In New York for the Old Masters Week
-
- Piero di Giovanni, called Lorenzo Monaco (?1370/75-c.1425/30 Florence) and Workshop, “The Madonna of Humility with adoring angels”, tempera and gold on panel. Courtesy: Christie’s
-
- Jacopo Da Ponte, called Jacopo Bassano (Bassano del Grappa c. 1510-1592), “The Adoration of the Shepherds”, oil on canvas. Courtesy: Christie’s
-
- Evaristo Baschenis (Bergamo 1617-1677), “Still Life with musical instruments”, oil on canvas. Courtesy: Christie’s
-
- Artemisia Gentileschi (Rome 1593-Naples 1652/53), “Self-Portrait as a Lute Player”, oil on canvas. Courtesy: Christie’s
-
- Giovanni di Niccolò de Lutero called Dosso Dossi, (Ferrara (?) circa 1490 – 1541/2 Ferrara), “A scene from Virgil’s Aeneid, from Alfonso I d’Este’s frieze in the ‘Camerino d’alabastro'”. Courtesy: Sotheby’s
-
- Pier Francesco Mola (1612 – 1666), “Bacchus overseeing the crushing of grapes by his satyrs”. Courtesy: Sotheby’s
-
- Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, “Incontro al molo: a ‘codega’ showing the way to a noble couple on a molo”, pen and brown ink and brown and gray wash over traces of black chalk. Courtesy: Sotheby’s
-
- Lombard Master, 1540 – 1560, “Portrait of a gryfalcon, viewed from three sides”. Courtesy: Sotheby’s
The Old Masters Week 2014, at Sotheby’s (New York), opens on 25 January and features an array of sales from Old Master Drawings, Old Master Paintings, European Sculpture and Works of Art and Fine Arts. The auction series begins with Old Master Drawings.
Presenting a rich survey of some three and a half centuries of European drawings, the “Old Master Drawings” sale is particularly strong in works from the Italian and Netherlandish schools. The stars are led by two very different, yet equally magical images by Giandomenico Tiepolo (auction 29 January). The one in the gallery above is “Incontro al molo” (1791), estimated at 600.000 to 800.000$.
If referring to the auction “The Courts of Europe” sale (30 January), we would like to draw attention to a work by Dosso Dossi. It depicts a scene from Virgil’s Aeneid, is an oil on canvas, almost square, about 50×50 cm, from the Alabaster Camerino of Alfonso I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara (estimated at 400.000 to 600.000$). In the same sale, we also find some “conceptual” pieces, amongst which is the “Portrait of a Gyrfalcon”, viewed from three sides by a Lombard Master (estimated at 700.000 to 1.000.000$). This unique and striking portrait of a gyrfalcon dates between 1540 and 1560. Gyrfalcons were a sign of wealth during that time; only the most elite nobility were permitted to hunt with this majestic bird.
In the same week is to be found an important appointment at Christie’s. “Renaissance”, for example, returns for its second year (sale at New York, Rockefeller Plaza 29 January 2014), featuring exceptional paintings, sculpture, and decorative art. Devoted to the artistic production that flourished in Europe from 1300 to 1600, this sale is led by Jacopo Bassano’s “Adoration of the Shepherds” (Estimate: 8,000,000 – 12,000,000 $) among other exemplary works. One of the many highlights of this sale is The Rothschild Prayerbook (Estimate: 12,000,000 – 18,000,000 $), an exquisitely preserved masterpiece of Renaissance manuscript illumination, containing lavish illustrations by the most renowned artists of the day.
Other important works are on sale at the Christie’s “Old Master Paintings part I”. Led by a rare self-portrait of renowned Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi (“Self-Portrait as a Lute Player” estimate: 3,000,000 – 5,000,000 $), this 62 lot sale represents over 500 years of European art, with rediscoveries and works from prominent private collections among the highlights, as “Still Life with musical instruments” by Evaristo Baschenis (1,200,000 – 1,600,000 $) and “Portrait of Olimpia Luna as Judith and Melchiorre Zoppio as Holofernes” (300,000 – 500,000 $) by Agostino Carracci. Fascinating is the “The Madonna of Humility with adoring angels” by Lorenzo Monaco (estimate: 350,000 – 500,000$).
January 22, 2014
