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    GUARDI’S MONUMENTAL VENETIAN MASTERPIECE MAKES £26,697,250

    Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

    Francesco Guardi's Venetian masterpiece made £26,697,250. (Click on image to enlarge)

    Francesco Guardi’s monumental masterpiece Venice, a View of the Rialto Bridge, Looking North, from the Fondamenta del Carbon made £26,697,250 at Sotheby’s on July 6.  This was a record as the second highest price paid for any Old Master painting at auction, a record for a Venetian view painting at auction and a record for Guardi.   It was bought by an anonymous bidder in a sale which achieved a total of  £47,640,900.

    Correggio - Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist made £3,625,250. (Click to enlarge)

    There were artist records for seven other paintings.  Hans Schäufelein double-sided, tempera and oil altarpiece panel, The Dormition of the Virgin, realised £2,729,250;  Madonna and child with the infant Saint John the Baptist by Antonio Allegri, better known as Correggio made £3,625,250; John de Critz the Elder oil on panel Portrait of James I made £199,250; Jacob Knyff’s painting Charles II and James, Duke of York, on board H.M.S. Triumph, with three royal yachts off Dover made £169,250; Francesco de Michele Triptych: Central panel: Saint Gregory the Great: left wing: Saint Catherine of Alexandria: right wing: Saint Jerome made £241,250;  Vittore Ghislandi called Fra G algario Portrait of a young man in a green tunic made £325,250 and Anthonie Verstraelen A winter landscape with figures skating on a frozen river beside a village made £481,250.

    Sir Anthony Van Dyck’s Portrait of a Carmelite monk, head and shoulders made £713,250 and A Bearded Man with Hands Raised by Van Dyck made £457,250.  John Constable’s Salisbury Cathedral From The Meadows made £657,250.
    A total of 50 of the 73 lots on offer found buyers in a sale that was sold  68.5% by lot and 91.6% by value.

    John Constable’s Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows made £657,250. (click to enlarge).

    The auction shot with Henry Wyndham selling the Guardi.

    The previous highest price for a Venetian view painting was £18.6 million for Canaletto’s Venice – The Grand Canal from Palazzo Balbi, at Sotheby’s London in July 2005.  The previous auction record for a monumental view painting by Francesco Guardi was  £9,889,937 at Sotheby’s in Monaco in 1989.

    (All images copyright Sotheby’s)  (See antiquesandartireland.com posts for June 21, June 19 and February 26.)

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    BACON AGAIN SHOWS STRENGTH AT SOTHEBY’S RECORD BREAKING CONTEMPORARY SALE

    Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

    The scene at Sotheby's contemporary evening sale.

    Sotheby’s evening Contemporary Art sale on June 29 brought in £108,803,550 the highest total ever for such a sale in London.  Francis Bacon’s Crouching Nude from 1961 was the top selling lot.  It made  £8,329,250.

    The Duerckheim Collection of contemporary German art, which comprised the first 34 lots, realised £60,401,650.  Almost every lot here was contested by multiple bidders. New artist records were established for Blinky Palermo, Sigmar Polke, Eugen Schönebeck, Markus Lüpertz and Georg Baselitz.
    Andy Warhol’s electric pink acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas of Blondie’s lead singer Debbie Harry – the only major painting of renowned lead singer of the new wave and punk rock band ever to come to auction – sold for £3,737,250/ against an estimate of £3.5-5.5 million.  An early Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, Untitled, made £5,417,250 to become the second highest priced lot.
    Headlining the Duerckheim collection were a number of paintings by Sigmar Polke. His record was broken three times in quick succession.  Dschungel, the largest of the Rasterbilder (dot paintings) from the 1960s ever to appear for public sale, made £5,753,250.  A new record was set for Georg Baselitz when Spekulatius from the celebrated ‘Hero’ series sold for £3,233,250. Baselitz’s Grosse Nacht made £2,393,250.  There was exceptional prices for Gerhard Richter whose 1024 Farben from 1974 more than doubled its pre-sale high estimate to make £4,297,250. Buyers from 14 countries took part in an auction which was 89.8% sold by lot and 93.9% by value.  No less than 29 works sold for over £1 million, and 45 lots made over $1 million.
    See antiquesandartireland.com posts for April 26 and June 7.

