk