News & Events

In these hard times it is gratifying to note that exciting Welsh and British pictures continue to turn up and, when experience and knowledge are applied, can still be acquired at reasonable prices. In the past few months the gallery has been able to buy a number of 'sleepers' i.e pictures whose authorship and/or true significance has been overlooked by auctioneers' cataloguers. These have included British portraits by Thomas Gainsborough, Arthur Devis and William Hoare of Bath as well as important Welsh works by Moses Griffith and William Roos. The discovery of a series of chalk portraits by the 18th century Irish artist Hugh Douglas Hamilton led into an exploration of the Irish market at what seemed like the worst possible time. However, one was sold to the state for Castletown House, Co. Kildare and others entered private collections in both Ireland and England, demonstrating the truth of the old art-market saying that the best will always find a market.

The nature of dealing in this sort of material, particularly the need for minimal exposure and discretion, means most of these pictures do not appear on this website. This makes our database of clients' interests all the more important and we would encourage anyone with particular 'wants' to register them with us.