Category: Auctions
Louvre swoops in to block Chardin Sale
April 1 2022
Picture: Artcurial
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The curious pre-emption system in France has once again swooped in to block the sale of a valuable work of art. The Art Newspaper has published news that the aforementioned €24.4m Chardin, purchased by New York dealer Adam Williams on behalf of an unknown client, has been blocked by a pre-emption from the Louvre. The French museum now has two and a half years to try and find the money to keep the painting in the country.
As it happens, the Louvre already has fourty paintings by the artist in its collection. A quick collections search shows that all of them, apart from four, are currently on public display. This is a most impressive statistic.
Bonhams April Sale
March 30 2022
Picture: Bonhams
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Bonhams London have uploaded the online catalogue for their April Old Master Paintings sale. This live auction will take place on 12th April 2022.
As usual, there are quite a few intriguing and unrestored pictures to peruse through. I won't spoil the fun by pointing out any that may or may not be interesting.
Chardin's Strawberries make €24.4m
March 24 2022
Video: artcurial
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A new auction record for Jean-Siméon Chardin and for an eighteenth-century French painting was set in Paris yesterday. The artist's aforementioned Basket of Strawberries achieved no less than €24.4m (inc. fees).
According to the write-up from The Art Newspaper:
The work was bought by the New York dealer Adam Williams, who was bidding in the room. This was confirmed by the Old Master paintings specialist Eric Turquin who advised on the sale and wrote the catalogue entry. He also tells The Art Newspaper that the underbidder was a London gallery bidding for a private American collector and Eric Coatalem, a Parisian dealer, whose interest "pushed the picture up to €15m". Turquin will receive a small percentage of the sale proceeds.
Sotheby's April Sale
March 24 2022
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Many of you might have spotted that Sotheby's London have uploaded their upcoming mid-season sale. This online auction will be held between 31st March and 6th April 2022. Amongst the highlights are portraits descended with the Marquess of Downshire and a choice selection of English sporting pictures.
As usual with these very tempting mid-season sales, I won't spoil any fun by pointing out pictures that may or may not be interesting.
Christie's new OMP Global Head
March 23 2022
Picture: BBC
Posted by Bendor
I'm interrupting my recent AHN purdah to congratulate Andrew Fletcher on his appointment as Christie's new Global Head of their Old Masters department. Here's their press release. Andrew has previously been up the road at Sotheby's, for 20 years! And I think I've known him all that time. Which is incredibly ageing, for in my mind we're both still just getting started in the Old Master game.
But now Andrew is an experienced older hand, and I can think of few better people to take charge of an international auction house's Old Master offering, especially in such unprecedented times. AHN wishes him good luck!
The photo above shows Andrew in action in an episode of Britain's Lost Masterpieces, where he was our expert guide in the works of Jan Brueghel the Elder.
The Palace of Versailles scoop up a Nattier from Auction
March 11 2022
Picture: @DaguerreSVV
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
It has been announced on Twitter that the Palace of Versailles have acquired (pre-empted at auction) Jean-Marc Nattier's Portrait of a Lady presumed to be Philippine Élisabeth d'Orléans known as Mademoiselle de Beaujolais. The painting was sold by the auction house Daguerre for €150,000.
For any of you who might be curious as to what this instrument might have sounded like, here's a rather fine Tombeau by François Campion (1685-1747) played on a historic baroque guitar.
Rediscovered Gabriel Loppé Mountain Views up for Sale
March 9 2022
Video: Artcurial
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The French auction house Artcurial have made this video about a pair of monumental Mountain landscapes by Gabriel Loppé (1825-1913) in their upcoming sale. The canvases of The Matterhorn seen from the Gornergrat and The Mer de Glace and the Grands Charmoz, Chamonix both sent to London in 1874 where they were displayed in a gallery in Conduit Street. The paintings had been considered lost until they were rediscovered rolled up in cylindrical shipping boxes in 2014. The video features the independent expert William Mitchell who catalogued the pictures for auction.
They will be sold on 23rd March 2022 carrying estimates of €300k - €400k and €350k - €450k respectively.
