Costantini watercolour

Mallam's sells on 4 November 2015 a '19th century Italian school indistinctly signed Constantini" watercolour of people beneath a Classical arch, estimated at £70 to £150.

This wonderful picture is probably the work of Giuseppe Costantini (1843-1893), a very skilled watercolour painter who made many genre scenes but whose rarer views of Rome and ancient monuments fetch more money in general. The most extreme was a lot of 4 such watercolours which fetched 100,00€ at EuropAuction in 2012.

The other posible Costantini as author of this work is Castore Costantini, also a 19th century Italian painting views of Rome and the monuments, and whose similar works fetch from 1,000 to 5,000 Euro.

Even as an anonymous work, this should be worth £1,000 or (much) more, as a very decorative and evocative watercolour, way better than the usual poor paintings one can buy for £70 or £150. If it is confirmed to be by Giuseppe Costantini, it would probably be a work of £5,000 to £10,000 instead. If you can get it at anything near the estimated value, you get a very nice bargain in any case.

UPDATE: sold for £720, or ten times the estimate, which is a lot more reasonable and reflective of the quality of the work (irrespective of the artist).