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    WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR EGON SCHIELE AT SOTHEBY’S

    Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

    Egon Schiele's world record painting entitled Houses with Laundry (Suburb II). (Click on image to enlarge).

    There was a world auction record for Egon Schiele at Sotheby’s on June 22. His Häuser mit bunter Wäsche (Vorstadt II) / Houses with Laundry (Suburb II) made £24,681,250, almost double the previous auction record for the Austrian artist.

    The painting, sold by the Leopold Museum in Vienna, was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder.  Executed in 1914 at the height of Egon Schiele’s short career (he died in 1918 at the age of just 28), the painting is one of the most impressive of the artist’s few monumental cityscapes and is loosely based on motifs drawn from Krumau, the town known to have inspired some of his greatest works. It was this town in Southern Bohemia in which Schiele’s mother was born, and to which Schiele and his lover Valerie (Wally) Neuzil moved in 1911 in order to escape what they perceived as the claustrophobic atmosphere of Vienna.

    Overall, the sale achieved £96,968,000, within the pre-sale estimate of £77 to £111 million. It was  91.4% sold by lot and 98.4% by value. Records were also set for Marc Chagall’s Au-Dessus de la ville, which made £1,833,250, a record for a work on paper by the artist  and Tamara de Lempicka’s  La Dormeuse of 1930 which made  £4,073,250/$6,617,809, a US dollar record for the artist.

    The June Impressionist & Modern Art sale at Sotheby’s made £14,622,250, bringing the total for the June series to £111,590,250.

    See antiquesandartireland.com post for May 5.

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    MODERN BRITISH ART AUCTION ACHIEVES HIGHEST EVER TOTAL

    Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

    Sir Stanley Spencer RA - Sunflower and Dog Worship sold for £5,417,250. (click on image to enlarge). (image copyright Sotheby's).

    THE highest total ever for an auction of Modern British Art was achieved at Sotheby’s this evening.  Just 30 lots brought in the remarkable total of £37,464,300 / $61,224,159, doubling the pre-sale high estimate of £16 / $26 million.  Part I of The Evill/Frost Collection sale surpassed all expectations and established eight auction records.

    The top lot was Stanley Spencer’s Sunflower and Dog Worship, which sold for £5,417,250 over a pre-sale estimate of £1-1.5 million.  No less than five bidders vied for the painting. This broke the record set for the artist earlier at the same sale when Workmen in the House sold for £4,745,250.
    The sale saw the highest price at auction for a Lucian Freud work on paper.  There were new record prices Graham Sutherland, William Roberts, David Jones, Leon Underwood, Edward Burra, John Skeaping and Patrick Heron.
    Sutherlands The Crucifixion made  £713,250, Roberts Discussion in a Cafe made  £373,250, July Change by David Jones made  £32,450,  Sungirl by Leon Underwood made £91,250, Zoot Suits by Edward Burra made  £2,057,250, John Skeaping’s Pouter-Pigeon made £58,850 and Patrick Heron’s The Blue Table with Window made £1,049,250.
    Boat on a Beach, a 1945 work on paper that records a trip Lucian Freud made to the Scilly Isles, sold for £2,617,250.
    See antiquesandartireland.com post for March 7, 2011
    UPDATE:  The three-part sale of the Evill/Frost collection brought a combined total of £42,484,639 against a high estimate of £19 million.

