Category: Auctions
Sleeper Alert!
July 21 2020
Picture: Antiquesandthearts.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The sale of a reverse glass painting in the USA last week has attracted some interest online. The intriguing colonial era painting, described as being by Mather Brown, was sold for $84,000 to an online bidder over an estimate of $6,000 - $8,000. The work bears an inscription explaining that it represents the Delivery of the Definitive Treaty by the Hostage Princes into the hands of Lord Cornwallis.
Update - A surviving fragment of Mather Brown's original painting survives in the Bowes Musuem.
Sleeper Alert!
July 20 2020
Picture: Vassy-Jalenques
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News on Twitter (via. @auctionradar) that the above portrait of Portrait d'un jeune artiste dessinant devant le buste de Winckelmann 'attributed to Domenico Dupra' made €40,000 over an estimate of €6,000 last week. I wouldn't be surprised if the portrait reappears somewhere with a firm identification and attribution.
Spanish Tax Authority to Auction off Murillo
July 16 2020
Picture: Arsmagazine
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Spanish Tax authorities will be auctioning off an Ecce Homo by Murillo from 20 July 2020. It seems that this is the procedure taken by authorities there when art is accepted in lieu of tax.
The painting, which relates to another composition in the collection of the Dukes of Villahermosa, has a starting price of €900,000. ARS Magazine also claim that the work has been authenticated by Murillo scholar Enrique Valdivieso.
Sotheby's Old Masters Sale
July 14 2020
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Sotheby's Old Master Paintings sale has been published. Bidding will take place online between 20th - 29th July 2020.
Top lots include a Pieta by Luis Morales estimated at £150k - £250k; a Saint Christopher by Cranach and workshop estimated at £60k - £80k; a Saint Philip by Van Dyck estimated at £120k - £180k; a curious French 1640s interior with artists estimated at £40k - £60k; a fine Reynolds of Lady Anne Dawson at £60k - £80k; a view of Vienna by Bellotto from the Emden collection estimated at £150k - £250k; and a Zuccarelli of the Thames from Richmond at £80k - £120k.
This Judgement of Paris by the Workshop of Rubens caused a stir last year when it made $45,000 over $2,000 - $5,000 last year in New York (where described as 'After Rubens'). Despite the work's extensive provenance having now come to light, the painting will be offered for £15k - £20k.
The high estimate lots will appear in the special 'Evening Sale' on 28th July.
Frans Hals at Sotheby's
July 13 2020
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Here's a short blog Sotheby's have posted regarding the recently re-emerged portrait by Frans Hals that they will be offering for sale this month. The piece, penned by Old Master Paintings board director and co-Chairman George Gordon, gives a very interesting account and history of previous scholarly opinions. The Frans Hals scholar Seymour Slive (d.2014), whose catalogue raisonné remains the definitive text on the artist, had thought the portrait to be a studio piece rather than by Hals himself. Slive only had access to low-quality black and white photographs showing painting before recent restoration had removed the obscuring dirt and discoloured varnish. The painting's authorship to Hals has now been accepted by scholars Claus Grimm, Norbert Middelkoop and Pieter Biesboer.
The portrait will be offered for sale on 28th July 2020 with an estimate of £2m - £3m.
The Symbiosis of Private and Public Sales
July 9 2020
Picture: The Dealer's Eye via. Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
For those interested in the recent developments in the crossover between the auction houses and dealers, then this is a must-watch panel discussion. Tonight (9th July) Melanie Gerlis of the Financial Times and the Art Newspaper will be chairing a panel discussion on the theme The Artworld's Latest Merger: The Symbiosis of Private and Public Sales. This talk is part of the calendar of events arranged by London Art Week.
The panel includes Otto Naumann (Sotheby's), Stephen Ongpin (dealer) and Toby Campbell (Rafael Valls).
The panel discussion will go live today (9th July) at 5pm (BST) via. Zoom. Registration is required.
Christie's Old Masters Sales
July 9 2020
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Catalogues have been published online for the upcoming Classic Week at Christie's.
The Old Master Paintings & Sculpture sale will be conducted online from 9th July - 30th July.