One of Gainsborough's Earliest Portraits up for Sale
March 9 2022
Picture: Cheffins
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Interesting news that the auction house Cheffins will be auctioning off one of Thomas Gainsborough's earliest portraits later this month. The portrait of an unknown lady was discovered by the art historian James Innes-Mulraine in 2016 where it was purchased at a provincial auction house catalogued as 'Circle of Arthur Devis'. Fortunately, research proved otherwise and the painting was eventually accepted by Hugh Belsey, compiler of the artist's portrait catalogue raisonné, as an early Gainsborough dating to c.1742.
The portrait will be sold on 23rd March 2022 carrying an estimate of £30,000 - £50,000.
Meat Company buy Triptych
March 4 2022
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Interesting news from Spain that one of the country's largest meat producers the Jorge Group have recently purchased a triptych at auction. The local church of Santa María in the Zaragoza town of Maluenda had sold the painting in 1946 to fund restoration works after a disastrous fire. The triptych, whose whereabouts was unknown since the 1946 sale, reappeared at auction in Madrid the other week where it was spotted by the art historian José Luis Cortés. The new owners of the artwork, which was catalogued as by a follower of Jan Gossaert, will now have the painting returned to Zaragoza where it will be put on display.
Unexportable Velázquez sells for €4.27m
March 3 2022
Picture: abc.es
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The aforementioned portrait of an unknown gentleman attributed to Diego Velázquez achieved €4.27m (inc. commission) at the Abalarte auction house in Madrid yesterday. Two collectors were said to be involved in the final few bids. Furthermore, the new owner will have to keep the work in the country as it was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest by the authorities in Madrid in 2007.
Sleeper Alert!
March 3 2022
Picture: La Suite Subastas
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News on Twitter this afternoon (via. auctionradar) that the following Portrait of a Man catalogued as 'Flemish School 15th - 16th century. In the Italian renaissance taste' realised €288,000 over its €8k - €12k estimate at the auction house La Suite Subastas in Barcelona today.
Update - @artidbits on Instagram has shared this image of a painting formerly in the Spiridon Collection in Rome which was later sold in Amsterdam in 1928. The exact relationship between these two paintings is unclear.
Magritte realises £59.4m
March 3 2022
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Despite the absolute horrors unfolding in Eastern Europe at the present, Sotheby's London managed to sell René Magritte's L’empire des lumières (1961) for a record-breaking £59.4m (inc. commission) last night. Both modern and contemporary sales realised high prices. The Now Evening Auction realised £29,982,500 (inc. commission) and the Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction realised £192,161,150 (which included the Magritte, of course).
Neighbouring London auction house Phillips also made headlines by announcing they would be donating the entirety of their fees from the 20th-century and contemporary art evening auction in London to the Ukrainian Red Cross Society. The donation from the Russian-owned auction house amounts to £5.8 million ($7.7 million) for the charity.
Portrait of first Female French Academician coming up for sale
March 2 2022
Picture: Artcurial
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The French auction house Artcurial have uploaded the online catalogue of their upcoming Old Master & 19th Cent. Art sale due to be held on 23rd March 2022. Alongside the aforementioned €12m - €15m Chardin is this rather interesting portrait. Ascribed to 'French School 17th century', it depicts the flower painter Catherine Duchemin (1630-1698), who was not only the wife of sculptor François Girardon but also the first ever female artist accepted into the French Academy of Art. The catalogue note, which provides an interesting biography of the painter, is well worth a read.
The painting will be offered for sale carrying an estimate of €100,000 - €150,000.
Christie's Reveals July Highlights
February 24 2022
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The FT have published an article revealing two highlights from Christie's July Old Master Paintings sale in London. Both highlights come from the collection of philanthropists Cecil and Hilda Lewis. The first is a very pleasing Still Life (dated to 1633) by Jan den Uyl (1595/96–1639) estimated at £2.5m - £3.5m (pictured). The second is Lucas Cranach’s The Nymph of the Spring (c1540) which will be offered for between £6m and £8m. These two pictures were purchased by the couple in 1988 and 1990 respectively.
£10m - £15m Freud coming up at Christie's
February 18 2022
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Christie's London will be offering a £10m - £15m painting by Lucian Freud in their upcoming 20th / 21st Century Sale on 1st March 2022. Girl with Closed Eyes was painted in the mid 1980s and is being marketed as a hark back to Venuses by the likes of Giorgione, Canova and Modigliani. The model for the picture was Janey Longman whose mother Elizabeth had been a bridesmaid at Queen Elizabeth II's wedding.
