London Art Week Summer 2023 opens Friday, June 30 and runs through July 7.
From the organizers:
Expert dealers offering museum-quality examples of decorative arts, paintings, sculpture, and works on paper of all periods from antiquity to contemporary, as well as – for the first time this year – rare books, maps and manuscripts.
Important and broad-ranging gallery exhibitions are staged across central London, in particular in St. James’s, Mayfair, Pimlico, Kensington and Chelsea. LAW encompasses the Classic and Old Master live viewings and auctions at Bonhams, Christie’s and Sotheby’s, and once again collaborates with Cromwell Place, the arts hub opposite the Victoria & Albert Museum. Here, several major exhibitions are being staged by participants alongside a LAW Showcase in the famous Lavery Studio.
Preview London Art Week here:
Portraits
Moretti Fine Art will be staging an exhibition of “The Stories behind the Sitters: Portraits spanning Five Centuries.” One of the highlights is a beautiful portrait of Anne, Viscountess Pollington, later the Countess of Mexborough with her son, by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830).
The Weiss Gallery; Robert Peake is today one of the best known of the artists working in England during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. The present portrait was first identified as a work by Robert Peake by Sir Roy Strong in his seminal book on early English portrait paintings, “The English Icon,” which was published in 1969.
Such was the artist’s standing, the patron of the present work, almost certainly the boy’s father, must have held a significant position within the court. Indeed, for much of the last century, the sitter was thought to have been Henry Frederick Stuart (1594-1612), the Prince of Wales.
Old Masters
Colnaghi will exhibit The Penitent St Jerome by Jusepe de Ribera. Recent conservation has confirmed that this intense, contemplative image was painted in the mid to late 1620s, before Ribera turned away from the strong naturalism of his earlier years for
Neo-Venetian colouring.
Benappi’s highlight is a beautiful painting of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, which is without doubt by Domenico Puligo, an early Florentine painter and contemporary of Pontormo and Rosso. Giorgio Vasari praised Puligo as the best student of Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, saying that, compared to all the others, he was “excellent at drawing and more vague and graceful with colour.”
Landscapes
Guy Peppiatt Fine Art stages an exhibition of British Drawings and Watercolours from the 18th and 19th Century. Among the highlights are works by Thomas Girtin, John Ruskin, and John Frederick Lewis. This watercolour by Girtin formed one of a group of four works depicting the Chalfont estate, commissioned by its owner Thomas Hibbert (1744-1819), a wealthy Jamaican merchant, who bought the estate in 1791. The watercolour demonstrates Girtin’s extraordinary mastery of both watercolour and bodycolour highlights.
Nonesuch Gallery are pleased to present their second catalogue and first LAW exhibition on the theme of ‘Travel’, with a focus on works on paper, dating from c.1600-1900. Many of the subjects in the catalogue are Italian, by artists from throughout Europe, but also from across the Atlantic.
For more information, please visit londonartweek.co.uk.
Related: The Treasure House Fair
Harry Van der Hoorn and Thomas Woodham-Smith announced the new fair at Royal Hospital Chelsea, June 2023, will henceforth be called The Treasure House Fair. “Our choice of title reflects the wide range of disciplines and masterpieces in the fair, each piece a treasure in its own right. From my perspective, and I speak as a Dutchman, treasure is a word that is understood throughout the world. The word ‘House’ is a mark of respect to The Grosvenor House Fair, a fair that has inspired so many of us over the years.” — Harry Van der Hoorn.
Exhibitors in the first edition of The Treasure House Fair 2023 included UK, European and international dealers, each of them at the top of their field, such as Ronald Phillips, Adrian Sassoon, Michele Beiny, Richard Green, Osborne Samuel, Galerie Gmurzynska, Tomasso, Peter Harrington, Shapero Rare Books, Howard Walwyn, Carter Marsh, Wartski and SJ Phillips.
The Fair will take place again next June. For more information, visit treasurehousefair.com.
View more fine art auctions and sales here at FineArtConnoisseur.com.
