06/08/2026
Previews start tomorrow! Friday 7 August.
The Fine Paintings auction at John Nicholson’s on August 12 demonstrates clearly how talent can run in the family.
The daughter of Augustus John, and niece of Gwen John, Gwyneth Johnstone (c.1914-2010) was an accomplished artist in her own right, with prices for her work rising to healthy five-figure sums in recent years.
Tackling a range of subjects in an attractively whimsical and surreal style, she was able to create an air of mystery and intrigue, as well as mastering composition and colour. The First Love Letter, a 24 x 19cm oil on board on offer here at £1000-1500 is typical of those attributes.
The pre-eminent animal artist of recent times, David Shepherd (1931-2017), spent much of his later years living and working just outside Godalming. The Surrey landscape was no bar to his imagination when it came to his beloved beasts of the African savannah, as the Head of a lion on offer here shows. At 14.2 x 14.2cm, the oil on canvas is expected to fetch £2000-3000.
In many ways, Benjamin Williams Leader (1831-1923)was the archetypal English landscape painter, depicting tranquil scenes of nature. This sale include a 39.5 x 59.5cm oil on canvas of a mountain landscape in twilight above a still lake with just a single bird coming in to land. A wonderfully evocative and meditative scene, it carries hopes of £800-1200.
Inspired by Velàzquez and, especially, Turner, Hercules Brabazon Brabazon (1821-1906) was able to use his inherited fortune to pursue a career of travel and painting. Although he exhibited at Goupil’s of London and the New English Art Club, he declined to sell his work until he was in his dotage. However, financial difficulties forced his heirs to sell several thousand pictures in the months following his death and, thus, a market began to emerge for his work.
Here, a North African scene painted in watercolour shows how he was able to conjure up vivid images with just a few strokes of the brush. The 16 x 20.5cm view is guided at £300-500.
A portrait of a seated man in a red jacket attributed to the Italian artist Bernardo Celentano (1835-1863) is an attractive genre conversation piece packed with detail, The 30 x 19cm oil on canvas is estimated at £300-500.
The Modena-born artist and photographer Eugenio Zampighi (1859-1944) was well known for his domestic genre scenes, and A Helping Hand is no exception. The 29 x 38.5cm oil on canvas shows a young peasant lad with a steadier hand helping his grandfather light his pipe and is pitched at £500-£800.
We look forward to welcoming you.
John Nicholson & Team
www.johnnicholsons.com
PLEASE NOTE: We run valuation days every Friday between 9-5 where we have specialists on hand to assist with your items and help you enter them into auction. You can bring along jewellery, gold and silver (which are selling for record high prices!), collectables, china, furniture, paintings and more. If you would like to contact us, please email us on [email protected] or call +44 (0)1428 653727.