According to their website:
The canvas was sold as soon as it was painted and, having been in the same private collection ever since, now comes to market for the first time. It has been exhibited only occasionally in the three and a half decades of its existence, notably in the landmark retrospective Lucian Freud Paintings, which toured the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris, the Hayward Gallery in London and the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin in 1987-88.
Velázquez Portrait coming up for sale in Madrid
February 17 2022
Picture: abc.es
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Madrid that a Portrait of an Unknown Gentleman by Diego Velázquez is coming up for sale at the auction house Abalarte on 2nd March 2022.
The owners of the painting, which is part of the collection of the Vizcondes de Roda, had tried to sell it in the 2000s until the Spanish Government stepped in to declare it an Asset of Cultural Interest. Press reports do not make it clear whether the painting would be allowed to leave Spain or not.
Interestingly, the report linked above suggests that scholars believe the intricate lace ruff is a later addition by another hand. It is thought that the face is the work of the artist himself. The likes of the late Alfonso Pérez Sánchez (former Director of the Prado) and Carmen Garrido have supported the attribution.
The painting will be sold on 2nd March 2022 carrying an estimate of €2.5m - €3m.
Farinelli's Paintings up for Sale (?)
February 17 2022
Picture: diapasonmag.fr
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Interesting news from France that the auction house Aguttes will be offering two recently rediscovered pictures by Francesco Battaglioli (1725-1796) in March. The pictures have been identified by the scholar Mickaël Bouffard as opera stage sets for productions of Nitteti. This opera, with a libretto by Metastasis set to music by Nicola Conforto, was performed in 1756 at the Theatre of the Buen Retiro Palace on the occasion of the birthday of King Ferdinand VI.
Researchers have gone as far to suggest that the paintings might have belonged to the famous castrato Farinelli. The works have been linked to two others kept in Library-Museum of the Paris Opera, which were said to have been brought back by the singer as gifts from the Spanish court.
The pair will be sold on the 25th March 2022.
Rediscovered Romney up for Sale
February 9 2022
Picture: Toovey's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Some interesting news that a rediscovered portrait of Lady Laetitia Beauchamp-Proctor by George Romney is coming up for sale at Toovey's later this month. The picture was spotted in a private collection by consultant Tim Williams where it had been considered to be 'attributed to' Angelika Kauffman for some time. Romney's hand in the picture was finally confirmed by Alexander Kidson, who had included the work within his 2015 catalogue raisonné as 'whereabouts unknown'.*
According to the press release:
George Romney recorded Lady Beauchamp-Proctor’s seven sittings between 20th July and 16th August 1780, and the 18 guinea fee was paid to the artist on 5th May 1781. It was sent to Thomas Allwood for framing and is recorded in his framing book as ‘an oval 3/4 at a price of £2 12s 6d for Lady Beauchamp Proctor’.
* - Editors of future 'discovery' pieces take note, it's very good when recognised authorities are consulted as part of any story that deal with such things!
Marquess of Downshire Pictures coming up at Sotheby's in April
January 28 2022
Picture: artscouncil.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
An eagle eyed reader has alerted me to a posting on the Private Treaty Sales section of the Arts Council website. The post explains that a selection of eleven pictures from the Marquess of Downshire's collection will be coming up for sale at Sotheby's London on 4th April 2022. This includes paintings by the likes of Attrib. George Gower, Sir Peter Lely, Studio of Kneller, Michael Dahl, Bernard Lens and Filippo Lauri. Another four will be heading to sale at Tennants later in April 2022.
Manchester Deaf Museum acquires work by Charles Webb Moore
January 28 2022
Picture: @OlympiaAuctions
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Olympia Auctions (formerly the 25 Blythe Road collective) in West London has shared news that a portrait sold by them in May 2021 has been acquired by the Deaf Museum in Manchester. The painting was created by the deaf artist Charles Webb Moore (1848-1933) and depicts and unknown gentleman wearing a black suit and white shirt.
According to the original catalogue note:
Moore was described as the "doyen of deaf artists" by the inventor Arthur James Wilson, himself a prominent figure in the deaf community of 19th and early 20th Century Britain. The artist was born into a family of artists and craftspeople based in London. All of his immediate family were also deaf, and they were part of the deaf community that centred largely around St Saviour's Church, Oxford Street (now relocated to Acton), the only purpose-built church for the deaf in London.
