SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS - LONDON ART WEEK 2015: Further details can be found at www.londonartweek.co.uk

Agnew’s will open their inaugural exhibition at their new gallery space in St. James’s on 3 July, the first day of London Art Week. Portraiture through the Ages comprises a selection of rarely-seen portraits, including a number of loans, and featuring two exciting equestrian pictures; a painting by John Singer Sargent of Don Balthasar Carlos on Horseback, after Velázquez (in the Prado Museum, Madrid); and a striking portrait by Henri-Felix-Emmanuel Philippoteaux depicting Olivier Bro de Comères, a colonel and officer of the Legion of Honour. The exhibition will also include a large work by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of Sir Gerard Napier, as well as sensitive self-portraits of artists and a fascinating selection of 19th and early 20th century portraits of society high life and low life.

Charles Beddington Ltd. will be celebrating the City of Venice in a show hosted at The Fine Art Society, titled Venice: Paintings and Drawings of Three Centuries. The show will display approximately 30 paintings and drawings, with La Serenissima herself displayed in the paintings and drawings by the foremost artists of the city, including Canaletto, Marieschi, and Guardi and Carlevarijs. One particular highlight is Michele Marieschi’s Santa Maria Della Salute, a magnificent view- painting which will be on public display for the first time.

Katrin Bellinger will show an exhibition of around fourteen French drawings from the 17th to 19th century, including works by Gillot, Millet and Fragonard. The show will include Four Actresses in Theatrical Costume by Claude Gillot (1673-1722). Carefully drawn in pen and black ink, and enlivened with grey and red wash, this work depicts four actresses dressed in elaborate costumes which are reminiscent of the seventeenth-century with slashed sleeves, standing collars and cuffs. The artist held a life-long love of the theatre, and this is a fine example of his draughtsmanship. Colnaghi will host an exhibition revealing one of the most important rediscoveries in the field of classic British art for decades. The Sayer Family of Richmond, 1781, is an exceptional and fascinating conversation piece by Johan Zoffany R.A. (1733- 1810), the master of the genre, early member of the Royal Academy and a favoured painter of King George III. As well as confirming the attribution of the painting, recent research has also revealed much new information about the sitters and their mansion in Richmond depicted in the painting. A recent book by art historian Dr David Wilson FSA explains the intriguing circumstances in which the picture came to be painted, and unlocks details about Robert Sayer, a leading publisher and seller of prints, maps and maritime charts in Georgian Britain. Wilson also reveals a wealth of information about Sayer’s mansion, which was later a residence of King William IV and his partner, the actress Mrs Jordan, none of which was known when the mansion was demolished in 1970.

Sam Fogg will show Reclaiming Antiquity; creation and revival between the Fall of Rome and the Renaissance. The exhibition will take as its focus high quality examples of Cosmati-work and Opus Sectile decorative stonework, which were made between the 11th and 13th centuries reusing ancient Roman, Egyptian, and Greek marbles, porphyries, and other luxuries stones. The resultant objects take the form of brightly coloured ‘mosaic’ panels, which would have been incorporated into religious structures, such as fonts, altars, and the floors of churches. One highlight was described by a Renaissance travel writer in the late 16th century while it was in situ at the church of San Gregorio Magno al Celio in Rome, and reused the marble from a late Roman sarcophagus complete with an epitaphic inscription on the reverse. A concise group of sculptures from the later Middle Ages will accompany the earlier Romanesque pieces and provide some further breadth to the display. This will include the Virgin Annunciate by Guillaume Regnault (attributed, c. 1450-1530).

