Art News

Sotheby’s to Sell Rediscovered Work by Vilhelm Hammershoi, A Study for The Coin Collector in Oslo Museum

LONDON.- Sotheby’s Scandinavian Sale on Tuesday, 22 November 2011, will present for sale an important rediscovered work by Vilhelm Hammershøi. Svend Hammershøi. Forarbejde til Møntsamleren (Svend Hammershøi. Study for the Coin Collector) is a preparatory study for the artist’s 1904 masterpiece Møntsamleren (The Coin Collector), in the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, and is being offered by a Danish private collector. The sitter was the artist’s younger brother Svend, a painter and ceramicist. One of only three known studies for the Oslo painting, and the only study to feature the figure, the work offers a fascinating insight into the artist’s working methods, while at the same time evoking the distinctive sense of seclusion and introspection that characterises Hammershøi’s work. The painting is estimated at £30,000 – 50,000. Hammershøi rarely painted strangers or accepted com