08/11/2001
by Luisa Vassallo

At the end of last week Christie’s held their Old Master Pictures sales in London. The South Kensington premises kicked off proceedings on the 31^st of October, followed by the major auction held at the King Street headquarters on the 2^nd November. Overall results reflected the current unstable international situation.

The first sale at South Kensington offered 260 lots of which just over 41% were sold for a total of $ 1,026,035 (€ 1,142,890), helped by a couple of unexpected results. The top lot was a large still life (124.8 x 99.7 cm) by a follower of Mario Nuzzi, depicting flowers in a vase with food and wine. The oil carried an estimate of $ 10,214-14,593 (€ 11,379-16,255) and was finally hammered at an impressive $ 87,558 (€ 97,533), six times its high-end quotation and confirmation of the market’s taste for decorative pictures, particularly those of fine execution. The second successful sale was reserved for The molo, the Doge’s Palace, and the Piazzetta from the Bacino di San Marco, Venice after Canaletto, an oil on canvas (52.8 x 84 cm) that is a copy of the similar-sized painting dated circa 1755, hanging in the Uffizi, Florence. Against an estimate of $ 21,883-36,470 (€ 24,379-40,633), the painting finally fetched $ 68,561 (€ 76,388), proof of the continuing popularity on the British market of 18^th century Venetian views, reminiscent of the Grand Tour. Most of the remaining works were sold for figures below $ 14,000 (€ 15,600).

The King Street auction was held the day after Sotheby’s had its Old Master Paintings sale on the 1^st November. Christie’s raised a total of $ 2,525,262 (€ 2,813,522) from the auction, selling only 52% of their 108 lots, in line with the 57% sales rate posted by their rival. The best results came in the first half of the sale and, as expected, Salomon van Ruysdael’s A river landscape, an oil on canvas (measuring 59.3 x 75.1 cm) dated circa 1650, stole the show. Although this painting was painted in the latter part of the artist’s career and, as such, is imbued with rich colour schemes, it still retains the harmony of the monochrome period van Ruysdael is appreciated for. Estimated at $ 102,074-145,820 (€ 113, 642-162,346), the painting was finally bought by the U.K. trade for $ 303,414 (€ 337,823) doubling its high end valuation. Another 17^th century Dutch scene depicting ships at sea, A smalschip in a squall, a Dutch frigate and another shipping beyond, by Ludolf Backhuizen also did well, beating its estimate of $ 29,321-43,986 (€ 32,469-48,704) to fetch $ 77,531 (€ 85,849). A good result was also seen for another Dutch artist well-known for his still lives, Jan Mortel. His oil on panel Peaches, plums, grapes on the vine and other fruit in a basket, with a snail, a dragonfly and a mouse, signed and dated 1716 and estimated at $ 43,742-72,900 (€ 48,696-81,162), almost doubled its high end estimate, snapped up for $ 142,374 (€ 157,860) by a private buyer.

A pair of paintings with lower estimates also fetched a good price, the Portrait of a Man, called Rembrandt’s father and the Portrait of Rembrandt’s mother, both by an unknown artist in the circle of Rembrandt. Authorship of the portraits has been a matter of debate for some time now. Both signed with the monogram ‘ARG’, they were once thought to be by Dou, until the false Dou signatures were discovered and removed in the early 1900’s to reveal the monogram. Estimated at $ 21,855-29,140 (€ 24,346-32,461), the two oils on panel (each measuring 22.2 x 17.2 cm) fetched more than four times their quotation, eventually selling to a London art dealer for $ 121,439 (€ 134,637) after some very competitive bidding which was undoubtedly helped by provenance issues. The paintings had in fact belonged to Adolphe Schloss, an eminent collector of Dutch and Flemish Old Masters. Schloss’s important collection had long been an object of desire before being eventually seized from the castle of Chambon (near Tulle, France) by the Germans during the Second World War. The paintings were finally handed-back to his heirs after the war and were subsequently sold in Paris in 1951.

All in all the two sales held by Christie’s in London confirmed not only that buyers are prepared to pay high prices for works of high quality, especially in view of the current difficult international situation, but also that the market for Old Masters remains particularly strong for Flemish and Dutch paintings.