Stranger things

From topless staddle stones outperforming complete ones to two versions of the same desk selling on the same day 212 miles apart, bizarre occurrences are par for the course at contents sales

- Huon Mallalieu

IN 1844, Margaret Sarah Carpenter (née Geddes, 1793–1872) was nominated for the Royal Academy (RA), where she had first exhibited in 1814. The only female among 60 candidates, she was not elected; nonetheless, she was one of the most respected and successful portrait painters of the Victorian period. She worked very effectively in the manner of Thomas Lawrence and one of her sitters, probably from life and postmortem, was Richard Parkes Bonington. Although one critic noted her feminine touch, which was meant as a compliment, more marked was her ability to convey individual character. She faded from memory in the century after her death, but I don’t think that was because of her sex, as, except for the very best, that was the fate of most Victorian portrait painters. A 50in by 40in example of her work (