Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s painting “Finding Moses” sold for $ 35 million

On November 5th, at Sotheby’s auction in New York, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s Masterpiece “Finding Moses” (19th century) sold for $ 35,922,500. The figure has more than seven times exceeded the pre-sale estimate of $ 5 million. The winner of the auction was bidding by phone, his identity was not disclosed. This sale set a new record for paintings by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema at auctions. His previous record was set when the same was sold in 1995 for $ 2.8 million.

The Finding of Moses is one of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s greatest masterpieces. In November 1902, the artist left London to travel to Egypt to open the Aswan Dam as a guest, at the invitation of Sir John Aird, a renowned engineer and project manager. Aird was known as a great connoisseur of works of art, he invited Sir Alma-Tadema on this trip, in order to order him a painting for his collection. Alma-Tadema was fascinated by Egypt, just like 50 years ago during his trip to Pompeii. He introduced Aird with three versions of the concept, of which John quickly chose the "Finding of Moses."

The painting once belonged to Allen Pound, the creator of the popular Hidden Camera show. His collection of Alma-Tadema’s masterpieces was exhibited in a historical show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1973.

The painting was included in the sale of works of European art of the 19th century, which collected at Sotheby’s a total of more than 60 million US dollars. A new auction value record was also set for the works of Giovanni Boldini, a portrait of Giovinetta Errazuriz his brush was sold for $ 6,578,500, more than 4 times higher than the original estimate of one and a half million. The sale also included two works from the collection of actress Demi Moore - “Brother and Sister” by William Bouguereau (final price was $ 1,082,500) and “Mother and Her Children” by Alfred Stevens ($ 182,500).

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