Richard Green Fine Paintings will present Paintings from Georgian Britain; A Golden Age, an exhibition of portraiture, landscapes and marine painting. Among the works on view will be Nathaniel Dance’s stylish neoclassical portrait of Mary Brummell, mother of sartorial trend-setter Beau Brummell. John Cleveley’s depiction of King George III reviewing the Fleet at Spithead, off Portsmouth Harbour (1773) pays as much attention to the fine clothes of the spectators as to the Royal Navy’s might. Other highlights include Peter Tillemans’s A View of Greenwich, with riders and other figures, (1718) which depicts a view remarkably unchanged today, and an atmospheric evocation by Dominic Serres of British warships moored at Gibralter. Martyn Gregory will show an exhibition of 18th and 19th century British watercolours and drawings, including works by Peter De Wint, Thomas Gainsborough, Thomas Rowlandson, John Varley, and James Ward. A highlight is The waterfall, Betws-y-Coed by David Cox, O.W.S. (1873-1859), a confident and experimental watercolour on a grand scale, executed towards the end of the artist’s life. Betws y Coed was one of the artist’s favourite places and provided subject matter for many of his watercolours. In this work, Cox has pieced together several sheets of the ‘Scotch’ wrapping paper (which he used frequently in his later years), expanding the view to over a metre wide.

Johnny van Haeften Gallery will present On Copper, an exhibition of approximately a dozen paintings from the 17th and early 18th century, all painted on copper panels. Including a number of very small and exquisite examples, and works by artists as diverse as Ambrosius Bosschaert the elder, Jan Breughel the elder, Jan van Kessel and Paul Bril, a highlight is A Palace Garden with Elegant Figures by Franz Christoph Janneck (170-1761).

Martin Hirschboeck will be exhibiting at London Art Week for the first time and will show a previously unseen drawing by Cesare Magni (active in Milan 1511 – 1534), pupil and successor of Leonardo da Vinci, which has recently been confirmed as the only known drawing to be firmly attributed to the artist. A wonderfully light and airy red chalk study, it is a preparatory drawing for the major work by the artist of Madonna and Child with Two Saints in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. Other highlights include a previously unpublished study by Giovanni Battisti Gaulli (1639-1709) for the vault frescoes in Il Gesù, and a newly discovered oil sketch by Carl Blechen (1798-1840), one of the most important German landscape painters between the eras of Romanticism and Realism, featuring a mountainous river valley with a castle in a mysteriously eerie atmosphere.

Galería José de la Mano will present Ignacio Pinazo (1849-1916). A Valencian Master of Light, an exhibition of 25 exceptional drawings by the celebrated Spanish artist. This will be shown alongside an important selection of Spanish works on paper of the 16th to 18th centuries.

Daniel Katz Gallery is staging an exhibition titled From the Salon, which will feature a selection of outstanding works that have been exhibited at national Salon exhibitions, including the Salon in Paris, the Royal Academy in London and the Venice Biennale. Highlights include the rare and rediscovered Portrait of Armand Gérôme, brother of the artist (1848) by Jean-Léon Gérôme. The National Gallery in London has a study of the head for the portrait, and although scholars knew of the finished painting, its whereabouts were unknown. Gerome painted relatively few portraits, and this touching depiction of a close family member painted by a precocious and confident 24 year old artist makes this arresting portrait an incredibly rare and important work of art. Other highlights include a magnificent original plaster model of Clytie by George Frederick Watts, a sculpture which launched the artist as the pioneer of the New Sculpture movement and once formed part of Watt's personal collection; and an alluring, gleaming gilt bronze figure of Corinth by Jean-Léon Gérôme, the last sculpture he ever made.

Lampronti Gallery will host Lights and Shadows: Caravaggism in Europe which brings together a carefully selected group of Caravaggesque paintings, spanning the entire development of this vibrant artistic movement that dominated Europe throughout the seventeenth century. The exhibition aims to draw attention to Italian painters and European artists who travelled to Italy in order to explore this revolutionary artistic language. An exciting highlight is the recently rediscovered Saint John at the Fountain by Battistello Caracciolo (1578-1635) which will be on public view for the first time.

Maison d’Art of Monaco will host Splendours of the Venetian Cinquecento which will document Venice’s Golden Age and the paths taken by Venetian painting from the Classicism of Bellini to the chiaroscuro nocturnes of Bassano, which stand as a prelude to the world of Caravaggio. Highlights include a variant of Giovanni Bellini's Madonna degli Alberetti, two masterpieces by Paris Bordone, the Allegory of Fire by Jacopo Bassano, and The Portrait of a Gentleman in Black by Domenico Theotokopoulos, more commonly known as El Greco, from the enduringly mysterious period of his move from Italy to Spain.

