Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath made £22,441,250 at Christie's.
A racehorse famous in the 18th century is still winning in the 21st. Gimcrack (a word defined as a cheap and showy object) belied his name and proved his worth at Christie’s Old Masters evening sale in London on July 5 by making £22,441,250.
Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a Trainer, a Stable-Lad, and a Jockey by George Stubbs (1724-1806) depicts one of the most popular and admired of all 18th century racehorses. The estimate was £20/30 million. As a result of this sale Stubbs now joins Rubens, Rembrandt, Turner and Pontormo as the only Old Master artists whose paintings have sold for more than £20 million at auction.
This Michelangelo drawing of a male nude made £3,177,250.
The Evening Sale of Old Master & British Paintings realised £49,766,050. It sold 67% by lot and 83% by value. The evening’s top price was paid for Gimcrack, a masterpiece of both British art and sporting painting. Bought by Piers Davies Fine Art on behalf of a client it is the third most valuable Old Master painting ever sold at auction. It was last sold at auction in 1951 when it realized £12,600.
A view of the saleroom. (Click on image to enlarge)
There was a world record price for Thomas Gainsborough when his Portait of Mrs. William Villebois made £6,537,250. A male nude drawing by Michaelangelo made £3,177,250 against an estimate of £3/5 million.
Christie’s reported that there was a noticeable demand from private clients. There was a particularly high level of interest and bidding from new clients, including a significant number from Asia. Another change in the market for Old Masters is the amount of collectors who buy across a range of categories, driven by quality. These collectors are, they say, adding a new energy to certain sectors of this field.
(See antiquesandartireland.com posts for May 31 and April 6).