NEW YORK, NY.- Yesterday, Sotheby’s morning sale of Old Master Drawings and evening sale of Master Paintings & Sculpture, part of the annual Masters Week in New York, together realised a total of $31.8 million. The sale was led by a newly-discovered work by the celebrated Flemish painter Sir Peter Paul Rubens. A rare example of a large-scale animal study by the artist, Study of a Horse with a Rider had been until recently described as by a follower of Sir Anthony Van Dyck. However, the authorship had been difficult to discern due to overpaint and background added later, which dominated the original scene. With the removal of these later additions, the canvas has been revealed as a work of high quality, and a typical example of the spirited and rapidly-painted oil sketches for which Rubens is celebrated.

Regarding the Master Paintings & Sculpture sale, Christopher Apostle, Head of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings Department in New York, yesterday commented: “This evening we saw exceptional prices for several exceptional pictures – this market understands and appreciates a masterpiece when it sees one. That applies both to famed artists like Rubens and Botticelli, who continue to attract a global audience, as well as names celebrated among connoisseurs like Drost and de Coster, both of whom saw new auction records set tonight. We had strong private bidding across our field, including participation from Asian and Russian collectors, with Dutch 17th-century pictures, early Italian, and Flemish works performing particularly well.”

Further auction highlights

Willem Drost, Flora. Estimate $400/600,000. Sold for $4,625,000
NEW AUCTION RECORD FOR AN ARTIST
Six bidders competed for Flora, one of Willem Drost’s finest works. The sale of the work for $4.6 million marks a new auction record for the artist, breaking the previous record set in 1992. Flora was executed during the artist’s brief stay in Venice in the 1650s, when he came under the direct spell of Titian – to whom this work is a clear homage.

Adam de Coster, A Young Woman Holding a Distaff Before a Lit Candle. Estimate $1.5/2 million. Sold for $4,850,000
NEW AUCTION RECORD FOR AN ARTIST
Adam de Coster’s dramatic nocturne again set a new auction record for the artist, surpassing the previous record it had established at Sotheby’s in 1992. On offer from the collection of J.E. Safra the work remains one of the most significant additions in recent decades to the artist’s small catalogue.

Orazio Gentileschi, Head of A Woman. Sold for $1,812,500
One of only two known panel paintings, Gentieleschi’s Head of a Woman was executed during the first half of the 1630s, when the artist was working at the court of King Charles I of England. The work was last seen in public in the landmark exhibition on Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2001. Proceeds from the painting will in part benefit the department of European Painting and Sculpture at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Francisco Goya y Lucientes, Los caprichos. [madrid: printed by rafael esteve for the artist, 1799.]. Estimate $500/700,000. Sold for $912,500
A rare first edition of Francisco Goya’s first and most celebrated printed work surpassed expectations. Consisting of 80 plates in the original binding, Los Caprichos. [Madrid: Printed by Rafael Esteve for the artist, 1799.] is generally considered the artist’s finest printed work, and is remembered for its satirical presentation of society’s follies. Many specific themes and allusions defy interpretation.

ADDITIONAL AUCTION RECORDS ACHIEVED FOR:

• Abraham Janssens, Domenico Cresti, Called Passignano, Jean-François de Sompsois

OLD MASTER DRAWINGS AUCTION RESULTS
Sotheby’s auction of Old Master Drawings totaled $4.5 million, surpassing the sale’s overall high estimate. The auction was led by two remarkable watercolors by J.M.W. Turner, both on offer from the direct descendants of Ralph Brocklebank – the scion of an important shipping family, who became chairman of Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. Appearing on the market for the first time in nearly 150 years, Switzerland: Possibly Lake Thun (estimate $150/250,000) and Switzerland: Lake Thun, looking towards the Nissen and Stockhorn (estimate $140/180,000) fetched $756,500 and $612,500 respectively – more than three times their high estimates.

Gregory Rubinstein, Worldwide Head of Old Master & Early British Drawings, yesterday commented: “We are very pleased with today’s sale, which saw exceptional prices for a diversity of works spanning from the 16th through the 19th centuries. As always, high quality and freshness of material were primary drivers of our results. A global audience of private collectors, including those from America, Europe and the Middle East, vied for the opportunity to own works emerging from prominent private collections, such as the Forbes Collection and the Berger Educational Trust – both of which realized totals well above pre-sale expectations.”

Sotheby’s Masters Week sales continue in New York on Thursday, 26 January with the Master Paintings & 19th Century Art auction on Friday, 27 January.