Rembrandt van Rijn: “Saint James the greater”

Sotheby’s will auction Rembrandt’s Saint James the Greater

The “Rembrandt year” (400th anniversary of the Dutch master) will end next December 31st, but the artistic events related to the baroque master will continue. In fact, next January 25th 2007, the auction house Sotheby’s will offer for sale in New York one of the most important works by Rembrandt still in private hands: “Saint James the Greater”, signed and dated 1661, measuring 36 ¼ x 29 ½ inches, and estimated to sell for $18-25 million.

As Sotheby’s says in its press note, “Over the past 20 years, the vast majority of pictures by the artist that have appeared on the market have dated to the 1630s and 40s – it is exceedingly rare to have one that dates to the 1660s. Works of this period, the last decade of Rembrandt’s life and a time of personal turmoil, are extremely intense, soulful and introspective.”

The work had been exhibited in the TEFAF Maastricht at the beginning of this year, being offered for sale for an undisclosed price.