23/08/2001
by Federico Ruberti

At the end of the first semester 2001, the art market in Italy is trembling, shaken by a double earthquake. On the one hand Giorgio Corbelli, already the owner of Napoli Football Club and the Telemarket Group to which the Venetian Semenzato auction house also belongs, acquired 28.5% of the shares of Finarte Auction House S.p.A. currently headed by Casimiro Porro. On the other hand, Semenzato affirmed itself as the premier auction house in Italy for the second year running, overtaking Finarte by a few billion lire and thus confirming the lead already gained at the end of 2000, when it closed with sale proceeds of 89 billion lire ($ 49.8 million, € 45.9 million) against the 76.8 billion lire ($ 36.1 million, € 39.6 million) declared by Finarte. While the artworld are asking themselves what kind of equilibrium will emerge in the auction market in Italy, these are the balances of the activity of the first semester 2001.

Among the auction houses operating on a national scale Semenzato registered the highest sale proceeds, amounting to 51,271 billion lire ($ 24.1 million, € 26.5 million, +65% with respect to the first semester 2000), followed by Finarte with 41.172 billion lire ($ 19.3 million, € 21.2 million, +12.23% % with respect to the first semester 2000) and by Christie’s with 34.53 billion lire ($ 16.2 million, € 17.8 million, +16% % with respect to the first semester 2000). The only auction house to have closed the first semester with a decrease (-24%) with respect to 2000 was Sotheby’s, which declared sales amounting to 22.172 billion lire ($ 10.4 million, € 11.4 million) against 28 billion lire ($ 13.2 million, € 14.5 million) of a year ago.

In the field of Old Masters, the billion lire hammer prices went to Semenzato, which imposed itself on the competition with sale proceeds equal to the sum of what was declared by the other auction houses. In the Heirs Carlo De Carlo auction Part two, held in Florence on the 19^th April, for example, three tempera and gold on panels reached nine zero figures: Madonna and Child, Saint Peter Martyr, Saint John the Baptist by Bartolomeo Bulgarini (L. 2.7 billion, $ 1.3 million, € 1.4 million), Crucifixion between two Martyr Saints and God the Father between two Angels by Pietro Lorenzetti (L. 2.3 billion, $ 1.1 million, € 1.2 million) and Crucifixion by Giovanni Di Paolo (L. 1.7 billion, $ 830,360, € 877,900).

Also in the field of Old Master art, Finarte registered more contained hammer prices with sale proceeds of 10 million lire ($ 4.7 million, € 5.1 million). To be noted, in the auction held in Milan on the 13^th June, the hammer price of 465.5 million lire ($ 219,270, € 240,400) was obtained for an oil on canvas entitled Abraham banishing Agar and Ishmael (127 x 150 cm) by Mattia Preti; Female Portrait, an oil on canvas (73 x 56 cm) by Tanzio da Varallo reached 361.1 million lire ($ 170,000, € 186,500) and an oil on canvas by Gaspar Van Wittel, View of Messina with the beach of Santa Maria of the grotto (52.5 x 49 cm), sold for 349.5 million lire ($ 164,600, € 180,500).

The 4.4 billion lire ($ 2.1 million , € 2.2 million) obtained by Sotheby’s in the auction held on the 12^th June in Milan, (+27.6% with respect to the first semester 2000), was partly due to the hammer price of L. 1.5 billion ($ 706,650, € 774,700) reached by the tondo by Lorenzo di Credi, The Adoration of the Child with the annunciation to the shepherds (tempera and oil on panel, diameter 75 cm). While Christie’s registered an important hammer price in the auction held in Rome on the 22^nd May when a painting with gold background from the beginning of the 15^th Century by Piero di Domenico da Montepulciano, representing the Madonna of Humility was auctioned for L. 177.6 million ($ 83,600, € 91,700).

In the field of Modern and Contemporary Art, Finarte dominated the Italian auction scene, registering the highest proceeds of 14.2 billion lire ($ 6.7 million, € 7.3 million). An oil on canvas by Giorgio de Chirico, Female Nude (circa 1930, 92 x 73 cm) auctioned for 407.4 million lire ($ 191,900, € 210,400) in the auction held on the 31^st May in Milan. The figure reached by Homage to Balla by Mario Schifano (1964, enamel on paper applied on canvas, 252 x 126 cm) was also important, it was sold for 156.9 million lire ($ 73,900, € 81,000) during the auction held on the 12^th April in Rome.

Among the hammer prices obtained by Sotheby’s in the field of modern and contemporary art, those reached in the auction held in Milan on the 30^th May are noteworthy. On this occasion, an Achrome (50 x 60 cm) from 1959 by Piero Manzoni, estimated at L. 250-350 million ($ 118,800, € 129,100), was surprisingly sold for 596.6 million lire ($ 281,100, € 308,100), while an oil on panel applied on ply-wood painted by Felice Casorati in 1931, Pink Manequin (90 x 59 cm), was sold for L. 415.8 million ($ 195,900, € 214,700). In the modern and contemporary field Christie’s made 8.6 billion lire ($ 4 million, € 4.4 million) in the auction held in Milan on the 29^th May. To be noted among the others, is the hammer price of L. 196 million ($ 92,350, € 101,200) obtained for a work by Filippo De Pisis, The river on the Seine.

In the field of 19^th Century art it was once again Finarte who made the highest proceeds (L. 3.9 billion, $ 1.8 million, € 2 million) followed, closely, by Sotheby’s (L. 3.410 billion, $ 1.6 million, € 1.7 million) and by Christie’s (L. 3.2 billion, $ 1.5 million, € 1.6 million). Among the hammer prices to be noted in this field are: 935.6 million lire ($ 440,800, € 483,200) reached by the oil on canvas by Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo, April in the meadows of Volpedo (1904, 53 x 64 cm) (Sotheby’s, Milan, 5^th June); 280.5 million lire ($ 132,190, € 144,860) obtained by Lady with a black hound by Giovanni Boldini, and 232.7 million lire ($ 109,670, € 120,180) reached by Chioggia in the winter (1884) by Mosè Bianchi (Christie’s, Milan, 4^th June).

At the end of the first semester 2001, as the hypothesis regarding the creation of a single company made up of the Telemarket Semenzato and Finarte has resurfaced, what is hoped is that the new partnership will contribute to increase the average level of the works offered on the Italian market and the transparency of the market itself, especially as far as the provenance of the works is concerned.