Category: Auctions
Emma Hamilton's Hair
June 10 2020
Picture: Charles Miller Ltd.
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A lock of Emma Hamilton's hair is coming up for sale at Charles Miller Ltd. next month.
Lady Emma Hamilton (1765-1815) was a celebrated performer, muse and celebrity in late Georgian Britain. Her likeness was captured many times by leading artists including the likes of Romney, Reynolds, Vigée Le Brun and Kauffman. She is more widely known for having become the mistress of Admiral Horatio Nelson.
The lock was previously owned by the antiquarian Alfred Morrison who published a catalogue of Emma and Nelson's correspondence in 1893-4. The estimate for this curious piece of history is £500-£700.
Sleeper Alert!
June 10 2020
Picture: Drouot
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The above painting catalogued as 'Attributed to Sebastiano Ricci' made €107,950 over an estimate of €2,500 - €3,500 at Beaussant Lefèvre yesterday. The painting had been attributed to Coypel in the past.
Another lot offered in the same sale was this bronze statue by the sixteenth century master Ponce Jacquio which made €1,460,500. The work is reported to have been purchased by the Louvre.
La Biennale Dealers Offered Christie's Sale Instead
June 9 2020
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Interesting news in the Antiques Trade Gazette today that dealers who were due to exhibit at the now cancelled La Biennale Paris in September will be offering artworks in an online sale at Christie's instead. Objects will range from antiquities to contemporary art in this special sale to help support the fifty dealers who are usually involved in the fair.
The fair's president and fellow dealer Georges de Jonckheere is quoted saying:
La Biennale Paris is an event organised by dealers for dealers. It is essential that we support the profession in this unprecedented crisis with new and appropriate initiatives. Christie’s wide reach and extensive capacities worldwide will bring great visibility to dealers and will enable them to reach out to new collectors.
One imagines that the successful Rafael Valls and Danny Katz sales at Sotheby's may have demonstrated that close collaboration between dealers and auction houses can produce impressive results during these unprecedented times.
I wonder exactly how estimates will be negotiated. Selling artworks wholesale, which is how auction houses operate, usually strips off a lot of the mark-up that dealers often place on works. Auction house specialists attending big fairs such as TEFAF must delight in reminding collectors of the savings they could have made if they had purchased so-and-so when it was originally offered in their rooms.
Van Meegeren's Ter Borch
June 7 2020
Picture: Uppsala Auktionskammare
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
An old master painting once owned by the notorious forger Han van Meegeren (1889-1947) is coming up for sale in Sweden this month.
The Music Lesson, catalogued as by Gerard Ter Borch and Studio, was sold by the forger's estate sale in 1950 where it was purchased by the present owner. It was featured in a recent exhibition comparing it against all other known variations Ter Borch made with this particular composition. The auction house has shown in the catalogue note that the provenance of the work can be traced back to the eighteenth century and was even previously owned by Frederick Duke of York.
The auctioneer has also published the accompanying note on his Instagram account;
Technical examination of the painting through X Ray Fluorescence in selected spots and scanning MA-XRay Fluorescence of the whole surface, revealed the presence of modern pigments containing zinc and cadmium in several areas. As zinc sulfide was only developed around 1850, these findings indicate a modern intervention which is likely to have been carried out by Han van Meegeren.
The painting will be offered on 16th June with an estimate of 400,000 - 600,000 SEK / €38,000 - €57,000.
Sotheby's to Auction Rembrandt Self Portrait
June 7 2020
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Exciting news breaking this evening that Sotheby's will be offering a recently rediscovered Self Portrait by Rembrandt in their July sale.
The portrait was seemingly rejected by art historians in 1970 but experts have changed their minds. Reports suggest that this is partly due to new scientific analysis undertaken on the work. Dendrochronology samples have proven that the painting's panel support came from the same tree as used in Rembrandt's portrait of Maurits Huygens in the Hamburg Kunsthalle.
The painting will be offered on 28th July 2020 in London with an estimate of £12m - £16m.
Update - Further press articles have explained that the picture was with Noortman Master Paintings in the mid 2000s where it was acquired by the current owner. It seems that it was also exhibited at TEFAF in this period. The self portrait was exhibited at the Rijksmuseum in 1997 and the National Gallery, London, in 1999. I'll post the full catalogue entry when it is made available in due course.
Update 2 - Here is the official press release from Sotheby's.
Early Boucher Discovered in Wardrobe
June 5 2020
Picture: Gazette Drouot
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Gazette Drouot has published news that the auction house Daguerre have discovered an early work by François Boucher (1703-1770) in a wardrobe of a private house.
The work dating to the 1720s shows a young man playing the hurdy gurdy (click to listen to a music clip), an instrument that was rather popular in eighteenth century France. It was last sold from the collection of Vicomte Beuret in 1924 where it was described as 'attributed to Boucher'.
