Figure that out

By William Gregory MRICS, Golding Young and Mawer.

Figurative art in academic worlds may not always depict the human figure but in auction cataloguing terms, we like to say what we see.

The classic portrait has for centuries been a mainstay of figurative art, and at the recent Lincoln Fine Art auction there were a number of examples sold, including an 18th-century oil of Arabella Countess of Breadalbane, Grand Daughter to Sir Thomas Pershall.

The half-length portrait showed the sitter in a white lace dress decorated with pearls and blue floral ribbons. It also came with an inventory label on the reverse connecting the picture to Taymouth Castle from the Marquis of Breadalbane’s apartment at Holyrood Palace in 1860. The addition of provenance saw the picture bidding rise to £1,100.

This price was slightly bettered when another formal portrait catalogued as After van Dyck, with the sitter named as George Villiers Duke of Buckingham, sold for £1,200.

The auction also included the Studio Works of Alice Mary Fitzpayne, born in 1928. She was a student at Leeds College of Art, The International School of Art and Design, and the Royal College of Art where she met her husband, and artist, Erick Doitch (1923-2000).

The couple settled in South Lincolnshire in the 1970s and exhibited extensively, including with the Lincolnshire Artist Society.

Alice Mary Fitzpayne’s works were influenced by the people and events of city nightlife and those on the fringes of society.

The 88 lots sold totalled over £7,000, with an oil on board titled Pierrot clown and doll reaching the top price for an individual painting of £200, whilst a 19th-century figural mannequin from the artist’s studio achieved an outstanding £2,800.

Also offered was a sculpture by the Lincolnshire artist Peter Moss. The artist sadly died in 2024; Peter had been a leading light within Lincolnshire artists’ circles and is very much missed. The signature Kimono design sculpture, 33cm high, saw good competition and finally sold for £600 to a local collector.

Full illustrated results from the auction can be found at www.goldingyoung.com

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