    Boy on a Sofa by Lucian Freud made £1,497,250. (click on image to enlarge, copyright Sotheby's)

    Workmen in the House by Sir Stanley Spencer made £4,745,250. (click on image to enlarge, copyright Sotheby's)

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    NEWLY DISCOVERED PORTRAIT OF CARMELITE MONK BY VAN DYCK AT SOTHEBY’S

    Friday, June 10th, 2011

    SIR ANTHONY VAN DYCK PORTRAIT OF A CARMELITE MONK. (copyright, Sotheby's). (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: IT MADE £713,250

    A newly discovered portrait by 17th Century Flemish painter Sir Anthony Van Dyck features at Sotheby’s sale of Old Master and British Paintings in London on July 6.  The intense and psychologically penetrating portrait of a young Carmelite monk is a hitherto unknown work, which Sotheby’s has discovered to have been painted by the youthful Van Dyck during the years he worked in Rubens’ studio.

    Early last year Sotheby’s Paris office did a routine valuation to appraise artwork. A painting of extraordinary quality which the family had owned for at least two centuries had always been known as the “Confesseur de Rubens”.  Experts say that while Rubens’ portraits are always formally composed, the current work, especially the way the young monk’s head is turned to one side, creates an impression of spontaneity.
    The brushwork in the picture, painted in oil on oak panel, is clearly legible. This is more reminiscent of Anthony Van Dyck when he worked in Rubens’ studio, than of his teacher. Specifically, the use of thick paint to denote highlights in the sitter’s habit is a characteristic of Van Dyck’s personal style at this date, and can be seen in a series of paintings the artist made of the Apostles.
    A large number of scholars have had the opportunity to study this picture at first hand. The consensus view is that it is by Van Dyck towards the end of the period during which he worked with Rubens in Rubens’ studio, circa 1617-1620.  It is assumed that Van Dyck painted this intense portrait in Rubens’ house in Antwerp.  It is estimated to make £600,000-£800,000.
    UPDATE: IT MADE £713,250

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    A DIAMOND TIARA FROM THE 1920’S

    Friday, June 10th, 2011

    A diamond tiara from the 1920's at Sotheby's. (click on image to enlarge) UPDATE: THIS MADE £277,250

    A diamond tiara from the 1920’s highlights Sotheby’s sale of fine jewels in London on July 13. Estimates in this 288 lot sale range from £3,000-55,000.  The tiara has an estimate of £35,000-55,000.

    There are contemporary and period jewels, spanning three centuries of workmanship and design with signed pieces by designers like Repossi, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Tiffany and Boucheron.  The entire sale is expected to raise more than £1.7 million.

    An opal and diamond corsage. (click on image to enlarge) UPDATE: THIS MADE £25,000

    An opal and diamond corsage from the mid-19th century highlights the 19th century jewel section.  It was formerly in the collection of Doña Maria Cristina of Bourbon, Princess of the Two Sicilies (Widow of King Ferdinand VII of Spain) Queen Regent of Spain.
    Designed as a series of ribbons and leaves and a central cabochon opal within a floral border, and set with cushion-shaped, circular-cut and rose diamonds, suspending a series of four tassels similarly set, it is estimated at £20,000-30,000.

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    WARHOL’S DEBBIE HARRY AT SOTHEBY’S IN JUNE

    Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

    Debbie Harry by Andy Warhol (1928-1987) (copyright Sotheby's). (Click on image to enlarge) UPDATE: IT MADE £3,737,250

    Andy Warhol’s 1980 acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas of Debbie Harry, lead singer with Blondie, heads Sotheby’s sale of Contemporary Art in London on June 29.  Debbie Harry became a friend of the artist after they met in Manhattan.  In an interview with Cheyenne Westphal, Sotheby’s Chairman of Contemporary Art Europe, she described what it was like to sit for Warhol: “He was the master of understatement. He’d say ‘Try looking over here’. He was very softly spoken and used a funny Polaroid portrait camera. It was an easy environment and not really a pressured situation. He made it very easy.”

