LONDON ART WEEK 2023

^{Rupert Wace –}^{Roman oscillum fragment from a mask of Silenus,}
^{Circa 1st century}^{AD, Marble}
^{©Rupert Wace;}
^{©Courtesy: LAW 2023}

London Art Week Summer 2023 opens Friday 30 June and runs through to Friday 7 July. The UK’s leading fine arts selling event, held both in galleries and online, features 51 participants. 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.

^{CHARLES BEDDINGTON LTD}
^{Carlo Labruzzi (1748 – 1817)}
^Tivoli
^{Rome Perugia c.1790}
^{Oil on canvas}
^{152 × 196 cm. (59 2/3 × 77 1/3 in.)}
^{176 x 221 cm. (69 1/4 x 87 in.)}
^{©CHARLES BEDDINGTON LTD /Courtesy: LWA 2023}

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.

There will be an events programme with talks and tours.

Here to the program:

The London Art Week map, in print and online, is illustrated by Adam Dant and pinpoints every venue.

Map and Visitor Information.

A digital catalogue will also be available to all via a QR code.

^{Rupert Bathurst}
^{Self x 3: fragmenting, lockdown (detail),}
^{2020, Watercolour on paper}
^{©Rupert Bathurst / Courtesy: LAW 2023}

HIGHLIGHTS

Rupert Wace & Rupert Bathurst are holding an exhibition that sums up the wide range of art and works of art covered by London Art Week. The exhibition will be staged at Shapero Rare Books.

Rupert Wace, dealer in ancient art, returns with an exhibition in tandem with contemporary artist Rupert Bathurst, titled Fragments. It will show a selection of art works from Ancient Egypt, the Classical world and the Near East. By default, many, if not most, ancient artefacts that have survived the millennia are fragments, and in themselves have an inherent poetry and beauty. The remnants of antiquity are juxtaposed with Rupert Bathurst’s haunting contemporary portraits, which evoke fragmentation of a different kind: the deconstruction of the outer form to explore the impermanence and fragility of human existence.

^{THE WEISS GALLERY}
^{Robert Peake (1551 – 1619)}
^{An unknown noble boy}
^{Painted circa 1605}
^{Oil on panel 113.2 × 88 cm. (44 5/8 × 345/8 in.)}
^{©THE WEISS GALLERY / Courtesy LAW 2023}

Portraits

Moretti Fine Art is 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.

^{Moretti Fine Art}
^{Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A. (1769-1830), Portrait of Anne,}
^{Viscountess Pollington, later Countess of Mexborough (d. 1870),}
^{with her son, John Charles (1810-99), later 4th Earl of Mexborough,}
^{Oil on canvas}
^{©Moretti Fine Art / Courtesy: LAW 2023}

Old Masters

Colnaghi is exhibiting 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”.

^{BENAPPI FINE ART}
^{Domenico Puligo (1492 – 1527)}
^{Saint Catherine of Alexandria}
^{Florence – Circa 1522-1527}
^{Oil on panel}
^{54 × 37.5 cm. (21 1⁄4 × 14 3⁄4 in.)}
^{©BENAPPI FINE ART / Courtesy: LAW 2023}

Impressionists

Connaught Brown presents a comparative show of paintings, drawings and prints by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Camille Pissarro, two of art history’s most consequential artists. This exhibition will bring together these titans of European art and contrast the way in which they approached that most joyous of all movements, Impressionism.

John Mitchell Fine Art is showing French masters on paper from Degas to Matisse. David Messum celebrates 60 years of pioneering research and promotion of British artists with a summer exhibition that will focus on British Impressionists as well as key painters of the Newlyn and Staithe Schools.

Connaught Brown
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), L’Anse des Pilotes, après-midi, temps
ensoleillé, le Havre, 1903, Oil on canvas,
©Connaught Brown / Courtesy LAW 2023

Genre Paintings

Bonhams presents a painting by a follower of Marinus van Reymerswaele (circa 1490 – circa 1567). The 16th Century oil on panel depicts a satirical commentary of lawyers.

Trinity Fine Art is showing a genre painting which has now been attributed to Pietro Longhi (1701-1785) and been given a new title: Portrait of Edward Wortley Montagu & his son Massoud Fortunatus. What makes this painting particularly fascinating are its subjects – Edward Wortley Montagu, one of the most colourful figures in 18th-Century Europe, and his son, born in 1762, whom he fathered with an Egyptian woman.

