The Beach at Wieck near Greifswald by Caspar David Friedrich
The results of Classic Week at the New York auction houses have been somewhat mixed. While the main Old Master and nineteenth-century paintings sales at both Christie’s and Sotheby’s were somewhat disappointing, the same cannot be said for the Sotheby’s Master Works on Paper sale. The sale’s top lot was The Beach at Wieck near Greifswald, an ink drawing by the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich, who appropriately is getting a major exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art starting this upcoming Saturday. The drawing shows an overturned rowboat on a beach while large sailing ships cross the water in the background. Sotheby’s specialists note that Friedrich’s landscapes often contained great amounts of allegory and symbolism. In the present case, boats on the water or on the beach usually represent the transience of life. Sotheby’s definitely predicted the drawing to become one of the sale’s stars with an estimate of $250K and $350K, one of three lots to receive this estimate. Bidding, however, continued well past the high estimate mark, with the drawing hammering at $600K (or $720K w/p).
Light-towers of Le Havre, France by J.M.W. Turner
Similar to the Christie’s sale the day before, J.M.W. Turner was one of the most popular artists in New York for Classic Week. Sotheby’s expected the watercolor Light-towers of Le Havre, France to do rather well, even if if they did not peg it as one of the top works. The combination of bold colors with the airy, almost ethereal nature of not only the sky and the water but also the way the scene sort of just fades away like a dream likely made the work very attractive to buyers. It surpassed its $150K high estimate by 2.3 times, hammering at $350K (or $420K w/p). Finally, rounding everything out was a pair of lots that achieved the same hammer price, one selling within estimate and the other vastly exceeding it. The first was another Turner watercolor, The Falls of Schaffhausen, one of ten paintings of the subject created during a trip through Switzerland in the early 1840s. The work may seem dull, filled with lots of brown and gray. This seems especially so when compared to the Le Havre watercolor. However, it was another one of the three $250K to $350K lots in the sale, selling with an estimate at $280K (or $336K w/p). However, the lot immediately preceding it caused quite a stir, as it made the same hammer price yet was predicted to sell for no more than $20K. The painting of Vesuvius, Italy by the British watercolorist Samuel Palmer is a very small work, measuring barely 5 by 7 inches. It shows the famous Italian volcano amid an eruption, which the artist writes as having taken place in August 1838. It has been in the same private collection for over a century, having received it from the artist’s son. It is by far one of the biggest auction surprises of the year, having achieved a hammer price 14 times its high estimate.
The Falls of Schaffhausen, Switzerland by J.M.W. Turner
Beyond some of the top lots, like the Palmer and the Le Havre Turner watercolor, several other lots did exceptionally well. Eight of the fifty-four available lots sold for more than double their high estimates. They also included the very first lot, a chalk drawing attributed to Jacques Bellange called Five Men Drinking. It shows a group of men seated at a table with incredibly tall drinking glasses, said by Sotheby’s specialists to be typical of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Lorraine, where the artist was from. The subject is very jovial, seemingly taken out of a Verdi opera, making it unsurprising that it sold for as much as it did. Predicted to sell for no more than $20K, the chalk drawing eventually sold for 3.25 times its high estimate at $65K (or $78K w/p). From the Renaissance to the fin de siècle, the very last lot of the sale was a pencil drawing by the Austrian master Gustav Klimt. Young Woman, Crouching is a rather simple sketch on brown paper, signed not by the artist but by his sister Hermine, who marked it as previously belonging to her brother before coming into her possession. Against a high estimate of $12K, the simple drawing attracted far more attention than expected and sold for $38K (or $45.6K w/p), 3.17 times the estimate.
Vesuvius, Italy by Samuel Palmer
One of the highly valued lots, an ink drawing by Claude Lorraine estimated to sell for between $150K and $200K, unfortunately failed to sell. However, this did not seem to affect sales success in any way. Of the fifty-four available lots, eleven sold within their estimates, giving Sotheby’s specialists a 20% accuracy rate. Eighteen lots sold above and below their estimates (18%), while seven went unsold. This gave Sotheby’s a 93% sell-through rate on Wednesday. Some lots, like the Friedrich and the Palmer, selling for far above their estimates not only brought the sale as a hole within its total estimate but also brought it up and over. All fifty-four lots were expected to sell for no more than $2.86 million. In the end, the forty-seven lots that did sell brought in $2.88 million (or $3.46 million w/p) for Sotheby’s.
