At the start of another year , the art Market finds itself with a different set of challenges to the political stalemate and lack of confidence we had in 2019. We are now officially out of the EU but yet to arrange a trade deal with our trading partners . The other problem is we may be facing a Coronavirus pandemic. Influenza pandemics are impossible to predict; they may be mild and be contained, or they can mutate and cause severe disease and death .
Now to the pictures. The sale results in January in New York have been encouraging, except the modern pictures did not well .Their speculative run may have finally hit the buffers.
The Old master drawing sale in New York saw some strong prices with the small Mantegna drawing of the Triumph of Alexandria making over eleven and a half million dollars.
I will report on the watercolour market in the coming months. Examples of the early work of William Payne are getting harder to find. I enclose another image of an early William Payne I have for sale and which is looking for a good home. Whitsand Bay west of Plymouth is where the Spanish and the French nearly invaded Britain in the 1770's. We had a close shave at that time in our history .It was this near disaster that resulted in William Payne's visit to Plymouth with the board of ordinance in 1783 to improve our sea defences around Plymouth. (See my William Payne book in publications for a full account)
This picture is a good overmantel watercolour and is in fine condition. Framed and mounted to a very high standard. Recommended .

John Spink February 7th 2020

Please click an image to enlarge.