LONDON.- 25 Blythe Road’s first auction on their newly launched iRostrum online auction platform will take place on Tuesday 9th July offering a selection of British and Continental Pictures following public viewing at their London auction galleries. Pictures will range in value from decorative works starting at £50 to higher valued works for the collector of up to £10,000.

25 Blythe Road have been early recognisers of the enormous potential of the online art market, which in now estimated to be worth a staggering $56 billion and continues to grow. They began operating online auctions in 2012, however this next auction will be their first with the innovative iRostrum online auction platform. Thomas Del Mar who founded 25 Blythe Road in 2007 says 'we chose iRostrum for their integral functionality and their platform's technical fluency within this complex field'.

George Duckett (aka London's youngest auctioneer) is running this second online paintings sale following the success of his inaugural December 2012 auction. There are good modern British works in the sale, including watercolours by Graham Sutherland and Alan Reynolds as well as earlier paintings by Joseph Southall, Augustus John and pre-Raphaelite artist Simeon Soloman. Smaller works by giants of the 20th century British art scene such as Sutherland are a good area in which to start collecting. With his large scale works going easily into the hundreds of thousands, Sutherland’s ‘Buck Hare’ (below) dated from 1979 has an estimate of a more affordable £2,000-3000.

Another well known artist’s work in the sale includes a sketch of Euphemia Lamb by Augustus John (1878 – 1961), below. Euphemia, wife of the artist Henry Lamb (1883 –1960) had many lovers, including artists for whom she posed. Augustus John was also enchanted by her and sketched her many times. She appears alongside his wives Dorelia and Ida in the painting The Way Down to the Sea (1909-11). Estimate: £2,500 - £3,500

Some late 19th, early 20th century British works that were considered old fashioned and backward looking are now growing in popularity due to renewed interest in Victorian art. Joseph Southall (1861-1944), leader of the Birmingham Group of artist craftsmen, whose work features in the sale, is one artist whose name is achieving more recognition. John Russell Taylor, art critic to The Times described him in 1980 as being a 'natural born surrealist' and that he had 'an authentic strangeness in the way he saw things'. Please see below a charming watercolour by Southall entitled 'Lago di Garda' 1921, estimate £4,000-£5,000.

The sale will also include a group of Dutch 18th century oil paintings depicting pastoral scenes from a European private collection. Elsewhere contemporary works include paintings by Australian artist Jamie Boyd and British artist Mick Rooney.

George Duckett says ‘I am delighted to announce my second online British and Continental paintings auction which has grown substantially, with a pre-sale estimate double that of my first sale in December 2012. There is particularly strong coverage in 20th century British art with works by some well known artists and also some interesting 18th century paintings. I am much looking forward to the opening of the pre-sale exhibition at 25 Blythe Road on the 6th July.’

Further online auctions will take place later in the year – already scheduled is an online auction of Indian and Islamic Works of Art on 7th November 2013.