Category: Auctions
Bonhams April Sale
April 18 2025
Picture: Bonhams
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Bonhams London have uploaded their upcoming Old Master Paintings sale online. Bidding will take place between 23rd - 30th April 2025.
As usual, I won't point out what may or may not be interesting.
Kaplan to Sell Rembrandt Drawing for Big Cat Conservation
April 11 2025
Picture: artnews.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Artnews.com have published news that Thomas Kaplan (the philanthropist and figure behind the Leiden Collection) will be auctioning off the following Rembrandt Drawing of a Lion to help raise funds for big cat conservation. The sale is purported to happen next year with the drawing carrying an estimate in the'“multiples of tens” of millions.'
Dorotheum Sale
April 10 2025
Picture: Dorotheum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Dorotheum in Vienna have uploaded their upcoming Old Masters sale online. The auction will take place on 29th April 2025. Do click on the link above to scroll through the lots.
Burgundian Portrait coming up at Sotheby's London
April 8 2025
Picture: Sotheby's via. Arts Council
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Following on from last weeks announcements on the Arts Council Website, the following painting catalogued as 'Burgundian School, circa 1500 Portrait of a Gentleman bust length in dark costume and hat' has been announced as part of Sotheby's London's Evening Auction in July. The artwork carries a guide price of £500,000.
Middle Eastern Works by David Roberts coming up at Sotheby's
April 4 2025
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A large and rare collection of Middle Eastern views by David Roberts, R.A. will be coming up for sale at Sotheby's London on 29th April 2025. The 35 works on paper on offer include views of Petra, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Sidon and Baalbec, amongst other studies.
Marie-Guillemine Benoist coming up in France
April 4 2025
Picture: Thierry-Lannon
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A portrait by Marie-Guillemine Benoist, rediscovered with the help of the art agents Turquin, is coming up for sale at Thierry-Lannon in France next week. Signed and dated 1806, the portrait depicts the playwright and administrator Jean-Louis Brousse-Desfaucherets, who had many works performed during the revolutionary period in France. The painting will be offered with an estimate of 120,000 - 150,000 EUR.
Constable, Stubbs and more coming up at Christie's London
April 2 2025
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Eagle eye watchers of the Art Council Private Treaty Sales page will spot that several paintings from the upcoming Christie's London Part I sale have been published online.
Some of the more exciting lots are John Constable's The Ferry (pictured), a picture which has been on long-term loan at Tate and will be offered with a guide price around £2m. Additionally, the list features a rather fine George Stubbs of a Prancing Horse in a Landscape with Two Dogs estimated at around £1.2m.
Other intriguing lots include this rather interesting painting of King Charles I by Cornelis Johnson signed and dated 1622, which carries an estimate of around £200,000.
Click on the link above for more details regarding these pictures and other upcoming lots.
Sleeper Alert!
March 31 2025
Picture: Wimbledon Auctions
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News on social media (via. milesbartonpaintings) that this portrait of Robert Burns catalogued as 'Manner of Sir Henry Raeburn' achieved £68,000 (hammer) over its £300 - £500 estimate at Wimbledon Auctions today.
Vanitas Sleeper!
March 27 2025
Picture: Il Ponte
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News on social media (from @Michael27553834 and @auctionradar) of this picture catalogued as 'Castilian School of the First Half of the 17th Century' which realised 200,000 EUR over its 25k - 35k estimate at Il Ponte in Milan.
Sotheby's Mid-Season Sale
March 27 2025
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Sotheby's London have uploaded their upcoming Old Master & 19th Century Paintings sale online. Bidding for this auction will take place between 2nd - 9th April 2025.
As usual with mid-season sales, I won't point out what may or may not be interesting.
Clara Peeters to headline Koller sale
March 10 2025
Picture: Koller
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A still life with fish by Clara Peeters is one of the top lots in the upcoming Koller auction in Zurich later this month. Notably, the National Gallery of Denmark purchased the most recent example the Swiss auction house offered last year. The fish (a slightly trickier subject commercially) will be carrying an estimate of 70,000 - 100,000 CHF on 28th March 2025.
Rediscovered Mathieu Le Nain Coming Up in France
March 7 2025
Picture: Euvrard & Fabre
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
La Gazette Drouot has drawn attention to this rather curious and rare rediscovered Madonna and Child by Mathieu Le Nain (1607- 1677) which is coming up at Euvrard & Fabre later this month. The picture has been compared to other such rare examples that survive in various museums and even appears to have been painted over a portrait by the artist (for images click here).
Christie's Paris Drawings
March 6 2025
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Christie's Paris have uploaded their aforementioned Dessins Anciens et du XIXe siècle sale online. The auction will take place on 26th March 2025.
Rediscovered Poussin Drawing to Headline Christie's Paris Sale
March 3 2025
Picture: Christie's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Christie's Paris have shared news that a rediscovered drawing by Nicolas Poussin will headline their upcoming Dessins Anciens et du XIXe siècle sale on 26th March 2025.