This rare early work is coming up for sale at Daguerre's sale on 23rd June with an estimate of €40,000 - €60,000. It seems very likely that the final price will soar past this tempting estimate!
Update - The painting made €494,000 (inc. fees).
Russian Painting Sells for £2.29m Online
June 3 2020
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Katya Kazakina (@artdetective), Bloomberg News's Art market reporter, has noted that Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky's view of The Bay of Naples (pictured above) may have just set the record for the most expensive picture sold in an online auction. The painting sold yesterday at Sotheby's online Russian Sale for £2,295,000 (inc. fees) over at estimate of £800,000 - £1,200,000.
Aivazovsky's gargantuan paintings are highly prized in Russia, and fill the principal galleries of The State Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg.
It will be interesting to see if similarly impressive results will be achieved in the major London auctions this summer, especially during this age of online only sales.
Sleeper Alert! Polish Edition
June 3 2020
Picture: Polswiss Art
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I've been tipped off by a Warsaw based art historian that the record for the most expensive work of art sold at auction in Poland was broken today. The above portrait by the renowned Polish artist Jan Matejko (1838-1893), depicting Prof. Karola Gilewskiego, made 7,000,000 zł / £1.41m (inc. fees) over an estimate of 3,000,000 - 5,000,000 zł. / £607,000 - £1,01,000. Press reports are calling it 'a lost masterpiece' and suggest it may have been purchased by a museum in Poland.
Curiously, the same portrait made just €344,600 at the Dorotheum in Vienna in 2015. The increase in the picture's value is quite impressive and just goes to show that the location of where you sell a picture can count sometimes.
Test your connoisseurship - Spot the Copy
June 3 2020
Picture: Christie's & Indianapolis Museum of Art
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Following on from my Reynolds post last week, here is another fun chance for readers of AHN to hone their connoisseurship skills. The upcoming Christie's Old Masters sale in NY contains a copy of Rembrandt's Portrait of the Artist c.1629, the prime version of which is in the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The Christie's copy is catalogued as by the 'Studio of Rembrandt' with an estimate of $40,000 - $60,000.
Here is a high resolution image of both works side by side, so that you can challenge yourself to spot the copy.
Once you've worked out which is which, follow these links to the Christie's copy and the Indianapolis Museum of Art prime version to find out if you're right.
Musée d’Orsay Aquires Manet Copy of Old Master
May 31 2020
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz
The Musée d’Orsay in Paris has acquired Edouard Manet's copy of Fra Fillipo Lippi's Self Portrait in the Uffizi, Florence. This rare surviving picture was completed when Manet was around the age of twenty one during his youth and training as a painter
The work was acquired by the museum at the recent Edmond Cormier-Thierry-Delanoue sale at Christie's for €118,750 (including fees). The brushwork is superb, and well worth zooming into if you have a spare moment.
Test your connoisseurship - Spot the Copy
May 30 2020
Picture: The Wallace Collection & Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
If you've ever envied the Wallace Collection's superb array of eighteenth century British Portraits, then here's your chance at getting the next best thing.
A rather pleasing copy of Hertford House's famous Portrait of Mrs Mary Robinson by Joshua Reynolds is coming up for sale in the upcoming Sotheby's NY Online sale. The impressive quality of the picture has warranted the attribution to 'Studio of Reynolds' with a very tempting estimate of $7,000 - $9,000.
If you want to challenge yourself in identifying which is the original and which is the copy, then here is a high-resolution image of the pictures side by side (without identifying them).
Once you've decided which is which, here are links to the Wallace Collection picture and the Sotheby's copy.
Sleeper Alert!
May 30 2020
Picture: Lempertz
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News on Twitter via. @AuctionRadar that this drawing of a skeleton 'Attributed to Bronzino' made €420,000 over an estimate of €3,000 - €3,500 at Lempertz this afternoon.
Louvre Acquires Vouet Drawing at Christie's
May 28 2020
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
La Tribune de l'Art has reported that the Louvre has acquired Simon Vouet's drawing of Cardinal Mazarin that sold at Christie's Paris yesterday. The drawing was purchased for €165,000 (without fees).
The auction house published a rather interesting article to accompany the three Vouet drawings that were included in the sale. It explains that the portraits were completed for the young Louis XIII, who wanted to become an artist himself.
As their works on paper expert mused:
‘It is easy to imagine Louis inquisitively watching Vouet over his shoulder, as the artist sketched away in his court,’ suggests Christie’s Old Master drawings specialist Hélène Rihal. ‘Maybe Louis even studied alongside him, pastel in hand.’
Danny Katz Sale at Sotheby's
May 28 2020
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Yesterday's online sale at Sotheby's in collaboration with the dealer Danny Katz achieved an impressive £2.26m (inc. fees). 92.2% of the lots on offer were sold. Further proof that online sales are producing strong results in these uncertain times.
