26 11th February 2012
art market Old criteria rule in new
■ New York series bring solid results but bidders no longer take a gamble
Stephanie Harris reports
£1 = $1.48
BEFORE the global downturn, the Old Master market was a mixture of savvy, experienced buyers competing for the best works, as well as newcomers with the X-factor who were more likely to bite on paintings with bullish estimates.
In these more austere times, even with new
collectors from Asia and the crossover markets emerging in the past few seasons, the stalwart traits of rarity, market-freshness and clear attribution remain, but the ability to gamble on collectors splashing out on over-ambitious estimates has been lost. New York’s January Old Master series, which
comprised six sales over three days at Sotheby’s and Christie’s (both 25/20/12% buyer’s premium), saw some high prices for the best paintings. As New York dealer Richard L. Feigan
said: “There is more money searching for paintings than paintings searching for money.” However, it is hard to select high prices
as a gauge for the entire market, since there are only about two or three works per auction house by a grand name with an attribution accepted by everyone. Judging by sale totals, the market
remains relatively steady – the overall $103.5m (£70m) for the week was down $21m from equivalent sales last year, but up $13m on figures in 2010. Sotheby’s had the stronger results,
bringing in $57.7m (£39m), of which $4.6m came from their highest total for an Old Master Drawings sale since 1998. Christie’s hosted four auctions including a new offering devoted to 18th century French pictures (see caption story) and totalled $43.7m. An indication that bidders would
not be prompted to raise their paddles on overblown price tags came when Christie’s cover lot, The Virgin Mary Nursing the Christ Child – a gold-ground tondo, one of only two works by Bruges master Hans Memling (1430/40-1494) left in private hands – failed to sell. With an auction guarantee that
possibly put pressure on Christie’s to give it a hefty $6m-$8m estimate, dealers felt half that price would have been a more realistic estimate and it was bought in at $5.5m (£3.7m).
Christie’s nevertheless boasted the
top lot of the series, The Arrival of Henri III at the Villa Contarini by Giambattista Tiepolo (1696-1770), a 2ft 4in x 3ft 6in (72cm x 1m) oil on canvas was made as a preparatory presentation sketch for a larger commission of a fresco. The work depicts Henri de Valois
(1551-1589), soon-to-be crowned Henri III of France, being lavishly received at the country estate during his visit to Venice in 1574. Some 190 years later, when
Vincenzo I Sebastiano Pisani inherited the villa, he commissioned Tiepolo to recreate the historic event on the back wall of a veranda in the villa. Today the painting retains the vibrant
colours, high finish and carefully layered brushstrokes that have been lost in the frescoes, which were damaged while being moved to the Musée Jacquemart- André in Paris. The work was first owned by Tiepolo’s friend and patron Count Francesco
Algorotti (1712-1764), then by the Rothschild family, but was looted by the Nazis in 1941 for the collection of Hermann Goering and repatriated five years later. The last time the picture was offered
at Christie’s New York in 1985, it went unsold, but tastes have changed to favour historical subjects. This time, consigned from the collection of Robert H and Clarice Smith, it set a new record for Tiepolo when it sold to a collector on the
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