A key early Rubens masterpiece from the greatest private collection of Baroque paintings assembled in recent times will come up at Sotheby’s in New York next January. Collected with passion and rigor over three decades, the Fisch Davidson collection distills the essence and power of Baroque art between 1600 and 1650, comprising some of the very finest paintings in private hands by Guercino, Bernardo Cavallino, Valentin de Boulogne, Orazio Gentileschi and above all Sir Peter Paul Rubens.
No less than ten works from the collection will headline Sotheby’s Master’s Week auctions, led by Sir Peter Paul Rubens’ Salome presented with the severed head of Saint John the Baptist. It is estimated at $25-35 million. In advance of the sale Sotheby’s will tour highlights to Los Angeles, Hong Kong and London.
Keith Christiansen, Curator Emeritus, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York said: “What distinguishes the Fisch Davidson collection is the sustained level of quality of the paintings, combined with a willingness to embrace powerful subjects that lesser collectors might find “difficult”. There is nothing shy about these pictures…. These are baroque paintings that speak with a contemporary voice. Their modernity lies in their probing, psychological dimension combined with dramatic flair, realised with brilliantly descriptive brushwork.”
UPDATE: THE SALE OF THIS COLLECTION MADE $49,587,600