NEW YORK, NY.- Christies announced Old Master Week featuring two live auctions spanning 600 years of Western painting, sculpture and decorative art. The sales will take place 23 May 2024, starting in the morning with Old Masters, which includes works from the Italian and Northern Renaissance and Baroque, as well as attractive examples of 18th and 19th century English pictures. The afternoon auction, Old Master and European Paintings from a Private Collection - Selling Without Reserve offers Old Master and 19th Century pictures, presented without reserve. This sale offers collectors the opportunity to acquire accessible and appealing paintings at approachable estimates. In addition to high quality Old Master paintings, the sale illustrates the wide range of 19th Century art, including Scandinavian works, scenes of exploration, maritime works, plein air landscapes, and more.
The top lot in the Old Masters sale is a Virgin and Child from the Workshop of Hans Memling. Traditionally known as The Béthune Madonna, it has been in the same family collection since the 16th century and possibly even since the time of its commission. Other highlights include a newly-discovered van Dyck of Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, a long-lost Guercino of Neptune, and George Romneys sensitive portrait of Mrs. Susannah Whatman.
The top lot in the Old Master & European Paintings from a Private Collection sale is a charming genre scene of a Shepherdess with a cow and sheep, by Giacomo Ceruti. Other highlights include, a Rubber Harvester in the Brazilian Forest by Giuseppe Leone Righini, Johan Christian Dahls evocative Evening Near Dresden and Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersbergs View to the South from the Road of Elsinore with a Danish Corvette.
The works in both sales will be on view at Christies New York, 18-22 May 2024.