Lucas Cranach the Elder’s La Bocca Della Verita (The Mouth of Truth) sold for £9.3 million at Sotheby’s in London last night. This is a record for the master at auction, and almost double his previous auction record. Four paintings from the collections of Castle Howard together realized £9.1 million and earlier in the day five further works brought in £3.6 million at the Treasures sale. The evening sale of Old Master and British Paintings realized £39.3 million. There were six new artists records in a sale which saw participation from 30 countries. Ferdinand Bol’s Portrait of a Boy made £5.2 million and there were also records for Tiepolo whose unfinished portrait of the artist’s family made £2.8 million, a record for a single work by the artist; one of the earliest still lives by female Italian artist Feda Galizia made £1.6 million; Joseph Heintz the Elder (£485,000) and John Martin (£2.7 million). The Treasures sale totaled £12 million.
Alex Bell of Sotheby’s said afterwards: “As the market for Old Master & British paintings continues to evolve we’re seeing an ever more discerning and international collector base vying for a greater diversity of works. Whether it’s a work that transcend genres, such as Cranach’s masterpiece, or a ground-breaking still life created by a female artist over four centuries ago, we saw both new and established buyers from Europe, Russia and Asia competing tonight. Paintings spanning five centuries continue to surprise and excite”.
The sale of La Bocca Della Verita last night.
Portrait of Henry VIII, from the Workshop of Hans Holbein the Younger, from the Collections of Castle Howard
