Old Masters

Market shows strength only for select works as sourcing high-quality material proves inceasingly difficult

Running for the first time under new ownership Master Drawings New York (MDNY) produced strong results for many of its exhibitors, including London dealer Guy Peppiatt.

Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s offered notable works by French artist Hubert Robert (1733-1808) at the latest Old Master auction series in New York.

A Venetian Old Master painting of St Roch attributed to the circle of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696- 1770) awoke from the slumber of a $600-900 estimate to hammer for $75,000 (£59,000).

A somewhat innocuous-looking lot at Hansons (26% buyer’s premium) proved to be anything but as a number of eagle-eyed bidders spotted a significant discovery contained therein.

The precise and sensitive portraiture of Allan Ramsay (1713-84) earned him widespread acclaim, aided by his prodigious intellect and social flair.

Some of the artist’s most modern and dramatic works were derived from his social concerns

This month Master Drawings New York (MDNY) has its first run under new ownership.

In one of the last auctions to take place at Drouot in 2023, a newly discovered portrait by Jean-Honoré Fragonard was pursued to €2.5m (£2.17m) at Boisgirard-Antonini (30% buyer’s premium).

Tiny portrait thought to show a Spanish noblewoman was bought at a local school in the 1970s

Bonhams’ (28/27% buyer’s premium) latest Old Master sale at its New Bond Street rooms was hard going, with almost half the lots unsold and two-thirds of those that did get away either going on or below their low estimate.

One of the Old Masters attracting significant interest at Lyon & Turnbull’s (25/20% buyer’s premium) latest Five Centuries sale in Edinburgh was a small still-life that drew strong competition against a £5000-8000 estimate.

Rembrandt prints were a prominent feature of the London Old Master sales in December.