Antiques Trade Gazette 29


New attribution sees Getty go for drawing


THE Getty Museum of Los Angeles fought off competitors in Sotheby’s Old Master Drawings sale on January 25 to secure the top lot, Portrait of a Young Man, Head and Shoulders, Wearing a Cap, attributed to Piero del Pollaiuolo (c.1443-1496). The 14¼ x 9in (36 x 23cm) pen and brown ink over black


chalk drawing bearing an X in the lower right corner has been considered by scholars to be by Marco Zoppo or his circle. However, the academic Alison Wright, who published a book on the Pollaiuolo brothers in 2005, has attributed it to Piero del Pollaiuolo. Specifically, she drew comparisons to one of his oil on panel


depictions of an aristocratic youth from the late 1460s, and as such dated this drawing to the same period, the late 1460s/early 1470s, a time when the independent portrait was gaining popularity. It is thought the near life-size drawing was intended as a work


in its own right. Unusually for the time, it depicts the young sitter gazing at the viewer rather than in profile. Such large drawings from the period are very rare and few


survive. The opportunity to secure it, combined with its good condition, contributed to weeks of pre-sale hype, and it easily outstripped its $300,000-500,000 estimate to sell at $1.175m (£794,000). The Getty said it was a significant acquisition that will anchor and provide context for its Italian Renaissance drawings collection.


Above: a Daniel Seghers’ still life $60,000 (£40,540) at Doyle.


Leading the day at Doyle’s


Above: Portrait of a Young Man, Head and Shoulders, Wearing a Cap, attributed to Piero del Pollaiuolo – $1.175m (£794,000) in Sotheby’s Old Master drawings sale.


“There is stilll nore money searching for paintings than there are paintings searching for money”


phone for Saint Jerome in the Wilderness by the pivotal Italian Renaissance painter Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1517). The 17¾ x 11in (45 x 28cm) arched


oil on panel, dated to the 1490s, was in very good condition. It has only been exhibited twice, the last time in the 1970s, and has been in the collection of the late philanthropist and collector Dodie Rosekrans since 1989 when she purchased it at Sothebys. The previous record for Bartolommeo


was set in 2009, when a much larger oil-on-panel, The Madonna and Child in a Landscape, fetched £1.86m ($2.9m) at Christie’s London. Another Italian Renaissance painting


that drew strong interest at Sotheby’s was a tondo attributed to Botticelli (1445-1510) and his studio, Madonna and Child with the Young Baptist, Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata in the Distance. This 3ft 11in (1.2m) diameter tempera


on panel is typical of Botticelli’s tondi from the late 1480s. It was largely overlooked until 1983, when restoration revealed much of its original surface. More recent infrared reflectography has revealed significant underdrawing. Mr Apostle believes the figures


were the work of Botticelli, while the OLD MASTER SALES IN NEW YORK AT A GLANCE


No of lots


Old Master Paintings, Part I Christie’s


Old Master Paintings, Part II Christie’s


25/1/12 26/1/12


Old Master & British Drawings and Watercolours Christie’s


26/1/12


The Art of France Christie’s


25/1/12


Important Old Master Paintings & Sculpture Sotheby’s


Old Master & 19th Century European Art Sotheby’s


Old Master Drawings Sotheby’s


26/1/12 27/1/12 25/1/12


landscape in the background may be by one of his contemporaries. An American collector on the phone quadrupled the estimate to secure it at $4m (£2.7m). The oldest artwork in the sale was


The Virgin Annunciate, an exceptionally rare tempera on panel, painted on gold ground in the mid 1330s by Siena-born Simone Martini (c.1284-1344). The 11½ x 8in (29 x 20cm) panel was once part of a small devotional diptych that would have depicted Gabriel telling Mary of Christ’s conception. Whereas previously such scenes


would have focused on Mary’s devotion, in this depiction here she clutches her cloak in a mixture of fear, shock and modesty, making this one of the first representations known as the “Madonna of Humility.” It was attributed to Martini in 1929


but remained a debated work, with some scholars attributing it to other painters


59 112


147 44


350 226 221


Presale Est.


$38.8m- $57.2m


$3.07m- $4.58m


$2.14m- $3.15m


$14.9m- $22.1m


$60.7m- $85.8m


$2.5m- $3.6m


$4.1m- $5.8m


Hammer total


$29.2m (£19.7m)


$3.56m (£2.41m)


$2.48m (£1.67m)


$8.45m (£5.71m)


$53.2m (£35.9m)


$2.03m (£1.37m)


$4.61m (£3.11m)


Sold in lots


71% 76%


76% 57% 60% 63% 51%


Sold in money


70%


85% 88% 52% 70% 78% 75%


in Martini’s circle. However, a recent re- examination led to a renewed scholarly consensus that it is definitely by Martini. One of its major draws was how


closely it relates to a large-scale altarpiece in the Uffizi gallery, Annunciation with Saints Ansano and Margaret, considered to be Martini’s masterpiece. However, Mr Apostle said its primary


appeal was its rhythmical beauty and elegance – he said everything about the richly embellished piece, including extensive use of blue in the Virgin’s cloak, the gold ground, and the silver leaf on the reverse – indicated that it was commissioned by an important, wealthy client. Things have not changed drastically


– seven centuries after it was painted, it again went into the hands of a wealthy European collector, who fought off two other telephone bidders to secure it at a cool $3.6m (£2.4m).


TIMED to coincide with the main picture sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, Manhattan auctioneers Doyle (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) included a small Old Master selection alongside the English and Continental furniture and works of art they offered on January 25. Two lots led on $60,000 (£40,540)


apiece. One was a typical Flemish floral still life, a 2ft 9in x 2ft (85 x 61cm) oil on canvas by Daniel Seghers’ (1590-1661) guided at $40,000-60,000 offered from a deceased estate and previously purchased from the London dealers Frost and Reed. The other seemed a more speculative


bid for a 3ft 3in x 2ft 7½in (99 x 80cm) oil on canvas portrait of a woman standing holding a spear with a cockerel behind her. Entitled Aurora, this was loosely described as Dutch School 17th century with a $2000-4000 estimate but given the final price, a couple of bidders at least evidently felt it was a work with more potential.


Anne Crane


Above: an unattributed 17th century female portrait – $60,000 (£40,540) at Doyle.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60