In a relatively short period from 1959-64, the Spanish-Italian Realist Xavier Bueno (1915-79) created his most recognisable works: a series of melancholic and haunting portraits of children. For Bueno these ‘Bambini’ portraits symbolised a “humiliated and oppressed humanity”.

Extracted from Antiques Trade Gazette | Gabriel Berner

One such portrait, Ragazza Seduto (1964), was offered recently at Berkshire saleroom Dawson’s (20% buyer’s premium). The half-length impasto portrait of a seated girl included a collage applied with real human hair.

Guided at £3000-4000, it was knocked down at £8200 in a mixed-discipline sale held on June 22 in Maidenhead.

Bueno spent much of his life in his adopted home of Italy, where the majority of his paintings are now bought and sold.