Maxwell Armfield - Portrait of Constance Smedley, three-quarter length, with a violin

signed, inscribed and dated 'MAXWELL ARMFIELD/FECIT MDCCCCVI OCT.VI-OCT XVIII' (lower right, with a sketch of a rainbow beneath)
oil on canvas
28½ x 24¼ in.
Price Realized £5,400
http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?from=salesummary&pos=8&intObjectID=4827038&sid=069e7a5c-1b80-4e19-a40a-23175dcc26a3

This pensive, almost Whistlerian, portrait depicts the writer Constance Smedley, who studied with Armfield at the Birmingham School of Art and later became his wife. They collaborated on a number of community, decorative and theatrical Arts projects, in London, the Cotswolds, California and New York. Music was a common passion, as was the language of flowers, which formed the basis of their publication: The Armfields' Flower Book (1922).

It is unusual for Armfield to paint in oil rather than watercolour, or the tempera which became a hallmark of his subsequent work.

George Turner - A lane near Windley, Derbyshire

signed 'George Turner' (lower left)
oil on canvas
20 x 30 in.
Price Realized £7,800

Charles Spencelayh - Failing Memories

signed 'C.SPENCELAYH' (lower right) and further signed, inscribed and dated 'Failing memories/Charles Spencelayh R.M.S... Road West Didsbury Manchester/August 9th 1926' (on an old label attached to the reverse)
oil on canvas
20 x 16 in.
Price Realized £74,400

Harrington Mann

[Portrait of Dorothy Duveen]
1864-1937
signed 'HARRINGTON MANN' (lower left)
oil on canvas
30¼ x 25 3/8 in.
Price Realized £8,400

Dorothy was the only child of Joseph Duveen, perhaps the greatest art dealer of the early 20th Century. Knighted in 1919, he was created Baron Duveen of Millbank in 1933 for his philanthropic activities, which included building the Duveen Galleries at the British Museum to house the Elgin Marbles, and the creation of a new wing at the Tate. He made his fortune by famously noticing that 'Europe has a great deal of art, and America has a great deal of money'. He sold pictures from impoverished European aristocrats to Americans such as Frick, Mellon, Hearst and Rockefeller. Bernard Berenson, the most learned art historian of the period, supported Duveen's attributions, and catalogued each of his pictures.

Although born in Glasgow, and a member of the New English Art Club, Harrington Mann established a portrait practice that spanned the Atlantic. After moving to London in 1900 he also kept a house in New York.

Bathing

Bertram Priestman

1868-1951
[The sea at Gorleston, Norfolk]
signed with monogram and dated 'BP '11' (lower left)
oil on canvas
17¾ x 23 5/8 in.
Price Realized £1,800

Bertram Priestman has depicted the popular beach resort of Gorleston in Norfolk on a stormy day when the beach is empty. Gorleston pier is visible in the background but it appears engulfed by the powerful waves that break against it.

Priestman, who was born in Bradford in Yorkshire in 1868, studied at the Slade. He was made a Royal Academician in 1923 and in this same year employed the thirteen year old Edward Seago (1910-1974) as an apprentice. The effect of Priestman's tutoring on Seago can be seen clearly in the striking atmospheric landscapes upon which Seago built his career.

Norman Wilkinson

1878-1971
[The Entrance to Poole Harbour]
signed 'Norman Wilkinson.' (lower right)
oil on canvas
14½ x 20½ in.
Price Realized £3,600

Norman Wilkinson predominantly painted seascapes but he also designed posters for the London, Midland and Scottish railway. The present picture depicts Brownsea Castle on Brownsea Island, across the water from Poole.

Edward Seago

[South Bay Quay, Singapore]
signed 'Edward Seago' (lower left)
oil on canvas
20 x 30 in.
Price Realized £33,600
http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?from=salesummary&pos=7&intObjectID=4827026&sid=069e7a5c-1b80-4e19-a40a-23175dcc26a3


[Boats by a Quay]
signed 'Edward Seago' (lower left)
oil on board
12 x 15 in.
Price Realized £12,000


[Piazza Navona, Rome]
signed 'Edward Seago' (lower left) and inscribed 'PIAZZA NAVONA, ROME' (on the reverse)
oil on board
20 1/8 x 29 7/8 in.
Price Realized £42,000


[Spring Sunshine, Portugal]
signed 'Edward Seago' (lower left) and with inscription 'SPRING SUNSHINE, PORTUGAL' (on the reverse)
oil on board
9½ x 15½ in.
Price Realized £10,800


http://www.portlandgallery.com/pages/exhibitions/224/Official+Edward+Seago+Centenary.html

George Cole

[The close of the day]
signed and dated 'Geo.Cole.1878' (lower right)
oil on canvas
24 x 36 in.
Price Realized £10,800

[Near Dolgellau, North Wales]
signed and dated 'G.Cole/1859' (lower left) and further signed and inscribed 'No. 143/George Cole/Near Dolgelly [sic], North Wales' (on an old label attached to the stretcher)
oil on canvas
30 1/8 x 47 7/8 in.
Price Realized £18,000