Amongst the most interesting works on offer are:
A few of my highlights: A fine 'Follower of Van Dyck' of Charles I with an orb, descended from the Dukes of Manchester estimated £50k-£80k; a curious Ecce Homo by a 'Follower of Caravaggio' estimated at £30k-£50k; an early portrait of Henry VIII estimated at £25k-£35k; a horrific Apollo and Marsyas by Lorenzo Vaiani at £50k-£80k; a very powerful Cain smiting Abel by Sebastiano Ricci estimated at £50k-£80k.
The top-end works will be sold in the Classic Art Evening Sale: Antiquity to 20th century held on 29th July. This is an interesting example of the breaking down of categories that both auction houses are currently pursuing.
Top lots include: a fine portrait of a Young Lady by Rubens estimated at £4m - £6m; a late fifteenth century Burgundian portrait of a man, once owned by Horace Walpole, estimated at £400k - £600k; a watercolour of Ludlow Castle by Turner estimated at £300k - £500k. I also rather liked this fresh-onto-the-market Carlo Saraceni (pictured) estimated at £150k-£250k.
A few other top-end works will appear in the Remastered:Dialogues across the Centuries which runs from 16th July - 30th July. Works announced thus far in this sale include paintings by Bassano, Circle of Leonardo da Vinci, and Brueghel the Younger.
Gainsborough Letter at Auction
July 2 2020
Picture: International Autograph Auction, Malaga
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A rare signed letter by the painter Thomas Gainsborough is coming up for auction later this month. Dated 29th September 1783, the letter written to the artist's sister discusses money matters. Amusingly, it makes reference to Thomas's brother John Gainsborough, whom the painter referred to as 'Scheming Jack' due to his many failed business ventures.
The letter carries an estimate of €6,000 - €9,000. If it makes its top estimate it won't be far off the price made by this original portrait that sold for £12,500 (inc. fees) at Sotheby's in 2010.
'Evening Sale' at Sotheby's
July 2 2020
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Sotheby's have announced that they are continuing to shake-up their usual calendar of summer sales. On 28th July 2020 they will be holding a special auction known as the 'Evening Sale' where high estimate works across the categories will be sold together in one sale. This includes artworks from Old Masters, Impressionist & Modern Art, Modern & Post-War British Art and Contemporary Art. One imagines that this sale will be held in the manner of their recent Modern & Contemporary Art auction.
Alongside the highly anticipated Rembrandt self-portrait, buyers will be able to bid on works by the likes of Picasso, Henry Moore, Chagall, Kandinsky and Léger. Here is the list of highlighted works thus far, which on the Old Master front includes a P Brueghel the Younger, Bosschaert the Elder, Van Goyen and a Turner. Andrew Fletcher, head of sales, has also just teased a fabulous Frans Hals portrait on his Instagram Account to be included in the sale.
In 2017 Christie's showed that it was possible to sell an old master painting in a contemporary art sale. That was an easy task for a Leonardo, perhaps. It will be exciting to see what happens, and whether the market is truly less concerned about categories as it has been in the past.*
The usual Old Master Paintings sales will be held online between 20-29 July 2020.
More updates as and when they are announced...
Update - Here is a link to that very fine portrait by Frans Hals, which carries as estimate of £2m - £3m.
* - See this recent post for more background information on this theme.
The Future of Auctions?
June 30 2020
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Sotheby's held three gargantuan online sales yesterday evening. The prices achieved were equally enormous. The Contemporary Art Evening auction made $234.9m (inc. fees); The Impressionist and Modern Sale made $62.8m (inc. fees); and The Ginny Williams Collection Evening Sale made $65.5m (inc. fees).
The highlight of the three sales was Francis Bacon's Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus which made $84.6m(inc. fees), the third highest price for the artist achieved at auction.
Equally impressive was the way in which these online auctions were broadcasted. Instead of have a virtual countdown, as many of the recent Old Master auctions have been handled, the auction house set up a live saleroom with video links to departments with phone bids around the world. This certainly brings back the excitement of a live physical auction, which can sometimes be lost in the online-only format.
