Sotheby's to offer £10m Rembrandt in December
October 5 2023
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Sotheby's London will be offering a rediscovered Rembrandt in their upcoming December Old Master Paintings Evening Sale. The Adoration of the Kings, now dated to circa 1628, is the same that was highlighted on this blog back in October 2021, when the picture sold at Christie's Amsterdam for a staggering 860,000 euros over its estimate of 10,000 - 15,000 euros. In 2021 the painting was catalogued as 'Circle of Rembrandt', but, research presented to various scholars has convinced them of its attribution to the master in full.
According to the article in the FT:
Its buyer [after the 2021 sale] subsequently contacted Sotheby’s and the auction house has spent 18 months researching the work, including detailed infrared imaging. The conclusion is that it is “not just by Rembrandt, but is a really significant Rembrandt”, says George Gordon, Sotheby’s co-chair of Old Master paintings and drawings. Leading scholars, including Volker Manuth, who co-wrote the 2019 catalogue raisonné of Rembrandt’s paintings, support the auction house’s views.
The research has revealed changes that Rembrandt made while painting, including moving the protagonists’ heads towards the holy family, to create a more pronounced focal point. “We can see how his mind was working,” Gordon says. He also highlights the artist’s command of reflected light from two sources — a warm, interior one and the cooler Star of Bethlehem.
The work will be offered at auction on 6 December carrying an estimate of £10,000,000 - 15,000,000. Sotheby's has also stated that the painting is subject to a third-party guarantee [ie. that it already has a selling bid].