Trinity Fine Art
Portrait of Edward Wortley Montagu & his son Massoud Fortunatus,
oil on canvas
©Trinity Fine Art / Courtesy: LAW 2023

Women / by Women

Karen Taylor Fine Art presents several drawings celebrating female beauty, including a striking portrait by Dame Laura Knight, fresh from two public exhibitions in 2022, possibly depicting Jane (Lillian) Kelly, wife of society portraitist Sir Gerald Kelly; a romantic Augustus John drawing of a young woman, and an elegant work by famed Belle Epoque artist Paul César Helleu of his wife and muse Alice.

The Fine Art Society’s highlight of their summer exhibition is a fabulous portrait of a Lady in Grey and Black by Sir John Lavery which was first exhibited at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1902; followed by the RA in 1903. It is new to the market having been in the collection of Nicol Paton Brown (1853-1934) and his descendants.

Dominic Fine Art shows Forgotten Masters | Enduring Images, dealing with the nature of artistic reputation, the reasons that some painters rise, whilst others fall. The exhibition includes some rediscovered works, as well as original research into the contributions of forgotten artists.

D^{ominic FIne Art}
^{William Fuller Curtis (1873-1938)}
^{Two Women in Profile}
^{Staten Island, New York c. 1893}
^{Charcoal on paper 240 × 538 mm. (9 1⁄2 × 21 1/3 in.)}
^{“William Fuller Curtis”}
^{©Dominic FIne Art / Courtesy: LAW 2023}

Portraits of Men

Agnews has a portrait of Laurent, the young boxer by Belgian artist Maurice Langaskens (1884-1946) from 1918. He painted his best known work while a prisoner of war.

James Mackinnon exhibits Masters of English Watercolour, including works by J. R. Cozens, Thomas Rowlandson, Richard Parkes Bonington, John Sell Cotman and Peter De Wint.

Elliott Fine Art presents an oil on card by French Romantic painter Auguste-Barthélémy Glaize (1807- 1893). It is a self-portrait with a bearded man from around 1830. It was known to belong to the artist’s son, Léon Glaize (1842-1931) and remained in the family until recently.

^{ELLIOTT FINE ART}
^{Auguste-Barthélémy Glaize (1807 – 1893)}
^{Self-portrait of the artist with a bearded man}
^Montpellier
^{Paris c. 1830}
^{Oil on card affixed to board}
^{44.5 × 59 cm. (17 1⁄2 × 23 1⁄4 in.)}
^{Monogrammed lower centre: AG}
^{©ELLIOTT FINE ART / Courtesy: LAW 2023}

Women Artists

Colnaghi Elliott Master Drawings is focusing primarily on 19th and 20th Century works on paper by both lesser known names and more resonant ones. Among them a pastel by the Académie Julien artist Marguerite Dubois which was drawn in a life class and offers an excellent insight into studio practice there.

Patrick Bourne & Co is introducing a small but consequential group of works by Winifred Nicholson (1893-1981) from a private collection, for the first time on the market. Two of the works are amongst her most famous paintings, including a portrait of her husband, pioneer abstract artist Ben Nicholson.

Stephen Ongpin Fine Art is showing women artists of the 20th and 21st Centuries, including drawings and watercolours by pioneering artists from the last 120 years, including Gillian Ayres, Lynne Drexler, Helen Frankenthaler, Gluck, Gwen John, Dora Maar, Joan Mitchell, Jenny Saville and Vivian Springford, in addition to a selection of works by lesser-known and a number of emerging contemporary artists.

^{PATRICK BOURNE}
^Exhibition:
^{Winifred Nicholson: ‘Colour is the vital power’}
^{Winifred Nicholson (1893-1981)}
^{Ben with Slinky 1927}
^{Oil on canvas}
^{76.2 × 52.1 cm. (30 × 20 1⁄2 in.)}
^{©PATRICK BOURNE / Courtesy LAW 2023}

Natural History

Amir Mohtashemi specialises in Indian and Islamic art and is showing 18th and 19th Century Indian and Chinese scientific paintings of flora and fauna of the East for the European market.

Finch & Co are showing their unique mix of works of art as well as a collection of watercolours by the trailblazing 18th Century female artist Sarah Stone (c. 1760-1844). She was an esteemed British natural history painter and probably the first English woman painter of animals to achieve professional recognition.

^{Finch & Co}
^{Sarah Stone (1760-1844), Study of a Peacock,}
^Watercolour
^{©Finch & Co / Courtesy: LAW 2023}

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.