The auction house's website explains further:
During these unprecedented times, Sotheby’s worked quickly to revolutionize its marquee auctions, continuing to present world-class artworks in safe, engaging and new ways. In a dynamic, multi-camera event live streamed around the world, Sotheby’s auctioneer Oliver Barker conducted the three evening auctions from Sotheby's London, interacting via video with colleagues bidding in real time in New York, London and Hong Kong. This historic auction capped off a season of digital innovation, as Sotheby’s introduced a suite of new online features that delivered the full auction experience.
Christie's Merging Imp / Mod Departments
June 29 2020
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News broke last week that the auction house Christie's will be merging its Impressionist and Post-War and Contemporary Art departments. This 'hybrid' sector will be known as '20/21', short for 20th / 21st century art.
The auction house has cited a few reasons for the shake-up. By far the most interesting reason is the following:
“Our clients don’t think in categories anymore,” [Christie's CEO Guillaume Cerutti] said. “It’s not only about restructuring and reorganizing, it’s because we truly believe there is a continuum in these three parts. I believe that contemporary art has roots in the beginning of the 20th century and that without Monet and Duchamp, we would not be able to understand today’s contemporary art.”
Press reports have also drawn attention to the tough economic conditions experienced by the auction house which may result in job losses. Also cited is the growing dominance of Post-war and Contemporary Art and the 'shrinking' Impressionist market.
It is considered by some to be rather old fashioned to think of art in categories these days. In this respect, perhaps the auction house are following the demands of the market. However imperfect the categorisation system may be, it is surprising that an auction house is risking loosing expertise built over many decades in such a crucial specialist department. Such valuable knowledge is so easily lost and can prove crucial in determining areas such as attribution, skilled forgeries and murky provenance issues.
The Dealer's Eye Results
June 25 2020
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Dealer's Eye sales at Sotheby's ended today after 7 days worth of online bidding.
The results are a mixed bag. The London leg of the sale made £1.03m with roughly 48% of lots sold, and the New York leg of the sale made $1.78m with roughly 57% of lots sold.
Several impressive results were achieved, including a landscape by Caspar Wolf that made $250,000 over $100k-$150K; a bird of prey by Carstian Luyckx that made $100,000 over $25-$35k; a picture by Hendrick van Cleve III that made $93,750 over $50k-$70k; a religious picture by Luigi Garzi that made $50,000 over $20k-$30k; a Turner sketch that made £25,000 over £12k-£18k. This extremely fine John Robert Cozens, a picture that might not immediately be considered the most commercial image, made a respectable £150,000. I can't for the life of me understand why this lovely unfinished self-portrait by John Hamilton Mortimer failed to sell.
Overall, these two sales represented a very bold and brave experiment that was worth pursuing during the uncertain times that we are in.
The artworks and dealers involved are all of the highest calibre. It may therefore be a little surprising why the sale didn't do better. Why was this? Firstly, the art market tends to react well to pictures that are considered 'fresh onto the market'. This is particularly the case where incorrectly catalogued 'sleepers' are involved. It is therefore sometimes difficult to shake off the idea that such collaborations represent 'stock-sales', however fine the pictures might be. Many collectors may well have encountered these pictures at several fairs too.
The estimates overall seemed reasonable, yet, it is clear from previous online sales that works that bear the lowest estimates always manage to tempt lots of bidders. No one can resist a good bargain, even in the world of old masters it seems.
One interpretation might be that dealers are struggling during these unprecedented times and auction houses far less so. Let's hope that both manage to survive intact after the worst of the virus crisis is over.
Christie's Results
June 22 2020
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Christie's recent online old master paintings sale in NY made $2.95m (including fees) with approximately 69.7% of lots sold.*
This is marginally more that the $2.89m Sotheby's made the previous week although 12.6% down on lots sold.
A few of the most impressive results (all prices inc. fees): a limoges plaque by either Jean or Joseph Limousin made $225,000 over $30k-$50k, a sixteenth century Netherlandish School Head of Christ made $162,500 over $15k-$20k, a rather dark Jacob de Backer made $399,000 over $80k-120k (pictured).
