Rembrandt by his own hand for sale
A self-portrait by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69) – one of just three in private hands – is coming to auction at Sotheby’s next month. Almost all of Rembrandt’s painted self-portraits are now in major museum collections.
This example is one of the earliest. Sotheby’s said it can be dated to a narrow window towards the end of 1632. It is estimated at £12m-16m and will be offered at Sotheby’s London on July 28.
Self-portrait by Rembrandt van Rijn estimated at £12m-16m at Sotheby’s.
Sotheby’s has not publicly commented on the consignor of the work. It has been reported the vendor is a collector who bought it more than a decade ago from a dealer. It is thought the picture had not been catalogued as Rembrandt for much of the past century but it was reattributed to the artist during the mid-1990s.
Old Master dealers consign to auction
Sotheby’s is staging two online auctions of works consigned directly from 39 different Old Master dealers. The dedicated sales will be held concurrently from June 18-25 with one run out of London, the other from New York.
The idea was conceived by Otto Naumann, a longstanding Old Master dealer himself who joined Sotheby’s in 2018 and is now the company’s client development director for this category. He described the initiative as “our own version of an art fair”.
Each participating dealer will have a bespoke page on the Sotheby’s website, promoting three works which they have selected for either sale.
The London sale (branded The Dealer’s Eye: London) will offer 66 lots from 22 dealers including Charles Beddington, Lowell Libson & Jonny Yarker, Day & Faber, Benappi Fine Art, Robilant Fine Art and Caylus Gallery of Madrid.
The sale in New York will offer 51 works from 17 dealers.
Cotswold fair now set for October 2021
The Cotswold Art & Antiques Dealers’ Association (CADA) is postponing its fair until next year. It was due to take place at Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park this October and will now run at the same venue from October 14-17, 2021.
CADA chair Alex Puddy said: “We have a number of promotional plans in the pipeline to continue to support our members. These activities will be revealed over the coming months.”
It mask be love for auction house
Lyon & Turnbull raised more than £24,000 for a local Scottish charity. The Edinburgh auction house hosted For the Love of Scotland, an auction to raise funds for Masks for Scotland.
Among the lots was a champagne reception, guided tour and dinner at Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Windyhi l l House in Renfrewshire, courtesy of David Cairns, Windyhill. The lot went for £2400 (including buyer’s premium).
Maggs joins John Nicholson’s team
Surrey auction house John Nicholson’s has hired Philip Maggs as the head of its picture department. Maggs has specialised in dealing in British and European paintings from the 18th century to the mid- 20th century.
Philip Maggs has joined John Nicholson’s auction house.
Dawsons and dealer drum up support
Former Flog It! presenter and dealer Paul Martin and auction house Dawsons have launched an auction to raise funds for NHS charities.
The sale will follow the 21-day NHS Drum Marathon: musicians have been drumming daily 12-hour shifts on a live stream which began on May 29 and runs until June 18.
The auction of drum and music memorabilia with Martin on the rostrum and Dawsons assisting will be live streamed via thesaleroom.com on July 4.
National Gallery buys Sorolla work
The National Gallery in London has bought a painting by Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923) for £325,000 from Daniel Katz Gallery.
The Drunkard, Zarauz (El Borracho, Zarauz) was acquired through a legacy left to the National Gallery by the architect David Medd who died in 2009.
It is the first painting by the artist to enter its collection.
‘The Drunkard, Zarauz (El Borracho, Zarauz)’ by Joaquín Sorolla that has been bought by the National Gallery in London. Image copyright: The National Gallery, London.
The Drunkard... had featured in the gallery’s 2019 exhibition Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light, the first major UK exhibition of the artist’s work in more than a century.
The 3ft 11in x 4ft 7in (1.15 x 1.4m) oil on canvas painting dates from 1910 when Sorolla frequented the taverns of Zarauz in the Basque Country where he and his family spent the summer that year.
Most read
The most viewed stories for week June 4-10 on antiquestradegazette.com
1 Rare Rembrandt self-portrait comes to auction at Sotheby’s
2 The grand reopening pushed back to June 15 for auction houses and antiques shops in England
3 Aivazovsky posts highest price for a painting sold online during the lockdown
4 Collection from Portobello Road market trader comes to Berkshire auction
5 Auction house Spink helps Captain Tom remount medal collection
In Numbers
$2m
The value of a hidden trove of gold coins and artefacts buried 10 years ago in the Rocky Mountains, US, by Forrest Fenn, an 89-year-old dealer and amateur archaeologist. Fenn planted clues to the treasure’s location in his memoir published in 2010 with a poem inviting adventurers to hunt for the hoard. After many failed attempts – and five deaths of would-be finders – it has now been found by an anonymous adventurer.
