News

The auction of Old Masters and 19^th Century Art at Christie's on 8 December 2009 realised £68,380,250 / $112,417,131 / €75,491,796 – the highest ever total for an auction of Old Masters. The sale was 65% sold by lot and 95% sold by value. Buyers (by lot) were 46% Europe, 43% Americas and 11% Asia and Middle East. 

According to Richard Knight, International co-Head of Old Masters and 19^th Century Art at Christie's This auction was an historic event for the art market. Not only was it the highest total for an auction of Old Masters, but Christie's realised 2 of the top 5 prices ever paid for an old master painting or drawing at auction and set artist records for three giants of European art history; Raphael, Rembrandt and Domenichino.

Throughout the year there has been a strong demand for works of art of the highest quality. As a result, Christie's sold the two most expensive lots of the year with Henri Matisse's ‘Les coucous, tapis bleu et rose' which led the record-breaking sale of the Collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé in Paris in February (€35.9 million), and this  exquisite drawing by Raphael.

The top price was paid for an extremely important drawing by Raphael which sold for £29,161,250 / $47,941,095 / €32,194,020, a world record price for any work on paper, the 2^nd highest price for any Old Master painting or drawing and a world record price for the artist at auction. Bought by an anonymous client on the telephone, drawing was executed as a study for a figure in Parnassus, one of the series of four frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican which was commissioned by Pope Julius II and which was executed between 1508 and 1511. This series is widely considered to be the artist's greatest masterpiece.

Benjamin Peronnet, Director and International Head of Old Master and 19th Century Drawings, Christie's said that this drawing was not only a work of genius in its own right but that it was also related to one of the artist's great frescoes in the Vatican and has come down to us in remarkable condition and with distinguished provenance having previously been owned by both Sir Thomas Lawrence and King William II of Holland.

Portrait of a man, half-length, with his arms akimbo, a majestic, late portrait by Rembrandt sold for £20,201,250 / $33,210,855 / €22,302,180, a world record price for the artist at auction, and the 5^th highest ever price for an Old Master sold at auction. Prior to the pre-sale exhibition at Christie's it had been unseen in public for nearly 40 years, and was last offered at auction in 1930 when it sold for £18,500. It was acquired by an anonymous client bidding by telephone. Portrait of a man, half-length, with his arms akimbo is a is a tour de force painted in 1658 during one of Rembrandt's most artisitically inventive periods and at the same time as one of the most turbulent stages of his personal life. In 1658 the artist was forced to sell his house and move to a smaller studio having been declared bankrupt two years earlier. By this time Rembrandt had evolved his much celebrated late style, characterised by an increasingly bold and animated manner of execution and a masterful rendition of colour, lighting and texture. Only one other dated painting by the artist from 1658 is known to exist; the great three-quarter length Self-portrait now in the Frick Museum, New York.

Portrait of a man, half-length, with his arms akimbo measures 42¼ x 34¼ inches (107.4cm x 87cm) and depicts an unknown sitter facing the artist with a defiant pose, hands on hips in a display of complete self-assurance. The brushstrokes are painted onto the canvas with a loose yet controlled mastery, and as with the best of the artist's late works, it boasts a mesmerising use of light and shade. While the sitter is unknown, he is wearing an unusual costume, perhaps suggesting that he was a visitor to Amsterdam; the painting has previously been called Portrait of an Admiral.

A monumental painting by Domenichino, one of the most important Baroque pictures to be offered at auction for a generation, was offered at auction of the first time in over 100 years and realised £9,225,250 / $15,166,311 / €10,184,676, a world record price for the artist at auction. Domenico Zampieri, called Il Domenichino (1581-1641), was one of the most important Italian artists of the 17^th century. By the 18^th century he enjoyed an enormous reputation and his masterpiece Last Communion of St. Jerome in the Vatican was considered to be one of the greatest pictures ever painted, second only to Raphael.

Some impressive results were also achieved for The Flemish Proverbs by Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564/5-1637/8), a work in oil on copper which depicts almost 100 wonderfully apt and sometimes comic Flemish proverbs, sold for £1,721,250 / $2,829,735 / €1,900,260 (estimate: £1 million to £1.5 million) and Saint John the Baptist Preaching to the Multitude also by Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564/5-1637/8) which had been in the same ownership since the 19^th century, realised £1,553,250 / $2,553,543 / €1,714,788. The Rock of Gibralter, with shipping in the foreground, an impressive watercolour by J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) which was offered in exceptionally fine condition, sold for £505,250 / $830,631 / €557,796 (estimate: £250,000 to £350,000), and led the section of British drawings and watercolours which doubled pre-sale expectations and realised a total of £1,008,250.