^{Nonesuch Gallery}
^{A View Over Lake Nemi From}
^{The North, c.1783-1830, Oil on canvas.}
^{©Nonesuch Gallery / Courtesy: LAW 2023}

Modern Art

Haynes Fine Art focuses on summer colours, such as this work by Dorothea Sharp who the media praised as ‘one of England’s greatest living woman painters’ in 1935: “No other woman artist gives us such joyful paintings as she. Full of sunshine and luscious colour, her work is always lively harmonious and tremendously exhilarating … with a powerful technique which enables her to make the most of her wonderful sense of colour”.

Abbott & Holder publish their monthly catalogue, the famous List, including a wide range of artists and this summer they will also host an exhibition of watercolours of India by Dana Westring, following her highly successful recent exhibition at The Garden Museum.

Ben Elwes Fine Art is showing a group of extraordinary works by the Aymara Bolivian artist Alejandro Mario Yllanes (1913-c.1960) which have not been seen for the last 30 years. He was a precocious, self-taught artist whose indigenous narrative and portrayal of the post-colonial condition of the Aymara people is profound and compelling.

^{Ben Elwes Fine Art}
^{Alejandro Mario Yllanes (1913-c. 1960)}
^{Lake Titicaca, 1937, Oil on canvas}
^{©Ben Elwes Fine Art / Courtesy: LAW 2023}

Sculpture

Hignell Gallery will be celebrating The Year of the Rabbit: Sophie Ryder at 60 in St James’s Square. Step into Sophie Ryder’s imaginary world of mythical beings, showcasing the acclaimed artist’s signature grand-scale sculpture and her unique cast of characters with which she describes her life, relationships and a universal human experience.

Stuart Lochhead stages The Alchemist’s Laboratory: Giambologna’s Forge in Florence. The exhibition reflects the unique atmosphere of Florence at a particular moment in history by focusing on the studio of one of its most illustrious inhabitants, the sculptor Giambologna.

Sladmore Gallery shows how the material used informs the sculptural form. Forged, Carved and Cast from the earth to the artist’s eye includes works by contemporary artists Nic Fiddian-Green and Mario Dilitz, and great sculptors of the past. A highlight is a rare, early 20th Century plaster foundry model of the Portrait of Auguste Rodin by the Russian Prince Paul Troubetzkoy (1866-1938) produced c. 1906.

^{HIGNELL GALLERY}
^Exhibition:
^{The Year of the Rabbit: – Sophie Ryder at 60 in St James’s Square}
^{Sophie Ryder (b. 1963)}
^{Minotaur and Lady Hare Torsos}
^{United Kingdom 2000}
^{Galvanised stel wire}
^{287 × 305 × 120 cm. (113 × 120 1/8 × 47 1⁄4 in.)}
^{©HIGNELL GALLERY / Courtesy: LAW 2023}

Religious Art

Clase Fine Art’s highlight is a rare, large-scale painting, The Fall of the Rebel Angels, by the 19th Century artistic prodigy Gustave Doré (1832-1883). The subject of this work derives from the 1654 play Lucifer by the Dutch dramatist Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679). Doré here depicts the climactic scene as the archangel Michael is seen hurling that thunderbolt at Lucifer in his chariot, with the heavenly hosts above and demonic hosts below.

Daniel Katz will include a remarkable Corpus Christi from the German Rhineland dating to the second half of the 14th Century. It has been in a private collection in Belgium since the mid-20th Century and is new to the market.

^{DANIEL KATZ GALLERY}
^{German, Rhineland, second half 14th century}
^{Corpus Christi 1350-1400}
^{Gilt and polychromed walnut – 73 × 65 cm. (28 3⁄4 × 25 5/8 in.)}
^{©DANIEL KATZ GALLERY / Courtesy: LAW 2023}

Rare Ceramics

Philip Mould & Company reintroduces Stephen Tomlin, the Bloomsbury group’s primary sculptor, who died tragically young. He immortalised the faces of Duncan Grant, Lytton Strachey and Virginia Woolf. This important exhibition will lay bare the life and work of Bloomsbury’s forgotten iconographer.

Errol Manners specialises in rare pottery and ceramics from the Middle Ages to the 20th Century. One of the highlights is an English Delftware Charles II coronation mug commemorating the proclamation of Charles II as King, and many other ceramics with a royal connection.

