Classic Week Overview

London – Celebrating art from antiquity to the 21st century, Classic Week at Christie’s London will run from 24 June to 19 July across six live auctions and four online sales, with pre-sale public viewing from 2 July. Spanning six centuries of European art, the July Old Masters Evening Sale includes a rich array of paintings, sculptures, watercolours and prints, covering a multitude of subjects. The sale is led by Lucas Cranach the Elder’s The Nymph of the Spring (estimate: £6,000,000-8,000,000), the rediscovered Recumbent Magdalene by Antonio Canova (estimate: £5,000,000-8,000,000) and Jan Jansz. den Uyl’s sumptuous still life (estimate: £2,500,000-3,500,000). Further highlights include Sir Anthony Van Dyck’s Portrait of a Carmelite monk (estimate £2,800,000 – 3,500,000), Joseph Mallord William Turner’s watercolour Heidelberg with a rainbow (estimate: £3,000,000-4,000,000) and Rembrandt’s drypoint Three Crosses (£800,000-1,200,000). From royal furniture and works of art, to one-of-a-kind innovations, The Exceptional Sale offers a rare opportunity to acquire epoch-defining art and objects – each an exemplar of their field. Leading lots include Antonio Stradivari’s finest inlaid violin, the ‘Hellier’ (estimate: £6,000,000-9,000,000), Bob Dylan’s first new studio recording of “Blowin’ in the Wind” since 1962, on a one-of-one ‘Ionic Original’ disc (estimate: £600,000 – £1,000,000) and Napoleon’s manuscript of ‘The Battle of Austerlitz’ written during his final exile in Saint Helena (estimate: £250,000-350,000). The Roman marble head of Hermes from the fabled Lansdowne Collection (estimate: £3,000,000-5,000,000), a Roman marble urn from the Hope Collection (estimate: £200,000-300,000), and an Egyptian limestone group statue for Mehernefer and his son (estimate on request), once presented as a gift to King George III, are some of the extraordinary lots from English aristocratic collections. These works, with their uninterrupted lineage, are emblematic of the greatest collections formed in the 18th / early 19th centuries. Additional highlights during Classic Week include Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolist Art from the Isabel Goldsmith Collection, a first edition of a complete French version of the Bible (£600,000-£900,0000), luxuriously printed on vellum and illuminated by a contemporary Parisian artist, three large Roman views by Giovann Battista Lusieri from the collection at Eastnor Castle, and a selection of prints by the greatest exponents of European printmaking: Dürer and Rembrandt.