It's all change at the auctions-formerly-know-as-old-master this summer. Coronavirus has kept the crowds away, and the auction houses are restructuring. Christie's has combined fine and decorative arts from old master to nineteenth century. Sotheby's has combined old master to contemporary. They say clients don't care about categories; I say accountants care about cost cutting. Merging departments reduces overhead. The old master offerings seem a bit thinner than usual, but Covid doesn't seem to have scared away consignments.
The Burgundian portrait, above, was the stand-out picture for me. It's a powerful portrait with a spectacular provenance, once owned by Robert Walpole and now being sold by the Earl of Derby at Christie's. Estimate is just £400k-£600k. Some people don't like the tiny hands, but I think they're missing the point. Portraits were stylised, and relatively small hands can be seen on many unquestioned masterpieces from the period, better to focus on the face. The catalogue entry rightly draws parallel with Van Eyck.
There are other features that bother me, though. The infra-red image in the catalogue shows a radically different picture in the underdrawing, with the hair and contours of the face looking very different. UV light reveals some scattered retouching in the neck, visible in the infra-red, but not much else. It might be because it's in perfect condition and the artist just changed his mind, or it might be that the picture was much more fundamentally re-painted later. I've requested but not yet received the Christie's condition report. I love the image, but I'm nervous about what's under that varnish.
Christie's also has an outstanding drawing: a re-discovered Wtewael, one of a series of designs for stained glass windows. Beautiful, rare and perfectly preserved: estimate of £100k-£150k is a starting point. The focus is increasingly on high-end, high-margin sales; only the evening sale has a printed catalogue. But there are bargains in the online sales. Monday's old master drawings saw many prices below £1k, well below estimate. A fine GD Tiepolo figure study sold for just £7.5k and a high-quality Flemish drawing of Spanish men o'war sold for £2k. The internet makes these drawings available to the entire global middle class, but as the market grows prices seem to shrink at the lower end.
Sotheby's has the priciest pictures. A Rembrandt self-portrait (£12m-£16m) is a major trophy, but this one is hard to love. The most interesting picture is this Paolo Uccello battle scene. It's a fantastic image, well worth zooming in at the link. The observation of nature is particularly compelling; the landscape is impressive, but he hasn't quite understood how rivers meander. It's filled with compelling details: archers bending their bodies, a drummer leading soldiers trying to look brave, a connon carried across the river. Uccello is a major artist, and extremely rare, so why is it estimated at just £600k-£800k? First condition. It's a cassone panel, and as so often with these it's been knocked about a bit. Parts are very worn, and impossible to restore without entirely re-painting. On the other hand, there doesn't seem to be much restoration, and parts are well-preserved. The horses look much better than in the wrecked Battle of San Romano in the National Gallery.
It's a recent attribution, backed by Lawrence B. Kanter and Keith Christiansen. Both are revered scholars, but their attributions have not always found favour with colleagues. Condition makes judgment difficult, and cassone panels were not the most prestigious objects. Even if it's accepted as Uccello, balance between master and studio will never be resolved. I think it's a fantastic picture and find the attribution convincing. It looks really good in the flesh, if you can live with the abraded parts. But the estimate reflects inherent uncertainty. The estimate is a ridiculous bargain. For context, in the exhibition it's hung next to a Keith Haring that I find hideous (and just like all the other Keith Harings), but is estimated at £1.6-2.2m.
The one drawing in the evening sale is an important Verrocchio drapery study, until quite recently attributed to Leonardo. Estimate of £2m-£3m is a fraction of a Leonardo. The main Sotheby's drawing sale has nothing else in that league, but lots of excellent mid-range sheets including Wenceslaus Hollar's View of Prague (£30k-£40k) and a rare Subleyras, The Falcon (£25k-£35k). Estimates start really low and works by quite major draughtsmen are relatively affordable.
The Sotheby's print catalogue is now no more than a handlist, with a paragraph or two for most lots. The old masters have much better entries online, but the problem with online publication is that things are taken down and links break. It's a shame that the permanent record will likely be lost.
