1/27/2012

Results: Sotheby's Old Master Paintings and Sculpture


Last week New York was busy with Americana, Silver and Export, this week the major houses were holding their important old master paintings and sculpture sales.

The Sotheby's sale totaled $62.1 million including buyers premiums. The sale offered 350 lots with 209 selling for a rather lackluster sell through rate of 59.7%.  The sale did sell better by value at 69.8% but still I believe below expectations for this important sale. Of the top ten selling lots, one was listed as anonymous while the other nine were either US or European private buyers.  The top selling lot at Sotheby's was a Canaletto, Venice, A View of the Churches of the Redentore and San Giacomo, with a Moored Man-Of-War, Gondolas and Barges, oil on canvas which brought $5.68 million including buyers premium against a pre sale estimate of $5 - $7 million (see image).

Sotheby's reported the following on the sale
26 January 2012 – Sotheby’s annual Old Masters Week auctions in New York have brought $67.7 million thus far, with today’s sale of Important Old Master Paintings & Sculpture totaling $62,081,477. The auction was highlighted by five remarkable pictures that achieved prices over $4 million, led by Canaletto’s View of the Churches of the Redentore and San Giacomo… from the Estate of Lady Forte that sold for $5,682,500 (pictured right, est. $5/7 million*), and Lucas Cranach the Elder’s portrait Lucretia that  brought $5,122,500 (pictured below, est. $4/6 million). On Wednesday, the auction of Old Master Drawings achieved $5,640,813 – the highest result for an auction in this category at Sotheby’s New York since 1998. The sale featured an Italian Renaissance Portrait of a Young Man attributed to Piero del Pollaiuolo, which sold to the J. Paul Getty museum in California for $1,398,500 – well above its $400,000 high estimate.

George Wachter, Co-Chairman of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings department, and Christopher Apostle, Head of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings department in New York, commented: “We are pleased with the results of today’s sale, which again demonstrated that works of high quality and condition that are fresh to the market continue to bring exceptional prices – evidenced by each of the top ten works in our auction achieving over $2 million. In the days before the sale we saw broad geographical interest in our exhibition, which translated to bidding from Europe, North and South America, and Asia. We are particularly encouraged by the strong demand for Italian painting, with early pictures and gold grounds performing particularly well.”
Source: Sotheby's 

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