Late Shropshire art collector’s paintings to be sold at Shrewsbury auction

The first part of a fine collection of paintings owned by a late East Shropshire collector will be going under the hammer at the county’s leading auction house later this month.

The collection has been consigned to a paintings and prints auction on September 23 and a modern and contemporary art and design auction on November 18, both organised by Shrewsbury-based Halls The Auction House.

Potential star of the September 23 auction is an oil painting by French post-impressionist artist Edouard Léon Cortès (1882–1969) of Parisian monument Porte Saint-Denis which is valued at between £12,000 and £18,000.

Cortes is famous for his diverse Paris cityscapes in a variety of weather and night settings.

Three works by another noted French artist, Marcel Dyf (1899-1985), comprising two landscapes and a still life, will also be on offer, with pre-sale estimates ranging from £3,000 to £6,000.

Abigail Molenaar, picture specialist at Halls The Auction House, has chosen a painting by Samuel John Lamorna Birch (1869-1955), an English landscape artist and member of the Newlyn School in Cornwall, as her favourite.

The painting, ‘Yorkshire Beck, Ramsgill’, was exhibited at the Fine Art Society in 1949 and is valued between £3,000 and £5,000.

Other works include a still life of flowers in a blue vase by English impressionist artist Dorothea Sharp (1873-1955) valued between £7,000 to £9,000 and another still life of flowers by Lawrence Biddle (1888-1968) at £600 to £800.

Two paintings from the collection to be included in the modern and contemporary art and design auction are works by Liverpool-born artist Braaq (Brian Shields) and Sheree Valentine-Daines, a leading British modern impressionist.

Braaq’s oil paintings of children playing is expected to fetch between £6,000 to £8,000, while Valentine-Daines’ painting captures children playing in the sea shallows and is valued at £2,000 to £2,500.

“It’s very exciting to be able to sell a collection of paintings that has been kept in excellent condition and been assembled through pure enjoyment and love,” said Abigail. “He was obviously passionate about the artists.

“Samuel John Loamorna Birch is a personal favourite of mine and we sell a lot of his watercolours here in Shrewsbury. It’s fabulous this time to be selling a colourful oil that’s typical of the artist.”

The September auction also features a fine selection of paintings consigned by vendors across the country. A work by Liverpool-born artist William Huggins (1820-’84), depicting two donkeys overlooking a coastal bay, is valued at £3,000 to £5,000.

Two paintings by Edgar Hunt (1876-1953) of a farmyard with goats and chickens and a barn with a hen and chicks are valued at between £2,000 and £6,000. Specialising in rural scenes with domestic livestock, Hunt’s paintings are always sought after at Halls.

A portrait of Frances Jennings, sister of English courtier, noblewoman and politician Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, which is attributed to the studio of Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723), has an enticing estimate of £2,000 to £4,000.

Having been maid of honour to the Duchess of York earlier in her life, Frances married her second husband, Richard Talbot and became Countess of Tyrconnell.

Other works include two portfolios of limited edition prints by Bob Dylan, titled ‘Casandra’ and ‘Woman in Red Lion Pub’, are valued at £2,000 to £3,000 each, ‘Kittens off to School’ by British artist Louis Wain (1860-1939) carries a £2,000 to £4,000 estimate and ‘Swan Lake’ ballet at Sadler’s Wells Theatre by Grace English (1891-1956) is valued at £2,000 to £3,000.

For more information about the auction, contact Abigail at Halls on Tel: 01743 450700 opt 4 or visit https://fineart.hallsgb.com/forthcoming-auctions/ . The saleroom will be open for viewing on Monday and Tuesday, September 21 and 22 from 10am to 4pm.

Picture: The oil painting of Parisian monument Porte Saint-Denis by Edouard Léon Cortès.