Sotheby’s NY Master Works On Paper
The Beach at Wieck near Greifswald by Caspar David Friedrich
The results of Classic Week at the New York auction houses have been somewhat mixed. While the main Old Master and nineteenth-century paintings sales at both Christie’s and Sotheby’s were somewhat disappointing, the same cannot be said for the Sotheby’s Master Works on Paper sale. The sale’s top lot was The Beach at Wieck near Greifswald, an ink drawing by the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich, who appropriately is getting a major exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art starting this upcoming Saturday. The drawing shows an overturned rowboat on a beach while large sailing ships cross the water in the background. Sotheby’s specialists note that Friedrich’s landscapes often contained great amounts of allegory and symbolism. In the present case, boats on the water or on the beach usually represent the transience of life. Sotheby’s definitely predicted the drawing to become one of the sale’s stars with an estimate of $250K and $350K, one of three lots to receive this estimate. Bidding, however, continued well past the high estimate mark, with the drawing hammering at $600K (or $720K w/p).
Light-towers of Le Havre, France by J.M.W. Turner
Similar to the Christie’s sale the day before, J.M.W. Turner was one of the most popular artists in New York for Classic Week. Sotheby’s expected the watercolor Light-towers of Le Havre, France to do rather well, even if if they did not peg it as one of the top works. The combination of bold colors with the airy, almost ethereal nature of not only the sky and the water but also the way the scene sort of just fades away like a dream likely made the work very attractive to buyers. It surpassed its $150K high estimate by 2.3 times, hammering at $350K (or $420K w/p). Finally, rounding everything out was a pair of lots that achieved the same hammer price, one selling within estimate and the other vastly exceeding it. The first was another Turner watercolor, The Falls of Schaffhausen, one of ten paintings of the subject created during a trip through Switzerland in the early 1840s. The work may seem dull, filled with lots of brown and gray. This seems especially so when compared to the Le Havre watercolor. However, it was another one of the three $250K to $350K lots in the sale, selling with an estimate at $280K (or $336K w/p). However, the lot immediately preceding it caused quite a stir, as it made the same hammer price yet was predicted to sell for no more than $20K. The painting of Vesuvius, Italy by the British watercolorist Samuel Palmer is a very small work, measuring barely 5 by 7 inches. It shows the famous Italian volcano amid an eruption, which the artist writes as having taken place in August 1838. It has been in the same private collection for over a century, having received it from the artist’s son. It is by far one of the biggest auction surprises of the year, having achieved a hammer price 14 times its high estimate.
The Falls of Schaffhausen, Switzerland by J.M.W. Turner
Beyond some of the top lots, like the Palmer and the Le Havre Turner watercolor, several other lots did exceptionally well. Eight of the fifty-four available lots sold for more than double their high estimates. They also included the very first lot, a chalk drawing attributed to Jacques Bellange called Five Men Drinking. It shows a group of men seated at a table with incredibly tall drinking glasses, said by Sotheby’s specialists to be typical of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Lorraine, where the artist was from. The subject is very jovial, seemingly taken out of a Verdi opera, making it unsurprising that it sold for as much as it did. Predicted to sell for no more than $20K, the chalk drawing eventually sold for 3.25 times its high estimate at $65K (or $78K w/p). From the Renaissance to the fin de siècle, the very last lot of the sale was a pencil drawing by the Austrian master Gustav Klimt. Young Woman, Crouching is a rather simple sketch on brown paper, signed not by the artist but by his sister Hermine, who marked it as previously belonging to her brother before coming into her possession. Against a high estimate of $12K, the simple drawing attracted far more attention than expected and sold for $38K (or $45.6K w/p), 3.17 times the estimate.
Vesuvius, Italy by Samuel Palmer
One of the highly valued lots, an ink drawing by Claude Lorraine estimated to sell for between $150K and $200K, unfortunately failed to sell. However, this did not seem to affect sales success in any way. Of the fifty-four available lots, eleven sold within their estimates, giving Sotheby’s specialists a 20% accuracy rate. Eighteen lots sold above and below their estimates (18%), while seven went unsold. This gave Sotheby’s a 93% sell-through rate on Wednesday. Some lots, like the Friedrich and the Palmer, selling for far above their estimates not only brought the sale as a hole within its total estimate but also brought it up and over. All fifty-four lots were expected to sell for no more than $2.86 million. In the end, the forty-seven lots that did sell brought in $2.88 million (or $3.46 million w/p) for Sotheby’s.