Titian
A Sacra Conversazione: The Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria
Titian ‘Sacra Conversazione’ sells for $16.9 million On 27 January 2011, Titian’s ‘A Sacra Conversazione: The Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria’, sold for $16.9 million to a European private collector at Sotheby’s and broke a 20-year record for the artist at auction]]>
January 28th 2011, source: Sotheby’s
The work, a good late Titian, was the star of Sotheby’s sale of important old masters paintings and sculptures, which totalled $90,626,878, just shy of the high estimate of $91.8 million
Other works achieved interesting prices at the sale: Claude-Joseph Vernet’s ‘A Grand View of the Sea Shore Enriched with Buildings, Shipping and Figures’, brought $7,026,500 above a high estimate of $2 million, far surpassing the previous artist record of $3.8 million, achieved by a pair of works. The morning session set auction records for works by iconic artists JoachimWtewael, Gerrit Dou and Pieter Breughel the Younger. Wtewael’s oil oncopper work ‘Adam and Eve’ achieved $6,242,500, more than five times itspre-sale high estimate of $1.2 million. A perfect Mannerist demonstration offacility and grace, the remarkable work was previously unknown and has onlynow come to light. ‘An Elderly Woman, Seated by a Window at herSpinning Wheel, Eating Porridge’ by Dutch Golden Age artist Gerrit Doualso exceeded expectations in selling for $5,346,500. An early painting bythe artist, Dou continued to use its basic compositional form throughout theremainder of his career. Pieter Breughel the Younger’s ‘Return from theKermesse’ brought $4,562,500. The present work is one of the finest known versions of this composition, whichwas very popular during the artist’s lifetime. The scene depicts a merry procession of villagers returning from akermesse, still in the throes of revelry
One of the most interesting purchases at Sotheby’s was the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s purchase ofPerino del Vaga’s ‘The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist’ for $2,098,500. The work set a newauction record for the artist, just one day after Sotheby’s Old Master Drawings sale broke the record for del Vagawith ‘Jupiter and Juno’, also sold to the Metropolitan Museum
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