WINDSOR, Conn. – Original artworks by Grandma Moses, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Charles Marion Russell and Charles Ethan Porter, plus outstanding period furniture pieces and items in many other categories, will be sold at Nadeau’s Auction Gallery’s annual spring antiques, fine art and Asian auction, slated for Saturday, April 11th, in the firm’s gallery at 25 Meadow Road.

“Right now, there are over 300 lots in the auction,” said Ed Nadeau of Nadeau’s Auction Gallery. “So, we’ll be accepting top choice consignments through the middle of March. We’re already in good shape. We want to be even better.”

In addition to fine art and furniture, the auction will also feature Chinese and Japanese porcelain, other Chinese items including export bowls and plates and paintings, Oriental rugs and carpets, fine estate jewelry pieces, sterling silver (including a “Love Disarmed” flatware set), stoneware, Tiffany tazza, Meissen, Herend and Minton dinnerware, tea sets, crystal, bronze sculptures, leather-bound books, antique clocks and more.

Bidders will be treated to two original works by Grandma Moses (1860-1961, real name: Anna Robertson), both of them framed outdoor winter scenes with snow and figures. One is titled Sap Gathering. Grandma Moses may be America’s most renowned and best loved folk artist. Her works are highly coveted by collectors. Her painting titled The Sugaring Scene sold for $1.2 million in 2006.

The name Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) is just as famous, but as a French Impressionist, not an American folk artist. Being sold is a diminutive portrait rendering of a man, housed in a large and ornate gold gilt frame. Renoir began his career at age 13, working in a ceramics studio painting flowers on porcelain. But he went on to become one of France’s greatest Impressionists.

The watercolor with provenance by Charles Marion Russell (Am., 1864-1926) is a framed figural landscape scene of a large elk in the foreground, other elk behind him and snow-capped rocky mountains and rolling hills in the background. Russell was a legendary painter and sculptor of the American Western frontier. His painting Piegans, done in 1918, sold at auction for $5.6 million in 2005.

The painting with provenance by Charles Ethan Porter (Am., 1847-1923) is a gorgeous still-life rendering of pink flowers in full bloom in a vase. It’s housed in a simple and tasteful gold gilt frame. Porter studied at New York’s National Academy of Design and was one of the first African-American artists to exhibit there. He had a studio in Hartford, Conn., were he specialized in fruit and floral still lifes.

All of the artworks just described come to auction with an impeccable history and provenance, dating to the 1970s. They are from a major collection of important artworks from an estate in West Haven, Conn. Many of the 300 or so lots in the sale have been pulled from prominent local estates and collections from all over the state.

Additional featured artists will include James Elliott Bama (Wyo./N.Y. b, 1926), James Kenneth Ralston (Mont., 1896-1987), Pop Art legend Andy Warhol (Am., 1928-1987), Johan Barthold Jongkind (Neth./Fr., 1819-1891), Eugene Boudin (Fr., 1824-1898), Edward Lamson Henry (Am., 1841-1919), '60s-era icon Peter Max (b. 1932) and Georg Rasmussen (Norw., 1842-1914).

Furniture items in the sale are sure to get paddles wagging. These will include a Federal tambour secretary desk, a pair of Chapin side chairs and a Chapin tip table, a Boston block-front chest, a Chippendale low-boy, a mahogany ox-bow chest, a cherry reverse serpentine chest (attributed to Chapin), and a Chippendale bonnet-top chest-on-chest attributed to Geer (Preston, Conn.).

Also offered will be a Philadelphia mahogany Chippendale armchair, a New London County drop-leaf table, a Federal inlaid sideboard, a Sheraton burlwood work table, a Margolis Federal-style dining table, a pair of Margolis upholstered armchairs, a diminutive Margolis chest-on-chest and a diminutive cherry desk (21 inches tall). Italian furniture pieces will feature a 17th century sideboard, a lift-top chest, several tables and two armchairs.

Also sold will be a Steinway baby grand piano and two McIntosh amplifiers.

The auction will start promptly at 11 a.m. Eastern time. Special previews, timed to coincide with the nearby Hartford Antique Show, will be held Friday, March 20th, from 3-5 p.m. and Saturday, March 21st, from 8-10:30 a.m. Additional preview times will be April 8th noon to 4 p.m., April 9th noon to 6:30 p.m., April 10th noon to 5 p.m., and April 11th 9-11 a.m. or by appointment only.

Internet bidding will be facilitated by Invaluable.com. Phone and absentee bids will also be accepted. A fully illustrated catalog may be viewed online at www.NadeausAuction.com. Terms are cash, known checks and Visa and Master cards. Out-of-state buyers must establish credit 72 hours prior to auction. A 20 percent buyer’s premium will be applied to all purchases made.

Nadeau’s Auction Gallery is always accepting quality consignments for its bigger sales, held throughout the year, and its general auctions, held every four weeks. To consign an item or a collection, you may call them at (860) 246-244, or e-mail them at heather@nadeausauction.com. For more information about Nadeau’s Auction Gallery, please visit www.NadeausAuction.com.

30 -