Category: Auctions
Rubens was British?
July 6 2011
So says The Independent, when reporting last night's sale at Christie's of the spectacular Stubbs. Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath made £22m (including premium). Rob Hastings writes:
Even by the standards of the formidable horse that it celebrates, it would have had to go some way to surpass the record for the most expensive painting by a British artist – the near £50m accrued in 2002 for The Massacre of the Innocents by another of the Old Masters, Sir Peter Paul Rubens.
Never mind...
My little prediction below wasn't too far out - I said £18m, and it sold at the lower estimate of £20m. Bloomberg reports that it sold for a single bid in the room to Piers Davies Fine Art (Piers is newly established in New York and used to work for Christie's). They also say that the picture was guaranteed. An earlier edition of the Bloomberg story said that the guarantor was Irish horse-owner John Magner, but this fact has now been deleted.
Sotheby's Old Master evening sale preview
July 6 2011
Picture: Sotheby's
The headline lot tonight at Sotheby's will be the £15-20m Guardi, View of the Rialto Bridge. It must surely sell, and may even beat the estimate, for it is one of the finest Venetian views ever painted. I hear that Christie's first had it in their grasp, but Sotheby's seem to have trumped them. It is the last lot of the evening, so doubtless people will stay to see what it makes. Will it beat Christie's triumphant price last night for the £22.4m Stubbs? Perhaps...
Other highlights include a newly discovered Correggio, Madonna and Child with the Infant St John the Baptist. This has an estimate of £2-3m. I'm slightly puzzled by the condition: the features have all been re-inforced by an old campaign of re-touching, hence the strange look in the faces. Doubtless it will improve dramatically with cleaning. Or maybe not.
I spent a while looking at the exceptional Portrait of a Carmelite Monk on offer at Sotheby's with an estimate of £600-800,000. What a picture. Despite some damage to the left, it is in excellent state, and, being on panel, the colours seem as fresh as the day it was painted. Whoever it is by, it will surely fly above the rather conservative estimate.
[More below]
Bargain of the week?
July 6 2011
Picture: Bonhams
This large and impressive Madonna and Child with St John the Baptist was on offer at Bonhams today. Catalogued as 'Workshop of del Sarto', I thought it had areas of quality underneath the obvious dirt and old varnish. Since there's a history of 'Workshop' productions being found to be actual del Sartos, I expected it to fetch a decent price. But it sold for just £10,800. We might yet see it again...
Christie's Old Master evening sale preview
July 4 2011
It's hard to know where to begin with Christie's almost epic evening sale (Tuesday 5th July). What a stellar collection of pictures they have assembled.
Let's start with the £20-30m Stubbs, Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath (above). Will it sell? If it does, it will double the existing record for a Stubbs, set recently by Sotheby's. I hope it sells, for the price will put old British art into the bracket usually reserved for contemporary and post-war works.
But, I wonder... It's a lot of money for (whisper it) a not particularly exciting composition. Perhaps it's because I find equestrian pictures rather dull in general (odd, I know, for someone named after a sodding horse), but is the picture really more enticing than, say, the beautiful Poussin that failed to sell recently at £15m-£20m? That said, click here to listen to Christie's John Stainton make a persuasive case for the picture. It is also in superb condition. Christie's seem confident it will sell, and I doubt they would want to risk another high-profile buy-in. So here's a daring prediction for you: I reckon it will sell, perhaps at about the £18m mark (and possibly to someone more interested in horses than art...).
Christie's also have not one but two of the best Gainsboroughs to come on the market for at least the last ten years. Mrs William Villebois is the sort of picture one usually finds only in the Frick or Huntington collections. £4-6m may seem a bit high, but it might well do even better. Colonel John Bullock is hardly any less magnificent, and estimated at £3.5-5m. The question is, are there enough Gainsborough buyers out there to sustain two full-lengths at that sort of price?
Other highlights include a del Sarto at £2.5-3.5m, a fine Henry VIII at £300-500k (disclaimer, formerly owned by Philip Mould Ltd), and a flamboyant Robert Peake full-length at £1-1.5m. The latter may be over-priced. Perhaps the most interesting lot will be the Michelangelo drawing at £3-5m. It's nice, but that's a lot of money to shell out for what is little more than a fragment in less than ideal condition.
