Category: Auctions
Artcurial November Sale
October 30 2023
Picture: Artcurial
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Artcurial in Paris have uploaded the full online catalogue for their upcoming MAÎTRES ANCIENS & DU XIXe SIÈCLE Tableaux, Dessins & Sculptures sale.
Amongst the many treasures found within is this rather extraordinary An Antique Sacrifice, known as The Sacrifice to the Minotaur by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. This very colourful and powerful work, which has everything you'd want in a mythological scene of this period I would think, has been in a private collection for over one hundred years. It carries an estimate of €4,000,000 - €6,000,000, but, I wonder if it will make more...
The auction will take place on 22nd November 2023.
'Sleepy Sleeper' Returns for Sale
October 26 2023
Picture: Wannenes
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News on 'X' via the art researcher Mirna Megyeral (@Megyeral) that a 'Sleepy Sleeper' posted here in December 2020 has reappeared in a sale. Regular readers might remember that the drawing made a staggering €160,000 (hammer) over its €800 - €1,200 estimate at the auction house Wannenes in Italy. It is now being reoffered at Farsetti Arte in Milan with an estimate of €900 - 1,300. Not all sleepers work out the way you sometimes hope, it seems...
Sotheby's to offer $40 - 60m Basquiat Self-Portrait
October 26 2023
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Sotheby's New York will be testing the upper end of the modern and contemporary art market next month with the sale of the following Basquiat Self-Portrait. With an estimate of $40 - $60m, this will certainly be an interesting indicator for the state of the market in this area. Interestingly, a video produced by the auction house for Instagram has directly compared the self-portrait to examples by Rembrandt, Van Eyck, Parmigianino, Durer, Wright of Derby and others (Schiele, Van Gogh etc.). It's good to know that the Old Masters are still the benchmark for this particular genre!
Ombersley Court Treasures at Christie's
October 26 2023
Picture: malverngazette.co.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Christie's have recently published full cataloguing for their upcoming Ombersley Court: The Collection of Lord and Lady Sandys sale. As expected from an English Country House auction, there are many fine British Portraits from all ages with particularly tempting estimates.
Regular auction watchers will remember that a few selected times from the collection were offered by Sotheby's back in 2019, however, it appears that it is Christie's who have been instructed to offer works of art from the collection this time around.
The auction will be held on 29th November 2023.
Sleeper Alert!
October 20 2023
Picture: Il Ponte
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News shared on 'X' (via. @AuctionRadar) has pointed out that the following Concert in a Landscape, catalogued as 'Follower of Frans Francken', realised an impressive €130,000 over its €1,600 - 1,800 estimate at the Il Ponte Auction House in Milan the other day.
Rubens Friar makes €1.6m in Barcelona
October 18 2023
Picture: SETDART
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Interesting news from the auction house SETDART in Barcelona, Spain, that the following Rubens portrait of Friar Heliodoro Barea realised €1.6m yesterday. According to the provenance published by the auction house, the picture was in 1977, shortly after being offered for sale at Christie's in 1976. Interestingly, nor the catalogue note or website explains whether the painting has an export license to leave Spain.
Rothchild Masterpieces Soar at Christie's
October 13 2023
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The recent series of Rothchild sales at Christie's New York appear to have gotten off to a rather good start. Wednesday's Rothchild Masterpieces sale, which contained a wide selection of fine furniture, ceramics and paintings, realised over $43m (inc. commission). The Old Master Paintings within the sales overall did very well. A beautifully preserved Gerrit Dou (pictured), which had been stolen by the Nazis and later restituted to the family, made $7,068,000 (inc. commission) over its $3 - 5m estimate. Likewise, a very curious and rare set of Dutch seventeenth century painted leather panels, measuring nearly 17 metres wide, realised $4,406,000 over its $1 - 2m estimate. Paintings as big as these usually tend to attract significant cultural institutions and individuals with enough space to exhibit them, so, it's very impressive that at least two bidders wanted them enough to push the price this high.
More on the Christie's Canalettos
October 6 2023
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Telegraph have published a story regarding the aforementioned pair of Canalettos which are coming up in the Christie's London Old Master Paintings Evening Sale.
For those who can't get behind the paywall, and thanks to the ATG for republishing, here is the fascinating account of the provenance research into the pair:
The two works are believed to have been painted for an English patron for whom Joseph Smith, the merchant, collector and later consul in Venice, acted as agent.
Records survive of the payments John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, made between 1734-6 to Smith’s brother and London agent, John Smith, for the celebrated Canaletto series at Woburn.
