There was a world record price for The Lock a masterpiece by John Constable (1776-1837) at Christie’s Old Master and British Paintings evening auction in London on July 3. It made £22,441,250. From the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection it had been estimated at £20-25 million.
The Lock is one of six paintings from Contable’s most celebrated series of large scale works – The Stour Series – and was the last to remain in private hands. The series includes The Hay Wain in the collection of The National Gallery, London. In the original gilt plaster and carved wood frame The Lock has been sold only once since it was acquired from the artist and is remarkable for its excellent state of preservation. It is believed to have been bought by a Russian client of Christie’s.
The sale brought in £85,057,100 pounds. This was the highest ever total for the category and 17 works sold for over £1 million. Rembrandt’s A Man in a Gorget and Cap made £8.4 million against an estimate of £8-12 million. It was acquired by a lone telephone bidder from Asia. There were artists records for Pietro Lorenzetti (£5 million), Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael £4.6 million), – Pieter Jansz Saenredam (£3.7 million), Juan de Zurbarán(£2.7 million), Balthasar van der Ast (£2.6 million) and Adriaen Coorte (£2.2 million).
Christie’s summer auctions of Old Master & British Paintings, Drawings & Watercolours in London on July 3 and 4 realised a combined total of £93,663,150.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for May 29 and March 5, 2012).