Sotheby's 2 -1 Christie's
June 29 2011
Picture: Christie's
That's the score for this week's contemporary and post-war evening sales. Christie's made the headlines this morning with the sale of Francis Bacon's Study for a Portrait (above) for £18m. But when it came to the totals raised, Sotheby's triumphed by a long way - £108.8m vs £78.8m.
Sotheby's Campbell's Soup picture by Andy Warhold failed to sell at £3.5-4.5m, however.
Swedes acquire Elizabeth I
June 28 2011
Picture: Bonhams
The National Museum in Stockholm has acquired this portrait miniature of Elizabeth I by Hilliard. It surfaced last year at Bonhams in London, where it made £40,800 (inc. premium).
The Swedes' acquisition of Elizabeth I marks a historical irony. In the early 1560s, the very mad king Erik XIV of Sweden tried desperately to marry her. He sent her his portrait by Steven van Herwijck [Gripsholm Castle], and had his ambassadors shower the populace of London with gold coins in a bid to win popular support. That plan didn't work, because the coins turned out to be fake. Erik was later deposed, and poisoned by a bowl of pea soup.
More on the Van Dyck debate
June 27 2011
Picture: Philip Mould Ltd (detail)
The Antiques Trade Gazette has a good summary of the debate over the Van Dyck study we bought at the Chatsworth Attic Sale.
To recap, we bought the study catalogued as 'Circle of Rubens'. We, and a number of experts, say it is by Van Dyck. Sotheby's, and their own experts (who haven't seen the picture), say it isn't.
Speaking to the ATG, Sotheby's said that the picture was 'short on quality and uncharacteristic for a Van Dyck.' The quality point is moot. Look for yourself at the face, see how animated it is, and remember that this was intended to be no more than a rapidly painted sketch, for later reference in a finished work. But I readily agree that it is uncharacteristic.
It is uncharacteristic because nobody has properly studied Van Dyck's use of studies before. According to the 2004 Van Dyck catalogue raisonne, only 3 studies are listed from between Van Dyck's departure to Italy in 1621 and his death in 1641. This is so patently an under-estimate that we cannot use the 'characteristic' argument when judging potential Van Dyck studies. Instead, we have to look at all the available evidence with open eyes...
Below is my fuller discussion of the picture.
A new $200m Leonardo discovery?
June 25 2011
Picture: ARTnews
In the June edition of ARTnews, Milton Esterow has what could be the discovery story of the decade (or even the century?).
Salvator Mundi, above, was discovered in an estate sale in the US. Now, it will be included in the forthcoming Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery in London. The only illustration so far available is the murky black and white photograph taken before conservation.
The picture belongs to a group of Old Master dealers, including Robert Simon, and reportedly has a $200m asking price.
It has long been known that there was a lost Leonardo of this subject. One, perhaps this one, belonged to Charles I. Here is a rival claimant to be the original. But, if right, what an astonishing thing Robert Simon has found. It proves what I have often said, that (like it or not) we art dealers are often at the coalface of art history, offering up new discoveries for discussion, acceptance or rejection. Such discoveries are the propellant by which art history advances. Full credit to Nicholas Penny and the staff at the National Gallery for including it in their exhibition.
The picture was apparently discovered 'about six or seven years ago'. Now, I started working for Philip Mould in May 2005. So if it was bought before then, phew, that's fine. If after, I guess I missed the Sleeper to end all Sleepers. You can see why these sort of stories keep me awake at night...
Read the full fascinating details here. Doubtless it won't be long till this is picked up by the world's press...
News 'in little'
June 25 2011
Picture: Bondu et Associes
Some miniature news for you.Â
First, an exceedingly rare portrait of Peter the Great by the court artist Grigory Musikiysky (1678-1739), sold for EUR 27,000 in Paris today. The estimate was just 5-6,000. As you can see, it isn't a particularly accomplished work, but such is the demand for Russian Tsarist portraits that the quality seems not to have mattered. Musikiysky normally painted enamels (see an example in the Hermitage here), and this was an unusual watercolour example. It was dated 1719.
And second, if you're in Washington DC, there's a fine looking exhibition of important American miniatures just opened at the National Portrait Gallery (closes May 13th 2012). You can view the exhibits online here. Â Â
If you're really keen on miniatures, then why not come and buy one at the Masterpiece fair in London next week (30th June - 5th July). We will be unveiling some of the stellar works we have amassed over the last few months for the launch of Philip Mould Miniatures.Â
A Holy Family reunion
June 24 2011
Picture: Philip Mould Ltd
Plug alert - here's a bit of news from our exhibition at Philip Mould Ltd, Finding Van Dyck (closes 13th July).