Philip Mould & Co will be at their new gallery at 18-19 Pall Mall, where they will exhibit a selection of historical portraits as well as fine portrait miniatures in a new portrait miniatures cabinet room, and a group of works in a gallery devoted to Modern British art. The gallery also includes a state-of-the-art media center.

Maurizio Nobile will display an exciting selection of paintings and drawings including a number of recent discoveries. A highlight is the recently rediscovered Madonna and Child by Simon Vouet (1590-1649), otherwise known as The Madonna Molé. While the painting’s existence was known by scholars through an engraving executed by Michél Lasne circa 1640/1642 and dedicated to Mathieu Molé, first President of the Parliament of Paris, its whereabouts were unknown until now. Further highlights include two, rare and rediscovered preparatory drawings engraved in 1619 by Oliviero Gatti for the so-called ‘Guercino’s Drawing Book’ – a collection of the artist’s engraved drawing studies, dedicated to Ferdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. Scholars have previously only known the existence of a group of drawings related to the frontispiece page of the book; these drawings correspond to plates 4 and 5.

Stephen Ongpin Fine Art will present an exhibition of Italian drawings ranging in date from 1500 to 1920. Spanning the Early Renaissance to Futurism, the group begins with a drawing by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio (1483-1561) and ends with a pastel by Giacomo Balla (1871-1958). Other artists represented include Perino del Vaga (1501-1547), Ludovico Carracci (1555-1619), Guercino (1591-1666), Stefano Della Bella (1610-1664), Salvator Rosa (1615-1673), Carlo Maratta (1625-1713), Marco Ricci (1676-1730), Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1727-1804) and Giovanni Boldini (1852-1931). Accompanied by a catalogue, the exhibition also includes a number of interesting anonymous drawings, predominantly of the 16th century, and some very fine drawings by less well-known Italian artists of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Many of the drawings are from private collections, and have not been exhibited for several years.

Crispian Riley-Smith will show a group of six drawings by Remigio Cantagallina (c.1582/3 - c.1656), a celebrated Italian draughtsman of the Baroque period. The group comes from a private American collection and shows the varied subject matter that is characteristic of Cantagallina’s oeuvre. It is particularly rare and exciting to see a single group of six drawings by the artist appear on the market at the same time.

To coincide with the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, Robilant+Voena and Stair Sainty Galleries will present Napoleon: Antiquity to Empire. The exhibition will include approximately fifty paintings, sculptures, furniture, works of art and objects that reference classical models and produce a highly personal Imperial iconography inspired by the military and diplomatic achievements of Alexander the Great, Julius Cesar and Justinian. Notable among the works exhibited are a regal life-size portrait of Napoleon in coronation robes from the studio of Baron Gerard, as well as portraits of Napoleon and Josephine by Appiani, a laurel-crowned marble bust by Denis Chaudet; a relief by Chinard, and sculptures by Bartolini and Righetti - each depicting Napoleon with the classical references that epitomised his public personal legacy.

Galerie Sismann: An exciting and important rediscovery to be shown for the first time at London Art Week 2015 is a beautiful marble sculpture of the tragic figure of Lucretia attributed to Philippe Bertrand, artist at the court of Louis XIV. Believed to have been displayed at the Salon de Louvre exhibition in 1704, and unseen since in public, the sculpture recently emerged from an anonymous, private collection. Lucretia was the beautiful, virtuous and faithful wife of one of the Tarquin family nobles who was raped and, unable to bear the dishonour, took her own life by stabbing herself to death. This tragedy is reputed to have ultimately led to the proclamation of the Roman Republic. This example (circa 1704) is 70cm tall and displays the unfortunate victim as she takes her life, with only the hilt of the dagger visible on her chest. It is an exciting addition to the oeuvre of an important artist whose works can also be seen at leading museums including The Louvre, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum, New York; The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg; The Royal Collection, London; and The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, among others.

