antiquesandartireland.com

Andy Warhol's inscribed picture of Elizabeth Taylor - © Christie’s Images Limited 2011. (Click on image to enlarge).

A private Asian buyer paid $662,500 for this inscribed portrait of Elizabeth Taylor by Andy Warhol at Christie’s in New York.  The 1964 work carries the dedication:  ‘to elizabeth with much love’  from the artist.  It is from the edition of approximately 300 published by Leo Castelli Gallery, New York.

An American museum paid $362,500 for this Christian Dior evening gown of silver encrusted brocade with matching evening bag. Estimated at $4,000-6,000, it was the most expensive item of couture sold. It was worn to Guy de Rothschild yearly ball at Chateau de Ferrières, in Brie, France. (Picture © Christie’s Images Limited 2011, click to enlarge).

The catalogue described it thus:  Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Liz (Feldman and Schellmann II.7), offset lithograph in colors.  This is one of the 12 portraits of Taylor created by Warhol when she was recovering from a serious illness in the early 1960’s. It was part of The Icon & Her Haute Couture Evening Sale which brought in $2,600,750.

The two day sale series devoted to the haute couture, fashion and accessories of Elizabeth Taylor made a combined total of $5,586,913.  It was 100 per cent sold.

Miss Taylor's Gina Fratini wedding dress, worn at her second marriage to Richard Burton in 1975, made $62,500. It was bought by an American museum. (Copyright Christie's Images, 2011, click to enlarge).

A collection of Miss Taylor’s Impressionist and Modern Art will be sold next February at Christie’s in London.

Velazquez, Portrait of a Gentleman. (Click on image to enlarge).

A newly discovered, previously unknown, Portrait of a Gentleman by Velazquez made £3 million at Bonhams in London on December 7.  The portrait had been with a batch of works consigned to Bonhams in Oxford in 2010.  They advised further investigation.

Dr Peter Cherry, Professor of Art History at the University of Dublin, one of the world’s foremost authorities on Velázquez and his school, confirmed the attribution to the Spanish artist Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660).  Technical analysis and an x-radiograph further confirmed it.

A second lost masterpiece, Three peaches on a stone ledge with a painted lady butterfly by Dutch artist Adriaen Coorte made £2.1million.  This is a new world record price for the artist at auction.  The sale total for Bonhams Old Master Paintings auction was £6,329,500.

(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for October 27).

Jazz Babies (1929) by Jack B. Yeats. (Click on image to enlarge).

Yeats, Henry and William Conor all came up trumps at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on December 5. The top lot in a sale which realised 2 million euro was Jazz Babies by Jack Yeats which made 480,000 at hammer.  It was bought on the telephone by an Irish buyer.   The work depicts a rare self portrait by the artist.

‘Evening, Kildare’ by Yeats, formerly in the collection of George Bernard Shaw, made 36,000, Wind Blown Trees by Paul Henry sold for 97,000, Jaunting Car by William Conor sold for 70,000, double the lower estimate and a large sculpture by F.E. McWilliam made 58,000 over an estimate of 30,000-50,000.

A gold pocket watch and chain specifically mentioned in James Joyce’s Ulysses, sold for 60,000 over an estimate of 8,000-12,000.  It belonged to John O’Connell (1844-1925), described as ‘Caretaker’ at Glasnevin Cemetary when Leopold Bloom attends Paddy Dignam’s funeral.

Adams achieved a new Irish auction record when Fair Day, Mayo by Yeats sold for one million euro in September.  This is the most expensive Irish painting to have changed hands at auction this year.

See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for November 25 and November 9.

A Yeats once in the possession of George Bernard Shaw is included in the James Adam  sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on December 5.  Evening Kildare, which dates from 1936,  is one of 14 works that have come from the Beaulieu House collection.  They are being sold to finance the continuing upkeep of a property that has been in the same family since the 1660’s.

The sale comprises 151 carefully chosen lots.  Here are a few of them – (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for November 9):-

RODERIC O'CONOR (1860-1940) Femme Assise (60,000-80,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 60,000 AT HAMMER.

PAUL HENRY RHA RUA (1876-1958) Wind Blown Trees (80,000-120,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 97,000.

COLIN MIDDLETON RHA MBE (1910-1983) Jou Jou (1939) (50,000-70,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 62,000

WILLIAM CONOR RUA RHA (1884-1968) The Jaunting Car (No. 1) (35,000-55,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 70,000.

JACK BUTLER YEATS RHA (1871-1957) Evening, Kildare (1936) (30,00050,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE A HAMMER PRICE OF 36,000.

The Goya portrait at Christies. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD.

A Goya portrait  leads Christie’s Old Master and British paintings sale on December 6.  The portrait of Juan López de Robredo by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) is estimated at £4-£6 million.  There are 36 paintings in the sale spanning 500 years of European art history.  There is strong portraiture and a number of Dutch pictures in an auction expected to realize between £18-£26 million.

The Battle between Carnival and Lent by Brueghel at Christie's. (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS MADE £6,873,250, A WORLD RECORD FOR THE ARTIST AT AUCTION.

Other highlights include  The Battle between Carnival and Lent by Pieter Brueghel II (1564/5-1637/8) (£3.5-£4.5 million); a full length Portrait of Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield (1755-1815), by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) (£2.5-£3.5 million); Dutch men-o’-war and other shipping in a calm by Willem van de Velde II (1633-1707) (£1.5-£2.5 million); An old woman spinning in an interior by Nicolaes Maes (1632-1693), 1658 (£1-£1.5 million) and An old man at a casement, 1646, by Govaert Flinck (1615-1660) (£700,000-£1,000,000).

UPDATE: THE sale realised £24,132,100, selling 72 per cent by lot and 79 per cent by value.  The Brueghel illustrated on the right was the top lot.  Record prices at auction were established for Willem van de Velde II, Govaert Flinck, Andrea Soldi and Francesco Zaganelli da Cotignola in a sale where 73 per cent of lots on offer realised a price in excess of the pre-sale estimate.