Robert Caples

High Country Pasture

Signed lower right, 'G. Bundgaard' for Gunnar Bundgaard (Danish, 1920-2005) and dated '57'. A light-filled, panoramic landscape showing Holstein cattle grazing in a grassy field beneath sun-lit clouds. This listed Danish painter first studied at Copenhagen's Gronvang School where he was particularly influenced by the romantic academic style of Niels Pederson...

Chinese School, 20th century; After Ren Renfa (Qinglongzhen, 1255-1328). Signed center right in Chinese with artist chop mark for 'Yueshan Daoren' 月山道人, brush name for Ren Renfa. (Qinglongzhen [now Qingpu, Songjiang, Shanghai Municipality], b.1255; d. 1328). Chinese painter. Under the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) he became an official, rising to the level of Vice-President of the River Conservation Bureau. He was famous for his paintings of horses, which were much admired by both his Mongol and Chinese patrons. In horse painting he followed in the tradition of the Song-period (960–1279) artist Li Gonglin, which was characterized by use of the ‘iron-wire’ line and a minimum of shading. Ultimately, however, Ren’s style can be traced to the Tang (ad 618–907) painters Yan Liben and Han Gan. Ren’s earliest surviving painting is dated 1280, indicating that he was a mature artist by his mid-twenties. Although he worked as an official under the alien Mongol emperors, he was capable of paintings that incorporated clear political messages. The most famous is Fat and Lean Horses (Beijing, Pal. Mus.), in which, according to his inscription, the fat horse...

Deep pastel colors enliven this painting of a polar bear in the ice by listed California artist Helen Ray Harris (d.2001). Signed lower left corner "H. Harris". Unframed. Image, 16"H x 20"W. Helen Ray Harris, 20th Century, was born in England. She received her initial art training in her native England and immigrated to the United States at age 19. Prior to her arrival in the U.S., and shortly afterwards, she worked repairing and restoring antique furniture...

A lovely, impressionistic oil of ducks in the sunshine in a Norfolk broads landscape. Frederick George Cotman (1850-1920) Acle Bridge, circa 1915 Inscribed verso Oil on board 10 x 16 inches Provenance: Cotman family collection Frederick George Cotman was born in Ipswich on 14 August 1850. His uncle, John Sell Cotman, was one of the cornerstones of the Norwich school and a very influential watercolourist. Frederick's first tuition came from William Griffiths, headmaster of Ipswich School of Art. In 1868 he enlisted at the Royal Academy Schools and his proficiency as a draughtsman and painter in oils and watercolours was rewarded with four silver and a gold medal for The Death of Eucles now at the Ipswich Town Hall. His teachers in London were Frederick Leighton (1830-1896) and Henry Tanworth Wells (1828-1903). Cotman became established as a London society portrait painter, for which he could command a fee of 300 guineas and also produced homely genre scenes. Elected a member of both the Royal Institute of Painters in...