    Selected as the cover image for the major survey of Warhol’s portraiture published by Phaidon in 2005, Debbie Harry, from 1980, is one of Warhol’s most accomplished portraits of celebrity. One of only four such portraits of the Blondie star in this rare 42 inches format – two of which are in the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh – this pink version has become one of the best recognised images in Warhol’s oeuvre and the definitive portrait of the 1980s style icon.
    It is from a European private collection and is estimated at  £3.5-5.5 million.  The sale coincides with the release of Blondie’s new album Panic of Girls.
    Sotheby’s has also announced that it will offer a group of works by Damien Hirst, Gilbert & George and Angus Fairhurst from the collection of award winning musician, songwriter and record producer Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics.  He is a friend of Damien Hirst.  The seven artworks – estimated to bring in £1.3 million – will be included in the contemporary art evening and day auctions on June 29 and 30. The collection will be led by Dantrolene, an early Hirst pharmaceutical painting and one of the largest one inch spot paintings to appear at auction in latter years. It is estimated at  £600,000-800,000.
    UPDATE: IT MADE £3,737,250

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    IRISH ART SEASON BRINGS IN 6 MILLION AND A TALE OF THREE HENRY’S

    Thursday, June 2nd, 2011
    The value of Irish art which has changed hands in the current season of sales amounts to around 6 million euro.  James Adam brought in around 1.1 million on June 1, Whyte’s and de Veres brought in 700,000 and 400,000 respectively in May, the Irish artists at Christie’s sale of British and Irish art on May 26 (including Sir John Lavery and William Scott) accounted for another 1.3 million euro and Sotheby’s annual Irish sale at the end of March brought in 2.1 million euro.  These bigger players achieved around 5.6 million.
    To this total must be added the achievements of smaller auction houses like Morgan O’Driscoll and Dolans which hold dedicated art sales and tend to deal in names that are less stellar.   In addition Irish art is a latter day mainstay of antique auctions around the country and features to a greater or lesser extent at most sales. All this increases the overall total. The six million euro figure is probably slightly conservative.

    Christie's

    Whyte's

    Adams

    These not dissimilar West of Ireland landscapes by Paul Henry boosted results at Christie’s, Whytes and Adams where they sold for £79,250, 106,000 euro and 110,000 euro respectively.
    Christie’s sold the single most expensive Irish artwork to change hands at auction thus far in 2011 when they achieved £657,250  for Sir John Lavery’s Played!!  Sotheby’s achieved the highest total for any Irish sale over the past two years.  Roderic O’Conor’s Landscape, Cassis was the top lot at Sotheby’s where it made £337,250.
    This website will make two comments on these results. The first is that these totals are highly respectable given that Ireland continues to be in deep recession.  The second is that the Irish art market urgently needs to find new ways of promoting in the salesrooms more contemporary Irish art. The best of Paul Henry, along with Yeats, Orpen, Lavery, O’Conor, Osborne , le Brocquy et all, is highly bankable, especially in recession.  But these are not the only Irish artists who deserve an outlet in the salesrooms. There is no shortage in Ireland of available quality work by contemporary artists. Many more are waiting in the wings for the recognition that is properly their due. The focus of the Irish art market is too narrow. This problem needs to be addressed by everyone involved in the art market in an effective way if stagnation is to be avoided in the salesrooms.

    See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for May 29, May 28, May 27, May 20, May 19 and March 29.

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    HISTORIC AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT BY JANE AUSTEN AT SOTHEBY’S

    Monday, May 23rd, 2011

    JANE AUSTEN'S MANUSCRIPT OF ‘THE WATSONS’ (estimate £200,000-300,000). (click on image to enlarge) UPDATE: IT MADE £993,250, triple the pre-sale estimate.

    The historic autograph manuscript of Jane Austen’s unpublished novel ‘The Watsons’ – the only major Austen manuscript remaining in private hands – is due up at Sotheby’s sale of English Literature and History in London on July 14.