In a previous post I highlighted a beautiful Fragonard portrait of a child that Christie's had up for private sale with an asking price of $125,000. The same picture was included in the sale and made $50,000.
It was this painting of a man holding a recorder that intrigued me the most. Catalogued as 'French School' it seems likely to be some sort of forgotten self-portrait. I showed it to a learned recorder player last week who informed me that the gentleman probably wasn't a genuine player due to the fact his hands are the wrong way around.
* - This is an approximate number, as Christie's remove unsold lots from their website. 97 out of 139 lots are shown as sold.
Degas Copies Thomas Lawrence
June 22 2020
Picture: Hampel Auctions
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A copy of Thomas Lawrence's Miss Murray by Edgar Degas (1834-1917) is coming up for sale in Munich next month. Lawrence's original, which is now at Kenwood House, was created between 1824-26 and is a superb piece of painting. The flowers which she holds had always struck me as being entirely proto-impressionistic. As a painter of ballerinas, I can understand why Degas must have been drawn to this image.
Degas's picture carries an estimate of €420,000 - €500,000. The same work sold at Sotheby's as recently as last year where it made £200,000 (inc. fees).
Picasso's Palette
June 19 2020
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A palette used by Pablo Picasso made £56,250 (inc. fees) yesterday at Sotheby's. The reverse of the palette bears the date of 17th June 1961 and had descended with the artist's granddaughter.
Study for Versailles Painting up for Auction
June 19 2020
Picture: Millon
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
This very fine unpublished head study by François Lemoyne (1688-1737) is coming up for sale at Millon in France on 1st July. It relates Lemoyne's masterpiece The Apotheosis of Hercules (1731-6) which graces the ceiling of the Hercules Room at the Palace of Versailles. There is another related head study by the artist in the British Museum.
The estimate for this work on paper is €40,000 - €60,000, and has been given its own sale by the looks of it. One to keep your eye on!
Sleeper Alert!
June 18 2020
Picture: Aguttes
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News on Twitter (via @AuctionRadar) that this portrait catalogued as 'Workshop of Rembrandt' just made €350,000 over an estimate of €12,000 - €15,000 at the auction house Aguttes in France.
BA to Sell Off Art Collection
June 17 2020
Picture: Artwise Curators
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
My attention has been drawn to the news that British Airways have announced plans to sell off the company's art collection. The collection includes art by Damien Hirst, Bridget Riley and Peter Doig. Ten works have been identified for sale, in order to raise a seven figure sum, presumably intended to help plug the gap in the airline's finances due to the COVID crisis.
The picture above shows a silk tapestry by Gary Hume (1998) which hangs in BA's Lounge at Heathrow Airport. I can hardly imagine a less inspiring place.
I'm sure a fine old master painting or two would enhance their lounges!
Sotheby's NY Results
June 12 2020
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Yesterday's Sotheby's old master paintings sale in NY brought in a total of $2.89m (including fees) with roughly 82.3% of the 152 lots sold. The sale was conducted entirely online.
There were several impressive results achieved (all prices inc. fees). The above portrait by Lavinia Fontana made $187,500 over an estimate of $40k - $60k. A sweet Caspar Netscher made $250,000 over an estimate of $40k - $60k. A portrait attributed to Tintoretto, sold by the San Diego Museum of Art, made a very respectable $112,500 over an estimate of $10k - $15k. Equally, this sumptuous Danaë by Jacob van Loo made $275,000 over an estimate of $100k - $150k.
Lots sold without reserve all seemed to do rather well, a sign that no one can resist a good bargain perhaps.
Quiz: Find the Original
June 12 2020
Picture: Wannenes Auctions
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The above painting of Saint Paul, catalogued as 'pittore del XVIII secolo', is coming up for sale at Wannenes Auctions in Genoa. It is a copy of a known painting. Can you find the original?
No prizes, just for fun.
Update - Congratulations to readers Andrew Quick and Bob Hawkins who spotted that the above is a version of Batoni's Saint Paul found in the collection of Basildon Park, Berkshire, now in the hands of the National Trust.
