A Group of Masterpieces from the Besselaar Collection are Sold for $2.8 Million

AMSTERDAM.- On Dec. 13th at Sotheby’s Amsterdam, during the sale of 19th Century European Paintings, a group of exceptional masterpieces from the Besselaar Collection, are sold for a total of €2.1 million/ £1.8 million/ $2.8 million, a figure within the pre-sale expectations of €1.4 million – 2.1 million. The star of the evening was Andreas Schelfhout’s, Winterscape with skaters, one of the finest paintings appeared on the market of the artist. Four clients on the phone and two in the room [...]

Works from the Collection Besselaar Lead Sotheby’s Amsterdam Sale of 19th Century European Paintings

AMSTERDAM.- Sotheby’s Amsterdam sale of 19th Century European Paintings on 13th December 2010 will feature Twelve Master Paintings from the Collection Besselaar. The selection, which is expected to bring in excess of €1,5 – 2 million, represents all the important artists and genres of the Dutch Romantic School. All of superb quality and rarely offered on the market today the Collection Besselaar includes a panoramic landscape by Barend Cornelis Koekkoek, a lively winter scene by Andreas Schelfhout, a flower still [...]

Two Outstanding Beach Scenes by Sorolla are the Highlights of Sotheby’s 19th Century European Paintings Sale

LONDON.- Sotheby’s announced that the Spanish section of the 19th Century European Paintings sale on 23 November will be headed by two outstanding oil paintings by Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923). Depicting children by the sea, both works were painted over the same summer of 1904 on Cabañal beach, Valencia, a favourite location of the painter. Both works featured in Sorolla’s first major international exhibition of his work at Galerie Georges Petit in Paris in 1906, and have remained in two private [...]

Sotheby’s Sale of 19th Century European Paintings in London Realises 10,858,075 Pounds

LONDON.- Sotheby’s sale of 19th Century European Paintings in London today realised £10,858,075 / €13,027,566 – within the pre-sale estimate of £9,870,000-14,564,000 / €11,842,070-17,473,952, and obtaining sell through rates of 71.3% by lot and 78.9% by value. Public institutions pitted themselves against private collectors and trade, driving prices over estimate in many instances. One of the finest figure paintings by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ever to have appeared on the market was purchased by the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire in Geneva for [...]

Bonhams Appoints New Paintings Specialist with Royal Track Record

LONDON.- Bonhams has appointed Patrick Becks as its new Picture Specialist in Amsterdam. Patrick Becks, an independent Art Consultant, has worked previously for Sotheby’s in Amsterdam for 10 years as a Senior Specialist for European Paintings and International Business Getter, Auctioneer. He has also worked in Canada and Belgium, where he was responsible for the sale of property from the Belgian Royal Family, and has worked very successfully in Germany and England. In 2005 he was the Senior Specialist for [...]

Curators Claim “Lost” Emperor Portrait is Largest Mughal Painting Ever Seen

LONDON.- Curators of the National Portrait Gallery‘s new exhibition The Indian Portrait 1560-1860 – which opens tomorrow – will reveal a six-foot, seventeenth-century life-size portrait of the Emperor Jahangir which they claim is the largest painting to come from the Mughal empire. Jahangir holding a globe, dating from 1617, is opulently painted in gold and watercolour on cotton and includes relief jewellery. Apart from its appearance in an auction-house catalogue in 1995, the epic portrait now on view at the [...]

Joaquín Sorolla’s “Barcas en la Playa” Doubles Low Estimate at Sotheby’s Sale

LONDON.- Sotheby’s sale of 19th-Century European Paintings in London today realised £7,168,400 / €7,937,589 – surpassing the pre-sale high estimate of £6,748,600/ €7,472,744, and obtaining sell through rates of 70.2% by lot and 88.4% by value. Public institutions pitted themselves against private collectors and trade, driving prices over estimate in many instances. Overall, 41.6% of the works sold today achieved prices in excess of high estimate. The top lot of the day was Joaquin Sorolla’s “Barcas en la Playa”, which [...]