Auction introduction: Spanning six centuries of European art, the July Old Masters Evening Sale includes a rich array of paintings, sculptures, watercolours and prints, covering a multitude of subjects. The sale is led by a beautiful and tranquil image of a reclining nymph by the celebrated German Renaissance artist Lucas Cranach the Elder, from the Collection of Cecil and Hilda Lewis, which is one of the most significant works by the artist to come on the market in living memory. Another leading highlight is a recently rediscovered marble of the Recumbent Mary Magdalene by the greatest Italian Neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova, commissioned by the Earl of Liverpool, Britain’s then Prime Minister. The masterpiece was highly esteemed during the 19th century, but fell into obscurity and was sold – unattributed – in a garden statuary sale in 2002. The principal watercolour in the sale is a dazzling view of Heidelberg with a rainbow by the pioneering British Romantic artist Joseph Mallord William Turner. Unquestionably one of the greatest watercolours of his maturity, this painting was the first work on paper by the artist to achieve in excess of £1 million at auction in the 20th century.