On 3 July, Sotheby's London will present, on the occasion of its Old Masters Evening Sale, an appeal by the greatest names in the history of Western art. With an overall estimate of £46 – 65.9m / $59.5 – 83.7m, next week's sale is one of the most important ever made in this category of collectibles, both in terms of value and quality of the works offered. In a roundup that spans nearly six centuries, ranging from recently discovered works by Renaissance and Baroque masters to three masterpieces by Britain's top three landscape painters, still in private hands.
Medieval and Renaissance
Sandro Botticelli and Studio, Madonna and Child, seated before a classical window
Estimate: £1,500,000 – 2,000,000
Painted in or shortly after 1485, this well-preserved Madonna and Child follows the design of the central section of Botticelli's famous altarpiece for the Bardi Chapel in the church of Santo Spirito in Florence. It was kept from 1829 in the Gemaldegalerie in Berlin.
Whether it was made by Botticelli in its entirety, as believed by Prof. Laurence Kanter, or by Botticelli with the help of the workshop, the Madonna's head and hand are of particular quality and it is highly probable that the same cardboard was used both for this and for the Bardi altarpiece.
Third Master of Anagni, The Madonna and Child, two angels in the spandrels above, mid-1230s
Estimate: £200,000 – 300,000
Probably made in the mid-1230s, this gold-ground tempera is one of the oldest paintings to be offered by Sotheby's. Executed with a skilful graphic style, this valuable early work depicts the Virgin and Child within an arch. Acquired for the illustrious Stoclet collection in Brussels at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, this work has not appeared on the market for nearly a century.
REDISCOVERED
Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez, Portrait of Olimpia Maidalchini Pamphilj
Estimate: £2 – 3 million
Lost for nearly 300 years, this is the hitherto missing portrait of Donna Olimpia Maidalchini Pamphilj (1591 – 1657) – the most powerful woman in XNUMXth-century Rome. The sister-in-law, famed mistress, and strong-willed adviser to Pope Innocent X, Olympias controlled all aspects of Vatican life. Arguably one of the first feminists, this formidable woman ruled almost like a Pope, assuming control of one of the most powerful and “male-dominated” institutions in European history.
Once part of the illustrious collection of the 7th Marquis del Carpio – one of the greatest patrons and collectors of art in 1724th-century Italy, this painting was last recorded in 80 before disappearing without a trace. The whereabouts of the painting remained completely unknown until an unattributed work sold in the XNUMXs as an "anonymous Dutch school" was taken to Sotheby's Amsterdam. An interesting ancient numeral on the back of the painting prompted Sotheby's specialists to begin a research process which verified that the present portrait was the lost original by Velázquez and one of the few paintings by the great Spanish artist still held in a private collection .
John the Baptist by Jacopo Rosso, called Rosso Fiorentino, The Visitation
Estimate: £500,000 – 700,000
**Old Master & British Works on Paper Sale**
Recently discovered, this XNUMXth-century work is a very rare example of a chalk drawing by Rosso Fiorentino and the first compositional study by the artist to appear on the market in the last half century. Thought long lost, it is an important and vital addition to the artist's body of drawings.
Delicately executed in black plaster, the ten-figure composition was created by Rosso at the request of the Arezzo painter Giovanni Antonio Lappoli who in 1524 had received a commission for an altarpiece for the family chapel of the wealthy Arezzo citizen Cipriano d'Anghiari .
Although Rosso must have executed many drawings in his lifetime, almost all of his graphic works have been lost over the centuries, this work adds significantly to the understanding of the working method of an artist known for his eccentricity and style expressive and unconventional pictorial.
Great British Landscapes
Thomas Gainsborough, Going to Market, Early Morning
Estimate: £7 – 9 million
Going to Market, Early Morning it is undoubtedly one of Gainsborough's finest paintings still in a private collection, and one of the finest British landscapes painted in the 1773th century. Painted in XNUMX, it is one of a group of three large landscapes that Gainsborough painted in this period and which deal with the theme of travelers going to or returning from market. The subject matter and composition of the image demonstrate Gainsborough's natural affinity for the peasant world. This painting beautifully evokes the morning journey to the farmers market in a misty dawn and is one of the artist's most striking landscapes, acclaimed by scholars and widely praised.
John Constable RA, Study for 'The White Horse'
Estimate: £2 – 3 million
A rare and important compositional study for one of the most celebrated paintings of the English Romantic movement – The White Horse, which is now kept at the Frick in New York.
The White Horse, the painting that launched John Constable's career. Created in 1819, the work was an immediate critical acclaim and led to the artist being inducted as an Associate of the Royal Academy that same year. Unlike most of Constable's major landscapes, for which the painter produced numerous sketches and made several drafts before arriving at the final composition, only a small number of preparatory works related to The White Horse are known.
Maybe painted outside, the oil sketch shows Constable in direct dialogue with the landscape, capturing the mood of the River Stour, as well as topographical detail.
JMW Turner, Landscape with Walton Bridges
Estimate: £4 – 6 million
One of a small group of around ten Late Impressionist images still in a private collection, Landscape with Walton Bridges hits the market for the first time in over 35 years.
The central motif – Walton Bridges – is the one that the artist had treated twice in 1806 and 1807.
Essentially the work is an exploration of the effects of light. Turner created his later works primarily for himself rather than for exhibition or sale, keeping them for his own artistic pursuits. With their bold application of colour, their treatment of light and their deconstruction of form, these late works revolutionized the way the painted image was perceived and are regarded as the artist's supreme achievement and the images on which rests its innovative artistic significance.
JMW Turner, Sunrise. Whiting Fishing at Margate, 1822
Estimate: £800,000 – 1.2 million
**Old Master & British Works on Paper Sale**
Sunrise. Whiting Fishing at Margate it is one of the largest and most beautiful watercolors by Turner still in a private collection.
Positioning himself off the Kentish coast at Margate, a town he first visited as a child and to which he returned regularly throughout his life, Turner looks east in this painting directly at a hypnotic sunrise whose magical light gives warmth to everything it touches before exploding in a myriad of colors on the surface of the sea.
18th Century Masterpieces
Francesco Guardi, The Grand Canal, Venice, with San Simeon Piccolo
Estimate: £1 – 1.5 million
Only recently unearthed, this fine depiction of the Grand Canal is a mature work by Francesco Guardi, probably painted in the XNUMXs. The extreme north-western stretch of the Grand Canal, dominated by the neoclassical church of San Simeone Piccolo and its large dome, although not the most famous of Venetian views, was often chosen by Guardi as the subject of his paintings. This canvas is one of a small group of closely related views, probably also painted in the same decade and taken from the same point of view; it is also the only known signed example and certainly the best still in a private collection.
Jean-Etienne Liotard, A Woman in Turkish costume in a Hamam instructing a servant
Estimate: £2 – 3 million
This outstanding pastel is one of the most famous works created by Liotard, whose exotic subjects certainly intrigued the 60th century viewer, offering him a window into a different world. While his ties to his native Switzerland never severed, there was perhaps no other XNUMXth-century artist more cosmopolitan, as Liotard worked for XNUMX years in almost every major European centre.
His works in his favorite medium, pastel, are often of astonishing compositional and technical originality. This portrait embodies all the technical brilliance and timeless mystery that underlie Liotard's genius and enduring fascination.
