With none seven-figure tons on provide, Christie’s and Sotheby’s introduced in a collective $12.9m in New York with their mid-season Outdated Masters gross sales this week. However, specialists at each public sale homes dismissed ideas that the Outdated Masters market could also be ailing.
Whereas Outdated Masters dominated the artwork marketplace for a long time, the class of European Outdated Masters made up simply 4% of the artwork market’s $67.8bn in gross sales in 2022, in line with the newest Artwork Market report printed by Artwork Basel and UBS.
Christie’s New York introduced in $5m ($6.3m with charges) over two gross sales: a second public sale of a single-owner assortment of work amassed by Jacqui Eli Safra, a movie producer and descendent of the Swiss Lebanese banking household, that offered with out reserve for $2.6m ($3.2m with charges) and a seasonal Outdated Masters sale that fetched $2.4m ($3m with charges).
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot’s Les hauteurs de Sèvres – Le chemin Troyon Courtesy Christie’s
Essentially the most priceless work from the 74-lot Safra sale on 24 Could was Jean-Baptiste-Camile Corot’s portray of the agricultural French countryside, which offered for $280,000 ($352,800 with charges) in opposition to a $60,000 to $80,000 estimate. The second most respected portray from the Safra sale depicted Penelope, the spouse of Odysseus in Greek mythology, by feminine Neoclassical artist Angelica Kauffman and offered for $170,000 ($214,000 with charges).
Within the seasonal Outdated Masters sale on 25 Could, Christ earlier than Pilate by Giuseppe Vermiglio offered for $380,000 ($478,000 with charges), making it probably the most priceless lot of the public sale. However one of many extra shocking gross sales of the day was a portrait attributed to Frans Pourbus the Elder, which offered for $220,000 ($277,200 with charges) in opposition to a $50,000 to $80,000 estimate.
Christ earlier than Pilate by Giuseppe Vermiglio Courtesy Christie’s
Whereas Outdated Masters’ share of the artwork market has decreased over the previous few a long time, Christie’s worldwide head of the Outdated Masters division François de Poortere says the 2 mid-season gross sales’ 88% sell-through charge by lot and 81% hammer by low estimate present the market continues to be wholesome. In January, Christie’s Outdated Masters gross sales introduced in $62.7m, together with $14.7m from the primary a part of the Safra sale. Throughout one other sale from varied homeowners in January, twin portraits of a mom and daughter by Francisco Goya fetched $14m ($16.4m with charges), setting a brand new public sale file for the Spanish grasp.
“We hold proving it flawed,” De Poortere says of the notion that the Outdated Masters portion of the market is slipping. “Nice footage promote. Outdated Masters, once you discover the best materials, is an extremely buoyant market.” He added, “Freshness could be very key. The thrill of an image that hasn’t been seen in the marketplace for a really, very very long time by no means tarnishes and other people find it irresistible.”
Sotheby’s two gross sales that included Outdated Masters grossed $6.6m with charges. The primary, an public sale of Outdated Grasp work and Nineteenth century European artwork on 26 Could fetched practically $4.3m ($5.4m with charges) whereas an internet sale that lasted from 18 Could till 26 Could introduced in $815,200 ($1m with charges).
Essentially the most priceless lot at Sotheby’s was Jan Brueghel the Elder’s A village panorama with a market (1613), which fetched $889,000 with charges. Essentially the most thrilling sale could have been a portray of what’s mentioned to be Pompon, Marie Antoinette’s pet canine, by Jacques Barthélémy Delamarre. Provided with out reserve, 15 bidders pushed the portray’s remaining worth to $279,400 with charges in opposition to a $3,000 to $5,000 estimate. That outcome set a brand new public sale file for Delamarre’s work. (Sotheby’s additionally held a sale of Nineteenth-century artwork on 24 Could that grossed $1m, together with charges.)
Jan Brueghel the Elder’s A village panorama with a market Courtesy Sotheby’s
“I really feel very pleased with the market and the outcomes,” says Christopher Apostle, Sotheby’s head of Outdated Masters in New York, who famous that the public sale home’s Fashionable sale earlier this month included an Outdated Grasp portray that did nicely: Peter Paul Rubens’s Portrait of a Man as Mars (round 1620) fetched $22.5m ($26.1m with charges).
“What was attention-grabbing about it was getting it in entrance of a brand new viewers,” Apostle says. “I noticed folks that weren’t consumers of Outdated Masters it and being tempted or being amazed by the work.”
Apostle additionally is not involved concerning the artwork market’s urge for food for Outdated Grasp works. “Nice Outdated Masters are tougher to seek out than simply about some other space. And in the event you’ve received one thing nice, then you definitely completely have consumers for it at a really excessive stage,” Apostle says. He added that there are many Outdated Grasp works being offered on the non-public market.
“I am not so frightened about what our proportion of the worldwide market is as a result of we’re uncommon,” Apostle says.