It has been suggested by London dealer and Canaletto expert Charles Beddington that the current pictures were components of a set of four canvases commissioned in 1733 by the Duke of Bedford’s sister, Elizabeth Countess of Essex and dispatched by Smith the following year. Her husband, William Capel 3rd Earl of Essex, was appointed ambassador at Turin in 1732.
The choice of subjects suggests that Lady Essex may well have seen the two related works already ordered by her brother while these were still in Venice.
By 1939, the pictures were owned by Douglas Glass (1881-1944), the only son of James George Henry Glass (1843-1911), a distinguished engineer and a director of the Bengal Nagpur Railway Company, whose interest in Italy is reflected in the fact that he died in Naples rather than in his English residence.
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].
Elizabethan 'Cuckold' Portrait Realises £400,000
October 4 2023
Picture: Drewaetts
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from the auction house Drewaetts this morning that the following Elizabethan portrait realised a substantial £400,000 hammer over its £10,000 - 15,000 estimate in the Robert Kime (Day 1) sale. Although this is a particularly beautiful and evocative image, which has been interpreted as depicting the son of or of a cuckhold (read the catalogue note for more), this is quite an impressive price for a portrait of its kind, not to mention of an unknown sitter by an unknown artist.*
* Maybe there are plans afoot to identify both in due course!
£10m pair of Canalettos coming up at Christie's in December
October 3 2023
Picture: artscouncil.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Eagle eyed watchers of the Arts Council's Items for Sale page (a must for any follower of the big Old Master auctions) might have spotted this very beautiful pair of Canalettos which have been announced for sale at Christie's London in December 2023. The pair, which have been in a private collection since 1939, will carry an impressive estimate of £10,000,000.
More news regarding the other items on the Art Council's website in due course.
The National Trust buy back a Kauffman in a No Reserve sale!
October 2 2023
Picture: bbc.co.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Interesting news that The National Trust have acquired Angelica Kauffman's Penelope awakened by Euryclea with the news of Ulysses' Return in Christie's New York's May 'REMASTERED: OLD MASTERS FROM THE COLLECTION OF J.E. SAFRA - SELLING WITHOUT RESERVE.' The painting, which eventually sold for $214,200 over its estimate $150,000 – 250,000, has been bought back for Stourhead, the country house of the Hoare family who sold the artwork back in 1883.
The BBC linked article above quotes the National Trust cultural heritage curator Stephen Ponder:
He said it was "a rare opportunity to acquire the painting for public benefit and return it for display and interpretation".
"With so little time available, I hardly dared hope that we might be able to find the funding and make a successful bid to bring the painting back to Stourhead," he added.
Mr Ponder said seeing it for the first time was "a very exciting moment" and "one of the highlights of his career".
This seems to be a rare and good example of how UK cultural and heritage organisations can be nimble footed when it comes to raising money to purchase works at auction, rather than through dealers at a later date (with added premiums on top, quite often).
Christie's Celebrating 50 Years in Amsterdam
September 29 2023
Christie's are celebrating 50 years of Christie's Amsterdam with a special auction entitled Made in Holland. This cross-category sale is full of works of art from different periods which are all interspersed.* Amongst the highlights of Old Masters featured within is the following Still Life by Jan Davidsz. de Heem (pictured), which happens to be one of the earliest recorded works by the artist and is estimated at 40,000 - 60,000 euros.
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* As cross-category online sales are becoming ever more popular, this format has opened up the question as to whether specially curated lot orders matter anymore. Does it matter in an online sale to have Old Masters grouped together, or ordered by national school and period? Is it good to have nineteenth century and much later works be interspersed with everything? Does this approach help encourage buyers of different categories to have a go at bidding in different categories? Or is it all just a bit confusing?
All opinions are welcome, and published anonymously!
Master Discoveries at Sotheby's New York
September 29 2023
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Sotheby's New York have rebranded their mid-season online sales this year as 'Discoveries'. There are Discovery sales across all categories, including Contemporary Discoveries, Modern Discoveries and Master Discoveries. The latter, which contains the Old Masters and a large bulk of nineteenth century pictures, is as wide ranging as ever, and continues the path of re-thinking the traditional lot order arrangement (see this post for more on that).
Bidding for Master Discoveries closes on 6th October 2023.
