Temptation of Saint Anthony. Courtesy Christie s Images Ltd. 2021.
The Old Master market came to life for two hours at Christie’s London on Thursday evening, whipping up a respectable £45.3 million ($52.8 million) and sparking occasions of broad bidding.
The sale was a faithful antidote to Sotheby’s anemic £17.2 million ($23.8 million) outing on Wednesday evening in London, where 21 of the 49 lots failed to find buyers, resulting in a dismal sell-through rate of 57 percent.
Experts attributed the week’s unevenness in part to the field’s conservative penchant for viewing works in person, especially the 500-year-old Dutch pictures prevalent at Sotheby’s, in light of the fact that international travel still hamstrung by the pandemic. Christie’s also had a leg up with more long-held works coming to market.
Bernardo Bellotto s View of Verona with the Ponte delle Navi Courtesy of Christie s
Tonight s evening auction at Christie s in London has probably renewed some faith in the Old Master paintings market after a fairly dire sale at Sotheby s last night.
Christie s sale was a more valuable and altogether better quality. Estimated to make between £36.7m and £56.1m (revised down from
£40.4m and £62.1m, after three lots were withdrawn before the auction) the sale totalled £37.3m (£45m with fees) from 59 lots four of which were guaranteed by third parties. The sell through rate was 78% by lot, and according to the analysts ArtTactic, the average hammer price was £811,457.