New York — 6 June 2012 at 5pm Christie’s New York, 20 Rockefeller Center, 2 – 5 June 2012 e-catalogue: http://www.christies.com/eCatalogues/index.aspx?saleid=23544Christie’s is pleased to announce its summer sale in New York which primarily consists of works from private collections and institutions that are
fresh to the market. The star lot is the 16th -century masterpiece of the Italian High Renaissance, Christ Carrying the Cross (estimate: $2,500,000- 3,500,000) by Girolamo Romanino; see separate press release. With nearly 100 works by great French, Italian, Flemish, Dutch and British masters of the 15th through the 19th centuries, the sale includes works by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Hubert Robert, Jan Breughel I, and his brother Pieter Brueghel II, among others. The auction is expected to achieve in excess of $10 million.
The sale is highlighted by several important paintings long hidden away in private collections, such as an oil-on-panel sketch for The Adoration of the Magi (pictured right; estimate: $500,000 -$1,000,000), by Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen, Westphalia 1577-1640 Antwerp). This unpublished panel comes fresh to market from a private Virginia collection, where it had been in one family for three generations. A powerful composition executed with the bold confidence and refined brushwork that defines Rubens’ style, it relates to a large canvas painted by the master circa 1626-1627 for the high altar of the Cloister of the Annunciation in Brussels, later acquired by Louis XIV and now on display at the Louvre Museum. The Adoration of the Magi was a subject Rubens frequently interpreted during his career; this sketch constitutes an exciting discovery, shedding new light on the artist’s body of work
Another work by Sir Peter Paul Rubens is Portrait of Ferdinando Gonzaga as a boy, a vivacious and engagingportrait representing the future Duke of Mantua in his youth (pictured left, estimate: $500,000 – $700,000). The identity of the sitter is established by comparison with two other likenesses of him by Rubens; one of which is a portrait now in the Fondazione Magnani-Rocca in Mamiano. A number of paintings are being sold by major American museums to benefit their acquisition funds, including eleven lots in Property from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Sold to Benefit the European Paintings Acquisitions Fund. Among this group is a pair of masterpieces by the celebrated French 18th century landscapist Hubert Robert (Paris 1733-1808), The Ruins and The Old Bridge (pictured below, estimate: $800,000 – $1,200,000 for the pair). Painted in the circular format, an exception in the artist’s oeuvre, these paintings embody Robert’s artistic vision, contrasting an almost fantastical view of the imposing Imperial Roman remains with an inviting and modest river scene set in the French countryside. With a characteristic bright, pleasing palette and ingenious sense of design, Robert created captivating compositions that invite the viewer to meditate on the relationship of man to nature and the transience of human existence without sacrificing the humor and charm that were his hallmarks.(image003)
