Centuries of paintings in Somerset sale

Various pictures spanning the centuries performed well at a recent auction at Somerset’s Lawrences.

Two highlights from the 20th century were Here We Are in Croydon, a boldly expressive 1979 lithograph by Sir Howard Hodgkin that realised £2,500, while a modern Canadian picture by Arthur Heming (1870-1940) entitled At the Water Hole that depicted Canadian fauna in a sunlit snowy winter landscape, which was bought by a buyer in Canada for £9,375.

From the 19th century, a magnificent 1866 scene of fallow deer in an autumn forest by Andrew Macallum, executed with painstaking attention to detail, showed an almost Pre-Raphaelite intensity of observation. This exceeded hopes of £2,000-3,000 to make £6,875.

Earlier still, from the 18th century, a portrait of a lady (possibly the actress Elizabeth Hartley) by an artist working in the style of Sir Joshua Reynolds yielded bids above its £2,000-3,000 estimate to make £4,500.

A more provincial work was a dramatic foxhunting scene by a ‘primitive’ artist working in the middle of the 18th century. This large subject, 140cm wide, was hunted down at £5,000.

A portrait of a young man, once thought to be a self portrait by the Milanese artist Andrea Solario (1460-1524), attracted keen enquiries. It was 16th century in style but judged to be later in date. This 55 x 43cm panel exceeded hopes of £5,000 to make £17,500. This was secured by a bidder on the telephone from Italy.