Comprising a total of 14 live auctions and online sales, with works of
art dating from antiquity to the 20th century, Christie's London Classic Week
sales in July 2018 collectively realized £72,376,000.
The top lot of the series was a gift from Louis XIV to his son, the Grand
Dauphin, Hercules Overcoming Acheloüs,
circa 1640-50 by Florentine sculptor Ferdinando Tacca (1619-1686). The bronze
sold in The Exceptional Sale 2018 for
£6,758,750, setting a new world record price for the artist at auction.
This was followed by Ludovico Carracci's Portrait of Carlo Alberto Rati
Opizzoni in armour which sold for £5,071,250
in the Old Masters Evening Sale, becoming the second highest price for the
artist at auction. The Rowland Collection in the Old Master & British
Drawings & Watercolours sale and also the group of works by Simeon Solomon
from a private European collection in the Victorian Pre-Raphaelite &
British Impressionist Art sale were both 100% sold. With strong online
participation throughout the sales, including the most successful Japanese
Prints online sale to date, the Science & Natural History auction saw 70% of
lots sell online through Christie's LIVETM, a notable figure only previously
surpassed by Private Collection sales, such as Audrey Hepburn.
In this centenary year of women's suffrage, Christie's offered a notable
group of works by talented female Victorian artists, including a recently
discovered work by Emma Sandys which set a new world record price for the
artist at auction; a portrait by old master painter Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le
Brun also sparked fierce competition, resulting in the second highest price for
the artist at auction. Quentin Blake: A Retrospective; Forty Years of
Alternative Versions saw a new record achieved for a work by Sir Quentin Blake
with Charlie, Willie Wonka and Grandpa Joe and realized a total of £768,625;
proceeds will benefit House of Illustration, Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's
Charity and Survival International.
Overall, 14 records were achieved with new world record prices for the
artist also set for Clifford, David, Fuseli, Koe, Peruguni, Mainardi,
Nosadella, Reid Dick, Rosi, van Veen and Ximénez. New records for the medium
were realised for works on paper by Waterhouse and Cooper Gotch, with the
Plantin Polyglot Bible, formerly in the Spanish royal collection at El
Escurial, also setting a new record for a Plantin production, in the Valuable
Books and Manuscripts sale which achieved the second-highest total for a London
sale in this category (£6,200,000).
Comprising a total of 14 live auctions and online sales, with works of
art dating from antiquity to the 20th century, Christie's London Classic Week
sales in July 2018 collectively realized £72,376,000.
The top lot of the series was a gift from Louis XIV to his son, the Grand
Dauphin, Hercules Overcoming Acheloüs,
circa 1640-50 by Florentine sculptor Ferdinando Tacca (1619-1686). The bronze
sold in The Exceptional Sale 2018 for
£6,758,750, setting a new world record price for the artist at auction.
This was followed by Ludovico Carracci's Portrait of Carlo Alberto Rati
Opizzoni in armour which sold for £5,071,250
in the Old Masters Evening Sale, becoming the second highest price for the
artist at auction. The Rowland Collection in the Old Master & British
Drawings & Watercolours sale and also the group of works by Simeon Solomon
from a private European collection in the Victorian Pre-Raphaelite &
British Impressionist Art sale were both 100% sold. With strong online
participation throughout the sales, including the most successful Japanese
Prints online sale to date, the Science & Natural History auction saw 70% of
lots sell online through Christie's LIVETM, a notable figure only previously
surpassed by Private Collection sales, such as Audrey Hepburn.
In this centenary year of women's suffrage, Christie's offered a notable
group of works by talented female Victorian artists, including a recently
discovered work by Emma Sandys which set a new world record price for the
artist at auction; a portrait by old master painter Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le
Brun also sparked fierce competition, resulting in the second highest price for
the artist at auction. Quentin Blake: A Retrospective; Forty Years of
Alternative Versions saw a new record achieved for a work by Sir Quentin Blake
with Charlie, Willie Wonka and Grandpa Joe and realized a total of £768,625;
proceeds will benefit House of Illustration, Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's
Charity and Survival International.
Overall, 14 records were achieved with new world record prices for the
artist also set for Clifford, David, Fuseli, Koe, Peruguni, Mainardi,
Nosadella, Reid Dick, Rosi, van Veen and Ximénez. New records for the medium
were realised for works on paper by Waterhouse and Cooper Gotch, with the
Plantin Polyglot Bible, formerly in the Spanish royal collection at El
Escurial, also setting a new record for a Plantin production, in the Valuable
Books and Manuscripts sale which achieved the second-highest total for a London
sale in this category (£6,200,000).
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