The Sotheby’s annual auction of Important Old Master Paintings and Sculptures will be headed to New York in 2012, bringing with it a large range of artwork. It featured many paintings from the estate of Lady Forte at the auction, which took place on the 26th January 2012 at Sotheby’s New York York Avenue galleries.
The auction day featured paintings in the morning session, followed by sculpture in the afternoon to provide a clear split for bidders. This included some very impressive Italian and Italian Baroque, French Rococo and Dutch 17th century paintings in the morning and sculpture from Andrea Della Robbia, Agnolo di Polo and Louis François Roubiliac in the afternoon, combing stunning artwork with the stylish setting of Sotheby’s New York auction room.
Paintings included Canaletto’s extremely long titled Venice, a View of the Churches of the Redentore and San Giacomo, with a Moored Man-of-War, Gondolas and Barges (1747-1755) which has been estimated between $5 and $7 million and Jan van Huysum’s even lengthier Still Life of Roses, Tulips, Peonies and Other Flowers in a Sculpted Stone Vase, together with a Bird’s Nest on a Stone Pedestal before a Niche (18th Century), estimated between $4 and $6 million.
Both of the paintings have come from Lady Forte’s collection, and they added to other works up for auction, including Simone Martini’s 14th Century masterpiece, The Virgin Annunciate (est. $3/$4 million), which captures the religious dedication in Italy at the time of its painting around 1476, and Lucretia by German Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach the Elder, which was estimated at $4/$6 million.
The sculpture half of the day at Sotheby’s annual Important Old Master Paintings & Sculpture auction 2012 saw An Italian Terracotta Bust of a Bishop Saint go under the hammer, which is one of Agnelo di Polo’s few surviving works going on sale with estimates in the region of $100/150,000.
The event is an annual fine art auction where some of the world’s most impressive art is sold for various reasons. While a lot of the work eventually finds itself hung in galleries available to the public to see, there is inevitable some that is taken by very keen private bidders, so there are positives and negatives to the event. However, on the whole, most items will become publicly available over time.
