The Old Masters auction held by Christie's on July 8 in London totaled £45.3 million (approx. $63 million) including fees. Despite three lots withdrawn before the sale, including a portrait of an English nobleman by Anthony van Dyck estimated at £3 million, the solid result was the highest for an evening sale in the London branch since 2016 for Old Masters. The house announced 78% of lots sold, 75% from bidders based in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while experts at ArtTactic put the average hammer price at £811,457 ($1.1 million).
“We’ve given a real boost to the Old Masters market," said Henry Pettifer, International Director of the Old Masters Department at Christie's London. The house recorded no less than seven artist records, as well as the second highest painting for Artemisia Gentileschi and Angelica Kauffmann (two of only three female artists represented at the sale). According to Clementine Sinclair, Head of Old Masters Evening Sales at Christie's London, demand for works by female masters has peaked recently, and the paintings on display at the July 8 auction have sparked very intense auction battles.
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This series of records includes that of the French Baroque painter Georges de La Tour, a major representative of Caravaggism in 17th century France, whose works still in private hands are rare. Indeed, only 47 works by De La Tour are known to be kept in private collections and their rare appearances on the market are still eagerly awaited by collectors. "This was literally one of the very last pictures by de La Tour in private hands," Henry Pettifer said. "I think the prices are a reflection of his mega-importance and rarity."
The work presented on July 8, a portrait of Saint Andrew painted in the early 1620s, sold for £4.28 million including fees (approximately $6 million), setting a new record for the artist. The previous record had been set by La Fillette au brasier, one of the master's last night scenes in private hands, sold for 4.34 million euros during a sale in Cologne, Germany in December 2020.
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This Saint Andrew, an oil on canvas measuring 62 by 50.5 cm, is part of the famous series of the Apostles of Albi, of which only six of the thirteen paintings made by the artist in the 1620s remain today. Unlike the other surviving paintings of the series, whose subjects can easily be mistaken for street figures, the religious nature of this work is beyond doubt. We see a disarmingly calm Saint Andrew in front of the crux decussata (an X-shaped cross which would have been used according to tradition to torture him), staring at the open book in front of him in meditative silence.
The frontal composition is reinforced by the use of chiaroscuro visible mainly in the folds of the saint's mantle. Despite its early date, the work already presents a very sophisticated treatment. The dark atmosphere, characteristic of the Albi series, is broken only by the red of the coat, a color that will dominate De La Tour's work throughout his career.
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The auction also saw six other auction records, boosting the reputations of artists such as Bernardo Bellotto, Adriaen van de Velde, Francesco Tironi, Gregorio di Cecco da Lucca, diptych master Sterbini and Marco Ricci. Bernardo Bellotto's work, A View of Verona with the Ponte delle Navi, established itself as the star lot of the session, reaching 10.5 million pounds (around $14.5 million) including fees, setting the artist's new auction record.
This Venetian view measuring over 1.5m by 2.5m had not been presented on the market for 50 years and had been on long-term loan to the National Gallery of Scotland since 1973. Monumental and ambitious, the canvas was painted around 1745-1747, when the artist was only 20 years old. The nephew of Canaletto, Bellotto had a precocious talent and was interested in the precise details of the views he represented.
"This is a bigger sale than we would normally have," said Clementine Sinclair, "and I think that's partly due to the fact we didn't hold an Old Masters evening sale last July, so there was some pent-up demand of collectors wanting to sell."