Raccanello Leprince’s exhibition Fragile Visions -Vedutismo, capricci includes genre scenes in ceramics from the 17th and 18th Centuries.

^{Errol Manners}
^{English Delft Charles II mug,}
^{London, probably Southwark, 1660}
^{© E & H Manners;. Courtesy: LAW 2023}

Works of Art

Afridi are specialists in antique Oriental and European carpets and textiles, 20th Century Scandinavian carpets and fine examples of mid-century design.

H. Blairman & Sons are showing highlights from the Collection of Clive and Jane Wainwright. Offering important 19th Century furniture and decorative objects by leading architect – designers, from a major collection created over many decades by the respected scholar, author and V&A curator. The exhibition includes fine examples of the decorative arts, sculpture, and painting, reflecting the range of the Wainwrights’ collecting interests. Among the collection is an ebony and ivory side table designed by Sir John Soane for the Gothic Library at Stowe House, and a drawing table used by A. W. N. Pugin.

Paul Mitchell provides antique and bespoke frames for museums as well as private collectors. They are happy to share their expertise to optimise the presentation of a painting by judicious frame selection.

^AFRIDI
^{1949 Handwoven wool}
^{300 × 200 cm. (118 1/8 × 78 3⁄4 in.)}
^{©AFRIDI / Courtesy: LAW 2023}

Rare Books & Maps

Peter Harrington Rare Books mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s first folio with an exhibition of the Bard’s most famous creations as well as early works that influenced him and those that inspired his literary legacy.

Daniel Crouch Rare Books will have The Cline Collection on view during LAW 2023, the story of London told in 40,000 books, maps, and prints spanning 400 years – the largest such collection in private hands. A six-volume catalogue will be available for sale. The works serve as a chronicle of an ever-expanding city, encompassing its people, buildings, culture,
geography, politics and history. They are testament to Dr Johnson’s claim that “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life”.”

^{PETER HARRINGTON}
^Exhibition:
^{“What’s Past is Prologue” – Works That Shaped and}
^{were Shaped by}
^Shakespeare
^{©PETER HARRINGTON / Courtesy: LAW 2023}

LAW Digital

Reve Art (Bologna) – Ferruccio Scattola (1873-1950), I fuochi a Venezia, 1929, Oil on canvas.

Thomas Colbourn & Sons (UK) – The Chinese Export ‘Lion Mask’ Huang-Huali Suite, China, c. 1740, comprising an armchair, a pair of side chairs and a harlequin table.

Stair Sainty (UK) – Henri-Jean Guillaume Martin (1860-1943), Sous le Grand Marronnier de Marquayrol, à l’Automne, 1915, Oil on canvas.

Maurizio Nobile (Bologna, Milan, Paris) – Jacques Antoine Marie Lemoine (attr. to) (1751-1824), Portrait of the violinist Jacques Pierre J. Rode , c. 1810, oil on canvas.

Paolo Antonacci (Rome) – Giambattista Bassi (1784-1852), The Giardino del Lago in the Villa Borghese, 1824, Oil on panel.

Bernat Gallery (Madrid, Barcelona) – Joan Reixac (doc. 1431-1486), Mary Magdalene, 1445-1465, Painting in tempera on panel

^{STAIR SAINTY}
^{Henri-Jean Guillaume Martin (1860-1943)}
^{Sous le Grand Marronnier de Marquayrol, à l’Automne}
^Toulouse
^{Labastide du Vert 1915}
^{Oil on canvas – 59.1 × 105.1 cm. (23 ¼ × 41 3/8 in.)}
^{Lower-left ‘Henri Martin 1915’ – 79 x 125 cm. (31 1/8 x 49 1/4 in.)}
^{©STAIR SAINTY / Courtesy: LAW 2023}

Galleries.

