antiquesandartireland.com

Sandro Botticelli – Study for a seated St. Joseph, his head resting on his right hand 

The only drawing by Botticelli to appear at auction in over a century sold for a record £1.3 million at Sotheby’s in London tonight.  Study for a Seated St. Joseph, his head resting on his right hand, was sold from the collection of the late Barbara Piasecka Johnson, art connoisseur, philanthropist and wife of the late John Seward Johnson, heir to the Johnson and Johnson medical and pharmaceutical firm. She bought it from Sotheby’s for $88,000 in 1988. Proceeds from the sale will benefit her foundation, primarily devoted to helping children with autism.

The top lot of the evening was Tygers at Play by George Stubbs which sold for £7,698,500.  The Old Master sale achieved £68.3 million, the highest total for such a sale ever.  Alex Bell, Joint International Head and Co-Chairman of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings Department said: “This evening’s results set a record for an Old Master and British Paintings Evening sale at Sotheby’s London and eclipsed our landmark 2002 total of £67.58 million. With 17 auction records and unprecedented international participation, we saw the market at its best. The prestigious aristocratic and private collections that constituted the core of tonight’s sale were the secret of this success. Having remained in the same collections for centuries, most of the works carried the imprimatur of the greatest art patrons of the day, such as the Dukes of Northumberland and the Earls of Warwick and bore witness to the discerning eye of some of the most important collectors of the 20th century, including Baron Coppée and Barbara Piasecka Johnson”.

(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for May 28, 2014)

Francesco Guardi (1712-1793)
Venice, the Bacino di San Marco with the Piazzetta and the Doge’s Palace

Vermeer – Saint Praxedis – © Christie’s Images Limited 2014

A view of Venice by Francesco Guardi was the top lot at Christie’s evening auction of Old Master & British Paintings in London on July 8.  Venice, the Bacino di San Marco with the Piazzetta and the Doge’s Palace made £9,882,500 in a sale which realised £44,986,000. There were 145 registered bidders from 27 countries across 5 continents. The Guardi, from the Baron Henri de Rochschild collection, set the second highest price for a work by the artist at auction.  Vermeer’s St. Praxedis sold for £6,242,500.  This is the earliest dated picture by Vermeer and one of only two of his 37 known works remaining in private hands. It was from the collection of Barbara Piasecka Johnson.

(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for February 27 and June 9, 2014)

Augustin Edouart (1789-1861) – An album of silhouettes of Irish characters (£10,000-15,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE £32,500

Augustin Edouart (1789-1861) – Irish characters.

An album of silhouettes of Irish characters by Augustin Edouart comes up at Sotheby’s Old Master and British Drawings sale in London on July 9.  The book of 118 mostly doubled sided sheets contains 749 silhouettes dated between 1838 and 1839. Edouart travelled in England, Ireland and Scotland between 1814 and 1839 at which point he moved to the US.  He returned to his native France in 1849.

Throughout his career he made duplicates of each of his commissions. Tragically most of his books were lost in a shipwreck off the coast of Guernsey. The album to be sold at Sotheby’s is one of only abut 25 known.  It is estimated at £10,000-15,000.

UPDATE: THE album was sold for £32,500

TRACEY EMIN (B. 1963)
My Bed sold for £2,546,500. (Image courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014).

Francis Bacon’s Study for Head of Lucian Freud was the top lot at Christie’s evening sale of Post War and Contemporary Art in London on July 1.  It sold for £11,506,500  over an estimate  of  £8–12 million. The onward march of Post War and Contemporary art continuned in a sale at which there were seven world records for artists Peter Doig (£9.9 million), Tracey Emin (£2.5 million), Michelangelo Pistoletto (£2.3 million), Jean Dubuffet (£4 million), Albert Oehlen (£1 mllion), Antoni Tàpies (£1.6 million) and Hurvin Anderson (a student of Peter Doig) (£1.3 million). The auction realised £99,413,500, the third highest Post War and Contemporary evening sale in Europe.  No less than 29 lots sold for over £1 million. It sold 87% by value and 84% by lot.  There was 190 bidders from 28 countries seeking only the highest quality work. 

Francis Outred, International Director and Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Christie’s Europe said: “It’s been an incredible night for Christie’s. There was an electric atmosphere in the room ­ – the excitement was palpable. We saw the market move to a new record price for Peter Doig, as well as record prices for classic painting by undervalued giants of Post War European art, such as Dubuffet, Tàpies and Pistoletto.  This sale was especially strong in portraits, particularly those with fascinating provenance and back stories. Both Tracey Emin’s ‘My Bed’, which quadrupled its pre-sale estimate,  and the Dahl Family Estate’s ‘Study for the Head of Lucian Freud’ by Francis Bacon share an intense personal quality which adds hugely to their interest and value.”

(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for May 28, 2014)

The Bacon triptych at Sotheby’s.

A Francis Bacon triptych of his love George Dyer sold for £26.6 million at Sotheby’s in London tonight. It attracted bids from four collectors from around the world and was knocked down to a telephone bidder.  This sets a new benchmark for a small scale triptych by the Irish born artist.  It eclipsed the previous record of £23 million for a work in this format.  This was paid for Bacon’s Portrait of Lucian Freud (Studies) at Sotheby’s in London in 2011.

Depicting the man who was the love of Bacon’s life at the moment when they were most deeply involved, Three Studies for Portrait of George Dyer (on light ground) is an exceptionally rare lifetime depiction of Dyer . It is full of the painterly exuberance that marks out Bacon as one of the greatest painters of the 20^th century. An outstanding example of Bacon at the height of his powers, this museum-quality work is also of critical importance because it is, in all likelihood, the first painting for which Bacon used the legendary photographs by his friend John Deakin as source material.  The painting had only rarely been seen in public, having remained in the same collection since 1970. The estimate of £15-20 million was quickly surpassed.

There was global participation in the sale and strong bidding from Asia, including mainland China and Japan. There were auction records for Peter Doig whose painting Country-rock (wing mirror) sold for £8,482,500  and Frank Auerbach whose painting Primrose Hill, Summer sold for £3,322,500.

(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for June 2, 2014).

F.E. McWilliam (1909-1992) African Figure

The Irish sculptor F.E. McWilliam was among four artists to achieve new auction records at Christie’s in London tonight.  There was new records for McWilliam, Dame Barbara Hepworth, Elixabeth Frink and John Craxton.  African Figure, a carved wood piece by McWilliam sold for £266,500. Hepworth’s Figure for Landscape sold for £4.1 million.  The Modern British and Irish evening sale achieved £21.3 million.  Sir John Lavery’s portrait of Anna Pavlova as The Swan sold for £158,500.

Christie’s hailed these results, saying the market is buoyant.  Directors André Zlattinger and Rachel Hidderley commented:  “The market for British Art has never been more buoyant. The results of the ‘Modern British & Irish Art Evening Sale’ were the highest ever achieved for a various owner sale in the category and reflect the continued demand for 20th century British & Irish Art from collectors across four continents.

The modern British and Irish day sale takes place on June 26.

(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for June 13 and June 12, 2014).