Virgin and Child Enthroned by Botticelli
With Christie’s hosting their Old Masters evening sale on Tuesday, Sotheby’s followed up right behind them with their Old Masters & Nineteenth-Century Paintings sale on Wednesday evening. The sale’s showstopper, of course, was a Madonna and Child painting by the legendary Italian Renaissance master Botticelli. It’s always exciting when anything by Botticelli comes on the market since they are so rare. Nearly all of his work is kept in museum collections, making genuine Botticellis few and far between. The last time a painting positively attributed to the artist sold at auction was the Paul Allen collection at Christie’s in November 2022, when Madonna of the Magnificat sold for $42 million hammer. The Botticelli offered at Sotheby’s, Virgin and Child Enthroned, spent most of its life in Italy before being purchased in 1904 by Baroness Wantage, a prominent British aristocrat and art collector. Sotheby’s specialists indicate that Botticelli likely created this particular Madonna relatively early in his artistic career before employing apprentices and assistants. Art historians place this painting among a series of other Madonna and Child paintings, culminating in his female figure painting Fortitude, now hanging at the Uffizi Gallery. The Botticelli at Sotheby’s was predicted to sell for no more than £3 million. However, the sale room became abuzz with in-person and telephone bidders, not slowing down much until the hammer came down. We watched as the £3 million bid came in, then the £6 million bid. Once it reached £8 million, we found ourselves almost giggling with each successive bid. The Botticelli finally sold for £8.6 million / $10.9 million (or £9.9 million / $12.6 million w/p). Given the rarity of Botticelli paintings in private hands, plus the fact that it was likely executed by the master himself without the assistance of apprentices, even at more than twice the high estimate, the painting may still have been a bargain to some collectors.
Next up was another religious painting with an incredible provenance. Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist by Rosso Fiorentino may seem unusual when you look at it long enough. But it’s important to remember that this is an example of Italian mannerism, where many young artists experimented with form, perspective, and proportion. This seems particularly true with the infant Christ, with his strange expression and long, thick legs that do not match his torso. Either that or his torso is too small for the rest of his body. However, what interested me most in the painting was its list of previous owners. It was, at one point, part of the art collection of the Empress Catherine II of Russia, popularly known as Catherine the Great. After being placed in Saint Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum, it was moved around to several other Russian museums over the next century. Having been previously owned by Catherine the Great would be a major selling point for a painting, but there’s another famous name in the provenance.
Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist by Rosso Fiorentino
Around 1925, the Soviet Union’s State Museum Fund sold the painting to a buyer in Norway. This was when the Fiorentino came into the possession of a Norwegian politician named Vikdun Quisling. Quisling is an incredibly controversial figure both in Norway and beyond since he headed the Norwegian government during the country’s occupation by the Nazis. He was one of the most infamous collaborators of the Second World War, to the point that his last name is literally used as a euphemism for a traitor or a person who collaborates with an occupying force. After the Nazis withdrew from Norway, Quisling was tried and found guilty of murder and high treason. He was executed by firing squad in October 1945. The painting remained in his wife Maria’s possession until her death in 1980, after which Sotheby’s auctioned her collection with the proceeds going towards Norwegian charitable organizations. At that auction, the painting sold for only £920, or roughly the equivalent of £3.5K in 2024. Perhaps because of its uniqueness or previous owners, Sotheby’s specialists gave the Fiorentino the same estimate as the Botticelli. However, this painting did not go drastically beyond anyone’s expectations, selling within an estimate at £2.4 million / $3.1 million (or £2.9 million / $3.7 million w/p). This set a new auction record for the artist, previously held by a chalk drawing sold at Sotheby’s in 2019 for £471K w/p.
