The auction at Sotheby’s
OLD MASTER PAINTINGS SOAR AT SOTHEBY’S REALISING £51.5 MILLION ($101.5/ €64.8 MILLION)
Re-discovered portrait by Frans Hals sells for £7 million – Turner’s Pope’s Villa at Twickenham sells for £5.4 million
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Sotheby’s sale of Old Master Paintings this evening realised £51,488,650/$101,530,469/€64,813,991 – well in excess of the pre-sale estimate of £30.2- 44.2 million. In a sale that attracted bidders from across the globe, 19 new artist’s records were established, with 58% of the lots sold realising prices in excess of high estimate. Two works sold for over £5 million, four for over $5 million, 13 for over £1 million, and 19 for over $1 million.
Alex Bell, International Department Head of Sotheby’s Old Masters Department Worldwide, said: “We are thrilled with this evening’s results – evidence not only of the current strength of the market, but also a reflection of the tremendous quality of the works we presented tonight. This evening’s offering was, without doubt, the most consistently high quality group of pictures we have brought together in any Old Master Paintings sale in all my 22 years at Sotheby’s. What was also noticeable in tonight’s sale was the extraordinary breadth of the buyer base – our sales are now attracting a more diverse and international spectrum of buyers than ever before.”
The top selling lot of the evening was Frans Hals’ Portrait of Willem van Heythuysen (lot 26) – one of the most remarkable portraits remaining in private hands by one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. Recently rediscovered after nearly half a century, this powerful, bravura portrait of Haarlem merchant van Heythuysen soared above estimate (£3,000,000-5,000,000), selling for £7,097,250/ $13,995,067 / €8,934,029 – the second highest price ever achieved for a work by the artist at auction.
Pope’s Villa at Twickenham, a masterpiece by Britain’s most celebrated artist, Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A., (1775-1851). Among the most important works by Turner to appear on the market in living memory, this splendid work came to auction after some 181 years in a distinguished private collection. It made £5,417,250 – the fourth highest price for a work by the artist ever achieved at auction.
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