The small picture on the left is Van Dyck's study for the Head of St Joseph, which was used in his larger composition of The Holy Family, on the right. The study was previously unknown, and appeared in December 2009 in a London saleroom catalogued as 'Circle of Van Dyck/Head study of a Man'. But, having established that it related to a known Van Dyck, we were confident, despite layers of dirt and old varnish , that it was 'right' (as we say in the trade), and bought it.
The version of The Holy Family on display here is on loan from Manchester Art Gallery. Like many of Van Dyck's religious and classical compositions, it was painted partly by Van Dyck and partly by his studio assistants. For example, the cherubs upper right are finely executed, while the blue drapery around the Virgin is rather stiff and heavy.
The head of St Joseph in The Holy Family was also painted by a studio hand. While it follows Van Dyck's original study closely, it lacks the vitality of an original head by Van Dyck. Not a great deal is known about Van Dyck's use of studies, and for a long time they were disregarded by scholars. But as more and more are discovered, it becomes evident that, like his one-time master Rubens, Van Dyck made wide use of head studies, both for his own reference when composing large pictures, and for his assistants to follow.
The study and the finished Holy Family have now been reunited for (presumably) the first time since they were painted in Van Dyck's studio in Antwerp, in about 1630.
Sotheby's Carmelite Monk
June 23 2011
Sotheby's have a good video on their Portrait of a Carmelite Monk, by Van Dyck. Normally, auction house videos can be a bit stilted, but in this one George Gordon and Astrid Centner engage in lively banter over how they encountered the picture. Like me, their initial reaction was 'this is by Rubens'. I'm looking forward to seeing the picture next weekend.
Worth a click.
A cherubic Rubens sleeper?
June 23 2011
Picture: Sotheby'sÂ
This curious picture just made a lot of money at Sotheby's in Paris. Catalogued as Studio of Rubens, and with an estimate of EUR 40-60,000, it sold for EUR156,750. I wonder if someone thought it might be better than 'studio'.
Although I didn't see it in the flesh, I thought the face was quite good. The blue background and grey clouds had the distinct feel of being added later, and may be removeable. Perhaps we'll see it again, looking rather different...
Sotheby's Old Master sales
June 22 2011
Picture: Sotheby's
Sotheby's Old Master sales catalogues have gone online. There are some nice things, including the whopping £15-25m Guardi. However, it looks like Christie's have trumped them this time round thanks to the Cowdray collection.
Perhaps the most interesting picture at Sotheby's is Lely's full-length portrait of Nell Gwyn. It is catalogued as 'Portrait of a Young Woman and Child... Almost certainly Nell Gwyn.'
I'm convinced it is her. It seems always to have been called Nell, right back to the Royal Collection in Charles II's day - but was doubted when the late Sir Oliver Millar suggested (I don't know why) that it might instead be Barbara Villiers.
The picture was offered at Christie's in 2007 (as 'almost certainly either Barbara Villiers... or Nell Gwyn') with an over-enthusiastic estimate of £1.5-2m. It failed to sell, but found a buyer after the sale for £1,588,000 including premium. The estimate now is £600-800,000. Ouch.
I'll post a review of the sales next week.
The dark depths of the auction world
June 20 2011
In my day job, I spend a lot of time scouring auction catalogues. In practically every other general sale these days (in regional auction houses) there are pieces of what is called 'Nazi memorabilia'. American auctions particularly are full of the stuff. And it isn't cheap either. There's a whole underworld of collectors, some of them very rich, who are obsessed with anything Nazi-related.
What really baffles me, however, is the relish with which some auctioneers sell Nazi items. Take J P Humbert, for example, who tomorrow will sell a set of four drinking glasses engraved with swastikas and Hitler's initials. Mr Humbert is 'excited' to be selling Hitler's glasses. He tells The Telegraph:
"There is every chance that Adolf Hitler himself sipped from these very glasses.
"It was well known that Hitler had a personal valet in his bunker, and that he dined alone most evenings, using only the finest silver and glassware.
"Certainly the quality is there - the etching is superlative and the mouth and foot of each glass is superbly gilded.
"Whilst there is no written provenance, the fact that the same vendor owned Hitler's sword means that there is every chance that Adolf Hitler himself sipped from these very vessels.
