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Willem van de Velde the Younger, The Surrender of the Royal Prince during the Four Days’ Battle. (Click on image to enlarge).

A dramatic composition by Willem Van de Velde, considered the finest marine artist of the Dutch Golden Age, sold for  £5,305,250 at Sotheby’s in London on July 4.  It was the top lot  in the Old  Master & British Paintings Evening Sale.  It had been estimated at  £1.5-2.5 million.   Willem van de Velde the Younger’s The Surrender of the Royal Prince during the Four Days’ Battle is an evocative rendering of the  Dutch naval battle against the English in 1666. In it the artist depicts his own father sketching in a tiny galliot beneath the stern of the English ship “The Royal Prince” as it surrenders.

The subject – the defeat of the English – marked the high point of Dutch naval history and was considered so important that the precursor of the Rijksmuseum attempted to acquire the work for the nation in 1800 but was outbid.  The work was bought by a private Dutch collector and will return to Holland.  The sale of 44 works realised a total of £32,268,650 against an estimate of £26-40 million.

(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for June 26, 2012).

The Lock by John Constable (1776-1837) sold for a record £22,441,250, courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2012. (Click on image to enlarge).

There was a world record price for The Lock a masterpiece by John Constable (1776-1837)  at Christie’s Old Master and British Paintings evening auction in London on July 3.  It made  £22,441,250.  From the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection it had been estimated at £20-25 million.

The Lock is one of six paintings from Contable’s most celebrated series of large scale works – The Stour Series – and was the last to remain in private hands.  The series includes The Hay Wain in the collection of The National Gallery, London. In the original gilt plaster and carved wood frame The Lock has been sold only once since it was acquired from the artist and is remarkable for its excellent state of preservation.  It is believed to have been bought by a Russian client of Christie’s.

The sale brought in £85,057,100 pounds.  This was the highest ever total for the category and 17 works sold for over £1 million.  Rembrandt’s A Man in a Gorget and Cap made £8.4 million against an estimate of £8-12 million. It was acquired by a lone telephone bidder from Asia.  There were artists records for Pietro Lorenzetti (£5 million), Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael £4.6 million), –  Pieter Jansz Saenredam (£3.7 million), Juan de Zurbarán(£2.7 million), Balthasar van der Ast (£2.6 million) and Adriaen Coorte (£2.2 million).

Christie’s summer auctions of Old Master & British Paintings, Drawings & Watercolours in London on July 3 and 4 realised a combined total of £93,663,150.

(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for May 29 and March 5, 2012).

A landscape by George Barret (1728-1784) features at Sotheby’s Old Master and British Paintings sale in London on July 5.  Estimated at £60,000-80,000 An extensive Wooded River Landscape, with Shepherds reclining in the foreground and Ruins Beyond is from an Irish private collection.  The sale also features a Portrait of a Lady,  thought to be Lady Charlotte McDonnell, Countess of Antrim (1779-1835) by Hugh Douglas Hamilton (1739-1808).  It is estimated at £30,000-50,000.

Both artists were born in Dublin. George Barret was a founding member of the London Royal Academy.  Hugh Douglas Hamilton found great success with his pastel oval portraits in London.  In 1796 he painted Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the Irish aristocrat and revolutionary.

GEORGE BARRET, R.A. 
AN EXTENSIVE WOODED RIVER LANDSCAPE, WITH SHEPHERDS RECLINING IN THE FOREGROUND AND RUINS BEYOND. (Click on images to enlarge).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £97,250.

HUGH DOUGLAS HAMILTON
PORTRAIT OF A LADY, THOUGHT TO BE LADY CHARLOTTE MCDONNELL, COUNTESS OF ANTRIM. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £34,850.

Small Mirror by Sean Scully.

Small Mirror by the Irish artist Sean Scully sold for £91,250 at Christie’s  post-war and contemporary day auction in London on June 28.  An oil on canvas laid down on board it was painted in 1998 and measures just over 20″ x 16″.  Christie’s day auction realised £15,463,725.  The top lot was Andy Warhol’s Jackie 1964, which made £589,250.  This followed on from the evening auction on June 27 which made £132,819,400, the highest total for an auction of Post War and Contemporary Art in Europe.

At Christie’s the evening and day sales combined realised a combined total of £148,283,725.  At Sotheby’s the summer sales of contemporary art, including the Gunter Sachs Collection sold in May, made a combined total of £124.5 million.

Despite financial uncertainty buyer’s are still prepared to pay record breaking prices, but only for works of great quality and rarity.  Uncertainty about the economic outlook  is still hurting the market for lesser works.