I have reported on the success of the Christie's Old Master sale, or at least the success of the top end of that sale. Sotheby's also had an Old Master sale and set a record for a Van Dyck. Carol Vogel of the NY Times reports in the Arts Beat section that the self portrait of Van Dyck, painted a year before his death in 1641 broke the past auction record. The painting sold for $13.5 million including buyers premium. Vogel reports the bidding was intense, as evidenced by the final hammer price and the pre sale high estimate of $4.9 million. I believe I can get away with a blanket statement that quality Old Master prices are strong in this current market. Yet the appraiser must be cautious and wary of values for Old Master art under the very top end.
Vogel states
Ferociously fought over by nine bidders, the painting was sold to two dealers, Philip Mould, a London specialist in British portraiture, and Alfred Bader, a Milwaukee-based art investor.
The portrait shows the artist wearing a black and white silk doublet, posed looking over his shoulder with a haunting stare. The painting had been in the collection of the Earls of Jersey since the 18th century. Officials at Sotheby’s said the painting was one of only three self-portraits the artist produced in England. Another is in the collection of the Duke of Westminster and the third in the Prado Museum in Madrid.
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