Titian left for 16.8 million at Sotheby’s "Old Masters Auction"

The establishment of several records for the sale of works of old masters at once completed today’s morning auction of the English trading house Sotheby’s. Total sales for the week of Auctions of old masters in New York reached 109.2 million US dollars.

Titian - Holy Interview: Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria (A Sacra Conversazione: The Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria)
Photo: Sotheby’s

Titian’s painting “The Holy Interview: Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria” (“A Sacra Conversazione: The Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria”) was sold to a private European collector for $ 16,882,500. Reportedly, the price for which the canvas of the Italian Renaissance master went under the hammer was a record auction price for the work of Titian. The previous record lasted 20 years - since 1991, when one of the painter’s works was sold for 13.6 million dollars. “Holy Interview” is one of the few multi-figure compositions of the great master that remain in private collections, and the most significant of the works presented at the auction.

Claude Joseph Vernet - Majestic sea view with buildings, ships and human figures
Photo: Sotheby’s

In addition to the “Holy Interview”, works of other well-known masters were put up for sale, which aroused no less interest and left the auction at the highest prices. So, the monumental painting by Claude-Joseph Vernet (Claude-Joseph Vernet) "A magnificent view of the sea with buildings, ships and human figures" was bought during a heated competition between six collectors for a record 7,026,500 dollars, which several times exceeded the top estimate of the lot )2 million dollars).

Joachim Anthony Eiteval -
Adam and Eve
Photo: Sotheby’s

The previously unknown painting by Utrecht painter Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael "Adam and Eve", written in the Mannerist style, went under the hammer for $ 6,242,500. Initially, Sotheby’s experts planned to make $ 1.8 million for the canvas, but the total amount exceeded all their expectations and set a price record for the artist’s works.

The final price of the painting Gerrit Dou (Gerrit Dou) “ An elderly woman sitting by the window next to her spindle with a plate of oatmeal "(Known as" Woman with oat soup "), whose estimate was $ 3 million, almost 2 times higher than the forecast price. Six connoisseurs of beauty fought fiercely for the lot before the canvas went under the hammer for an impressive amount of $ 5,346,500.

Perino del Vaga -
Holy family with baby St. John the Baptist
Photo: Sotheby’s

The last auction item was one of six well-known paintings by Willem van der Vliet, “A Scientist in His Office Surrounded by Masked People,” sold for $ 2,994,500. The initial cost of the canvas was $ 1.8 million, which is almost half the amount received from the sale.

At the same auction, the painting by Perino del Vaga (The Holy Family with the Baby St. John the Baptist), put up for sale with an estimate of 300,000 - 400,000, was acquired by the New York Metropolitan Museum for $ 2,098,500 million. This figure more than doubled yesterday’s record when the work of the Italian artist Jupiter and Juno was sold to the Metropolitan Museum for $ 782,500.

Among the other works that were first offered at today’s auction, it is worth noting two paintings by the famous Italian painter Sandro Botticelli. Both canvases were sold with a significant excess of the estimate: for the painting "Christ Carrying the Cross," whose initial cost was 150,000 - 200,000, $ 722,000 was raised, and the total cost of the Resurrection was $ 622,500 with an estimate of 150,000 - 200,000 dollars.

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