With London’s mid-season sales around a month away, Sotheby’s manages to serve an appetizing prelude of paintings for its New York auction on Thursday, June 4.
The auction house continues its recent offering of village views from the Pieter Brueghel the Younger, this time giving us the religious scene of “The Adoration of the Magi.” Despite being the most valuable work from the sale, Sotheby’s seems to be treading carefully with its estimate of $800k-1.2M USD. The work’s brand new attribution, biblical content, and the recent failure of a similar Brueghel at auction back in December with a $2M+estimate all may have played factors in Sotheby’s cautionary approach.
Conversely, the prodigious sum of $10.16 m paid for a Terbrugghen portrait at Sotheby’s last major OM auction in January did nothing to increase the estimate of a similar work by the artist that is being offered at this sale. Lot 29, “Boy in Profile, Drinking from a Tankard,” does not carry as prestigious a provenance as the former Terbrugghen, and was certainly not painted as well, nevertheless at $250-350k, it looks to be a steal.
Speaking of steals, the adventuresome collector might want to privy themselves to lot 9, a Southern Netherlandish miniature of “Christ on the Road to Calvary,” and lot 42, a still life from the studio of Frans Snyders. Regarding the former, the Crucifixion is kind of a heavy-handed subject to be dropping $40-60k on, but the intricacy of this beautiful piece truly envelops the eye. There is a distinct mathematical craftsmanship that went into laying out its multi-planar composition, which is divided up into sections by the various weapons of Christ’s tormentors in the background, and the thick diaganols of the cross that he bears in the foreground. A thick layer of yellow varnish currently obscures its true character, thereby making it ripe for a dealer purchase, cleaning, and subsequent markup.
Similarly, the condition report of the Snyder’s still-life, from OM paintings restorer Simon Parkes, leaves “no question that this is a picture that will benefit from cleaning.” Based on some of the displays of Snyder’s work by OM dealer, Otto Naumann, OMNP can verify that the artist’s large canvases in their full splendor are a site to behold.The lively brutality and attenuated gore that he found within the animal kingdom is sensational..is it not that unfeasible to imagine the imaginative Contemporary collector pairing the severed deer leg from the work available at this sale with a Damien Hirst formaldehyde ?
LOT 1
PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR IN CANADA
ATTRIBUTED TO JACOPO DEL SELLAIO
FLORENCE CIRCA 1441 – 1493
PROCESSIONAL CROSS
Estimate: $50,000—70,000 USD
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LOT 3
PROPERTY FROM A SOUTH AMERICAN COLLECTION (LOTS 3, 4, 7, 8, 37, 42, 54, 55, 71, 76)
LIPPO D’ ANDREA
FLORENCE 1377 – AFTER 1427
MADONNA AND CHILD WITH ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, ST. ANTHONY ABBOT, ST. PETER AND MARY MAGDALENE
Estimate: $120,000—180,000 USD
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LOT 4
PROPERTY FROM A SOUTH AMERICAN COLLECTION (LOTS 3, 4, 7, 8, 37, 42, 54, 55, 71, 76)
VENTURA DI MORO
BORN IN FLORENCE BETWEEN 1395 AND 1402 – 1486
MADONNA AND CHILD
Estimate: $80,000—120,000 USD
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LOT 9
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF WILLIAM AND ALICE FITZHUGH
SOUTH NETHERLANDISH, 16TH CENTURY
CHRIST ON THE ROAD TO CALVARY
Estimate: $40,000—60,000 USD
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LOT 10
SOLD BY THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART TO BENEFIT FUTURE ACQUISITIONS
SOUTH NETHERLANDISH SCHOOL, CIRCA 1490
