A Look at the Old Master Sales

Forbes takes a quick look at the relative bargain prices at the upcoming NY Old Master sales and Sotheby's and Christie's.  The article makes the point that when compared to a few other art sectors, the Old Master sector while not cheap, is still affordable to many collectors.

On another topic, I will try to get the Americana results up as soon as they have all been released.  Preliminary results are showing that Sotheby's sales did not perform well, both the regular sale and the single owner sale failed to break the total low estimates, even when the buyers premium was added.  The Christie's Important American Silver sale only brought 76% by value.  More when I have a few more details on all of the sales.

Forbes reports on the Old Master sales

During the next few days, Sotheby’s and Christie’s will cram in 11 auctions of fourteenth to nineteenth century paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture and decorative arts.

Portrait of a young man with a book, a prized early portrait by Agnolo Bronzino (Florence 1503 - 1572) is one of the top lots for sale during Christie's Renaissance auction in New York on January 30. (Image credit: Christie's Images Ltd 2012.)

Some particularly exciting works will be on offer, among them several new discoveries and art works that have been hidden away more than half a century. Sotheby’s is selling one of Goya’s late paintings, Portrait of Mariano Goya, The Artist’s Grandson, which has been in Greek shipping magnate George Embiricos’s collection for over 60 years and has an estimate of $6 million to $8 million.

 Meanwhile, Christie’s is selling a rare portrait by 16th century Italian court artist Angolo Bronzino, Portrait of a Young Man with a Book, one of Bronzino’s earliest portraits. The portrait of the unidentified young man, perhaps a writer or scholar, is said to be one of the most important Renaissance portraits still in private hands. In fact, it has belonged to the same family since the 1920s. The estimate for the portrait is $12 million to $18 million.

Obviously, that’s no small sum for a portrait, but the astonishing prices fetched at the top end of the art market last year make it look pretty reasonable by comparison. As Rachel Corbett pointed out in Artinfo’s  Illustrated Guide to the Asymmetric Art Market earlier this month, the Bronzino portrait is in the same price bracket as Jean-Michel Basquiat’s self portrait that sold for $16.3 million last year.

Artinfo also noted that for the cost of one of Cy Twombly crayon paintings, you could probably take home the entire Old Masters drawing sale at Sotheby’s next Wednesday that will feature over 100 works, including an early anatomical drawing by Ruben and a William Blake watercolor. That entire sale is estimated to fetch around $2.5 million.

Source: Forbes