Religious paintings seemed to dominate the evening sale, as the third place spot went to The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine by Peter Paul Rubens. While there are several saints named Catherine, this particular painting shows a scene from the life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. She converted to Christianity and became what is known as a bride of Christ, so she would not have to enter an arranged marriage with a pagan. Rubens shows the infant Jesus putting a ring on the saint’s finger, accompanied by the Virgin Mary and Saint Peter. Sotheby’s specialists describe the painting as being incredibly influenced by Venetian painting, especially the work of Titian. It is the Flemish master’s take on a variety of religious paintings called sacra conversazione, where the Virgin Mary and infant Christ are depicted surrounded by various saints. Rubens created the painting around 1615, not long after he returned to Antwerp after several years of traveling in Italy. Experts have drawn parallels between the painting and similar works by Titian, most notably The Virgin and Child with Saints Dorothy and George. The Venetian influence is so great that some art historians have speculated that Rubens made The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine during his Italian travels rather than after returning to the Low Countries. The painting last came up at auction in 1974 when someone at Christie’s paid 38,000 guineas for the work (an obsolete unit of British currency worth slightly more than a pound; the amount in 2024 is roughly equivalent to £370K). This time, Sotheby’s expected the painting to sell between £600K and £1 million. Like the Botticelli, the Rubens ended up making far more than anticipated, with a hammer coming down at £2 million / $2.5 million (or £2.4 million / $3.1 million w/p).
The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine by Peter Paul Rubens
The Christie’s and Sotheby’s Old Masters sales this week are relatively easy to compare. The Sotheby’s sale definitely had a few more high-value items since the total minimum pre-sale estimate was set at £13.1 million compared to £7.4 million at Christie’s. Of the twenty-five lots available at Sotheby’s, eight sold within their estimates, giving the house a 32% accuracy rate. Another four lots (16%) sold below their estimates, while seven (28%) sold above. This leaves six lots unsold, giving the auction a 76% sell-through rate. Even with some of the more high-value items going unsold, such as Osman Hamdy Bey’s 1880 painting In Her Boudoir (est. £800K to £1.2 million), the auction stayed within its total estimate, bringing in £18.9 million (or £24.2 million w/p). Yes, the Botticelli did much of the heavy lifting, comprising 45% of the sale’s total. However, even if bidding on the Botticelli had stopped at the £3 million maximum estimate, the sale would have still done well. While the Christie’s sale the day before only brought in slightly over £11 million, it saw a similar sell-through rate at 73%, with the only major difference being a greater proportion of lots sold over their estimates instead of within. Regardless, both auction houses hosted very successful sales that were likely very exciting to those involved in the Old Masters and nineteenth-century markets.
Sotheby’s London Old Masters & 19th Century
Virgin and Child Enthroned by Botticelli
With Christie’s hosting their Old Masters evening sale on Tuesday, Sotheby’s followed up right behind them with their Old Masters & Nineteenth-Century Paintings sale on Wednesday evening. The sale’s showstopper, of course, was a Madonna and Child painting by the legendary Italian Renaissance master Botticelli. It’s always exciting when anything by Botticelli comes on the market since they are so rare. Nearly all of his work is kept in museum collections, making genuine Botticellis few and far between. The last time a painting positively attributed to the artist sold at auction was the Paul Allen collection at Christie’s in November 2022, when Madonna of the Magnificat sold for $42 million hammer. The Botticelli offered at Sotheby’s, Virgin and Child Enthroned, spent most of its life in Italy before being purchased in 1904 by Baroness Wantage, a prominent British aristocrat and art collector. Sotheby’s specialists indicate that Botticelli likely created this particular Madonna relatively early in his artistic career before employing apprentices and assistants. Art historians place this painting among a series of other Madonna and Child paintings, culminating in his female figure painting Fortitude, now hanging at the Uffizi Gallery. The Botticelli at Sotheby’s was predicted to sell for no more than £3 million. However, the sale room became abuzz with in-person and telephone bidders, not slowing down much until the hammer came down. We watched as the £3 million bid came in, then the £6 million bid. Once it reached £8 million, we found ourselves almost giggling with each successive bid. The Botticelli finally sold for £8.6 million / $10.9 million (or £9.9 million / $12.6 million w/p). Given the rarity of Botticelli paintings in private hands, plus the fact that it was likely executed by the master himself without the assistance of apprentices, even at more than twice the high estimate, the painting may still have been a bargain to some collectors.
Next up was another religious painting with an incredible provenance. Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist by Rosso Fiorentino may seem unusual when you look at it long enough. But it’s important to remember that this is an example of Italian mannerism, where many young artists experimented with form, perspective, and proportion. This seems particularly true with the infant Christ, with his strange expression and long, thick legs that do not match his torso. Either that or his torso is too small for the rest of his body. However, what interested me most in the painting was its list of previous owners. It was, at one point, part of the art collection of the Empress Catherine II of Russia, popularly known as Catherine the Great. After being placed in Saint Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum, it was moved around to several other Russian museums over the next century. Having been previously owned by Catherine the Great would be a major selling point for a painting, but there’s another famous name in the provenance.
