Filed under: Art Sales — Alan @ 8:58 am
Last night the most expensive item at the Christie’s auction sold for £29,171, 250. The painting was a drawing by Raphael that was expected to only sell at £12 to £16 million.
Head of a Muse was drawn as part of a study in Parmasssus and is part of a series of Frescoes that were completed in the Vatican at the Stanze della Segnatura.
It was produced back to 1508-15011 and was commissioned by Pope Julius II.
Before last night, the highest price for a drawing at an auction was a Degas that sold at a 2008 New York auction for £22,742,106.
This was the first time that the Raphael drawing was involved in a public auction in over 150 years. During the same sale, a Rembrandt first broke a record when it reached an auction price of £20.2m,
The Rembrandt, Portrait of A Man, Half-Length with His Hands Akimbo was given the largest pre sale estimate that has been seen for an Old Master painting.
The highest Old Master record for an auction was set in 2002 when a painting by Ruben far exceeded a six million pound estimate and sold for £50m.
Still, the Rembrandt is now fourth on the list of Old Master artworks that sold for millions at the auction house.
The extremely rich consider high ticket artworks to be a viable investment option in a year when the art market has continued to take a beating.
Filed under: Art Sales — Alan @ 6:23 am
Rembrandt’s Portrait of a Man was on display Friday at Christie’s in lieu of its sale this coming Tuesday. This was the first showing of the portrait since 1970.
Currently the highest amount that a Rembrandt has sold for was £19.8 in December of 2000, beating pre-sale estimates that placed its value around £5m.
Since that stunning sale, experts at Christie’s expect that Portrait of a Man my garnish anywhere between £18m and £25m, although it could possibly go for much more, as the last few auctions of famous works have been setting their own records.
Head of the Christie’s Old Masters department, Richard Knight, said that the painting was completed two years after Rembrandt was said to have become bankrupt.
Rembrandt did compile a large amount of savings during his most productive years, 1630-1650, but spent most of his money quickly on other notable pieces of art. After he became broke, he had to sell his home and his collection.
Knight commented that the painting shows Rembrandt’s genius due to the fact that the style of painting was ahead of its time and showed Rembrandt’s strong use of expressive colour.
The painting was originally first discovered in 1847, almost two centuries after it was first painted, and owned in the 20th century by an heir to a supermarket, who later donated it to Columbia University, who then sold it to a private owner.
Rembrandt’s monumental painting will be included in the Christie’s sale on December 8th that is a collection of 19th century art and Old Masters collection.
