Doyle Dazzles

Fernando Botero Albert Bierstadt Edward Henry Potthast John Singer Sargent Rufino Tamayo Camille Pissarro Jean Metzinger Sotheby's Scores

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"These are the most important collections we’ve ever had in terms of paintings," the house specialist Anne DePietro says, describing the holdings of the late New York-based philanthropist Marie J. Doty and an anonymous Washington, D.C., art lover. "It’s an embarrassment of riches."

The most highly valued pieces are by Europeans: Jean Metzinger’s lush Cubist landscape Paysage vert, 1917, is expected to fetch between $800,000 and $1.5 million, while an overcast view of the Norman countryside by Camille Pissarro, Les Coteaux de Gisors, temps gris, 1885, is estimated at $600,000 to $900,000. Midcentury Latin American masters are represented by such rare works as El helado de fresa, 1938 (est. $300-500,000), an early painting by the Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo, and Young Girl, a portrait by the Colombian artist Fernando Botero from the 1950s (est. $30-50,000).

But the highlights of the sale are 19th-century American paintings, with an uncharacteristically sensual watercolor of a Venetian woman by John Singer Sargent (est. $200-500,000) and Albert Bierstadt’s sublime view of Niagara Falls from 1917 (est. $150-300,000) among the standouts.

Both collections contain beach scenes by the American Impressionist Edward Henry Potthast, who, says DePietro, "worked anywhere from Maine down to the Rockaways."

Potthast’s undated In the Dog Days (est. $200-300,000) depicts an oppressively hot summer day in strident hues that contrast with the soft palette of the nudes frolicking in the artist’s ethereal Water Nymphs. The latter is one of his earliest known beach views, from around 1916 (est. $200-400,000).

"Doyle Dazzles" originally appeared in the May 2009 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's May 2009 Table of Contents.