Virgin and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist by Rosso Fiorentino
Around 1925, the Soviet Union’s State Museum Fund sold the painting to a buyer in Norway. This was when the Fiorentino came into the possession of a Norwegian politician named Vikdun Quisling. Quisling is an incredibly controversial figure both in Norway and beyond since he headed the Norwegian government during the country’s occupation by the Nazis. He was one of the most infamous collaborators of the Second World War, to the point that his last name is literally used as a euphemism for a traitor or a person who collaborates with an occupying force. After the Nazis withdrew from Norway, Quisling was tried and found guilty of murder and high treason. He was executed by firing squad in October 1945. The painting remained in his wife Maria’s possession until her death in 1980, after which Sotheby’s auctioned her collection with the proceeds going towards Norwegian charitable organizations. At that auction, the painting sold for only £920, or roughly the equivalent of £3.5K in 2024. Perhaps because of its uniqueness or previous owners, Sotheby’s specialists gave the Fiorentino the same estimate as the Botticelli. However, this painting did not go drastically beyond anyone’s expectations, selling within an estimate at £2.4 million / $3.1 million (or £2.9 million / $3.7 million w/p). This set a new auction record for the artist, previously held by a chalk drawing sold at Sotheby’s in 2019 for £471K w/p.
Religious paintings seemed to dominate the evening sale, as the third place spot went to The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine by Peter Paul Rubens. While there are several saints named Catherine, this particular painting shows a scene from the life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. She converted to Christianity and became what is known as a bride of Christ, so she would not have to enter an arranged marriage with a pagan. Rubens shows the infant Jesus putting a ring on the saint’s finger, accompanied by the Virgin Mary and Saint Peter. Sotheby’s specialists describe the painting as being incredibly influenced by Venetian painting, especially the work of Titian. It is the Flemish master’s take on a variety of religious paintings called sacra conversazione, where the Virgin Mary and infant Christ are depicted surrounded by various saints. Rubens created the painting around 1615, not long after he returned to Antwerp after several years of traveling in Italy. Experts have drawn parallels between the painting and similar works by Titian, most notably The Virgin and Child with Saints Dorothy and George. The Venetian influence is so great that some art historians have speculated that Rubens made The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine during his Italian travels rather than after returning to the Low Countries. The painting last came up at auction in 1974 when someone at Christie’s paid 38,000 guineas for the work (an obsolete unit of British currency worth slightly more than a pound; the amount in 2024 is roughly equivalent to £370K). This time, Sotheby’s expected the painting to sell between £600K and £1 million. Like the Botticelli, the Rubens ended up making far more than anticipated, with a hammer coming down at £2 million / $2.5 million (or £2.4 million / $3.1 million w/p).
The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine by Peter Paul Rubens
The Christie’s and Sotheby’s Old Masters sales this week are relatively easy to compare. The Sotheby’s sale definitely had a few more high-value items since the total minimum pre-sale estimate was set at £13.1 million compared to £7.4 million at Christie’s. Of the twenty-five lots available at Sotheby’s, eight sold within their estimates, giving the house a 32% accuracy rate. Another four lots (16%) sold below their estimates, while seven (28%) sold above. This leaves six lots unsold, giving the auction a 76% sell-through rate. Even with some of the more high-value items going unsold, such as Osman Hamdy Bey’s 1880 painting In Her Boudoir (est. £800K to £1.2 million), the auction stayed within its total estimate, bringing in £18.9 million (or £24.2 million w/p). Yes, the Botticelli did much of the heavy lifting, comprising 45% of the sale’s total. However, even if bidding on the Botticelli had stopped at the £3 million maximum estimate, the sale would have still done well. While the Christie’s sale the day before only brought in slightly over £11 million, it saw a similar sell-through rate at 73%, with the only major difference being a greater proportion of lots sold over their estimates instead of within. Regardless, both auction houses hosted very successful sales that were likely very exciting to those involved in the Old Masters and nineteenth-century markets.