The sale consisted of a mixture of sculpture, modern pictures and some fine British works on paper. This included a fine selection of Zoffany drawings that were only recently unveiled by fellow dealer Andrew Clayton-Payne. Quite a few pieces soared above their estimates, including this Roman arm which sold for £175,000 over £30,000 - £50,000.
My favourite picture in the sale was the Sickert pictured above, which sold for £22,500 over an estimate of £8,000 - £12,000.
Seeing Double at Bukowski's
May 21 2020
Picture: Bukowskis
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Swedish auction house Bukowskis's upcoming Important Spring Sale has been uploaded online. As usual it is filled with many interesting pictures.
I had to do a double take at lot 383, given to the 'Circle of Mierevelt'. It is another version of an obscure picture in the former collection of the Earls of Warwick (one of my unhealthy obsessions, I must disclose).
What is the connection between the two pictures? Which one might have come first?
The Warwick picture had been traditionally identified as a daughter of one of the family's seventeenth century descendants. In fact, just over the past few weeks I had been discussing this very painting with a colleague who had recently found many payments to the artist and dealer George Geldorp (c.1595-1665) in the family's account books of this period. But the appearance of the Bukowski picture probably suggests that this connection might be entirely false.
I wonder who this young girl was?
Sotheby's Results
May 8 2020
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Yesterday's mid-season old masters sale at Sotheby's brought in a very respectable £3.37m (including fees), with 86% of lots sold. This is further encouraging proof that the market for old masters is still going strong despite these strange times. It is also a sign that buyers have confidence in bidding online, something that has not always been taken for granted.
There were several lots that sold particularly well. The most impressive result was Bernado Zenale's Saint John the Baptist, standing in a landscape (pictured) which brought it £225,000 over an estimate of £20,000 - £30,000. The majority of the Earl of Clarendon's set of full length portraits sold above their upper estimates too. This shows that copies of fine pictures can still command respectable prices.
Seller's Remorse?
May 4 2020
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Some rather unusual news has emerged regarding a Rubens that was sold at Christie's in 2018. The picture above, A Satyr holding a Basket of Grapes and Quinces with a Nymph (c.1620), was purchased at auction by billionaire entrepreneur Sean Parker on behalf of his charitable foundation for around $6m ($4.8m hammer).
After the auction the picture's consigner Debra Turner expressed remorse and decided to 'cancel' the sale. Christie's then proceeded with arbitration to resolve the matter. Their recent conclusion was that the auction house had fulfilled their contractual obligations and thus the Rubens had been successfully acquired by the winning bidder. They are now seeking to confirm the arbitration's award in the federal courts.
Most curiously, the picture has been removed from the auction house's website (Christie's, New York, 19 April 2018, lot 41).
Sotheby's Mid-Season Sale
April 22 2020
Picture: English School, Piazza, Covent Garden, c. 1649 via Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Sotheby's have recently posted their mid-season Old Master Paintings sale. Their online sales have been producing some very encouraging results in the past few years. Lots of fine pictures to peruse, including an intriguing set of full length portraits from the Earl of Clarendon's collection.
Encouraging news for Old Master Paintings Sales
April 8 2020
Picture: Sotheby’s
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Some very encouraging news to report from the Old Master Paintings auction world today. The London dealer Rafael Valls’s recent online sale with Sotheby’s brought in a total of £1,601,375 (inc. fees). This number was nearly four times the pre-sale estimate of £430,000, as Head of Department Andrew Fletcher reported via. his Instagram page.
Having a look through the results it seems that many paintings did extremely well against their estimates. The most impressive result, especially considering the current climate, was for a Portrait of a gentleman standing beside a framed portrait of a Lady – Italian Flemish School 17th century (pictured) which made £275,000 (inc. fees) against an estimate of £8,000 – £12,000.
Auctioning in collaborating with art dealers has always been something of a risky business, especially if they are generally perceived as a ‘stock sale’ by the trade (ie. pictures that dealers have not yet sold privately). I’ve personally never seen the shame in this at all, a good picture will always be a good picture. However, what auctions do provide is that all important factor of the urgency of time. Auction houses too can bring greater exposure than dealers can sometimes muster themselves. This is particularly the case online. Equally, in our age where the pool of finding good pictures is generally shrinking, finding attractive pictures for sale will always be of interest to the auction houses.
The Toulouse Caravaggio
April 17 2019
Video: Labarbe
The catalogue for the auction in France of the 'Toulouse Caravaggio' has gone online. In the video above, the Caravaggio expert Nicola Spinosa tells us why the picture is indeed by Caravaggio. The auction is in 71 days time, says a countdown on the site. The presentation is impressive. Will it sell?
The picture will be in New York from 10th - 17th May at the Adam Williams gallery.
