Following the recent successful dedicated online sale of works from Old Masters dealer Rafael Valls' collection, which more than tripled the high estimate to realize £1,6m / $2m, Sotheby's will once again offer excellent examples from many leading Western European art schools in its mid-season Old Master Paintings sale, open for online bidding from 29 April to 7 May. Led by a magnificent group of 17th-century portraits of famous Englishmen from the celebrated Clarendon Collection, the sale also features exceptional still lifes, city views and landscapes, as well as over 70 portraits from the late Dr Erika Pohl-Ströher's prized collection .
Since launching in 2017, Sotheby's online sales have gone from strength to strength and, in the wake of widespread lockdowns due to the emergence of Covid-19, have proven to be an increasingly valuable platform for shippers and buyers alike. Already in 2020 Sotheby's held over 30 dedicated online sales, totaling over $50 million, with sales consistently demonstrating strong sell through rates, such as the Rafael Valls sale (April 8) which achieved 98% sales per lot and the jewelry auction (March 25) which recorded a record sell-through rate of 97%. The Sotheby's sales also saw new benchmark prices achieved for all prints, watches, photographs and bags sold in the online sales, while The Design auction (31 March) achieved its highest ever total for an online sale of the 20th Century Design, at any Auction House.
PORTRAITS FROM THE CLARENDON COLLECTION
Following the restoration of Charles II, the celebrated statesman and historian Edward Hyde became a trusted adviser to the monarch and was made Earl of Clarendon in 1661. Clarendon, a prominent patron of the arts, amassed an important collection of portraits during his lifetime, including famous historical and contemporary figures who had played a significant part in the turbulent years of the Civil War.
These seven portraits, which were until recently on long-term loan to the Palace of Westminster, where they have graced the walls of the House of Lords for the past half century, are all that remain of the Clarendon Collection. Portraying some of the leading political and cultural figures of Charles I's reign, together they had a great hand in leading England through one of the most turbulent and politically divisive periods in its long history.
WORKS FROM THE POHL-STRÖHER COLLECTION OF PORTRAIT MINIATURES.
Scientist, geologist, collector, museum patron and entrepreneur, Dr. Erika Pohl-Ströher (1919-2016), was the granddaughter of Franz and Marie Ströher, who founded the German hair care and cosmetics giant Wella AG . A great lover of paintings and books, she and her husband Gerhard Pohl were avid collectors and over a period of almost forty years they collected portrait miniatures with passion and discernment, slowly assembling one of the largest collections in the world.
From formal images of the state to depictions of disarming intimacy, over 70 works from Pohl-Ströher's esteemed collection of portrait miniatures will be offered, with masterful examples by leading artists from many of the most important national schools of the XNUMXth, XNUMXth, XNUMXth centuries and XIX.
SEVEN WORKS OF WILLIAM ETTY RA
No other artist in British history has dedicated himself to the representation of the human form as assiduously as William Etty. Whether small single-figure studies, scholarly studies, or large mythological and historical works, his paintings are decorated with the nude form, and especially the female nude.
Embodying his commitment to the traditions of European painting and his dedication to the study of the pattern of life, seven works by Etty will be offered, including Venus Relieving Cupid of His Bow and A Bacchanalian Revel which he featured in the 2011 William Etty exhibition: Art & Controversy at the York Art Gallery.
STILL LIFE
A particularly strong group of still life paintings features in the sale, such as an opulent work by Jacques Hupin, a French artist working in Rome in the late 17th century , exhibiting rich carpets, flowers and fruit and the beautiful Still Life with birds, insects and flowers by one of the earliest known female Renaissance artists, Orsola Maddalena Caccia.
From Northern Europe comes an extremely rare work signed and dated by Herman Verelst , older brother of the well-known flower painter Simon Verelst. Both brothers came to work in London at the end of the 17th century – their close relationship is evidenced by an almost identical version of this composition painted by Simon, now in a private collection.
Representing the first painted view of Covent Garden and one of the first close-up depictions of one of London's most iconic boroughs, this extremely rare example of British urban topographic painting from the 1649th century depicts the square before the start of a market there in 56-1638, just over a decade after the consecration of St Paul's Church by Inigo Jones in 1647. The visible addition on the south side of the Cathedral is known to have it was built between 49-1656, with a similar feature added to the north side in XNUMX, but as this does not appear here, its omission provides a terminal quem for the view.
Numerous high quality Italian paintings will also be offered, from the iconic view of Piazza San Marco in Venice by a follower of Canaletto, to an anonymous capriccio view of a fantastic palazzo, which bears many of the hallmarks of a Venetian set designer, such as Francesco Battaglioli. Two impressive large canvases by Perugia-based artist Carlo Labruzzi in the XNUMXth and early XNUMXth centuries depict the dramatic waterfalls of Tivoli and a clear afternoon at Lake Nemi, south of Rome.
Old Masters, including portrait miniatures from the Pohl-Ströher Collection, will be available for online bidding from 29 April to 7 May.
