Adam de Coster (1586-1643) – A young boy reading a music score by candlelight
Just eight days after Adam’s sold an oil on canvas by Adam de Coster (1586-1643) for a hammer price of €60,000 Sotheby’s in Paris sold a different work by same artist for €38,400. At Adams the top lot of the Country House Collections sale at Townley Hall was Concert (Three Figures) by de Coster, regarded as one of the most refined painters of the Flemish Baroque.
In Paris Sotheby’s offered A young boy reading a music score by candlelight by de Coster from the Schlumberger collection with an estimate of €20,000-€30,000. It sold for €38,400. Adam’s had estimated their de Coster at €40,000-€60,000. The subject matters were quite similar but there are three figures in the Irish offering and only one in the French.
Sotheby’s noted that comparable examples include the Man Singing by Candlelight in the National Gallery of Ireland and the Young Woman Holding a Distaff before a lit Candlelight, recently sold at Sotheby’s, New York.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for October 14, 2026).