Raphael drawing at the Dorotheum
September 29 2023
Picture: dorotheum.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Art Newspaper have shared the news that the Dorotheum in Vienna will be offering a rediscovered drawing by Raphael on 25th October. The drawing relates to the Battle of the Milvian Bridge fresco which is in the Vatican’s papal apartments.
According to the article:
On the back of the sheet are drawings by Raphael’s assistant, Polidoro da Caravaggio, which were probably executed later. Dorotheum says that Paul Joannides, an emeritus professor of history of art at Cambridge University, has endorsed the attributions for both Raphael and Polidoro da Caravaggio.
The drawing will be offered with an estimate of €400,000 to €600,000.
Mary Beale Sleeper! and less significant news...
September 28 2023
Picture: the-saleroom.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Lisbon that the following Portrait of a Gentleman with a Hat realised an impressive 37,000 euros on Monday over its 1,500 estimate. Catalogued as ‘Flemish School, 17th century’, the bidders for this sleeper knew that this was in fact a beautiful head study by Mary Beale (1633-1699), one of England’s most accomplished female artists of the seventeenth-century. There is little doubt that it depicts Mary’s husband Charles, and relates to another fur-hat portrait which is in the McMaster Museum of Art in Ontario, Canada. Beale’s head studies of her family remain the most sensitive and highly regarded in her oeuvre, and this example looks right up there in terms of quality and beauty.
It just so happens that I spotted this painting in an old sales catalogue back in April, and had posted it on my Instagram account as one of those lost treasures I hoped would reappear one day. Curiously, the portrait was sold at Christie’s New York in 1989 as a portrait by Jacob van Oost in full, a period when very few in the art world were thinking about what a Mary Beale looked like. It seems that coincidences do happen, and browsing through old sales catalogues for misattributions is always a fruitful and educational experience. I’m sure the painting will reappear somewhere interesting in due course.
Of less notable news is that I am very happily returning to my post as co-editor of this fine blog. I’ve had the great honour the past year and a half of cataloguing paintings in the Old Master Department at Sotheby’s, but have recently decided to return to this varied life where I can devote more time to enthusing for our corner of the art world. I’ll be continuing as a consultant at the auction house, which will give me the freedom to write here (open and honestly) and pursue projects elsewhere. It seems that an awful lot has been happening over the past few months, so it’s about time I got going!
As ever, all comments and suggestions are most welcome!
50 Old Masters from the Alana Collection coming up at Christie's NY
April 9 2022
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News has emerged that Christie's New York will be offering 50 old master paintings from the Alana collection on 9th June 2022. The collection was formed by Chilean billionaire Alvaro Saieh and his wife Ana Guzmán over a period of decades. Many pictures included were displayed at the Jacquemart-Andre Museum in Paris between 2019-20. The total value of the collection is said to be worth between $30m and $50m.
Amongst the highlights in Fra Angelico's Saint Dominic and the Stigmatization of Saint Francis estimated at $4m - $6m (pictured).
$30m Michelangelo drawing coming up at Christie's
April 7 2022
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
It has been announced that Christie's Paris will be offering a drawing by Michelangelo in their upcoming May sale. The figure is based on the shivering man depicted in Masaccio’s Baptism of the Neophytes fresco at Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. It was last sold in Paris over one hundred years ago where it was catalogued as 'School of Michelangelo'. The work on paper, one of the few by the artist left in private hands, has since been upgraded by scholars.
The drawing will be offered up for sale on 18th May 2022 carrying an estimate within the region of $30m.
Sleeper Alert!
April 7 2022
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
This painting of A Peasant Woman holding a Cockerel catalogued as 'North Italian School' realised £176,400 (inc. commission) over its £6k - £8k estimate yesterday at Sotheby's. The work was sold from the collection of the Marquess of Downshire. This beautiful and very yellowed Lely, from the same collection, realised £113,400 over its £20k - £30k estimate.
Christina, Queen of Sweden's Titian Coming up for Sale
April 5 2022
Picture: Dorotheum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Dorotheum auction house in Vienna have announced that they will be offering a rediscovered Titian later in May. The painting of The Penitent Magdalen, of which many versions are known, was in the collection of Christina (1626-1689), Queen of Sweden during the seventeenth century. The provenance of the work is rather intriguing, as it later passed into the collections of Pierre Crozat and later Philippe II Duke of Orleans. It finally arrived in Britain during the 1790s. The attribution has been supported by Professor Paul Joannides and the exact provenance was researched and established by Dr Carlo Corsato.
The painting will be offered for sale on 11th May 2022 carrying an estimate of €1m - €1.5m.
