52 23rd June 2012 art market
$1.22m Godward record a fair reflection of NY bidding
THIS pre-Raphaelite-style portrait by John William Godward (1861-1922), entitled A Fair Reflection, set a major auction record for the artist at Sotheby’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of 19th century European art in New York on May 4. The same sale yielded the $2m (£1.3m)
William Bouguereau (1825-1905), reported and pictured on page 20-21 of ATG No 2043. The 3ft 10in x 2ft 8in (1.17m x 80cm)
signed oil on canvas was one of Godward’s highly aesthetic classical scenes, which he produced rather prolifically, but this example from 1915 was previously unrecorded. It emerged from a private source in
California and was deemed to be one of the most ambitious paintings that the artist produced in his period in Italy after 1911. Unlike most of the works he painted at this time, A Fair Reflection was not shipped back
to London for sale, but remained in Italy in the artist’s studio, from where it was acquired by a member of the vendor’s family in the 1940s. A more fully resolved picture than some
of his later three-quarter-length portraits, it seems that bidders were attracted to this technically precise picture in part thanks to the colours and sensual clothing of the subject, but also the way the artist depicted the marble reflecting in the mirror (Godward was known as “the master of marble”). It was also completely fresh to the market. With all this in its favour, it overshot a
$400,000-600,000 estimate, selling at $1.22m (£787,100) to a private American collector. The price was well above the previous high
for the artist at auction, the £550,000 taken for Campaspe from 1896 at Sotheby’s London in December 2006. £1 = $1.55
Alex Capon Left: A Fair Reflection by John William Godward – a record $1.22m (£787,100) at Sotheby’s New York.
victorian art sales continued from page 51
It was bought from Burne-Jones by his loyal patron, the wealthy Scottish merchant William Graham, and had remained in his family ever since. Possibly unfinished, the 2ft 5in x 2ft 7in (73 x 79cm) oil on canvas depicts the priestess Hero lighting a beacon against the dark blue of night for her lover Leander, who swam the Hellespont to join her each night. The auction house described the work as “a little unconventional but full of poetry and feeling”, retaining the ethereal nature of Burne-Jones’s work.
Performing strongly across the board
were works by Edward Seago (1910- 74), the focus of current exhibitions at the Portland Gallery and Richard Green. Consigned to the sale by various sources, all 13 lots found buyers, mostly in or above Christie’s estimates. Stand-out prices included a top-estimate £95,000 UK trade buy, Westminster from Mayfair, showing an overcast London skyline, and Cottages by the marsh, Norfolk, a rural landscape which doubled its top estimate at £70,000. Buyers were a mixture of trade and
private.
Right: A Winner at Epsom by Sir Alfred James Munnings – £480,000.
CURWEN GALLERY LIVE AUCTION
Wednesday 27th June from 7pm Viewing from 13th June in the gallery until 6.30pm on 27th June
All works for both auctions available to view in the gallery and online
See
www.curwengallery.com/auction for full details and T&Cs.
Catalogues also on
www.the-saleroom.com
Curwen & New Academy Gallery 34 Windmill Street, London, W1T 2JR Tel: 020 7323 4700
Caulfield (left), est. £1000-£1500 Blake (above), est. £400-£600
gallery@curwengallery.com/
www.curwengallery.com Mon-Fri 10-6 (Thurs 10-8), Sat 11-5. Closed Bank Holiday Weekends CURWEN GALLERY
ONLINE AUCTION 13th-26th June
Online auction finishes at 9pm on 26th June
W. Barns-Graham (top left), est £1000-£1500 Sutherland (left), est. £700-£900 Tillyer (top right), est. £600-£800
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