Christie’s Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale on 3 July 2012 features 64 works which present international collectors and institutions with landmark rediscoveries and works of exceptional quality, spanning 500 years of European art history.
Leading the sale is John Constable’s (1776-1837) celebrated British landscape The Lock (estimate: £20 million to £25 million), from the Collection of Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza. A man in a gorget and cap by Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606-1669) (estimate: £8 million to £12 million) crowns The Pieter and Olga Dreesmann Collection of Dutch Old Master Paintings. The sale as a whole comprises significant Dutch and Flemish pictures, as well as notable Italian, French, Spanish and German paintings of remarkable quality, importance and beauty. The sale is expected to realise between £61 million and £88 million – the highest pre-sale estimate for a sale of Old Master & British Paintings in auction history.
Further highlights include a remarkable tale of discovery: an unpublished and previously unknown copper panel of Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan by Joachim Anthonisz. Wtewael (1566-1638) which was found in storage during a routine Christie’s valuation (estimate: £2 million to £4 million); Flowers in a glass vase on a draped table, with a silver tazza, fruit, insects and birds, by Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1606-1684) (estimate: £1.2 million to £1.8 million); Apples in a wicker basket, an opened pomegranate on a silver plate and roses, irises and other flowers in a glass vase, on a stone ledge, by Juan de Zurbarán (1620-1649) (estimate: £2.5 to £3.5 million); Christ between Saints Paul and Peter by Pietro Lorenzetti (circa 1306-45) (estimate: £1 million to £1.5 million); and Mont Blanc from Fort Roch, Val d’Aosta, a work on paper by Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A. (1775-1851) (estimate: £1 million to £1.5 million).