Fondantico Tiziano Sassoli will present Bolognese Old Masters, a collection of over twenty paintings and drawings. Highlights include a remarkable discovery of Christ among the doctors, by Giovanni Antonio Burrini (Bologna, 1656 - 1727). This oil painting on copper comes to the market with a distinguished provenance, having once been in the collection of Prince Carl von Bayern.

Trinity Fine Art in association with Carlo Orsi and Walter Padovani will show a strong selection of sculpture, paintings and drawings. Amongst the highlights is an extremely rare Doccia Manufactory Putto, unusual for both its larger size (only four large-scale figures are currently known outside of Italy) and for the fact that it is coloured rather than white. It dates from an early period in the Ginori Factory’s output (circa 1754-55). Other sculptures in the exhibition include a recently rediscovered, rare ivory relief by Domenikus Stainhart depicting the famous meeting between Attila the Hun and Leo I, as well as a bronze Hercules Farnese from the Guggenheim Collection, a dramatic marble group of a deer being dragged to the ground by two hounds by Francesco Antonio Franzoni (1734-1818) and a beautiful bust by Lorenzo Bartolini of Carlotta Barbolani di Montauto. The highlight of the paintings on view is A Regatta on the Grand Canal by Michele Marieschi (1710-1744), the only known depiction of a feast or regatta painted by the celebrated Italian artist.

The neighbouring Old Master galleries of Rafael Valls and Tomasso Brothers Fine Art will present a complimentary brace of exhibitions depicting a grand collection of artists’ animals: The Painter’s Menagerie and The Sculptor’s Menagerie respectively. From an exotic rhinoceros carved in coloured marble to an early study of a mouse by Jan Brueghel the Younger, the featured animals hail from all corners of the globe, and encompass the variety of wild and domestic creatures that have captured the imagination of artists for millennia. Works date

from classical antiquity to the 19th century, by European and British Old Master painters and sculptors, the two fields in which these galleries excel.

Rupert Wace Ancient Art will show Shapely Forms: Vessels in Antiquity, consisting of a range of works of art, all with a practical function. The objects in this exhibition will represent cultures spanning five millennia and three continents including ancient Egypt, the Near East and classical Greece and Rome. Highlights include a stunning green glass cinerary urn (Roman, 1st-2nd century AD) and a large alabaster cylindrical vessel (Egyptian, early Dynastic Period).

The Weiss Gallery will exhibit a collection of works by the renowned 17th century court portraitist Frans Pourbus the Younger titled From Merchants to Monarchs: Frans Pourbus the Younger, which coincides with the publication of a new catalogue on the artist. The collection is particularly striking as never before have so many works by the artist been privately assembled and exhibited together - only the Medici collection in the Uffizi and Pitti Palaces, with ten, has more. At the gallery during London Art Week 2015, visitors will also be able to browse fine works by the likes of Sir Peter Lely, Lucas Cranach the Younger, Daniel Mytens, and Cornelius Johnson alongside substantial English school full lengths and corridor portraits, from the Elizabethan period up until the early eighteenth-century.

For London Art Week, Bonhams will be showing highlights from the Old Master Paintings Sale at its state-of-the-art new saleroom at 101 New Bond Street. Of particular note are two important floral still life pictures by Jan van Kessel the Elder, and a rare drawing by the father of British landscape gardening, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, which was commissioned by the 4th Duke of Marlborough. The drawing shows Brown’s unrealised design for a perimeter wall around Blenheim Palace. The Old Masters Sale will take place on 8 July. There will also be a display of fine clocks and furniture.

Christie’s will offer a small group of carefully selected Old Master paintings from The Alfred Beit Foundation which will be sold at auction in the London Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale on 9 July. The group is led by two magnificent works on panel by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Head of a bearded man and Venus and Jupiter. The group also includes one of the most celebrated Kermesse scenes by David Teniers the Younger, a rare religious work by Adriaen van Ostade, Adoration of the Shepherds, and a pair of Venetian views by Francesco Guardi.

Sotheby’s will offer nine works from the collections of Castle Howard, one of Britain’s greatest and most beautiful country houses. The works span Roman antiquities to Old Master paintings and 17th-century Italian furniture, and will be offered in both the auctions of Treasures and Old Master & British Paintings.