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TURNER'S MODERN ROME - CAMPO VACCINO made a new record for the artist. David Moore-Gwyn of Sotheby’s remarked that for collectors it ticked all the boxes – quality, superb condition, provenance and freshness-to-the-market. (click on image to enlarge)

J.M.W. Turner’s 1839 masterpiece Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino sold for a record £29,721,250 / €35,727,792 at Sotheby’s in London on July 7.  It was bought by Hazlett, Gooden & Fox on behalf of The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.  The previous record for a Turner was £20.5 million set in 2006.

Three hundred and  seventy million. That is the total spent at art sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in London in June.

The Christie’s Impressionist and Modern sale brought in 153 million on June 23. This is the highest total ever achieved at an art auction in London. It happened even though a Monet water-lily painting worth an estimated 30-40 million pounds failed to sell. Bidding on it reached 29 million pounds. Sotheby’s revised their figures upwards for the two-day sales series of Impressionist & Modern Art to 131 million pounds.

The top lot at Christie’s was a Blue Period portrait by Picasso, which made 34.8 million pounds. European buyers accounted for 55 per cent of lots sold, 40 per cent of buyers were from the Americas and five per cent from Asia.

Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction in London on June 28 realised the solid total of £41,091,800 / €50,111,626, within pre-sale expectations of £38.3–52.8 million. It was the third highest total for a summer sale of Contemporary art at Sotheby’s London and a 60% increase on the equivalent sale last year. Nine works sold for over £1 million and 16 works for over $1 million.

The top lot was Yves Klein’s RE 49, Relief Eponge Bleu. It made £6.2 million. Frank Auerbach’s Mornington Crescent – Summer Morning made £2.3 million and Bharti Kher’s sculpture The Skin Speaks a Language not its Own sold for £993,250, a new auction record for the artist by many multiples and a new record for any work by a contemporary female Indian artist at auction.

The Post-War and Contemporary Evening Auction at Christie’s on June 30 made a total of £45,640,200, selling 84% by lot and 85% by value.  The top price was paid for Silver Liz, 1963, by Andy Warhol (1928-1987), one of only two paintings of actress Elizabeth Taylor  by the artist.  It sold to an anonymous bidder for £6,762,150. A total of  58% of buyers were from Europe, 30% from the Americas with four per cent from Asia.

What has become clear in this series of sales is that auction houses must get estimates right.  If the estimate is too high the work will not sell.

(UPDATED)

SOTHEBY'S staff hold up the record breaking portrait by Manet

THE IRISH art market tends to track international trends. These now firmly dictate that the market at the top end has recovered from the biggest slump since 1991. The opening sale in the London series of June art auctions in London, Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art sale on June 22, brought in a staggering €157,601,625 – an increase of 185% on the same series last year.

For the second time in London auction history and the second time in six months three works made more than £10 million.

* Edouard Manet’s masterpiece Self Portrait with a Palette made €26,907,089, a new auction record for the artist

* André Derain’s Arbres à Collioure made €19,521,241, double the previous record for the artist and a record for any Fauve painting at auction (see earlier story on this blog, via April archive)

* Henri Matisse’s Odalisques jouant aux dames brought £11,801,250.

The 51 lot sale attracted buyers from no fewer than 13 countries; over 50% of the works sold achieved prices in excess of high estimate; and the average lot value for the works sold reached £3.2million. 19 works sold for more than £1 million and 29 for more than $1 million. The total of Impressionist & Modern Art sold by Sotheby’s London in 2010 is an unprecedented £276 million.

The Manet, one of only two self portraits he painted, was bought by New York dealer Franck Giraud. It had been part of the collection of New York collector and hedge fund manager Steven Cohen. The recovery in the market has encouraged collectors to sell high value works. Sellers now are confident.

THIS exceptional sculpture by Rudolf Schadow entitled Die Spinnerin was located in Co. Offaly. (click on image to enlarge). UPDATE Die Spinnerin sold for 241,250 pounds

VENUS ITALICA from the workshop of Canova. The sculpture was located south of Tullamore. (click on image to enlarge).

REDISCOVERED in Ireland and created in 19th century Rome three marble sculptures will feature at Sotheby’s sale of European Sculpture and Works of Art in London on July 8. The highlight of the group is an exceptional sculpture by the Northern artist Rudolf Schadow (German, 1786-1822) entitled Die Spinnerin, estimated at £120,000-180,000.

Schadow had arrived in Rome in 1812 to fully absorb the legacy of sculpture from classical antiquity and work with the master Antonio Canova. The Cork trained sculptor John Hogan (1800-58) made a similar journey and lived in Rome for 24 years.  Unlike Hogan, Schadow had a major patron in King Frederick William of Prussia who provided financial support.  The sculpture of a young girl spinning was first conceived in 1816 and Schadow went on to produce versions for such eminent patrons as the Prussian King, Prince Nikolaus II Esterházy of Hungary, Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, Baron von Lebzelter, and the Duke of Devonshire.

The Irish Grand tourist Henry Patten was one of many who followed the fashionable example set by the wealthy as they toured Europe, commissioning while on their travels works of art from artists residing abroad. Patten commissioned the present work in 1819 for his house in Westport, County Mayo and Schadow made several references to it during the spring of that year. There is a dedication to Patten on the marble.

Die Spinnerin by Rudolf Schadow and Venus Italica and Hebe from the Workshop of Antonio Canova (1757-1822) were found in Annaghmore House, Tullamore, Offaly. Their history includes an Irish commission, the Grand Tour, and Rome’s flourishing artistic community at the centre of it all. Venus Italica and Hebe, from the Workshop of Antonio Canova were carved around 1820 during Canova’s lifetime, circa 1820. Estimated at £60,000-80,000, the marble statues were taken from two of Canova’s most famous models.

When Sotheby’s Sculpture specialist Erik Bijzet first cast his eye over photographs of the sculptures brought to Sotheby’s Dublin office, he was immediately struck by their intrinsic quality and importance.

UPDATE:  Die Spinnerin made £241,250, Venus Italica and Hebe were withdrawn when they failed to reach their reserves.