"This really could be a little piece of history in our sale rooms. The glassware is estimated at £5,000-£8,000 but prospective buyers will have to make of it what they will."
As with all Nazi memorabilia, Mr Humbert added they were always mindful of people's feelings. "We have to be tasteful in all we do and would not wish to upset anyone with the item."
I wonder if the tasteful thing would have been to politely decline the lot.
Every now and then someone rings the gallery and mutters something like; 'Can you get me a portrait of Hitler?' With Gestapo-like efficiency, I tell them where to go.*
*ie, sod off.
New price record for Stanley Spencer
June 17 2011
Picture: Sotheby's
Sunflower and Dog Worship, 1937, by Stanley Spencer, sold for a new record price of £5.4m at Sotheby's this week.
The Empire Strikes Back
June 16 2011
Picture: Philip Mould Ltd
In The Times and on the BBC’s Today programme yesterday morning was news of one of the recent Van Dyck discoveries included in our exhibition ‘Finding Van Dyck’. The story was later picked up in a rather muddled piece by Channel 4 news.
The picture, Study of the Head of a Woman (above), was bought at the Chatsworth ‘Attic Sale’ handled by Sotheby’s. It was catalogued as ‘Circle of Rubens’. Briefly, here’s just three reasons why I think the study is by Van Dyck.
- The same head appears in two larger compositions by Van Dyck, both painted in about 1630; Achilles Among the Daughters of Lycomedes (Schonborn Collection), and Adoration of the Shepherds (Church of Our Lady, Dendermonde).
- In the Achilles painting, the woman’s head is used in the lower centre, and has been rotated slightly for the figure looking up at Achilles. In the Adoration picture, the study has been inverted, and used for the shepherdess looking down at Christ. (I would illustrate both, but don't yet have permission to reproduce them online).
- In both of the above pictures, the heads follow the study closely, even down to details such as the highlight on the top lip, and the shadows in the cheek.
We are left, therefore, with two plausible options – either it is a copy after the Achilles or Adoration pictures. Or it was made by Van Dyck in preparation for those pictures.
We can immediately rule out option 1, that it is a copy. Not only is it too impulsive, animated and well painted to be by a copyist (or even a studio assistant), it is also at a different angle and with different hair, thus ruling out the possibility that it was painted after either of the larger works.
In response to inquiries from the BBC and Channel 4, Sotheby’s issued the following statement:
Sotheby’s carefully considered the painting when cataloguing it for sale, and reject the recent attribution to Van Dyck. Six out of seven of the world’s leading specialists in this field whom Sotheby’s has consulted also categorically reject the attribution to Van Dyck (the only one supporting the Van Dyck attribution being the same specialist Philip Mould consulted). The overwhelming weight of scholarly opinion – consistent with Sotheby’s original cataloguing – is that the painting is by an anonymous Flemish artist working in the 17th century, ultimately inspired by Peter Paul Rubens.
But here’s three curious things: [more below]
India joins China in the Eastern art boom
June 14 2011
Picture: Christie's
An untitled painting by the Indian artist Tyeb Mehta, which shows a figure resting in a rickshaw, has sold for $3.24m at Christie's. It's the second highest price paid for an Indian painting.
Christie's wins...
June 13 2011
Picture: Christie's
...the race to get their Old Master July catalogues out first.
It's about this time of the year that I nerdishly check Sotheby's and Christie's sites about twice a day, to see if the sales have been posted online.
Christie's have secured some remarkably fine pictures here, such as Robert Peake's Portrait of William Pope, 1st Earl of Downe (est. £1m-1.5m). I'll write more on these nearer the time of the sale (5th July). Now we await Sotheby's offerings...
New York Old Master sales results
June 11 2011
Picture: Christie's
There were some reassuringly solid prices at the main Old Master sales in New York this week. Christie's cover lot, an enticing Mary Magdalene by the Master of the Parrot (above), sold for $1,426,500, beating its estimate of $600-800,000.
Sotheby's star price was the $872,500 realised for Jacob van Ruisdael's Ruined Castle Gateway. This was estimated at just $100-150,000.
There were strong prices in all areas. The sudden craze for Napoleon portraits continues, with a full-length by Alexandre Dufay sellling for $236,500, against an estimate of $60-80,000. It is of middling quality. Not so long ago, portraits of Napoleon (which abound) where not stellar sellers. I wonder who is buying them now?
