FOR art dealer Andrew Sim, the thrill of his job lies in the finding, rather than the keeping. Naturally, he never thought he would come across a work he wouldn’t be prepared to part with—until he chanced upon a rosy child.
It was a small, late-Victorian oil painting of a freshly awoken baby, all chubby cheeks, fuzzy hair and sweet, tiny hands. ‘I bought it, filthy and unloved, in a provincial auction, simply because I thought it had quality,’ Mr Sim recalls. ‘When I had it cleaned, I was particularly struck by how beautifully the baby’s downy hair and pinky skin tones were achieved and how they contrasted with the crisp shades of white and cream in the coverlet