New participants in 2023:

Afridi Gallery – Carpets & C20th design

H. Blairman & Sons Ltd – The finest C18th to C20th furniture & works of art

Clase Fine Art – Paintings & drawings from C16th to C21st

Daniel Crouch Rare Books – Antiquarian books, manuscripts & maps

Dominic Fine Art – Repairing the reputations of forgotten masters

Finch & Co – The best in ethnography, European works of art, natural history and antiquities

Peter Harrington – Rare books & manuscripts

Haynes Fine Art – C19th to C21st paintings

Hignell Gallery – Contemporary sculpture & C20th master sculptors

E & H Manners – Fine ceramics

David Messum Fine Art – C19th to C21st British art

Paul Mitchell Antique Frames – Antique & bespoke frames for collectors & museums

Amir Mohtashemi – Indian & Islamic Art

Nonesuch Gallery – Works on paper from C16th to C19th, and works relating to the Grand Tour

LAW is delighted to welcome back:

Connaught Brown – French Impressionists, Post-Impressionists & Modern Masters

John Mitchell Fine Paintings – Traditional British & European paintings

Sladmore Gallery – Fine sculpture from C19th to C21st

Karen Taylor Fine Art – British and topographical art, principally works on paper

Rupert Wace – Exhibiting antiquities alongside contemporary works by Rupert Bathurst

^{CLASE FINE ART}
^{Gustave Doré (1832-1883)}
^{The Fall of the Rebel Angels}
^Strasbourg
^{Paris – Circa 1871-72}
^{Oil on canvas}^{125 × 148 cm. (49 1⁄4 × 58 1⁄4 in.)}
^{“G Doré” lower left}
^{©CLASE FINE ART / Courtesy: LAW 2023}

Digital participants this year:

Paolo Antonacci (Rome) – Paintings and artists from the late C18th to the mid-C20th

Galeria Bernat (Madrid/Barcelona) – Medieval & Renaissance art

Thomas Coulborn & Sons (UK) – Exceptional antiques & works of art

Maurizio Nobile (Bologna/Milano/Paris) – Italian Old Master art from late C15th to early C20th

Reve Art (Bologna) – Specialists in C20th Venetian art

Stair Sainty (UK) – Specialists in C16th to early C20th European fine art:

Regular LAW exhibitors:

Abbott & Holder – British pictures c.1750 to the present, with a monthly List of 100 works

Agnews – Old Masters to C20th works

Charles Beddington – Old Master paintings, with a leaning towards the C18th & Venetian views

Benappi – Italian & European Old Master paintings & sculpture

Bonhams – New Bond Street

Patrick Bourne & Co – Specialising in British art from the C18th to mid-C20th

Christie’s – King Street, St. James’s

Colnaghi – Old Masters, ancient works of art, and drawings

Colnaghi Elliott Master Drawings – A collaboration between Colnaghi and Elliott Fine Art

Elliott Fine Art – Old Master to Early Modern paintings & works on paper, with particular focus on C19th century

Ben Elwes Fine Art – Old Master & Modern paintings, drawings & sculpture

The Fine Art Society – British & Scottish art, design, & decorative arts, C18th to the post-war period

Sam Fogg – Art of the European Middle Ages

Daniel Katz Gallery – Specialising in Old Master sculpture

Lowell Libson & Jonny Yarker – British paintings, watercolours, drawings & sculpture, C17th to mid-C19th

Stuart Lochhead Sculpture – The best in all media from antiquity to the 20th century

Lullo Pampoulides – Master paintings & sculpture C16th to C18th

James Mackinnon – European paintings & drawings 1780-1850

Moretti Fine Art – Italian Old Master paintings

Philip Mould & Co – British art & Old Master paintings

Stephen Ongpin Fine Art – Old Master, C19th & Modern drawings

Guy Peppiatt Fine Art – C18th & C19th British drawings & watercolours

Raccanello Leprince – Rare ceramics

Sotheby’s – New Bond Street

Trinity Fine Art & Walter Padovani – Master paintings, sculpture & works of art, C15th to C19th

The Weiss Gallery – Tudor, Stuart & North European Old Master portraiture

^{DANIEL CROUCH RARE BOOKS}
^Exhibition:
^{The Cline Collection: The story of London told in 40,000 books, maps and prints spanning 400 years}
^{Harry Beck (1902 – 1974)}
^{First state of Beck’s iconic tube map}
^{London – Southampton 1933}
^{142 × 202 mm. (5 5/8 × 8 in.)}
^{©DANIEL CROUCH RARE BOOKS / Courtesy: LAW 2023}

LONDON ART WEEK

London Art Week presents a unique and special opportunity to view and acquire some of the most exceptional works of art for sale on the UK market today, offered by distinguished dealers and displayed in the varied settings of their galleries, alongside international exhibitors taking part online.

The event is a major draw for international museum curators, private collectors, scholars and welcomes anyone interested in art. LAW exhibitors collaborate to share their knowledge, reveal research into revered and rediscovered artists and works, and present pre-eminent exhibitions in their field of expertise, some many years in the making.