El Greco, Saint Dominic in Prayer at Sotheby’s London Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale, on July 3 (£3-5 million). (Click on image to enlarge).
Works by Monet, El Greco and Tiepolo are included in the collection of the late philanthropist Dr. Gustav Rau to be sold by Sotheby’s this year. The collection, valued at more than £16 million, will be offered at a range of auctions starting with the Impressionist and Modern sales in London next June. Money raised goes to UNICEF Germany to fund long-term assistance programs for children, and especially to further assist the Ciriri hospital in eastern Congo. Highlights include Claude Monet’s oil on canvas Le Pont de Bois (£4-6 million); El Greco’s Saint Dominic in Prayer (£3-5 million) and Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo’s Jacopo Porto Appointed Governor of Vicenza (£3-5 million).
Dr. Philipp Duke of Württemberg, chairman Sotheby’s Europe and md of the company in Germany said: “Dr. Rau collected with a rare energy and wisdom. An austere man who wasted no money on himself, he was nonetheless always ready to pursue the greatest works of art, across all schools and genres, to create one of the 20th Century’s most comprehensive and exciting collections”.
Gustav Rau (1922-2002), scion of a wealthy German industrialist family followed his father into the automotive business. At the age of 40 he trained as a doctor to work in the developing world. Following his father’s death he sold the family company and began to use the proceeds to help diminish poverty in the Third World. He moved to the Congo where he lived for two decades, building a hospital at Ciriri and serving as a doctor for the surrounding community. Over a period of 40 years he also indulged his passion for the arts. Self-taught, but with an instinctive eye, his collection encompassed superb works from the early Quattrocento all the way through to the Modern era. On his death, Dr. Rau bequeathed his outstanding collection to UNICEF Germany.