The unexpected highlight of the June 21 sale at Beurret & Bailly (20% buyer’s premium) in Basel was a work by the Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865-1931) which had been considered lost for over a century.
It was his 2ft x 2ft 5in (61 x 74cm) painting Haavakuume from 1889. This translates literally as Wound Fever, but in 1890 the work was exhibited at the The Continental Gallery in London as Mute Suffering and this title is inscribed on the back of the frame.