01/02/2002
by Andrew Moore

The sales of Old Masters in London in December showed that, contrary to dire expectations of a market fall in line with recent world events, the appeal of buying Old Master paintings remains strong. Further proof was given in the last week of January when New York hosted its sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s on the 24^th and the 25^th of January respectively. Despite the recent pasting Sotheby’s received during the Taubmann case (see Daily Gabrius news 23/01/2002), they came out as the winners over their rivals by a long shot. Sotheby’s Old Master paintings auction saw a sprightly total of $ 33 million (€ 38.2 million) with 76% sold by lot. Bearing in mind the results obtained by both auction houses, it was the northern European painters of the 17^th century, in particular caravaggisti artists, who performed best. The two top sellers, Sir Anthony van Dyck at Sotheby’s and Pier Francesco Mola at Christie’s (see Gabrius Index graph), were strikingly similar, both being lit with strong chiaroscuro, and proving conclusively the strong market for this genre of painting.

A new auction record was set for Sir Anthony van Dyck and his Bust of the apostle Peter which was the highest seller in the Sotheby’s sale. Saint Peter was one of two consecutive lots by the artist (the other being Saint Thomas which made $ 2.09 million (€ 2,430,000) against an estimate of $ 600,000-800,000 (€ 694,000-926,000) from the same commission known as the Böhler series, consisting of thirteen panels depicting Christ and the apostles, which were kept together for nearly 300 years. There is a reference that the artist Jacob Jordaens saw the entire collection in 1661, it is then recorded passing through Genoese collections during the 18^th century before reaching German owners in the 19^th century. Painted with precise, tight brushstrokes, the Saint Peter quadrupled its estimate of $ 600,000-800,000 (€ 694,000-926,000) to make $ 3.1 million (€ 3.6 million). New records were also made for the following artists: Baron Gerard with the Portrait of Catherine Worlee (the artist will be featured in a forthcoming Daily Gabrius article) which made $ 1.87 million just over its top end estimate, George Romney with his wistful Portrait of Mary, Mrs Sullivan that hammered for $ 765,000 (€ 889,000) over three times its estimate and Rosalba Carriera with her Portrait of Gustavus Hamilton that sold for $ 622,000 (€ 723,000). The buyers for the Gerard and the Carriera were the Old Masters gallery Sayn Wittgenstein Fine Art, New York on behalf of The Metropolitan Museum, New York.

On the 25^th of January, Christie’s New York held its respective paintings sale with the accolades going to Pier Francesco Mola’s An artist and a youth which wildly exceeded its estimate of $ 300,000-500,000 (€ 347,000-579,000) when it sold for $ 3.08 million (€ 3.5 million). The work was fresh on the market and new to Mola scholars, having recently been unearthed. The artist moved to Rome at a young age, but it was during his visit to Bologna that he was heavily influenced by the Baroque painter Francesco Albani (1645-1647) and by the work of Guercino. Dr. Erich Schleier, a specialist in this period, dated the picture to the early 1650s, shortly after Mola's return to Rome. This confirmation of the authenticity of the work helped ensure its sale, though no one could have predicted a rise amounting to ten times its asking price.

Another Christie’s big hitter was A Landscape with the Conversion of Saint Paul by the Flemish 16^th Century painter, Herri met de Bles, which sold to a member of the London trade for $ 732,000 (€ 851,000) against an estimate of $ 300,000-500,000 (€ 349,000-581,000) making another new world record price. However, despite these two extraordinary successes, Christie’s auction was a low-key affair and the hotly-tipped painting of the sale, Turner’s Sheerness as seen from the Nore, failed to attract any interest. Despite being fresh on the auction market, it had been touted round the galleries and was considered to be over-cleaned. This negative prospect was predicted by Daily Gabrius on the 9^th of January 2001, in that "it is not a striking work compared to Turner’s best known stormy seascape kept at the National Gallery, London, known as Margate from the Sea, and Christie’s big quote of $ 6-8 million (€ 6.7-8.9 million) may prove hard to match on the day". As it turned out bidding "against the wall" stopped at the painting’s reserve of $ 4 million (€ 4,650,000), half its hoped for top-end catalogue estimate.

Bar the Mola and de Bles, there were big losses for the auction house considering their expected sales estimate by value (which records the percentage of solds against the mean estimates prior to the sale), which saw a rate of 49%, with 55 of the 74 lots in the sale selling and a desultory turnover of $9,288,000 (€ 10,794,000) against Sotheby’s $ 33 million (€ 38,352,000), recorded the previous day. Anthony Crichton-Stuart, Head of the Old Master Paintings department at Christie’s New York, announced on the auction house’s web site that despite the disappointment of the Turner, the Mola was a cause for celebration, "shattering" the previous world record for the artist, though one wonders if in fact he was referring to the auction house’s reputation during the week after Sotheby’s stole the show.