According to their press release:
Belonging to the prestigious British collection of Jonathan Richardson senior (1665-1745), this delicate composition in a blond wash (highly characteristic of Nicolas Poussin’s drawings) of Sainte Catherine agenouillée entourée de putti et regardant une image pieuse depicts the kneeling Saint Catherine surrounded by putti and gazing at a sacred image (€60,000-80,000), while the object which caused her martyrdom, the wheel, is shown broken not far from her. This early drawing, probably produced in Rome between 1627 and 1630, is stylistically similar to a group of mythological scenes, also featuring putti, in the Musée de Condé in Chantilly, the Beaux-Arts in Paris and the Uffizi in Florence.
Joan Carlile Sleeper!
March 2 2025
Picture: lawsons.com.au
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A reader of this blog has kindly been in touch to let me know of this intriguing picture catalogued as 'Circle of Peter Lely' which made 45,000 AUD (the equivalent of £22,200) over its 2,000 - 3,000 AUD estimate at Lawsons in Australia today. It seems rather clear that this is a lost work by Joan Carlile (see here for another example), and a very beautiful one at that. I'm sure the picture will turn up somewhere interesting in due course!
Update - Thierry at @auctionradar made a good observation on Instagram yesterday that it appears the composition was inspired by Titian's Portrait of Laura Dianti (last recorded in the Kisters collection). The engraver Aegidius Sadeler made a print of the painting when it was in the collection of Rudolf II in Prague, which is probably how Joan Carlile came to know this particular Titian.
$80m Saunders Collection coming up at Sotheby's New York
February 28 2025
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The New York Times has broken news of an $80m collection of Old Masters which Sotheby's New York will be auctioning off in May 2025. The collection formed by Thomas A. Saunders III, a former chairman of the influential conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, includes works by Francesco Guardi, Jan Davidsz. de Heem (pictured), Luis Meléndez, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Adriaen Coorte, Gerrit Dou and Salomon van Ruysdael. The group of 60 paintings were acquired between 1998 - 2000 to decorate his and his wife's New York apartment.
Some of the highlights from the upcoming sale are currently on view at Sotheby's London in New Bond Street, in case any readers might want to go and take a look.
Update - Here's more information, plus lots of images of the works included, from the Sotheby's website.
Wheelie bin Romney up for sale
February 21 2025
Picture: Roseberys
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Amusing news that a drawing by George Romney, that was discovered in a wheelie bin in upstate New York, is going to be featured within an upcoming sale at Roseberys. The drawing is said to depict Henrietta Greville, 2nd Countess of Warwick.*
According to the article linked above:
The collector, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "When I first found it buried in the wheelie bin it looked interesting but I had no idea it was nearly 300 years old.
"After taking it home and doing some research I couldn't believe it. How did this mid-18th century drawing from England end up in the trash in upstate New York?"
The drawing will be offered for sale on 12th March 2025 carrying an estimate of £600 - £800.
_________
* - As it happens, the Earls and Countesses of Warwick are one of my pet subjects. The identification comes from what appears to be a much later inscription on the mount and is curious since the work does in no way resemble Romney's portrait of the Countess and her children (now in the Frick) or a lost portrait of her that was engraved. Was the identification made at some point in the 20th century by someone who had knowledge of the Frick collection painting, which happened to have been acquired in 1908? A mystery.
Rosalba Carriera Pastel Soars!
February 19 2025
Picture: Drouot
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The following pastel by Rosalba Carriera, a rather beautiful example of its kind which was given by the artist to the celebrated collector Jean de Jullienne in 1721, soared to 78,000 EUR over its 8k - 12k EUR estimate at Baratoux-Dubourg Enchères in Bourdeaux this afternoon (spotted via. @neiljeffares).
SMK acquires Clara Peeters from Koller sale
February 19 2025
Picture: Koller
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I'm a little slow to news that the National Gallery of Denmark (SMK) has announced its aquisition of Clara Peeters' Bird Still Life which appeared at Koller in Zurich at the end of last year and made a respectable 622,000 CHF (inc. premium) over its 300k - 500k CHF estimate. The picture is now the earliest dated painting by a woman artist in the SMK collection.
Sotheby's New York Results
February 7 2025
Picture: Sotheby's
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Yesterday's Sotheby's New York Master Paintings Part I sale realised $27,528,000 with a sell-through rate of 59.2% / 50.9% including withdrawn lots.
Several pictures soared past their estimates, including Pieter Brueghel the Younger's Nest Robber which achieved $3m over its $1.2m - $1.8m estimate, Cornelis de Vos' Portrait of a Young Girl which made $2,040,000 over its $600k -$800k estimate, a Tintoretto portrait which achieved $2,160,000 over its $800k - $1.2m estimate, a Workshop of Botticelli tondo which made $660,000 over its $100k - $150k estimate and a Bay Cob by Stubbs which made $540,000 over its $150k - $200k estimate.
The Aso O. Tavitian single-owner sales will begin today (featuring many fine Old Masters), so this total is likely to be higher once those are done.
