Dorotheum’s Classic Week returns to Vienna on 28 and 29 April, bringing together a strong selection of fine art and antiques that spans centuries and collecting categories.
The upcoming sales offer an expansive view of the house’s range, from Old Master paintings to 19th-century works, alongside exceptional furniture, porcelain, and decorative arts. Here, we highlight a selection of standout lots.
The series opens on 28 April at 1 p.m. with the Furniture, Antiques, Glass & Porcelain sale, featuring a bronze attributed to Antonio Susini, a museum-quality cabinet, and rare Meissen vases.
Later that evening, at 6 p.m., attention turns to the Old Masters, spanning some 400 years of art history.
Among the earliest works is a pair of paintings by Lorenzo di Bicci, whose activity in Florence is documented between 1370 and 1427. Executed in tempera on gold ground, these panels likely once formed the wings of a tabernacle and represent an important addition to the artist’s early oeuvre. The right panel depicts Saints Julian, Bartholomew, and Catherine of Alexandria, while the left shows the hermit Anthony, an unidentified saint, and possibly Saint Stephen.
Another standout comes from the Dutch artist Herri met de Bles, one of the pioneers of narrative landscape. Here, Christ’s journey to Calvary unfolds within an expansive setting populated by figures in 16th-century dress. Among them rides Niccolò III d’Este (1383–1441), suggesting the work may have been commissioned by a member of the Este court, perhaps during the artist’s time in Italy.
Jan Brueghel the Elder is also represented with A Coastal Scene with Figures Near a Ruin. Painted on copper during or shortly after his travels south of the Alps between 1590 and 1596, the composition depicts the ruins of the Roman Temple of Venus at Baiae, near Naples. The small-scale work exemplifies the meticulous detail and refined execution that made Brueghel’s cabinet paintings so highly prized.
The program concludes on 29 April at 6 p.m. with the 19th Century Paintings sale.
Vittorio Matteo Corcos’s Young Lady with a Dog immediately draws the eye, combining technical finesse with a wealth of detail. At its centre, a red-haired young woman meets the viewer with a coquettish smile as she plays with her dog, whose bow echoes the fabric draped around her. Dressed in satin and tulle, she reclines with an ease that lends the composition an intimate, almost conversational quality. Behind her, a relief of Night by the Danish Neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen and a boat-shaped bed introduce a subtle classical note. Such refined details made Corcos one of the most sought-after portraitists around 1900.
A different sensibility emerges in the work of Corcos’s contemporary Beppe Ciardi, who turned his focus to landscape - above all, to his native Venice and its lagoon. Evening light recurs throughout his oeuvre, and Sunset in the Venetian Lagoon is a particularly fine example. The composition captures the calm of dusk with a harmonious palette, while gentle brushwork suggests the movement of the water.
Eugen von Blaas, a master of Venetian genre painting, is represented with a lively depiction of a christening celebration. At its centre, a group of young women dance, while one, with a playful glance, attempts to coax a seated man to join them. Such finely observed social interplay lends Blaas’s compositions their enduring charm and immediacy.
The Classic Week auctions will take place live on 28 and 29 April at the Palais Dorotheum, Dorotheergasse 17, Vienna. The exhibition will be open to visitors from 17 April.