    The heavily corrected draft, the most important Jane Austen item to come to the market in over 20 years, was probably written in 1804. It is the earliest surviving manuscript for a novel by Jane Austen. The work remains incomplete.  None of the manuscripts of her completed novels survive, with the exception of two draft chapters of ‘Persuasion’ (at the British Library), Austen’s juvenile work ‘Lady Susan’ (at the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York) and the fragment ‘Sanditon’ (at King’s College, Cambridge), the only other autograph novel manuscript of comparable length.
    ‘The Watsons’ centres on a family of four sisters – the daughters of a widowed clergyman. Its heroine is Emma, the youngest, who has been brought up by a wealthy aunt. When her aunt contracts a foolish second marriage, Emma is obliged to return to her father’s house and endure the crude husband-hunting of her two twenty-something sisters. She has, however, a close relationship with her eldest and most responsible sister Elizabeth. ‘The Watsons’ contains many of Austen’s perennial themes and her genius for shrewd social observation:
    Emma Watson to Lord Osborne: “Your Lordship thinks we always have our own way. That is a point on which ladies and gentlemen have long disagreed. But without pretending to decide it, I may say that there are some circumstances which even women cannot control. Female economy will do a great deal my Lord, but it cannot turn a small income into a large one.”
    The novel is considered to be around a quarter completed. The manuscript, comprising 68 hand-trimmed pages, is estimated at £200,000-300.000. Well known to scholars, it was her  only literary composition between the completion of ‘Northanger Abbey’ in 1799 and the commencement of ‘Mansfield Park’ in 1811.

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    LEADING WORLD ARTISTS DONATE WORK FOR LONDON GALLERY

    Wednesday, May 11th, 2011

    Takashi Murakami Flowers from the Village Pontokan Acrylic and platinum leaf on canvas mounted on aluminium frame Executed in 2011 Donated by the artist. Estimate £120,000-150,000. Click on image to enlarge. UPDATE: IT MADE £373,250

    Jeff Koons Inflatable Flower (Orange) 2011 High chromium stainless steel with transparent colour coating Executed in 2011, this work is 1 of 5 unique versions Donated by the artist. Estimate £200,000-300,000. Click on image to enlarge. UPDATE: THIS MADE £337,250

    THE world’s leading contemporary artists have donated works to be auctioned in aid of the new space at the Serpentine Gallery. The Serpentine Sackler Gallery will open in 2012 to coincide with the London Olympics.
    The sale by Sotheby’s on June 30, 2011 will feature 46 works.  Artists who donated include John Currin, Gilbert & George, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Chris Ofili, Richard Prince, Paula Rego and Cindy Sherman.  There is work by Ron Arad, Richard Artschwager, John Baldessari, Phyllida Barlow, Matthew Barney, Louise Bourgeois, Cecily Brown, Glenn Brown, Anthony Caro, Thomas Demand, Olafur Eliasson, Fischli & Weiss, Yang Fudong, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Douglas Gordon, Antony Gormley, Subodh Gupta, Andreas Gursky, N.S. Harsha, Susan Hefuna, M.F. Husain, Jitish Kallat, Anish Kapoor, Ellsworth Kelly, Bharti Kher, Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama, Maria Lassnig, Annie Leibovitz, Shirin Neshat Gabriel Orozco, Paula Rego, Gerhard Richter, Ed Ruscha, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Do-Ho Suh, Wolfgang Tillmans, Gillian Wearing and Rachel Whiteread.
    The innovative arts venue will be housed in the listed building formerly known as The Magazine in Kensington Gardens.  The building will be fully renovated by Pritzker Prize winning architect Zaha Hadid to create a new destination for contemporary culture.
    UPDATE:  THE sale brought in £4,545,675  more than double the low estimate of £2.2 million. The Serpentine Sackler Gallery will open in 2012 in Kensington Gardens. John Currin’s Edwardian was the top lot. It made £713,250.

    John Currin, Edwardian executed in 2011 (estimate £300,000-400,000). Click to enlarge. UPDATE: THIS MADE £713,250.

    Antony Gormley Measure III grey Iron executed in 2011. Donated by the artist. Estimate £80,000-120,000. Click to enlarge. UPDATE: THIS MADE £253,250

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