Classic Week: Old Masters, 19th century paintings and works of art to be auctioned at Dorotheum
Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Hansl’s first outing (Homecoming children), 1858. Oil on panel, 63 x 79 cm. Estimate €400,000 – 600,000.
VIENNA.—
Dorotheum`s Old Masters auction on 23 October 2025 features an important selection of 17th century Spanish still life paintings, landscapes, capricci and vedute, as well as religious paintings and portraiture.
One of the highlights of the sale is a portrait by Francisco de Goya of The Young Duke of Alba, from one of Spain’s leading noble families, painted in c.1783. This portrait by the great Spanish master demonstrates his mastery of the genre which is evident in his naturalistic style and his nuanced observation of character. It is the portrayal of the personality and the realistic presence of the sitter displayed in this painting that marks the difference between traditional aristocratic portraiture and a new sense of psychological realism that is associated with Goya’s work. The colour of the silk coat, a mixture of brown and violet, also known as “flea colour” was fashionable at the time. Use of the colour in depictions of courtly dress signals the social prestige and sophisticated taste of the sitter. (estimate €400,000 – 600,000).
Giovanni Paolo Panini was one of the most celebrated painters in 18th century Rome. His depiction of the Isola Tiberina was commissioned as a tribute to Aesculapius, the god of medicine and healing, by the British physician and art collector, Dr Richard Mead. He was a pioneer in the eradication of contagious diseases and was so renowned as a healer that he listed Queen Anne, and King George II as well as the great physicist, Sir Isaac Newton and the artist Antoine Watteau amongst his patients. It would be hard to find a more fitting patron for Panini’s tribute to the god Aesculapius. According to classical tradition, as plague gripped Rome, a sacred serpent, symbol of the healing deity, came ashore on the Isola Tiberina and ended the plague. The painting portrays the founding of the sanctuary of Aesculapius on the Isola Tiberina and depicts the statue of the god presiding over worshippers offering their devotions. It is both a visual hymn to the divine origins of medicine and a reflection of Mead’s enlightened ideals. It unites science, mythology and art in a radiant vision of ancient Rome. (est: €300,000 – 400,000).
The significant selection of 17th century Spanish still lifes included in this sale is also worthy of mention. These Spanish works have an additional characteristic which sets them apart from their Dutch and Italian counterparts. With their muted colours, restrained composition and lighting effects, they reveal a certain austerity, the roots of which lie in the piety of the Counter-Reformation. Works of particular note include Mirabelle plums and cherries in porcelain dishes by a basket of yellow pomegranates by an as yet unidentified artist (estimate on request), and the Fruit on pewter plates on a multi-tiered sideboard by Juan de Espinosa (€80,000 – 120,000).
A work Jan Brueghel II entitled Tazza with a garland of flowers, a jewellery box, a pocket watch and flowers in a glass vase is an eloquent example of the allegorical nature of Flemish still life painting. It includes a pocket watch representing the theme of vanitas or the intransience of human existence. A wreath of flowers and a necklace of pearls are symbols of feminine virtue, and the glass vase is a reminder of the fragility of life (€120,000 – 180,000). Further notable works from northern Europe include an atmospheric night scene by Jan Brueghel I entitled Aeneas and Anchises fleeing the burning Troy (€120,000 – 180,000), and other paintings by Jan Steen and Jan van Goyen.
One of the highlights of the auction of 19th Century Paintings on 22 October 2025, is a masterpiece by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller. It was owned by Jewish entrepreneur Grete Klein, who fled Austria with her family in 1938. Having been forcibly confiscated from the Klein family by the Nazi regime, the painting was intended for the infamous but never realised ‘Führer Museum’. The work was hidden in the salt mines of Aussee before being recovered by the US army’s ‘Monuments Men’ at the end of the war. It has since been in the custodianship of the Federal Republic of Germany. The painting has recently been restituted to its owners. This action-packed, multi-figure genre scene entitled Hansl's first outing, painted by Austria's most celebrated Biedermeier artist captivates the viewer with its unique composition and bright directional lighting (€400,000 – 600,000).
Other auction items include works by Jaques Majorelle, Vittorio Matteo Corcos, Friedrich Gauermann, Alfred Zoff, Olga Wisinger-Florian, Tina Blau, Friedrich von Amerling, Józef von Brandt and Juan Luna y Novicio.
Highlights of the Furniture, Works of Art, Glass & Porcelain auction on 21 October 2025 include an important classicist chest of drawers attributed to Filippo Castelli (€50,000 – 70,000), a marble ‘Susanna’ by Giovanni Battista Lamberti (€12,000 – 16,000), and a 55-centimetre-high crater vase with floral painting by Joseph Nigg (Imperial Porcelain Manufactory Vienna, 1825, €80,000 – 120,000).