THE VIRGIN NURSING THE CHRIST CHILD
Estimate: $20,000—30,000 USD
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LOT 11
SOLD BY THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART TO BENEFIT FUTURE ACQUISITIONS
NORTH NETHERLANDISH SCHOOL, 16TH CENTURY
THE CIRCUMCISION IN THE TEMPLE
Estimate: $30,000—50,000 USD
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LOT 14
SOLD BY THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART TO BENEFIT FUTURE ACQUISITIONS
PIETER DE HOOCH
ROTTERDAM 1629 – 1684 AMSTERDAM
A WOMAN HANDING A COIN TO A SERVING WOMAN WITH A CHILD
Estimate: $400,000—600,000 USD
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LOT 17
SOLD BY THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART TO BENEFIT FUTURE ACQUISITIONS
FERDINAND BOL
DORDRECHT 1616 – 1680 AMSTERDAM
PORTRAIT OF A MAN
Estimate: $80,000—120,000 USD
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LOT 18
SOLD BY THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART TO BENEFIT FUTURE ACQUISITIONS
JAN HAVICKSZ. STEEN
LEIDEN 1626 – 1679
THE TWELFTH NIGHT
Estimate: $200,000—300,000 USD
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LOT 19
SOLD BY THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART TO BENEFIT FUTURE ACQUISITIONS
SIR PETER PAUL RUBENS
SIEGEN 1577 – 1640 ANTWERP
HEAD OF A BEARDED MAN
Estimate: $400,000—600,000 USD
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LOT 20
SOLD BY THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART TO BENEFIT FUTURE ACQUISITIONS
GERARD TER BORCH
ZWOLLE 1617 – 1681 DEVENTER
THE CARD PLAYERS
Estimate: $400,000—600,000 USD
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LOT 22
SOLD BY THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART TO BENEFIT FUTURE ACQUISITIONS
JEAN-BAPTISTE GREUZE
TOURNUS 1725 – 1805 PARIS
GIRL WITH A LAMB
Estimate: $60,000—80,000 USD
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LOT 27
SPANISH SCHOOL, EARLY 17TH CENTURY
PORTRAIT OF A HOUND
Estimate: $30,000—50,000 USD
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LOT 29
PROPERTY OF A NEW YORK PRIVATE COLLECTOR
HENDRICK TER BRUGGHEN
DEVENTER 1588 – 1629 UTRECHT
Estimate: $BOY IN PROFILE, DRINKING FROM A TANKARD; A KANNEKIJKER
250,000—350,000 USD
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LOT 30
PROPERTY OF A WEST COAST COLLECTOR
DIRCK VAN BABUREN
WIJK BIJ DUURSTEDE, NEAR UTRECHT CIRCA 1594/5 – 1624 UTRECHT
CHRIST AMONG THE DOCTORS
Estimate: $200,000—300,000 USD
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LOT 33
PROPERTY OF A WEST COAST COLLECTOR
SIR ANTHONY VAN DYCK AND STUDIO
1599-1641
THE INCREDULITY OF ST. THOMAS
Estimate: $150,000—200,000 USD
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LOT 38
PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
SALOMON VAN RUYSDAEL
NAARDEN 1600/3 – 1670 HAARLEM
A RIVER LANDSCAPE
Estimate: $60,000—80,000 USD
LOT 39
PIETER BRUEGHEL THE YOUNGER
BRUSSELS 1564 – 1637/8 ANTWERP
THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI
Estimate: $800,000—1,200,000 USD
LOT 42
PROPERTY FROM A SOUTH AMERICAN COLLECTION (LOTS 3, 4, 7, 8, 37, 42, 54, 55, 71, 76)
STUDIO OF FRANS SNYDERS
ANTWERP 1579 – 1657
GAME STILL LIFE WITH BIRDS, A DEER AND A HARE, WITH A BASKET OF FRUIT, A LOBSTER ON A PLATE AND OTHER OBJECTS ON A DRAPED TABLE WITH A CAT, TWO DOGS AND A PARROT
Estimate: $40,000—60,000 USD
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LOT 54
PROPERTY FROM A SOUTH AMERICAN COLLECTION (LOTS 3, 4, 7, 8, 37, 42, 54, 55, 71, 76)
AELBERT CUYP
DORDRECHT 1620 – 1691
PORTRAIT OF LADY, SEATED THREE-QUARTER LENGTH, WEARING A BLACK DRESS WITH A WHITE RUFF
Estimate: $30,000—50,000 USD
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