Going, going, gone

Another photocall this morning, at Lyon & Turnbull, the Edinburgh auctioneers. The Forbes Collection from Old Battersea House, the London home of the Forbes family, the US publishing dynasty was being auctioned off. The contents offered for sale included a wonderful mix of fine paintings, antique furniture and works of art, and an impressive collection of Royal memorabilia. The collection of some 250 paintings included Sir John Everett Millais 'For The Squire' and Sir Edward Burne-Jones 'The Princess Chained To A Tree' which both sold for over £400,000. This is the Millais, he of Ophelia (particularly appropriate with another Hamlet rehearsal tonight), Bubbles and The Boyhood of Raleigh. The hammer went down at £460,000. You could get a very nice house for that.
And another diptych - it seemed wrong to just have a picture of the painting, but the wider view of the auction house meant the image on the screen in shot was very small so I wanted to include a larger shot of the painting as well. It was a lovely painting to see up close.