Risk Brings Rewards in Old Masters Sales

Courtesy Sotheby's

Hendrick Ter Brugghen’s "Bagpipe Player in Profile"

Joseph Mallord William Turner Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes Federico Barocci Hendrik van der Borcht Francois Boucher John Constable Lovis Corinth Jean Fouquet

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The results from this week’s sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York revealed a sharp contrast between the two houses, with Sotheby’s offering more ambitious and expensive works than its archrival, a strategy that seemed to succeed for a decidedly cautious clientele.

Provenance also played a big role in the results, as evidenced by the multi-bid action on property from the collection of Julius Held, the celebrated Rubens and Rembrandt scholar who died in 2002.

The Scholar's Eye: Property from the Julius Held Collection, at Christie's, January 27
At the Held sale, which kicked off Old Masters week on January 27, impressive results were earned by Joachim Beuckelaer’s A Market Scene (1562), an oil on panel groaning with game and vegetables, which shot to $542,500 (est. $200–300,000); and Hendrik van der Borcht’s loose-leaf-page-sized A Collection of Ancient Objects, which fetched $182,500 (est. $30–50,000).

Even attributed works not bearing a signature found interest. The dashing Portrait of Edward Wortley, Lord Montagu, dressed as an Arab sheik — an ovular painting attributed to George Romney — shot to $46,250 (est. $3,000–5,000). The work last sold at London in 1927 for 23 guineas, a price currency sleuths may be interested in exploring.

Held’s taste was eclectic, and a few of the non–Old Master lots in the bunch also elicited strong interest, especially the striking Lovis Corinth Self Portrait with a Black Hat from 1912, which shot past its high estimate to earn $254,500 (est. $40–60,000).

Overall, the sale’s 68 lots earned $2,546,875 and scored buy-in rates of 15 percent by lot and 9 percent by value. The sale’s second part, offering more decorative, lower-value works, is scheduled for January 30.

Christie’s Important Old Master Paintings, January 28
Overall, Christie’s two-session (and two-catalogue) sale on January 28 delivered a skimpy $14,189,500 for the 210 lots offered (est. $21,690,500-29,682,500), with 35 percent unsold by lot and 42 percent unsold by value.

The morning session underscored the hunger for works judged to be outstanding, especially if the estimates were low and without reserve. The Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist by the 15th-century artist known as the Master of the Fiesole Epiphany, in tempera and gold on panel made $128,500 (est. $40–60,000), and Michelangelo Di Pietro Mencherini’s 16th-century Saint Jerome and Saint Joseph with a Donor, in tempera and oil on panel soared to $230,500 (est. $60–80,000).

Provenance proved its mettle again with the successful sale of property from the collection of Chicagoans William and Eleanor Wood Prince. A striking Circle of Jean Fouquet Portrait of Albertus Delantiere, Secretary to Navarre from 1471 sold to a telephone bidder for $206,500 (est. $30–50,000), and a pretty After Leonardo da Vinci The Madonna of the Yarnwinder in oil on panel went to another telephone bidder for $152,500 (est. $20–30,000).

Some private buyers were able to score real bargains. A dramatic nautical scene by Francis Holman, A Royal Navy 14-Gun Brig Accepting the Surrender of a Dutch East Indiaman from 1781, sold for a trim $30,000 (est. $50–70,000).

“It’s going back to England,” said the successful bidder as he exited the salesroom, beaming alongside his wife. He declined to identify himself.

Another U.K. private buyer who declined to identify himself nabbed John Constable’s A View of Salisbury, an almost page-sized oil on paper laid down on canvas for $1,082,500 (est. $500-800,000). The painting was one of only three works in the sale to exceed $1 million.

Members of the trade were also on hand, hunting for inventory. Eagle-eyed Brussels and Paris dealer Georges de Jonckheere bought Portrait of a Man, Aged 25, Half-Length, in a Black Coat and Hat by the Master of the Andreas Hertwig Portrait for $134,500 (est. $70–100,000).