OMNP offers up a preview of Wednesday’s Old Master Drawings sale at Sotheby’s, New Bond Street.

Overall Sotheby’s sale is a bit better in terms of the number of quality lots that are being offered under $100,000 USD.

Lot 78 for example- a pair of exquisite drawings by the Mannerist great Parmigianino, can be categorized in the how-is-this-possible department for low how the estimate is set. This is a work from the hand of one of the most famous images in art history, is it not?

High quality works by anonymous or relatively unknown artists are also affordable-lot 33 by Pieter Jansz Quast, is a surreal, if not adorable portrait of a mustached man in a rather fashionable hat; lot 5 is an intricate study of a soldier by an unknown German artist from the 16th century.

The middle price range of the sale is highlighted by unfinished or partial drawings by established Masters. Lot 110, a figure sketch done by Jusepe de Ribera, and lot 130, a study of the bottom half of a man’s torso by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo exemplify this type of lot which is a great collecting opportunity. They are both clear presentations of a Master’s distinct style for a much more affordable price.

LOW END ($10,000 and below)

LOT 60

School of Rembrandt Van Rijn

Standing Angel with Outstretched Arms

ESTIMATE: £4,000—6,000 GBP

LOT 71

Nicolas Langneau

Active circa 1590 – 1630

Head of an Old Woman in a Turban
ESTIMATE: £ 6,000—8,000 GBP

LOT 73

Attributed to Charles Le Brun
Paris 1619 – 1690
A Standing Soldier seen from behind, and a separate study of his left leg

ESTIMATE: £7,000—9,000 GBP

LOT 90

Attributed to Bartolomeo Passarotti

Bologna 1529 – 1592
Study of a Sea Monster

ESTIMATE: £2,000—3,000 GBP

Lot 33

Pieter Jansz. Quast
Amsterdam 1605/6 – 1647

Head and Shoulder Study of a Moustachioed Man in Profile, Wearing a Tall Hat

ESTIMATE: £ 3,000—4,000 GBP

MIDDLE END ($10,000-$99,000)

Lot 5

German School Mid-16th Century
A Landsknecht in Chain Mail, Seen from Behind

ESTIMATE: £ 8,000—12,000 GBP

LOT 78

Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, called Parmigianino
Parma 1503 – 1540 Casalmaggiore
RECTO: A Seated Young Woman looking to the left

VERSO: A Seated Woman Holding a Child

ESTIMATE: £ 8,000—12,000 GBP

Lot 110

Jusepe De Ribera, called Lo Spagnoletto
Játiva, Valencia 1591 – 1652 Naples
A Sheet of Studies: A Seated Roman Soldier, Another Standing and Pointing, and a Sketch of a Head
ESTIMATE: £ 7,000—9,000 GBP

Lot 130

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Venice 1696 – 1770 Madrid
A Young Man, Seen from below, Straddling a Cloud

ESTIMATE: £ 8,000—12,000 GBP

LOT 51

Jan Josefsz. Van Goyen

Leiden 1596-1656 The Hague
River Landscape with Cattle, The Village of Haeren Beyond

ESTIMATE: £15,000—20,000 GBP

Lot 9

Willem Van de Velde the Elder
Leiden 1611-1693 London

Shipping in Coastal Waters, with the States Yacht VALCK in the Foreground Preceded by a Fleet of Wijdschips

ESTIMATE: £30,000—40,000 GBP

Attributed to Simon Vouet
Paris 1590 – 1649

A Kneeling and Draped Figure of a Woman

ESTIMATE: £8,000—12,000 GBP

HIGH END ($100,000 and up)

Lot 113

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Venice 1696 – 1770 Madrid
The Holy Family, St. Joseph Reading and Two Angels in the Background

ESTIMATE: £ 50,000—70,000 GBP

Lot 20

Sir Peter Paul Rubens

Siegen 1577 – 1640 Antwerp

Saint Lambert

ESTIMATE: £80,000—120,000 GBP

Lot 135

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Montauban 1780 – 1867 Paris
Portrait of Aristide-Laurent Dumont in Uniform, Holding an Elaborate Helmet

ESTIMATE: £100,000—150,000 GBP