Goya Boosts Christie’s Drawings Sale [NY Sun}
"Lost" Goya drawings sold for £4m" [BBC]
Goya sketches “lost” for 130 years sold at auction [Reuters]
Goya: 3 Rediscovered Drawings Presumed Lost for Over 130 Years Realise $7.9 Million” [Art Daily]
Mainstream press coverage of major auctions usually centers around the big lots being sold. Such was the case with the Goya drawings up last week at Christie’s, and justifiably so-they basically tripled their high estimates.
Overall stats for the sale seem positive: 67 out of the 68 lots sold, bringing in a total of £ 6,068,000 GBP.
Apparently, OMNP needs to do some homework on figuring out what buyers are looking for. A glance at OMNP selected lots for this sale finds that many works went unsold. OMNP did pick some winners however, including the Gandolfi drawing (lot 45) which rocketed past its high estimate of £150,000 GBP to finish at £223,250 ($440,249 USD.) The recommended Guercino drawing obtained a healthy sum of £18,750 ($36,975), just above its high estimate of £18,000. A final item of note was the performance of the Destruction of Sodom by Corot(lot136.) With a big name attached to it, the work nearly tripled its estimate, despite its rough lines, and hurried, unfinished quality.
HIGH END ($100,000 and up)
LOT 45
Gaetano Gandolfi (San Matteo della Decima 1734-1802 Bologna)
Ulysses before Circe, Mercury behind
with inscription ‘Originale di Gaetano Gandolfi Maestro dell Academia Clementina di Bologna’ on a label attached to the verso
red and white chalk, watermark encircled PM
19½ x 14 in. (497 x 357 mm.)
ESTIMATE: ( £100,000 – £150,000)
($198,300 – $297,450)
FINAL PRICE: £223,250 ($440,249)
LOT 67: Constable Lampinos stitched into a dead horse
8 1/8 x 5 5/8 in. (205 x 142 mm.)
ESTIMATE: £600,000 – £800,000
($1,189,801 – $1,586,401)
FINAL PRICE: £769,250 ($1,516,962)
LOT 65: Bajan riñendo (They go down quarrelling) or Vision de bajar riñendo (Vision: going down quarrelling
9¼ x 5 5/8 in. (234 x 143 mm.)
ESTIMATE: £800,000 – £1,200,000
($1,586,401 – $2,379,602)
FINAL PRICE: £2,281,250 ($4,498,628)
LOT 66: Repentance
8¼ x 6 in. (210 x 152 mm.)
ESTIMATE: £700,000 – £900,000
($1,388,101 – $1,784,702)
FINAL PRICE: £959,650 ($1,892,431)
MIDDLE END ($10,000-99,000)
LOT 51 Donato Creti (Cremona 1671-1749 Bologna) A youth, bust-length, wearing a ruff with inscriptions ‘Creti originale’ and ‘Palaferniere 60′ (verso ) black and white chalk, watermarks encircled scales and circle (twice) 14¾ x 9 in. (374 x 228 mm.) ESTIMATE: £8,000 – £12,000 ($15,864 – $23,796) FINAL PRICE: £8,750 ($17,255)
LOT 36
Baldassare Franceschini, il Volterrano (Volterra 1611-1690 Florence)
A male nude sleeping, seated and in profile to the right
red chalk
14 3/8 x 9 7/8 in. (365 x 251 mm.)
ESTIMATE: £20,000 – £30,000
LOT 83
Cornelis de Vos (Hulst 1585-1651 Antwerp)
Head of a bearded man in profile to the right, with a subsidiary study of another head
with inscription ‘Van Dyck 1599-1641′ (verso )
black, red and white chalk, on buff paper
9 x 7 3/8 in. (228 x 197 mm.)
ESTIMATE: £7,000 – £10,000
($13,881 – $19,830)
FINAL PRICE: £16,250 ($32,045)
LOT 133
Attributed to François-Pascal-Simon Gérard, called Baron Gérard (Rome 1770-1837 Paris)
The death of Malvina
black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown and grey wash, heightened with white
15 7/8 x 18¼ in. (403 x 463 mm.
ESTIMATE: £15,000 – £20,000
LOT 21
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Il Guercino (Cento 1591-1666 Bologna)
A bearded man, half-length, wearing a hat, and a young woman
pen and brown ink, brown wash
5 3/8 x 7½ in. (136 x 191 mm.)
ESTIMATE: £12,000 – £18,000
($23,796 – $35,694)
FINAL PRICE: £18,750 ($36,975)
LOT 20
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Il Guercino (Cento 1591-1666 Bologna)
Saint Francesca Romana at prayer, an angel holding a book at her side
pen and brown ink, brown wash
9¾ x 7¾ in. (248 x 196 mm.)
ESTIMATE: £12,000 – £18,000
($23,796 – $35,694)
LOW END ($10,000 and below)
LOT 72
Follower of Hieronymus Bosch
Studies of grotesque figures (recto); Three dancing figures ( verso)
with inscription ‘bosch’ (recto and verso )
pen and brown ink (recto ), pen and brown and black ink, heightened with white (partially oxidized) (verso ), fragmentary watermark Gothic P
LOT 68
Circle of Hans Holbein the Younger (Augsburg 1497/8-1543 London)
The Massacre of the Innocents: Design for stained glass
with inscriptions ‘H.B.1521.’ on the right of the platform and ‘Hans Holbein fecit’
black chalk, brush and grey and black ink, grey and blue wash, on five joined sheets, arched, the upper right corner made up
17¼ x 24½ in. (439 x 622 mm.)
ESTIMATE: £5,000 – £7,000
LOT 52
Circle of Giovanni Paolo Panini (Piacenza 1691-1765 Rome)
Figures admiring Roman ruins
with inscription ‘Panini.’
black chalk, pen and brown and grey ink, watercolour, heightened with bodycolour, watermark Strasburg lily
17½ x 12 3/8 in. (443 x 333 mm.)
ESTIMATE: £3,000 – £5,000
($5,949 – $9,915)
FINAL PRICE: £10,000 ($19,720)
LOT 92
Circle of Nicolas Poussin (Les Andelys 1594-1665 Rome)
Hercules bringing the pelt of the Nemean Lion to Eurystheus
black chalk, pen and brown ink, grey wash, heightened with white, on buff paper, pen and brown ink framing lines
8 x 17 in. (202 x 430 mm.
ESTIMATE: £2,000 – £4,000
($3,966 – $7,932)
LOT 136
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (Paris 1796-1875)
The destruction of Sodom
signed ‘COROT’
charcoal on light brown paper
10¼ x 17 in. (261 x 432 mm.)
ESTIMATE: £6,000 – £8,000
£6,000 – £8,000
FINAL PRICE: £22,500 ($44,370)
