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Watercolors Afire

July 19, 2010 by Marion Maneker

Colin Gleadell goes in-depth at the Sotheby’s single-owner watercolor sale where Ian Craft, a fertility doctor, sold off his collection of wonders. David Thomson, he of the record-setting Rubens several years ago, was buying in bulk:

The sequence of records was prefaced with a dramatically lit 1766 drawing of a boy reading, by Joseph Wright of Derby, which sold near its higher estimate to St James’s art dealer Novella Baroni, for £313,250 – the second highest price for a work on paper by the artist. Five lots later, a key player made his entrance when, bidding through an agent in the room, Canadian billionaire collector Baron David Thomson of Fleet homed in on a rare drawing by Richard Wilson, the influential landscape painter. The estimate for the 1754 drawing of the Villa Borghese in Rome was high, at £100,000 to £200,000, but Thomson rose to the challenge, buying it for a record £109,250.

Then came the fireworks. Continue Reading

Henry Wemyss

May 18, 2010 by Marion Maneker

Sotheby’s expert on watercolors, Henry Wemyss, died recently. The Telegraph gives an account of his career, especially his role in selling 90% of the Turner watercolors and Constable drawings at auction. It also sketches the close world of British watercolors:

He read Art History at Manchester University, and in 1979 joined Sotheby’s watercolour department on the recommendation of his Manchester tutor, Professor Dodwell. James Miller, head of watercolours at Sotheby’s, offered him the job over a convivial lunch at the Garrick Club.

Wemyss was mentored by Jack Naimaster, the elder statesman of the watercolour trade, by then a consultant to Sotheby’s and who later left Wemyss his books in his will. Continue Reading

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